Those of you in the Faber books, if you are looking for Christmas music, I heartily recommend their Christmas For All Time Book 2. The arrangements are great - the arrangement of "Oh Holy Night" alone is worth the price of the book.

newbie here, both to the piano and to piano world. noticed alfred's was the dominant book used here. I am using faber and I do like most of the songs in it. I am currently working on Vive la France. I have been taking lessons for 4 months now with a great teacher and having a lot of fun. I was wondering about book 2 as well. Is it as good as the first? How does everyone feel after they finish both books? Can you sightread pretty well, or is it still just the basics? I don't expect to be a concert pianist, but I would like to be able to sit down and play some songs that are "real", as my wife calls them. Hopefully this thread stays active.

Hi posted awhile back about using Faber books. I have moved away from them as I decided to pursue RCM and now I am mostly working out of those books. However just last week I went back to the Faber books and found them to be fun and I like the arrangements Alot. I recently got bogged down in some of my scales and studies and decided I needed a break. The Faber books are fun and musical. I love them so much I got the Big Time Level 4 Christmas book last week. Some really great arrangements in there and my teacher says they are just at my level.

I still have gaps in technique and want to go back to some earlier books to get tips and technique. My teacher explains things but having the books helps me lots. My only guess about your teacher not wanting to move to the next book may be because she feels you will be bored. If you liked book 1 I'm guessing you will like book 2.

It took me about 4 months to go through book 1 of adult beginners. I worked really hard on getting through it as quickly as possible. However, I don't think it should be a race. I would recommend that you spend as much time as you and your teacher decide to spend on it. If you don't understand a particular section, what's the point in moving on? I am currently working on Adult Piano Adventures All In One Book 2. It includes the Solo, Technique, and Theory books in one book. It also includes a CD (although I still haven't played it!) I have been working on this book for about 8 months. I am finding that I am still learning quite a bit, even though I find the pieces very easy.

The All In One (Book 2) seems to combine book 2 and book 3, but I am not 100% certain. The interesting thing is that there is not an All in One Book 3. I'm not sure where I should go next! I am also using other Faber books (Performance level 3 and 4 and Bigtime Christmas) for practicing sight reading. I find the pieces more interesting and challenging.

thanks for those replies! and @mtaylor. I watched your hark the herald angel, and I hope to be able to do that at some point! I'm fighting the urge to "treat it like a race". I want to progress rapidly, but I know I should learn all I can at each step. thanks again!

Michael Taylor, I checked my Adult and Regular PA books and it looks like Regular PA 4 would be a good level after Adult 2. If you wanted more practice before moving up you could go to regular PA 3B.

If you want to know the contents of the regular books by level for comparison, let me know and I'll post them here.

@PianoStudent88....thanks. My piano teacher also recommended that I move to the level 4 book next. It will likely be another 2 or 3 months before I finish the All In One Book2. I am going at a much slower pace through book 2.

@DJ.....good luck and thanks for watching the video. I am planning to learn 5 songs from the Faber BigTime Christmas (Level 4.) I will post each one after I can play it (without that darn little red dot distracting me!) I can play 3 so far. I have not yet recorded Carol of the Bells.....I like it, but it isn't quite as musical as the Hark! The Herald Angels or The First Noel. I have been working on O Holy Night for about 1 week. I hope to be able to play it reasonable well by the end of the week.

I am learning What Child Is This and Carol if the Bells. I really like both. Took a look at Silent Night as well. I really like these arrangements. I can see me doing several in the next couple of weeks. Maybe we should put them in a special Christmas piano bar?

@Zoe.....Christmas Piano bar sounds good to me. I think my submission will be O Holy Night. I really like that one! I will try Silent Night. I agree, I think the arrangement are awesome!

Hi Everyone,

I've posted a few times on behalf of my son-- over on the teachers forum. But now I find myself here for me. I have been attempting to learn piano along with my children. My oldest is working on Faber Piano Adventures Level 3A. I can play about half of the pieces-- mainly the slower paced material. My left hand gets lost when I try the faster songs. I am NOT profecient at reading music for the left hand (bass)-- probably from a limited history of playing clarinet-- treble clef.

When my son brought home Level 3A Xmas book I was excited to see O Holy Night. I can play it perfectly now after a few days of practice. But it started to sound a bit elementary to me and I wondered what the next level up would sound like. I found Michael Taylors youtube video for level 4 and was so inspired (you play wonderfully). I went out and bought the book.

