The first thing a piano beginner has to worry about is choosing a textbook.
If you look at a regular bookstore in town, you may find that there are surprisingly few types of piano textbooks, but if you search online, you will find so many piano textbooks that you will stop thinking.
Among such textbooks, this time we will introduce textbooks for beginners that are ``recently popular''.
What I mean by "selected" is not a simple online ranking, but what I often hear is "what is used in some piano schools."
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Is the classic piano textbook ``Beyer'' outdated?
When I was a child, when asked, ``What piano teaching materials are available?'', most experienced piano students would probably answer ``Beyer,'' ``Burgmuller,'' or ``Czerny.''
These textbooks have been familiar to aspiring pianists for decades. Of course, it is true that these textbooks are still in existence and are used in many piano classes. Just as the piano has remained largely unchanged as an instrument since its invention, Beyer, which was completed as a textbook, has remained largely unchanged. Beyer and Czerny are, so to speak, the complete version of a textbook.
So, what about the latest trending textbooks?
I have also experienced this, and I am often told that when I practice at places like Bayer, which I mentioned earlier, I often feel that it is boring The reason is that ``Even if you master musical notation, it's hard to see that your technique has improved, and it's very monotonous.'' Therefore, recent new textbooks are created through trial and error in order to teach piano in a way that is to understand '' and `` more efficient These new textbooks are published, disappear, and new textbooks are born, which is a process that is still evolving and is, so to speak, an unfinished system.
That's why textbooks such as Beyer's are complete but old .
The trendy textbooks I'm about to introduce to you are new, albeit unfinished .
That's what you can say.
3 trending textbooks
Let's take a look at the currently popular piano textbooks.
This time, we will introduce three textbooks for beginners. We do not recommend purchasing all three, as there are many overlapping contents. Please carefully check the characteristics of each and choose the textbook that best suits you.
①Pia Dream
The first thing I would like to introduce is " Pia Dream ".
This textbook is published by Gakken, which publishes many educational materials for schools, such as various study drills and illustrated books. "Pia Dream" has numbers 1 to 7, and each one is around 50 pages. Even though it's only 50 pages, it's not packed in a good way, so the pages turn quickly.
In conclusion, the content of this textbook is similar to "Beyer". However, they are divided into difficulty levels, and the division is clear.
For example, in "Pia Dream 1", only scores that meet the following conditions are listed.
・Only the middle keyboard is used
・Quarter notes and quarter rests only
is.
From here, as you move on to "Pia's Dream 2" and "Pia's Dream 3", the conditions become more relaxed and gradually become more difficult. The number of keys gradually increases from the center C, and the types of notes and music notation symbols gradually appear.
Best of all, this book very easy-to-understand explanations of sheet music and performance methods , making it a textbook that is easy to understand even for small children such as kindergarteners. Of course, this book is also suitable for those who want to start playing the piano as an adult.
If you're having trouble deciding what to buy, we recommend learning the basics at Pia Dream.
② Burnham
The next thing I'd like to introduce the Burnham Piano Technique .
Burnham starts with the "Introduction" and then goes on to "1-4". As some of you may have noticed, Burnham is a complete textbook with a long tradition, just like Beyer, which has been popular for a long time. However, I feel that it is being used more often in piano classes these days than in the past, so I would like to introduce it.
This textbook is fundamentally different from the aforementioned ``Pia Dream'' and ``Beyer,'' and is a textbook that focuses on training ``techniques Therefore, it is recommended that you have some understanding of music notation symbols and performance methods.
If you work at Beyer or Burgmuller, you may naturally acquire the skills, but that doesn't necessarily mean you will. As you progress smoothly through the scores in these books, it often happens that you suddenly come across a score that you find difficult. Sometimes this is due to physical reasons such as the size of your fingers, but most of the time it's because you arrived at the score without having mastered the necessary technique.
This "Burnham Piano Technique" is a finger practice book designed to help you learn techniques and skills, so I feel like you can improve your technique more quickly after you finish playing a song than in Beyer. In piano classes, it is often used in front of Hanon, which is a textbook for the same technique, or in front of Czerny. I remember that in the classroom I attended, we used Beyer and Burnham together to practice the piano in an order carefully selected by the teacher. (Did you borrow Barnum from your teacher?)
Personally, if you are an adult beginner, you may be able to skip the introduction part and start from ``1'' or ``2''.
③Mr. Bastin's favorites
The last series I would like to introduce is Mr. Bastin's Favorites
There are series from levels 1 to 4. I think it's about half of Czerny's level 4 master. This is a textbook created by the American Mr. and Mrs. Bastin, who were piano instructors in the 1970s. As it is a relatively recent textbook, it is still not well known.
This textbook has three features.
①Play a lot of easy songs instead of just one difficult song
②When you see (or play) musical score symbols for the first time, focus on them as you practice.
③Learn only what you need to play your goal song.
If you look at these three, you will see that they are very efficient and modern
In addition to this, we also use something called "pre-reading music." This is a musical score that is played using only finger numbers and notes, and does not use a 5-line staff.
For example, the pre-reading score for "Jingle Bells" is as follows.
In this way, this pre-reading score makes two-handed performance more familiar and understandable for beginners who can't read or understand 5-line notation right away.
As someone like me who is familiar with 5-line notation, it seems like it would be difficult to understand.
These modern and new teaching methods were appreciated, and this "Bastin" style textbook spread in America and was brought to Japan. I heard about this somewhere and looked it up at a bookstore, and my impression was that it was certainly efficient and might be good for beginners.
The biggest difficulty is that it is in English.
If you buy it for your child, you may need to teach them each word. However, I still chose to introduce this book because it is one of the many textbooks out there that allows you to practice piano efficiently.
Online lessons that are not embarrassing even for adults
If you study on your own, you may not know what you are doing well and what you are not doing well For such times, we recommend that you occasionally have online lessons from a professional There are many people who take this course, not only children but also adults, and all you need is a piano and a smartphone.
Please see the article below for recommended online lessons.
Finally
As I mentioned in the beginning, there are many different types of piano textbooks.
Since you can't try out each textbook one by one, it's honestly like gambling to see if the textbook you buy is right for you.
However, the fact remains that all textbooks are designed to improve piano skills and knowledge.
Even if you master one textbook and don't acquire the skills you expected, don't blame the textbook and try a new textbook right away.
The important thing is your posture towards the piano.
If you can keep facing the piano in front of you, it will become your lifelong hobby.
Maybe in a few years I'll be using the piano as a job on YouTube or blogging.
↓This article is also recommended
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