Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Faber Graduates

At today's lesson I was assigned the last two pieces for Level 3A.

I can now summarize the entire Level 3A book series: Wow!

First off, there are eight units in these books, and every one has helped teach me very important mid-elementary skills, such as Chromatic Scale, Triplets, Ledger Lines, One-Handed Arpeggios, D Major, etc.

There were many fine and exciting pieces in these books, as well as some by established composers in their original form. So, if you are into Faber and are at the end of PA Level 2, I highly recommend continuing on to 3A.

At this point I'll go quiet to see if anyone out is interested in any more posts here. If not, thanks for listening folks!

Brian, congratulations on your achievement!
Are you going to continue to the 3B or switch to something else?

Congratz Brian, and thanks for the info. I'm coming to the end of PA level 2 and looking forward to 3A.

Thanks to you both!

I will be continuing in the Level 3B (all 4 books) starting next week. In addition, I will be using Faber's Developing Artist series (Book 1) for supplemental material.

The 3B lesson books have six units of study including octaves, several minor keys, and sixteenth notes among other things.

Some of the stuff looks very hard, however I though the same way about the Level 3A book six months ago. Faber has a way of slowly building your skills without any major frustrations or angst.

PFred; I think you will REALLY enjoy 3A. This level does a nice job of transitioning you from early to mid-elementary material. Faber also makes a Preparatory level book in the Developing Artist series. Check it out as well.

Update: Faber has just released second editions of both their Level 3A and Level 3B series of books.

I've scanned through both, and they are worthwhile updates to the series.

Unfortunately for me, I'm already 2 months into Level 3B. Still, the updates are worth while (15 additional pages of material in the Lesson book alone), so I'm getting the new books and semi-starting over.

Both levels also have sight-reading books that go along with the other 4 books in each series.

And no, I don't work for Faber...

In October, I started teaching myself from Alfreds all in one. Then in January, I started taking a group piano class that uses Fabers Adult Piano Adventures I.

I just finished it last week. Because much of the material was a review from self teaching Alfreds, I was able to make some fast progress through it. What was nice about Fabers was that there weren't any nightmare pieces like the infamous Alfred's Blow the Man Down.

The music is also much better. Even in the beginning there was a simple rendition of Largo that was really pretty.

I've started Faber adult Piano Adventures 2, and I'm finding it takes a lot more practice, but there are still some nice pieces.

That's good news about the new 3A & 3B books. I'm almost done with Adult Piano Adventures Levels 1 & 2 and apparently the the next level is 3B! I'll probably get both because I really want my fundamentals to be solid.

I've enjoyed the Faber books, their method clicked with me right away. I like that the Adult PIano Adventure books move at a faster pace than regular books, it's great for a returning adult student.

I also highly recommend using Piano Maestro's "Method Match" exercises for Faber, it will take you through level 3A. I did the Piano Maestro Faber exercises first to get my music reading up to speed. And when I started on the Faber books, I was able to sight-read the exercises faster, which let me focus more on the theory & technique presented in the books. Very, very exciting.

It will be approximately 2 months getting to level 3A using the Faber Adult PA books and the Piano Maestro app. Honestly, it's really one of the best times to learn Piano, the resources are amazing!

Thanks for the update, I'm right at the end of Faber Accelerated Adventures for the Older Beginner Book 2. I'm about to start the Fmaj scale next week and then on to 3A I imagine. I will make sure that I get the new version.
Fred

F Major scale eh? I believe the core piece for that unit is Brahms Lullaby, a very nice adapted version that was one of my favorites.

When start 3A let me know how things are going. My wife is also near the end of level 2, should be starting 3A in May.

Just hang in there and take your time on each piece, especially the exercises. Faber really know show to build skills slowly over time so that harder material is doable, albeit with a bit more practice time required.

Thanks for the Piano Maestro tip, I'll check it out!

Hi All,

It is great to stumble upon this site after looking for a Faber related site that was a bit up to date.