Alas-- I am having a hard time!. It's just the first day but... How long before you were able to master some of these songs in the level 4 Xmas book? Maybe I'm just not ready yet.

Thanks for the positive feedback! Some of the pieces are easier than others, but I take the same approach to all of them. I play the right hand separately. The right hand part is generally pretty simple. For the left hand section, I look for patterns. Generally, there are only a few chords in each song that repeat over and over (see O Holy Night.) The other tactic is using a metronome to help set the tempo (start slow and increase speed.) Given the way the chords are broken up, keeping the tempo becomes easier once you get used to playing both hands. I have learned 4 pieces from the book. It took about 1 week for each piece before I was able to play proficiently. O Holy Night was the most difficult for me. One last thing, I add/change certain parts of the piece, so my play doesn't necessarily match the sheet music.

Good Luck!

Thanks so much for your advice. I've got the right hand mastered as it's essentially the same from 3A. In fact there are sections that are identical even with the left hand. I'm having trouble keeping a nice pace with the left hand in addition to reaching all the notes so I have taken your suggestion and have begun using the metronome. Over time I may come to some version that is pleasing.

this is a great thread I am starting work on big time piano level 3a-3b and this has encouraged me to get the adult all in one volume 2
indeed I believe when you finish this book I should be at level two
I believe this book is equivalent to the john thompson book two and three.
I was a john thompson advocate but the level three book was monotonous the songs all sounded the same to me.

one thing I will give to the original john thompson course is the etude selections which seem to not be available anymore.

I am going to go to Faber because I need songs that are interesting to play I am 44 and have little tolerance to just do exercises
if Faber adult book prepares me for a true fourth grade leve then I will be very happy indeed

and for material you can always buy a intermediate folio of songs at the 3rd grade level to give you more to munh on.

I'm told that the adult all in one includes 3a and 3b. It may not be worthy your money.

maduro, when you say "true fourth grade level", every series, and every rating scheme, varies a little bit in its levels.

If you're just starting work on the Faber & Faber BigTime piano books, then I think (contra Michael Taylor) that the Adult All-In-One Book 2 is a good choice. As Michael Taylor says, it covers Piano Adventures levels 3a and 3b and prepares you for Piano Adventures level 4. It will give more explanation and reinforcement of what you're seeing in the BigTime books, including some (but not onerously many) exercises to solidify certain skills.

But we're basically saying the same thing: it overlaps the skills tested in your BigTime books.

I see the overlap as good, because it goes into the material in more specificity and I always think that's good. Michael sees it as maybe not worth it, precisely because it's similar material.

I went to the Faber website and read through the catalog at Piano Adventures.com

I'm wondering if my plan to skip book 3a/3b is a good idea. The website basically points you to book three after completing All In One book 2. I'm not interested in skipping any material. I've taught billiards in the past. Everyone wants to skip the basics and learn trick shots, bank shots, etc.....all the exciting stuff. Fundamentals are important. That being said, I think I will get a little bored with book 3, as much of the material in book 2 is a little slow for me. What keeps me going is that I am still learning new things each week. I keep my excitement level up by learning more complex pieces.

Michael Taylor, the link in your post doesn't seem to go the the Faber Teacher's Guide you mention, and I can't find anything on the pianoadventures.com website that talks about what level follows Adult Book 2.

maduro, I have to correct what I said. The Piano Adventures website says that the BigTime level, which you say you're doing, corresponds to PA 4, not PA 3A/3B. So I agree with Michael Taylor that Adult Book 2 may not have much new material for you. On the other hand, you may find tidbits in there that you haven't seen before. You can always use it for sight-reading practice.

Regarding whether Adult Book 2 should really be followed by PA 3A, 3B, or 4: based on the chapter titles PA 4 would follow. But it may be that to truly master the 3A/3B material in Adult Book 2 you need more time with it, in which case PA 3A or 3B would be better to do next.

I tried asking this on the pianoadventures forums but got no reply for the Adult books. And I do seem to recall once seeing there (but can't find it again) something saying PA 4 was not always the best follow-on to Adult 2, and 3A or 3B would be better.

Hello everybody!

