WP230 - Piano for the Young Beginner - Primer A Paperback – January 1, 1987

Very good guide to teaching young children how to play piano starting with the most rudimentary basics. The book begins with how to sit correctly at the piano, moves on to hand positions and the numbering of each finger, and ends with some basic songs for the student to play using both bass and treble clef (though not yet at the same time).It teaches the notes in separate, digestible lessons, and is very helpful to someone like me, who, in trying to teach my 6-year old niece piano, was struggling in teaching her how to count out the notes in a way she understood and found engaging. The first few lessons use numbers for the fingers to introduce the notes before then moving on to teaching the notes as they appear in sheet music. It focuses on the spatial difference between the notes to introduce them instead of how they appear in sheet music, which is something I liked and think is great for someone just starting out.Every page also has great illustrations that really add to the quality of the book as a whole. They aid in teaching, such as showing children how to sit correctly; and they also help convey the feeling of the songs in the book through visual representation. Hence, the illustrations are not only nice cosmetic additions to the book, but they also add another layer of conceptual understanding.This book is a great guide to anyone who wants to teach their child how to play piano using core concepts that they can truly understand. Teaching a child how to play any instrument without any kind of guidance, regardless of how well you yourself may play the instrument, is challenging. Keeping them truly engaged while you talk to them about a sheet with lines and dots is almost impossible, and whether they truly understand what you are teaching them can be questionable. This book not only engages children with its friendly and familiar approach—large text and cartoon drawings—but also acts as a great guide to teach children how to truly understand the core musical concepts on which to build later on.

My 9 year old daughter just started taking piano lessons last year, so we purchased this Piano for the Young Beginner Primer A paperback book for her. Her piano teacher, who has been playing and teaching the piano for 20 years, highly recommends Bastein books for learning on. This is the only brand we will buy for our daughter since she is learning so easily with them. The book has pretty good illustrations too. These songs are easy for her to master and are helping her grow at a good pace. It took her a couple months to master all the songs. The levels of the book make it easy to figure out which book to buy next.Songs:- Two Black Cats- Marching Song- Rain Rain- Jumping Frogs- Clouds- Halloween- On the Swing- Mary's Lamb- Snow in Winter- Ducks on the Pond- Old MacDonald- At the Zoo- On the Merry-Go-Round- Turtles- Jack and Jill- The Bell Tower- My Pet- Seagulls- At the Circus- Stepping Up and Down- Hide and Seek- Hot Air Balloon- Pat-a-Cake- Boat Ride- Jogging Dogs- Night Owl- Pirates- Baseball Game- My Hobbyhorse- Jack Be Nimble- Yankee Doodle- Thanksgiving Holidays- Autumn Leaves- Our Snowman- Christmas Trees- Jolly Old Saint NicholasI'd be happy to answer any questions you might have to help you figure out if this is a book that might work for you. Thank you for taking time to read my review. If it was helpful, please click on the "yes" button below. :)

Great fir the price abd very educative. My 7 years old beginning pianist is doing great. Qell recommended

This is a great first step in the piano learning journey. I grew up playing and wanted to start my 5 yr old with some easy learning at home and she’s really enjoyed it! Easy for her to learn and easy for me to teach!

Fácil de entender. Gracias

This was a great first piano book. I am teaching my three kids to play piano at home. I am not a music teacher but I know how to play piano so I thought I would save myself some money by teaching them at home. I was a little hesitant because this book at first does not show the notes on the staff at all. I don't remember that from when I was learning but then, I learned very young and perhaps I don't remember. The kids had a great time with it though and at the end of the book the student is transitioned to reading from the staff which really did work well for them. They were able to start playing very quickly which kept their interest. And at the end they transitioned to reading from the staff which was very satisfying for me. I was very happy with this book! And, my kids did transition from this to the next level which really shows that this first book was what they needed to introduce them the piano and keep their interest.

I used this book series as a kid and now I am using it with my 4 year old! The big notation, simple instructions and cute pictures makes this a winner. But a couple things I wish were different: that they used more songs that the kids would know, and I wish they put the notes on the staff right from the beginning. But overall it’s good and has kept my son engaged.

I originally bought the other bastien primer book, the pink one, for my four-year-old, and felt it was a little over her head. I didn't realize they made a primer book for younger children. This one is rated for 5-7 year olds, and it works really well for my four-year-old who is musically inclined. I would recommend this for young beginners. And if you do the red A and B primer books, you can go straight into level one without having to buy the pink primer book as well.