In July of 1998 at the age of 38 I began taking piano lessons. The past 4+ years have been very rewarding, and often frustrating. One of my main frustrations has been the lack of any teaching material specifically
targeted at adult beginners. For the record I don't count the horrible Basiten Adult pedagogy books "Older Beginner Piano Course..." as teaching material.
I've been using the Faber and Faber "Piano Adventures" series in lieu of anything better, but to be honest the Faber and Faber books have been known to take flight across the room on occasion. All of the pedagogy books seem to think that everybody learns the piano in the same way regardless of age
or past experience. The cutesy little drawings in the margins are a little much to take.
I had pretty much given up on finding any useful information for adults
until a few days ago when I found a very helpful book. In particular, it describes the adult learning process very thoroughly and accurately. This book has been really been a godsend to me and my piano education.
Others on the newsgroup may find it helpful as well. Here are the particulars:
"Making Music at the Piano", subtitled "Learning Strategies for Adult Student" by Barbara English Maris. It is published by Oxford University Press. It is copyrighted in 2000 and is ISBN number 0-19-512326-3. It
costs $29.95 (USD) new. I found my copy at Powells City of Books (www.powells.com), but I'm sure it's available in most book stores. See: http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=16-0195123263-0 for more information. Supposedly Powell's has a used copy on the shelf, but I didn't see it. If you've ever been to Powell's that won't come as a surprise.
It's literally a city block, 3 stories high full of books.
While I am a beginning student so I tend to read the advice for beginning students, there is also a great deal of information for more advanced adult students and adults returning to the piano after a long absence.
Jory
1. LearnPianoIn30Days
2. PianoForAll
3. Free course on YouTube: Andrew Furmanczyk channel
AND BELOW ARE TOP 13 PIANO BOOKS ON AMAZON:
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