John W. Schaum Piano Course: A -- The Red Book

WONDERFUL LESSON BOOK

excellent

this series is what I learned piano with when I was a kid. now am teaching my children

My grandkids loved it!

My daughter’s piano instructor uses this book for lessons. She started with the green book and has progressed quickly.

I started piano in 1957, when I was 9 years old. I started on the Schaum Red Book - "A", written in 1945 and progressed through this series until I graduated high school. These are well-done and the course is timeless. I recently started playing again and wanted to see if these new Schaum books are as good as the old ones - and except for the color pictures, the music and teaching philosophy is the same! This is a great series to use to learn to play the piano - or to "re-learn" as I am doing now at the age of 75!

I have used John W Schaum's Piano Course for students of varying ages (grades K - 8) for the past 18 years. I believe the course has a steady and logical progression, which can be easily complimented with other exercises and tools. I will sometimes change the order of songs after #10 and have on occasion skipped #34 - #36 when moving on to B - The Blue Book in this same series. This book follows a Pre A - The Green Book, which I usually use for students 10 and younger. I also use other methods e.g., Michael Aaron, John Thompson, Alfred, and Bastien but I like the John W. Schaum course for most of the age group I teach.

I used this during piano lessons when I was a kid and I'm so glad I was able to buy this again. The songs are fun to play and melodic to listen to. The music theory lessons weaved throughout are also very basic and easy to understand, even for someone in 1st grade. If you have a child using this book, you may even hear them playing songs you recognize after not too long, like simplified versions of "Jingle Bells" and "Ode to Joy." Start 'em while they're young, and they'll remember how to play these songs for the rest of their lives. Totally worth the $5.00 or whatever, if you ask me.