I just started the Adult All-In-One Book 1 last night after unpacking and putting together my new Kawai CN43 digital piano. I taught myself to play keyboard as a kid, (I'm now 31), just playing melodies on the right hand and block chords on the left. I played trumpet all through highschool and guitar for the last ten years. My classic rock band just broke up so I decided to finally learn to properly play the piano, (without a teacher for now).

I'm solid on music theory and can read and play treble clef music pretty well, but learning to read bass clef and use my left hand independently is going to be my first big challenge.

In the couple hours I've been able to play, I got to page 53 or so in Book 1 but I'm going to hit a wall real soon as soon as the left hand stuff picks up.

Hopefully we can keep this thread going because I'm sure I'll need help as I get going over the coming weeks and months.

I too was curious about where to go after Adult Book 2, but I won't have to worry about that for a while...

Sorry about the bad link. My iPad and I don't get along well some days! If you open the catalog (from the Faber website) and go to page 4. There is a nice diagram that shows how the adult piano adventures matches up with the Piano Adventure series. I guess I will be doing book 3. I will likely try to pick up the pace. I was really looking forward to book 4, but I guess it will be a little bit more time before I get there.

With so many Faber students here, there is no need for the CD's! Post some videos!

Welcome, Dio666! Looking forwad to hearing your progress and cheering you on.

Michael Taylor, thanks for pointing me to the Catalog/Teacher's Reference. I'll be interested to hear what you think of Level 3. I find the biggest challenge n the regular PA pieces to be the speed at which it's suggested to play them.

@PianoStudent.....do you find them too slow or too fast?

Too fast! I read the Teacher Guide/Catalog last night, and was intrigued by the information about level 3B and playing fast. In particular, new to me was that one of the goals in practicing slow is to practice the gestures that you'll need to play fast.

I adore the PA emphasis on gesture, and I wish my piano teacher did more of that with me. I'll ask her about it. Maybe I'm doing it all perfect already, .

Aha, at last! A reply on the pianoadventures forum about what follows Adult Book 2:

+1

I just bit the bullet on adult book two I am using this to replace thompson book three
and I am already curious how to follow
what you say makes sense going to 3b
I wouldnt mind doing that before going on to book 4
great compromise

I just picked up the accelerated learning books for the "older" beginner. It's meant for teens but I liked its content better than Alfred or the adult books. I have book 1 and 2. I can play minimal songs with bh, but sight reading is a chore. So I'm on page 10 right now. Just clapping out rythms and trying to keep with it on the keyboard. I have no rythm at all. The quarter notes seem to tangle me up really bad for some reason. I'm also practicing other songs seperately so should be interesting.

Becca

After today's lesson, I have decided that I am definitely moving to book 3 next. I just don't know if I should move to 3a or 3b. I have come to realize that my site reading ability still needs a lot of work.

I have played several pieces from the level 4 books (the Christmas pieces, and Canon in D, and Hungarian Dance) but it takes a good amount of practice to be able to play them fluidly. I have played a few pieces from the level 3 books such as (America The Beautiful) which I righteously bombed in my very first recital!

BeccaBb, the Accelerated sounds like a good choice. Good luck with your rhythm practice. Let us know how it goes.

Michael Taylor, if I were wanting to improve my reading, I would go with 3A to get really rock-solid at that level and to increase the amount of reading practice I'd have before ultimately getting to 4. Among other things, 3A introduces the Alberti bass pattern that you'll see in a lot of classical music, so it's a good source for practice in reading it.

Re-revising my thoughts: I'll check the overlap between pieces in the Adult Book 2 vs. 3A (and 3B) when I get home.

The All in One book 2 also introduces the Alberti bass. I don't mind the repetition, but I hope it's not the exact same pieces!

OK, the count is in.

Level 3A Lesson has 22 pieces, 12 of which appear in Adult 2, including most if not all of my favorites from 3A.

Level 3A Performance has 15 pieces, 1 of which appears in Adult 2.

Level 3B Lesson has 18 pieces, 5 1/2 of which appear in Adult 2. (The 1/2 is House of the Rising Sun, which is arranged in 3B and in lead sheet format in Adult 2.)

Level 3B Performance has 14 pieces, 1 of which appears in Adult 2.

The Technique and Artistry books give several more, slightly shorter, pieces, along with lots of exercises to practice the technique secrets for each level. One teacher I've read talks about these as the core of the PA method, with the Lesson and Performance books existing to provide practice with the good technique promoted in the T&A books.