Most of my reviews thus far have been online courses or large course packs you can buy. The market these days is flooded with piano books for beginners, so I looked and discovered a series I found interesting. The books are quite unique, good quality, very informative and great value.
The are known as Piano Time by Pauline Hall
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Price: From £7.49 on Amazon.
£8.95 on Oxford University Press Website.
(All prices at the time of writing)
Requirements: piano or keyboard – weighted keys preferable.
Pros: Traditional tuition book including reading music. Aimed at Young beginners, but anyone can benefit. 45 pages in initial book packed with techniques and songs.
Cons: No accompanying audio or video. Print only book, but a few Audio samples available from Oxford University Press Website.
Suitable For: Beginners, although intermediate players or those looking to refresh their skills may find useful.
Course content : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tutor knowledge/skill : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Customer support :⭐⭐⭐⭐
Value for Money :⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Acumen rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
There are three tuition books available, but I will focus on book 1 for this review.
Other books included in the series include piano pieces 1, 2 & 3, carols and piano time Jazz.
If I had these books when I was a young student, I certainly would have found them invaluable. They teach a traditional method in a unique and fun way.
There is a lot of information and technique included in the 48 pages and is great value for money. I would like to see more support in terms of audio samples.
Including a CD or link to online audio files could be an idea – this has been done before with other material. This may push the costs up and take the theme away from being a traditional, print-only tuition method. Some people may not respond to print only and would prefer interactive learning on a computer or tablet.
But if you would like a good value tuition book, this is a great book and series and one I thoroughly recommend.