Many of my students learn from the Faber’s Piano Adventures Series. I enjoy teaching this method because the songs are appealing to kids, it is paced well and it makes new concepts easy to understand.
If you’re a piano parent, you’ll recognize the books by the flying piano on the cover:
One of my favorite parts of this series is that for each level, there are tons of corresponding books to choose from. I always teach students from the method book, but then bring in the supplemental books as needed.
Here’s a great chart from pianoadventures.com that features all of the available books. As you can see, for each level there are quite a few options.
Conveniently, the leveling is exactly the same between books, so if a student is in level 1 of the method book, any of the other level 1 books will work for them.
For piano parents, I highly recommend getting to know the options in this series and ordering a few books for your student for the following reasons:
- Giving students the opportunity to explore music on their own is a valuable part of their learning experience.
- During breaks like Christmas break and summer break, these books are an easy way to keep your student playing the piano at their current level.
- Some students breeze through music and need the challenge of having a large variety of repertoire to choose from. As you can see, there is not shortage of options here!
- Some students need to constantly review concepts. In this case, using books 1 level below their current level works really nicely.
A few of our favorite supplement books from the Piano Adventures series:
Primer Favorites is great for kids who are about half way through the Primer Lesson Book. Nearly all of the songs in the Favorites book are recognizable to young kids. I find that at this early stage, playing familiar songs is a huge motivator for little pianists! Wheels On The Bus and London Bridge are popular selections from this book.
Level 1 Popular is a hit mostly because it has the Star Wars Theme in it! Students in the early part of Level 1 are thrilled to be able to play Star Wars with just a little bit of rote teaching to supplement the sight-reading they already know.
Level 2A Popular also goes over well with my students because it has Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter. It has a few tricky spots in it, but since it’s such a fun song, that doesn’t stop kids from figuring it out!
Level 2B Rock N Roll has some fun options like Come Sail Away and Rock Around the Clock.
Level 3A Kids’ Songs features the Addam’s Family (which will be performed in our recital in just a couple of weeks!), Yellow Submarine and You’ve Got A Friend In Me.
Level 4 Classics has some great classical themes that intermediate students love like Pachelbel’s Canon and Habanera from Carmen.
If you have a local music store, I recommend taking your student and browsing these books! Since the leveling of this series is so consistent, you will be sure to find appropriate music for your student. Chances are, the store employees can help you find even more at your level! It’s pretty exciting to browse sheet music, then take it home and start learning it!
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