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Hi there!

Does anyone follow a piano teaching method which also includes learning to compose, and playing by ear right from the start? And perhaps moves into reading music a bit later?

Something that combines composition and piano playing right from the start?

Thanks!

Hello,

You will likely get more responses on the Adult Beginners forum or the Piano Teacher's forum.

Personally, I've learned to play the piano by ear, and have never had a formal lesson with a teacher one-on-one. However, now that I'm old and over-the-hill, in hind sight I'm not so sure that is the best approach. With that said, I have had a lot of fun with the self-learning approach. Thing is, we all learn from others, whether directly or indirectly, so it is not like we are born knowing how to play the piano. We learn from others in various ways, besides the one-on-one approach.

Back to your questions, I like the Piano Guy, Scott Houston (Play piano in a flash). He has a great personality, demeanor and uses humor in a positive way. Here is his website. http://www.scotthouston.com/

He's actually a member of Piano World and has posted a few times.

Good luck!

Rick

What was used on me, long ago as a youngster, was Palmer/Lethco's "Creating Music at the Piano" series. This method was unique, at the time, for including lots of theory and some very rudimentary composition with a "landmark" approach (which helps students map what's written on the score to the keyboard). It was (somewhat ruinously, IMHO) converted, starting in the 80s, into some of the other Palmer/Manus/Lethco books.

In any event, the composition elements really didn't stick with me, and I am a dyed-in-the-wool, classical note reader. 😀

Teaching does seem to be currently addressing the need for more composition and improvisation ability in piano students, but it generally seems to be taking time. Suzuki approach delays note reading until other skills are developed?

Blake Neely's "How to Play from a Fake Book" is similar to Mr. Houston's approach with more reliance on prior note reading experience.