Alfred Piano Method

Alfred Piano Books for All Ages

I've taught lessons using the Alfred piano method books.

They are among the most popular piano music books used today...

...both in private piano lessons and for adults who are teaching themselves!

Learning to play piano takes time and practice.

Choosing the lesson books and piano music that inspire you and make practicing fun will help you succeed!

My goal is to help you make the best choice for you or your child as you explore the world of piano instruction.

Alfred Piano Methods

Alfred's is a publisher of keyboard, band, guitar, choral and vocal music, as well as software and theory publications. They've been publishing for over 70 years and are widely available at music and piano stores all over the United States.

Alfred is what I call a traditional piano method: you learn to play piano by learning to read written music, right from the beginning.

The Alfred piano method is my second choice for traditional method books. (My first choice is the Piano Adventures series.)

There's a variety of lesson and repertoire books to choose from, in age ranges from Primer (3-5 year olds) through to older beginners (5-6 years old), teens and adults. The music is solid, but a bit unimaginative.

The Alfred approach unfolds musical concepts more slowly than the Bastien piano method books - this is a plus for me.

There's still a bit too much reliance on 5-finger hand positions, though. Students struggle to unlearn key-finger associations once they've been repeated over and over by playing too many songs in one position on the keyboard.

Alfred's Basic Piano Course

Alfred's Basic course is written for students ages 5-7. It unfolds over seven levels: 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Each level has a set of books: Lesson, Theory, Recital (longer solos), Technique, Ear Training, and Repertoire (classical pieces).

I found that I couldn't possibly use all the books for each student. My usual "core" was to use the Lesson, Theory, and Recital books. Ear training was usually done as a game at the piano or using music software.

Once students were ready, I'd supplement technique using scales and the Junior Hanon exercises. (Finger exercises=playing fast=fun).

One thing I liked about the Alfred's Basic curriculum was that the concepts are tied page-for-page across the sets of books. (And in each book, it tells the teacher where to find the corresponding pages in the other books). This made teaching and coordinating between multiple books simple.

The Alfred piano method library also offers a Basic All-in-One course (where theory and technique, etc. are included with the core curriculum), a Chord Approach course, and a Sacred course. I didn't have the opportunity to teach with those books.

Alfred's Basic Piano Course for the Later Beginner

The premise of the Alfred piano method Later Beginner course is that older kids (ages 8-10) need to feel that they are progressing more rapidly.

That's somewhat true, but as you've read I really feel that the goal should be to introduce new musical concepts in ways that can be readily absorbed - not just memorized for the short-term.

I do agree that older beginners would find this course more appealing from a visual standpoint: the illustrations and explanations are geared toward older kids.

There are 3 levels, with Lesson books, Theory Books, Fun Books, Technique Books, Recital Books, and Ear Training books for each.

Alfred's All-In-One Adult Piano Course

The Alfred piano method All-in-One Adult course is probably the most popular adult course out there. So many adults use it to learn piano at home, without a teacher, that I have started writing free tips for using this method.

Click here for my FREE Alfred's Adult Piano tutorials!

Alfred piano books are the ones I used most often with adults when I taught traditionally -- until I discovered Piano Adventures.

Lessons, theory, and technique - as well as helpful hand stretches and other warmups - are included in these books.

Like many methods, the Alfred Adult books make good use of songs that are in the public domain. So, many younger adults find the music dated, while older adults love it!

As with other traditional methods, I found that even the slower pace of the adult books was sometimes too fast.

Quite often we'd use the lesson book, then supplemental music to support the same concepts and spend more time learning. Then we'd go back to the lesson book.

Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course - Level 1 (Book/CD) Written by Amanda Vick Lethco, Morton Manus, Willard A. Palmer. Instructional book (spiral bound) and accompaniment CD for piano. Series: Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course. 144 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.5756) See more info...

Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course

The Alfred's basic books are unfold the same concepts and structure as the All-in-One books, but in separate volumes. This allows more in-depth theory and technique study - which adult students may want or not.

Some folks really want to dig into theory right away - but in my experience, most people want to just play piano. :-)

The Alfred's supplemental books can be useful, though. The graded music makes it easy to find supplementary tunes for my students - especially duets. I have the duet books and the Christmas books in my teaching library.

The other supplementals are: Finger Aerobics (exercises, similar to Hanon), Sacred Music, All-Time Favorites, Pop Songs, Country (I've not tried that one), Ear Training, Notespeller, and Sight Reading.

If you're using these books, or considering it, there's a great online community you should take advantage of! Join the Piano Forums at Piano World - great people there, and there are discussions specifically for people learning from the Alfred's Adult books!

My thoughts on the Alfred Piano Method...

If you'd like to learn from a traditional piano method, the Alfred piano method books will get you there - they're my second choice in a traditional curriculum.

Check out the Piano Adventures page, too. It's the traditional method I like the most.

Also, visit the piano methods overview page for my experiences and thoughts on learning piano, traditional and alternative piano methods, like Simply Music.

In the end, these are your piano lessons you're paying for. You have the right to be happy with both your teacher and the method you're learning from!

456,000 sheet music titles - Shop Now! Alfred's Basic Adult Pian... Alfred's Basic Adult Pian... Alfred's Basic Adult Pian... Alfred's Basic Adult Pian... Alfred's Basic Adult Pian... Alfred's Basic Adult Pian...

Helpful Articles

Sign up for the FREE Tickling the Ivories newsletter!

This monthly newsletter is packed with practice tips, articles on piano playing, great websites, and resources to help you learn to play and keep you motivated at the piano. Your email address is completely secure and you are free to unsubscribe at any time.

Sign up now! Get my free printable practice log that I created for my students, along with an article called "Keeping a Piano Practice Log" about my experience trying to keep practice logs and what finally worked for me.