One of the main ways I judge my success as a piano teacher is how long my students stay with me and I am delighted that I have had many students who I have been fortunate enough to work with for 10 or more years. I have extensive experience building individually tailored curriculums and courses of study designed to take any student from beginner to specialized music college entrance level.
The Alfred Piano Method is an exciting and comprehensive series for piano study designed to get the young student off to the right start. The learning sequence is carefully graded to assure steady progress in all areas, while the full color illustrations entertain and reinforce along the way. The selection of pieces includes original works as well as familiar folk songs and pop styles in creative, enjoyable arrangements.
The Alfred Piano Method uses four books coordinated page by page to provide thorough reinforcement of basic concepts at each level. The suggested sequence among the books is listed in the content page of each book.
The Alfred Method offers two courses for the beginner pianist;
This method uses Piano books, Theory books and Technic books and either a Solo or Recital book.
General Midi Orchestrations/Background accompaniment tracks may also used throughout the Alfred Piano Method. You will be advised as to which is the most suitable course of study for you to follow during your first lesson.
There is no better time to instill a lifetime of excitement for playing the piano than in the first formative years when young beginners start taking piano lessons.
Alfred's Basic Prep Course contains enchanting music, charming coloring activities, short ear-training and theory lessons plus entertaining supplementary solos - all perfectly correlated page-by-page to introduce music-making at the piano to young students in a warm and friendly manner.
The Prep Course provides a well-balanced program that is designed with the specific needs of young beginners in mind. The tuneful and charming melodies and meaningful lyrics were chosen to please students age 5 and up, while taking into consideration their small hands and normal attention span. The full-color and lovable character illustrations never over power the music they thoughtfully enhance each lesson. The Prep Course is a complete curriculum in six levels: Levels A, B, C, D, E and F, enough to cover about three years of study for the average student. The Theory Books, Activity & Ear Training Books, Solo Books, Sacred Solo Books, Christmas Joy! books plus the Flash Cards are all correlated page-by-page with the Lesson Books. The use of "overlapping concepts" provides ample preparation for each new musical principle introduced throughout each level.
Alfred's Basic Piano Library opens a wonderful world of excitement for piano students in their first years of study and continues the excitement through seven appealing levels: 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Alfred's Basic begins with colorful pages that are filled with cheerful illustrations and music that is always fun to play!
The delightful music in Alfred's Basic is not only entertaining to play, it provides students with a steady stream of new and interesting technical challenges. It's eclectic reading approach builds strong sight reading skills. Its carefully overlapped lesson sequences subtly guide students progress in a smooth and consistent manner. When students continue using Alfred's Basic Piano Library through Level 6, they develop superior pianistic abilities, and play with tremendous sensitivity and musicality.
All supplemental books in Alfred's Basic Piano Library are correlated page-by-page with the Lesson Books! The Theory Books are filled with a diverse selection of activities that reinforce every new musical idea presented in the Lesson Books. The Recital Books contain solos that are ideal for performance at recitals and family get-togethers. The action-packed Technic Books provide reading and rhythm drills and develop coordination of the hands. The exercises are short and reinforce every new concept presented in the Lesson Books.
The Ear Training Books provide additional reinforcement through rhythmic, melodic and intervallic drills. Each page is designed to use approximately five minutes of the lesson time. The Repertoire Books correlate standard classic repertoire from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras exactly with the Lesson Books. All selections are in their original form and are perfect for festivals.
The General MIDI disks for levels 1 & 2 provide hours of enjoyment for both student and teacher alike. They provide a valuable opportunity to play along with professional-sounding accompaniments. Each disk includes every piece from the book and offers exciting arrangements in many different styles.
When slightly older students begin piano lessons, they need to feel they are progressing more rapidly than younger students. Here is a series designed with a spark of sophistication for the older beginner.
Alfred's Basic Complete Level 1 for the Later Beginner provides an accelerated learning pace that still retains the careful lesson sequencing of the regular series. For example, the Complete Lesson Book 1 covers the same fundamentals as Levels 1A and 1B, but in fewer pages - 72 rather than 112. A complete course of instruction is provided including Lesson Books, Theory Books, Recital Books, Fun Books, Technic Books, Ear Training Books and much more. Every supplementary volume is correlated exactly with the Lesson Books for maximum effectiveness.
