Hi,

My high school daughter wants to learn how to play the piano. Someone suggested the Alfred Piano Books to me, but I am not sure if they are the best books to use for someone who is going to be teaching herself... There are so many books and I don't know where to start. I am also not sure how invested my daughter is so I thought I would start off on the cheap side... I found these books selling on ebay. Do you think these books would be the right thing to buy? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3740010334 I guess I am mostly concerned about the level that these books are at... I don't know what the difficulty level of "1B" really is! The auction closes in a week, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know before then... Thanks so much!!

Weirdweather Woman

I'm going to be perfectly honest with you: children (teenagers, no less) arent committed to anything, unless you commit them. Those books are fine, but realistically you need to offer your daughter instruction - face to face, with someone who can play and has credentials (Royal Conservatory Of Music). Piano is complicated to learn and if she wants to get anywhere she needs to get feedback from someone directly, so that they can correct her hand placement and her tempo, and show her how to play properly.

I'm also going to be honest with you: nothing is cheap. You get what you pay for. With those books your daughter will probably never be able to play anything remotely difficult. Again, you need to have a piano teacher... she needs to _see_ how the teacher plays it. A big component of playing is watching others play and learning from that. Dont bother with the books, get her a lesson. And dont think you can skimp on these things. Realistically there are costs involved that you cannot get around.

Also, I should add, that without instruction her learning curve will be extremely slow (tedious) and she's more likely to give up. With instruction she'll learn quicklier, and be able to see progression, and THAT is what pushes musicians to excel at their art. They need to be progressing. I play at a very high level, and started when I was young, and I can tell you taht if I didnt have the structure and the feedback that my teacher gave me, I would have given up for SURE. Also, music is good for your mind. Its been proven.

Just a few things to consider.