A bit of background:
A couple of years ago I graduated from Alfred Adult piano book 1. I did not move on to Book 2 for a few reasons:
1. I found progress quite hard
2. Because it was so hard I would often only manage one piece per week and could only play it properly after I had subconsciously memorized it.
3. I found this process hampering my ability to sight-read
4. It was too chord-based which meant your left hand was not getting trained enough

I decided I need to fix this inability to sight-read and so joined an online piano course called Sight Reading Factory. That website generates random pieces of music; it gives you the option of setting the level, scales, etc. The pieces are quite musical and since you only play it once there is no chance to memorize it. I got through level 3 (there are 4 level) after about a 3/4 of a year and then decided that it was time to go back to a methods books.

While browsing this site I stumbled upon the Faber series and after reading great things about it (especially how very smooth progress is) I decided to give it a go. I got Levels 1 & 2 Accelerated Piano adventures Lesson books. I found I could easily sight read the pieces, albeit at a slow pace and got excited. I got even more excited when I realized there were 3 more accompanying books that are a must i.e. techniques & artistry, performance and theory. Feeling that I may have missed some nuggets of info on technique and artistry in book 1 I decided to get that book for level 1 and the three accompanying books for level 2. I spent a couple of months on just the techniques and artistry book of level 1 and I can't emphasize how useful that was.

I am now 1/4 of the way through level 2 and using all four books. I find it quite easy to get through the pieces of three books (not theory) in the hour of practice I put in each day. I try not to practice a piece too often at one time or I would memorize it. It helps that the Faber pieces are short. I practice the pieces of each chapter for one week before moving on to the next chapter. I find this works at the moment. Once things get a bit tougher I may have to change this timetable. I always play both hands at a time, even if it is at a very slow tempo; from what I understand this helps in increasing your ability to sight read. My aim is not just to be able to play the piece properly but also to slowly enhance my ability to process all the information in the music sheet (music notes, dynamics, speed, etc.) without memorizing.

The theory book has a lot of sections which require you to play on the fly while a teacher is accompanying you. A very gifted guy on another site got around this problem by learning the extremely difficult teachers part and recording it and then playing with the recording as accompaniment. I don't think i have that sort of ability and so I am looking for a way. I looking at some music score apps for my ipad where I could write the piece and the app would play back but I am not sure how difficult it is to write the piece on the app or if there is another solution out there. Any suggestions?

I plan to finish Level 2 it about 4 months and then move on to the general 3A series; I have already bought the books for both 3a and 3b and can't wait to get to these.

Regards

Mario

Welcome Mario to this thread!

One comment; make sure your Level 3A and 3B books are the brand new second editions.

Update: My Level 3B books (second edition) came today.

I spent three hours sorting out the changes and transferring my piece history and teacher notes from the first edition books.

In a nutshell:

1) There are now seven units (up from 6) and 16 more pages in the lesson book.
2) The two units I have been studying for 7 weeks have been expanded and re-ordered (The "Octave" unit is now fourth in the new lesson book, instead of the first in the older version). The new unit is E Minor.
3) There are 6 pieces in the second edition that I have either passed or was currently studying in the first. Two are original form, so no changes there. However, the other four have been slightly simplified. It is interesting to note that I actually passed the harder versions of two pieces (yay!) and the other two I need to re-learn a bit.
4) The notes and text are now slightly bigger, easier to read without reading glasses.
5) Several mistakes that I have discovered in the older versions have been corrected.

Man, they better not come out the third edition while I'm still studying the second.

Hi Brian,

Unfortunately I bought them some time ago and so they are the older versions.


Regards

Mario

Hi Brian,

Thanks for letting us know what has been updated.

Quick question for you.
In the accelerated books I can't seem to find the tempo to be playing the song at? All I see is instructions to progress from andante to moderato to allegro. What are the tempo ranges of these?

Regards

Mario

Hi Mario;

For the accelerated books Faber decided to give only general instructions for the tempo. On my metrnome andante is roughly between 80-100, moderato 100-132, allegro 132-168, presto 168-200.

Once you move up to Level 3A and beyond, many pieces have a tempo range. For example, a quarter note gets between 100 and 112 beats per minute.

My guess is the more you advance in the series, the more specific tempo instructions you are given.

Thanks for your response regarding tempo Brian.

How is everyone doing? It is a bit quiet in here. I guess all you guys are busy practicing rather than waste time here

This is pretty active for this thread actually.

I'll have more comments about the new second editions once my teacher returns next week.