The Complete Levels 2 & 3 provides additional fast-paced instruction as a follow-up to Complete Level 1. Complete Levels 2 & 3 also may be used with gifted young students completing the regular Alfred's Basic Level 1B who have demonstrated they can move faster than the average learner.
Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course is designed for the beginner looking for a truly complete piano course that includes lesson, theory, technic and popular repertoire in one convenient, all-in-one book. The Adult All-in-One Course is now available for Levels 1, 2 & 3. This combined approach offers beginners a unique, unified course of instruction.
Lesson Book pages are designed to provide a basic course of instruction that contains all the concepts and fundamentals needed to perform. Theory Book pages reinforce every concept and principle introduced in the Lesson Book. Technic Book pages develop agility and flexibility of the hands to keep pace with the students musical comprehension. Students will not feel so awkward at the keyboard because of stiffness in their fingers, hands and wrists. At the completion of this course, the student will have learned to play some of the great Master works of piano literature and will have gained a thorough understanding of the basic concepts of music.
The Lesson Book, the core of the course, introduces all new concepts. Beautifully presented and intelligently paced, it combines unusually attractive music and lyrics. The book features note reading, rhythm reading, sight-reading, and technical workouts. Included with each Lesson Book is a CD recording of the music performed on acoustic piano by Scott Price. To enhance and encourage practice, the music on the CD was recorded at a performance tempo and a slower practice tempo. When the Lesson, Theory, Performance, and Technique books are used together, they offer a fully-integrated and unparalleled comprehensive approach to piano instruction.
The Technique Book provides the technical tools needed to achieve artistic performances. Students will encounter skills in four areas—playing naturally (physical aspects), moving freely around the keyboard, playing beautifully (tone production), and playing artistically. The technical goals are accomplished through three types of activities—patterned exercises with necessary repetition to make the technique feel natural, artistic etudes that showcase the student’s technique in a musical setting, and appealing and descriptive exercises called Technique Tools.
A combination of repertoire collections and activity books, the supplementary books that accompany Premier Piano Course provide additional reinforcement of concepts, arrangements of popular songs and movie themes, and graded standard repertoire, and contribute greatly to the student’s success. These collections are each correlated page-by-page with the core Lesson Books. Some of the available books include Sight-Reading, Notespeller, Pop & Movie Hits, Jazz, Rags & Blues, and many others.
Interactive accompaniment disks are an exciting, innovative way to enhance the learning and performing experience. These arrangements bring the music to life using a wide range of sounds, textures and styles, while reinforcing important musical skills such as phrasing and dynamics. The interactive disks allow the student to separate the right and left hand parts, play along at any tempo without affecting the pitch, and much more. Students love to play along with these disks and will be very pleased with the enhanced progress they make. General MIDI disks feature full piano performances combined with musical accompaniments in a variety of styles. Use of the General MIDI standard makes these disks compatible with many different brands of keyboards and digital pianos as well as personal computers, providing the most flexible use of interactive disks available today.
A wide range of courses are available for students of The Legends Piano Studio. The Alfred Method is the preferred course of study for many students. Other courses available include the Alfred "Premier" course, the "Bastien" piano library, "Piano for Busy Teens", the "FJH" curriculum, the "American Popular Music Course", the full "ABRSM" curriculum and a wide range of materials are available for studying Jazz and Popular music.
Additional materials are often recommended for students to study alongside the recommended "core" tutor books. Study materials for more advanced students and students studying specific styles of music are selected on a week to week basis from the large library of music available at The Legends Piano Studio.
No student will ever be given more work to complete than they can comfortably achieve in a week and no student will ever feel that they do not have enough to do. No student should ever feel worried because they have not practiced as much as they would like and no student will ever feel that they do not have a sufficient level of challenge in their lessons. Weekly assignments are designed in a flexible way so that students have the option and the opportunity to "go the extra mile" if they choose to do so.