Level 1 - Lesson Book: Piano Adventures
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Music
Level 1 - Lesson Book: Piano Adventures Details
About the Author The husband and wife team Nancy and Randall Faber are internationally known as authors of the Piano Adventures teaching method and over two hundred publications for the piano. They recently founded the Faber Piano Institute in Ann Arbor, MI, where they live with their daughter Vivian. Nancy Faber, who was named "Distinguished Composer of the Year" by the Music Teachers National Association, enjoys a busy schedule of commissions for the concert stage in addition to her educational composing. Recent commissions include "The Snow Queen" for narrator and orchestra, "The Picture My Imagination Has Painted" for Flute Quartet and Piano, and "Trio for Flute, Saxophone and Piano". Her pieces have been heard on U.S. public radio and network television. She studied composition with Joan Tower, William Albright, and British composer Nicholas Maw; piano studies were at the Eastman School and Michigan State University. Randall Faber has toured Korea, Taiwan, Canada and the United Kingdom. He was master teacher for both the World Conference on Piano Pedagogy and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. He gave recitals in St. Louis, Ann Arbor, as Convention Artist for the North Dakota Music Teachers, and performed as Visiting Artist at the University of Michigan, University of Southern Mississippi, Saginaw State University, and numerous universities throughout South Korea. He was featured clinician for the Nebraska Music Teachers, the Florida Music Teachers and the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Convention, and recently presented his research at the 9th International Conference on Motivation in Lisbon, Portugal. Dr. Faber holds three degrees from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. The Fabers advocate piano study not only for personal expression and performance success, but also as a vehicle for the student's creative and cognitive development. Read more
Reviews
FWIW, I am an experienced teacher with a performance degree from a major U.S. music conservatory.The Faber & Faber books are hands-down the best I have seen for that crucial mix of pedagogy, fun, and variety in songs. The Bastien books, which I used growing up, take awhile to add real variety. The newer kid-targeted Alfred books are a good alternative to these, but the older adult Alfred books are a miserable mix of musical monotony. There needs to be harmonic and melodic variety or else students will not be inspired (and teachers will be musically murdered if all the songs are based on the C 5-finger position).While I admire some of the pedagogy in the Thompson and Schaum series, I find that the books feel "outdated" in their ability to communicate with young beginners in the 2000's. It's a bit like looking at older editions from the 19th century: great for serious study, but harder to read and a bit out-of-touch. I find that Thompson/Schaum throw an awful lot of technical information early on, and this can be overwhelming to the beginner. Kids also like lively, colorful illustrations. I only bring up these details because I think the F&F books are enjoyed by my students more than others.The pacing of the F&F books is suitably slow for the young student these days. They are designed for someone who doesn't practice every day, or isn't fully invested in music, which is a realistic approach given the current student who is overscheduled and isn't committed to regular music practice. I'm just sayin'! For the more motivated students, or ones slightly older, the F&F "for the older beginner" series is much faster in its pacing, and the illustrations and song selections are appropriate for older students.On that note, if you are using the basic Piano Adventures series, keep in mind that these are really geared for YOUNG students, especially the first few books. If you are starting off a 3rd grader or 4th grader, they will often be unimpressed by the lack of "cool" in the books.The biggest challenge of method books is that, if you start the students when they are older, by the time they want to learn a Taylor Swift song, if they haven't made some real progress musically and technically, it becomes a long, hard slog. Get them into these books, get them practicing early, and by the time they are in middle school they will be able to learn the songs they want. If you're lucky, the list might include Bach and Ellington.
