I believe that the Berklee College of Music used to publish a Modern Method for Keyboard (I'm not talking about the Berklee Practice Method for Keyboard). Has anyone used this, and if so, could you provide feedback? Also, this Method is not currently offered on Berklee's Web site, although there is a reference to it. Does anyone know whether it's even still available? I just sent an e-mail to Berklee but figured I might get a faster response here.

Markb,

I purchased the 3 volumes about a year ago. They are definately not intended for self study and appear to be only class workbooks. There is no real explanations or guidance which obviously comes from a teacher (directly or online).

Rodney

Thanks, Rodney. Last year, I took group guitar lessons for about 5 months, and we used Berklee's Modern Method for Guitar. Although it's definitely not for people with no musical background, it seemed like I'd be able to get through at least some of it without a teacher. I have more of a piano background, so I was thinking maybe I could go through the keyboard method by myself to supplement my lessons.

I'm just curious, though, about its approach. Is it a classical approach? If not, how does it differ?

It's been a while since I looked at the books so I'll pull them out when I get home tonight and get back to you tomorrow with some details.

Rodney

FWIW, Berklee responded to my inquiry and said that the Keyboard Method was recently discontinued.

Does anyone know of methods for popular (I suppose as opposed to classical) piano?

markb,

sorry for taking so long to get back to you but I forgot to check on Wednesday. I had a look last night and I would say that the content is similar to other method books but completely devoid of any explanatory text. It simply appears to be a collection of progressively more difficult material (exercises, and short & long method pieces). Interestingly, due to the absence of text, there is a LOT more material to work with than your typical Faber or Alfreds books.

Thinks for reminding me that I had these. I think I'll take another look and perhaps work through that material as it appears to be VERY well thought out.

BTW:

While Berkley Press may no longer produce the material, it is still available from several online vendors who have old stock.

Rodney

Thanks for getting back to me, Rodney. I wonder why Berklee discontinued them.