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Just finished the Adult Piano Adventures book 2 and getting ready to order the new 3B book! Took me approx. 3 months to get to this stage. With all my self-learning activities and my teacher's guidance I feel very confident about moving to intermediate level repertoire.

My teacher suggested that I spend the next few months really getting comfortable playing A LOT of music at the intermediate level with a lot of attention to musicality. So the plan is to get songbooks like the Faber Developing Artist series and just sight-read 1-3 pieces a day, making a list of the ones I'd like to develop more fully.

Fantastic Groove On!

First off, this a great time to start Level 3B with the second edition books hot off the press. There is a lot more material (16 more pages in the Lesson book alone), and it is better organized.

The Developing Artist series is very good as well, although I've only learned a few pieces so far in Book 1. What is interesting is that the piece I'm currently learning in the Lesson book is also in DA Book 2.

So 3B really encompasses both Book 1 and 2 in the DA series. There is also a Sonatina DA series of books. Book 1 goes well with 3B.

Check it out, and let us know how you are doing with your 3B assignments. Half of the 8 pieces I've worked on so far have been relatively easy to master, the other four have been quite difficult.

Hi,

I have been reading other past posts on this forum and there does seem to be some confusion as to what level of the regular series to progress to when you complete the Adult book 2 i.e. whether to progress to 3B or 3A (there is an overlap between book 2 and 3A). The majority seem to favour moving to 3A as moving to 3B seems to leave a gap in between.

You may want to word search these discussions.

Regards

Mario

I was curious to know the following:

How long did you practice each day?

How often did you practice each day?

How much time did you spend on each chapter before moving on (1 week, 2 weeks, etc.)?

Did you use 1, 2, 3 or 4 of Faber's books for each level and which books (Lesson, performance, technique&artistry, theory)?

Did you practice each piece till you were perfect (note, tempo, dynamics, etc)?

How did having a teacher help? (did he/she help you with your technique, hints to overcome difficult parts, body position, etc.)


Regards

Mario

This is not a exact science, although if you go to Faber's own website and download their 2015 catalog, they imply after completing Adult all-in-one Level2, you proceed to Level 3B. However, if you study the Accelerated PA for older adults (like we did) you progress to Level 3A.

Hi Mario. Here are my answers to your questions.

1) 1-2 hours per day
2) Once a day for 1 hour, twice a day for 2 hours
3) I move on to different units in the books after my teacher tell me to.
4) We use all four books for each level, no exceptions.
5) I usually spend the first few days learning the correct notes of a new piece. The fine-tuning of each piece is done with the assistance of my teacher, and can vary as far as how long it takes before I "pass" the piece.
6) For long-term success, a teacher is a MUST. She/he will help in all regards.

How long did you practice each day?
1-3 hours

How often did you practice each day?
Once-a-day

How much time did you spend on each chapter before moving on (1 week, 2 weeks, etc.)?3-4 chapters units a week

Did you use 1, 2, 3 or 4 of Faber's books for each level and which books (Lesson, performance, technique&artistry, theory)?
The Adult Piano Adventure books are self-contained and combine all that. Also, I was leap-frogging a lot of the information in the books because of lessons and other self-study activities. So I didn't need to add any additional Faber books. But I do plan on buying several of the Faber repertoire books: BigTime, Advanced and Developing Artist series.

Did you practice each piece till you were perfect (note, tempo, dynamics, etc)?
Yes, I practiced until I got the tempo, notes and dynamics right, and then moved on. I didn't memorize the pieces. ***n.b. I completed the Piano Maestro app before starting the books and am already practicing scales & arpeggios musically so I was able to read & play the pieces pretty quickly.

How did having a teacher help? (did he/she help you with your technique, hints to overcome difficult parts, body position, etc.)
My teacher uses repertoire to teach. And his lessons focus on musicality, interpretation and guidance to develop as a musician, so a lot of stuff in the lessons are not in the method books. He encouraged me to use the Faber books as a self-study project to make sure my fundamentals were really solid. But he likes to say, "our lessons are for the good stuff, save the books for your practice time".

Hi,

One of my big fears in engaging a teacher is that the teacher will veer me off the Faber course which I so love. I did lessons for about 6 months but a lot of the things in the Faber books were barely covered by my teacher; and it was certainly not slow and gradual. I would get a somewhat difficult piece and then take it home and learn it; because it was difficult I would end up memorizing it to a large degree not purposely but subconsciously. Also the teacher would jump about with the pieces in terms of difficulty and the scale of the piece.

Brian how did you approach your teacher to strictly follow the Faber path?

Groove On what do you mean by teaching by repertoire and that the teacher would focus on musicality, interpretation and guidance (over and above what Faber books do)?
Also how exactly did Piano Maestro help you over and above what you would gain by the methods book or for that matter from a teacher.

Regards

Mario

He has more of a musician's approach, we go through pieces like we're going to play them, and it's more about how to apply the fundamentals from the method books to bring out the music. For example, he'll have me play through at an acceptable level, then he'll have me pick out the chord progressions and then have me go through slowly and improvise parts of the piece against the chord progression. If I'm weak in a fundamental skill, he'll assign practice exercises and say go find it and study it in your books, I'll test you next week. Right now he's assigned several exercises and self-study books for bringing out the melody.

I should say he doesn't teach complete beginners, he took me on as a returning adult because I already had some fundamentals under my belt. And he encourages and guides my self-study to get my fundamentals solid. He and I had a long conversation about this when I first started, he said he is always practicing and studying himself and expects the same from his students. It's more of a master-apprentice relationship vs. a teacher-student.


