Just curious -- does anyone else remember learning from these? I'm seeing a lot of people referring to grades and books they're using, but I haven't seen these mentioned. I started going back through my old sheet music, and these are the books I learned from. Are they not used anymore?

I just idly googled for the fingerpower books actually, and experienced a massive wave of nostalgia when I saw the covers. :-) (Of course, the ones I had weren't in German.)

Hi!

I sometimes use the Schaum books, especially for transfer students who have them already. I like his FingerPower books, but do prefer Burnam's Dozen-A-Day series if starting a student from scratch.

Not a fan of Aaron. But Schaum is definitely up there with my methods of choice. I also like Faber & Faber and continue a student on it if they began with it. The Music for Little Mozarts is also quite good for little guys aged 4 & 5.

I use Thompson and Bastian the most.

I enjoy your posts.

Do you think there's any agreed-upon reason why Schaum and Aaron don't seem to be used anymore? Or are they?

Hmmmm. Don't know. I like Schaum almost as much as Thompson and Bastian. But Thompson seems to advance faster. I like his inclusion of classical pieces here and there. But they all do that to an extent.

Perhaps it's what we're used to. I feel close to Thompson because I learned with that method. Through teaching I discovered the other methods and grew fond of Bastian. For one thing, the illustrations really draw little ones in and make them more motivated. Bastian also has a very logical progression through keys. I've only encountered Aaron a couple of times, so at least here on Long Island he's not as popular as some of the others.

For adults, I prefer Bastian's adult course, although I've taught adults with the regular books if they have them already from their child's lessons.

As far as any agreed-upon reason why Schaum and Aaron are less popular, I think once the other teachers post responses we'll find a wide range of opinions, but not necessarily an agreed-upon one.

And one method that is not so good for one student may work like a charm for another. They all have their strong and weak points.

Joan

I can remember the Michael Aaron course...my grandmother bought it for me back in the 70's. I hardly used it. Still kicking myself....

I know for sure I used Thompson and Aaron, and maybe others, because I found them in my stash when I collected things to give to my niece. When I sat down and played them I did remember the tunes, but I don't actually remember the lessons .

Cathy

My teacher uses the first 2 Schaum beginner books (these *were* in German ) for the first 2-3 months, before switching to a book very popular in Germany which I haven't seen mentioned here at all (Russian piano school).

I don't really have good or bad associations with them. They're very firmly aimed at yound children, so I felt a bit odd at times following them, but other than that, they made no lasting impression. The Russian piano school, on the other hand, is one demanding bastard