Question:
I started taking private piano lessons in February, at 59. My teacher started me on "Accelerated Piano Lessons" by Nancy and Randal Faber, both the Lesson and Performance books. I'm at the end of the books now, and she got new books for me. However, she got me the "Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course" lesson book, level 2.
She acknowledged that she had made a mistake, but she said the Faber&Faber Level 2 books were not as good as the Alfred's Level 2 one she got me.
I have two questions. First, looking over the Alfred's book, it is (of course) starting with material that the Faber&Faber one didn't cover. Should I really be switching courses at this point in my learning, or should I stick to the same series of books?
Second, on reviewing the Alfred's book, I don't really like it. It seems to be highly focused on left hand chords, both broken and blocked. The Faber&Faber book was not focused on chords, but on using both hands to play the music, with a few chords thrown in as necessary. I believe that this style of learning is better for me, as it will improve my sight reading and general playing ability in the long run.
Answer:
I'm 21 and started taking piano lessons about two years ago, so I'm in somewhat the same boat as you as an older beginner. I checked out the Alfred book series from my university library and taught myself for a few months before getting a teacher, at which point she recommended the Faber series. Both series are fairly comparable as methods go, but I guess my advice would be to not worry about the book, to trust your teacher's guidance at this point to teach the method with which she is most comfortable and to let her guide your repertoire (after listening to what your musical goals are, of course). I've had a good experience with both books and each will give you a solid foundation in basic piano skills - which is exactly what you need to begin playing "real music". There are differences between them - Alfred may rely more heavily on chords but Faber also introduces the problem of relying on set hand positions (e.g. around middle C) early on. I would recommend that you put in due diligence with these methods for several months and then ask about applying what you've learned to actual music outside of method books (after a while, I feel like playing from these books can get rather old). If you are leaning towards classical training it might be useful to pick up Bach's 2 and 3 part inventions, Chopin's preludes, Debussy's preludes, Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, or Grieg's Lyric Pieces. These works contain many pieces at an easier level that you can work on in your first year or so and will also help to get you out of the method stage. If you're leaning more towards playing popular, religious, or jazz music, picking up a fake book (book with a melody and chords) will be helpful in teaching you to improvise accompaniment to melodies (and getting a book on music theory from your library may help with this as well).