Piano Maestro is a practice tool for reading music. It's designed like a video game and guides you from elementary to early intermediate level, a little past the reading level of "shifting-hand" positions (approximately 3A/3B in the Faber books).

I started it before I found my teacher, so I finished it on my own. I signed up for 1 year and it still gives me lots of new songs to read so I use still use it for practice.

The main benefit of the game is it gives you immediate feedback on accuracy and rhythm and then assigns you stars for your grade. So it acts like a fun little mini-taskmaster during your practice time, you know what you got wrong and you know what you need to do to get it right. I found myself going back again and again to make sure I got the 3 gold stars for each piece/exercise. Which ends up being a whole lot of extra self-motivated practice time. Just what the doctor err... teacher ordered. Please note, it doesn't test for musicality (dynamics, articulation etc.), that's where the teacher comes in.

Additionally, before any that, I had done a lot of self-study to get my scales, arpeggios and basic chord progressions under my belt with Scale Bootcamp & Karen Ramirez's First Aid Chord Kit.

Back ON TOPIC
To bring everything back ON TOPIC, the Faber Adult PA 1 & 2 books were a good way for me to test myself and see if I really understood the concepts I had been practicing and studying.

Mario,
1) About 2 hours (I don't time my sessions, just work until I'm comfortable)

2) Three times a day: right after breakfast, mid-afternoon and early evening. (I'm retired)

3) Generally one week per lesson.

4) I use five of the books, the four you mentioned(Lesson, performance, technique&artistry, theory) and Sight-Reading.

5) I doubt that I'll ever be perfect, I practice until I'm pleased with it.

6) Tempo is where I need her help the most, hints and tips on technique are worth it as well.

Fred

Thanks PFred! I forgot to mention, Levels 3A and 3B now have sight-reading supplements as well.

Thanks for all your answers. Looks like my 1 hour a day is woefully inadequate. I may have to negotiate at work to work from home one day of the week to bump up my piano lessons (time spent on dressing up and travelling could be used more productively in learning the piano).

Also I would like to get a teacher but I am terribly independent and a self learner and I am afraid of getting veered off the Faber way. I may still get one if he or she is willing to just see how I play and guide me on how to play to Faber pieces.

Fred I wish I was in your shoes and retired. What exactly does the sight reading book teach you? For example are there any hints on how to sight read.

From what I understand piano teachers seem to hate any methods books and it seems to somehow makes them feel inadequate as a teacher if they have to instruct using books using techniques and the progression laid down in the books.

The thought process seems to be:
If I have to follow Faber word to word to teach this fellow then how will I look...I'll look like a teacher who does not really know how to teach and so must follow a book....Also I have taught my way for years....I ain't gonna change for this fellow.

Hi Mario;

Not all teachers feel this way.

My teacher has been at it for over 40 years, and for beginners she is a firm believer in the various Faber books.

However, most of the important learning is "between the lines" of our various books. Not all pieces are learned, and I am working on supplemental material as well.

Her five most advanced adult students are well beyond method books. This is a place I hope to be as well in a few years or so.

But so far, the combination of the Faber books, my teacher's instruction, and my consistent practice schedule have been very successful.

Mario,
The sight reading books are tied to the Lesson Book. There are a set of five variations to the main lesson piece.
The idea is to do a variation a day between lessons. You can read more about it at this link, as well as viewing a sample (two options to view at the bottom of the page)

http://pianoadventures.com/news/sightreading-books-for-the-older-beginner.html

Fred

The trick to practice is to get away from being time-oriented. Set goals instead then it becomes about the results of your practice.

Online there are lots of Alfred learners, but many of the teachers I spoke with in person used the Faber series. The mileage may vary in your area but it's a very popular method outside of the Internet forums.

Frankly, I'm shocked at how many students are practicing 1+ hours a day!

When I started lessons last fall my teacher suggested 30 minutes, 5-6 days a week. She said I'd probably play longer some days and less others, but 30 minutes was a good average to shoot for. (I'm 58, retired and I've returned to playing after decades away from playing the piano.)

That was 7 months ago and I'm still averaging about 30 minutes a day.

Am I short-changing myself? I don't think the level I'm playing requires hours and hours of practice each week, but perhaps I'm fooling myself? I thought once I could play my assigned lessons smoothly I don't need to keep hammering away at them multiple times each session. The first few times I play through something new I might work on it a bit longer, but once I have it down I usually don't play it more than twice through each practice. Sometimes I'll go back and play a few pieces or lessons that I've already finished just to give me more to play, but not always.

I don't try to practice a certain amount of time, but rather I strive to improve something with each piece that I play. Even so, I typically find that my daily practice runs about 30 ... maybe 40 minutes (tops) each day.

Maybe I need to ask my teacher about this again?

I think that 30 minutes a day is fine when you are just starting out. That's probably about as much time I spent.

However, as I moved on from Level 1 through 3B, the pieces got much harder, and required a lot more time to master them. The 1-2 hours per day helps me to continue moving through the four books without spending several months on one unit.

Sometimes we can practice several times in the day, a little now a little later. I can't be for long at the piano or I start doing it worse.

Albunea,
If or when you desire a bit longer lasting sessions, it can help to simply do things that feel different. Maybe work on a new piece, then when you start to find your performance degrading shift gears and work on old repertoire, or technical exercises, or ear training, or etc...