What book to teach adult piano?

Katey13

Hi everybody,

I have been teaching piano to kids for quite a while but one of the kids parents asked me if I would teach him to play the piano.
I have 2 sets of adult books, one being the John Thompson range for adults and the second, being Carol Barratt, The Classic Piano Course, omnibus edition.

I find the former nearly has too much detail/theory etc and in comparison, the latter has very little.

Obviously each student is different but this is a very busy young father of 3 who doesn't really want to get into the whole "theory" of music, but would just like to be able to play a few things. The family are in the process of deciding whether or not to invest in a piano in the future, or just to stick with their keyboard. So in this regard, I was leaning more towards the Carol Barratt books, or does anyone recommend any other series?

Happy New Year to everyone.

Doshea3

I personally use the Carol Barratt books, supplemented with easy repertoire from other sources, a few scales and some basic instruction in theory (relevant to the repertoire being learned). I've found that method to work best with adults...

Best of luck!

Katey13

Excellent - just what I hoped. Thanks.

The Mad Hatter

I use the Carol Barratt books too, but unfortunately not because they're good, but because they're less bad, than any of the others I've seen. I suggest you skip her own compositions.

Katey13

Will keep that in mind Mad Hatter - thanks.

evolving_doors

Katey13 wrote: »

Hi everybody,

... very busy young father of 3 who doesn't really want to get into the whole "theory" of music, but would just like to be able to play a few things.

I'd say make sure you clarify his goals. Tell him he still has to practice, no matter how busy he is..(in a nice way!!) The 'theory' of music in his mind might mean learning to read notes off a page, so be prepared to have to search for tunes which are very repetitive and chordal based (love is all around, Halleluja etc) so it's a show and copy type lesson.

He might just want to be able to play a few chords and sing along.
He might want to play a few pop tunes without singing.
He might have a few tunes in mind and expect you to show him first so he can copy your hands.
Some adult students I've taught are just delighted to play one tune for a party piece so theory and sight reading are pointless for them.

I found it really difficult when I started teaching adults as it can be a different mindset to the grades for kids.

As mad hatter says some books are less bad than others so the one I sometimes went for was the carol barratt and supplemented with a pop tune. Unfortunately you'll always have to bring in some theory as it's a complicated machine the piano.

Live at Three

For adults I find the the "Bastien Piano For Adults" is very good. It has a nice mix of pop and jazzy stuff and classical. It has the right amount of theory too and explains chords, intervals etc, this is very useful for people who want to learn to figure out songs for themselves and not necessarily learn all classical. And it has a CD.

Link here

http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/013430/details.html