John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano: First Grade Book
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Music
John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano: First Grade Book Details
(Willis). Time-tested bestseller around the world! The legendary Modern Course series provides a clear and complete foundation in the study of the piano that enables the student to think and feel musically. It's known as the method for quick, dedicated learners. It's also well-regarded as a self-teaching method for the mature player. The First Grade may be preceded by Teaching Little Fingers to Play and/or Teaching Little Fingers to Play More . NOTE: The 2018 reprint of Grade 1 features less fingering and fresh engravings.
Reviews
I have played and taught piano for over 50 years. I know that this method is highly esteemed, but I do not recommend it at all. I used to use it for teaching but the problem, in my opinion, is the placement of fingering numbers over every note. The students read the numbers, not the notes, and in doing so, fail to learn to read the notes themselves. Some of the information about phrasing and basic finger/wrist technique is helpful, and the retro illustrations are a bit of a hoot. Most of my students breeze through it easily, then Book Two arrives and the student is suddenly faced with the bitter reality that they must read notes and move their hands up and down the keyboard. It's overwhelming for many of them.If you decide to go with it, try to supplement it with some less heavily annotated material. There is much simple early music, for example, written in two parts. IMSLP offers much of this public domain material free of charge online.
