Any piano teachers out there?

[Liziz]

Anyone here teach piano? We got a piano shortly before everything closed down from COVID. We got the piano for me, but my DDs have both been incredibly interested and love playing around with it. I want to put them in lessons, but think it's going to be a long time before I'm willing to do that right now, as cases are going up in my area, and the general attitude is anti-mask (the one piano teacher I'd planned to use prior to pandemic is staunchly anti-mask and I won't send my kids to her house).

I'm a passable player -- I just play for myself and for the happiness it brings me, but in my childhood I had years of lessons. In normal times I wouldn't consider teaching my kids myself, but at this point I'd like to get them started in some planned way, using a lesson book. I'm wondering if anyone here can recommend a lesson book series to use with an 8 year old and a 5 year old (I recognize it might not be the same book for both ages) that might work for me to start using with them at home to teach them a little more formally.

(Also, I know there's lots of online lesson options these days, but I'm not too excited about those because the past months have taught me that my kids do not do well with learning from screens, and since there's a chance they'll have to do it for school again, I don't want to add other sorts of virtual learning if I can possibly avoid it.... but if you've used a virtual piano lesson and think it's just wonderful and worth it and not like painful virtual school, I'm open to it....)

[bw52]

I’m not a piano teacher but I did play for many years. When my children started lessons at 5 I taught them at myself. I eventually signed them up for private lessons simply bc I wasn’t consistent with their lessons (thanks to morning sickness and then a new baby and I couldn’t juggle it all).

I used Alfred to teach them at 5. I’m using it now to teach their younger sister. It seems to work well for us. It teaches using finger numbers before note names which is good if they aren’t reading or still very early in their reading. My 8 year old is still using Alfred at 8–although a higher level. Bastien is also good but I prefer Alfred for starting out bc I think it moves slower and is better for younger children.

Also, their piano lessons moved to FaceTime in March. I hated distance learning and all the screen time but piano is the only thing we kept and has been going well. I dropped all their other classes and lessons. So I do think it works better bc it is 1 on 1. Although starting out as a beginner would be harder. If it were me I would teach them the basics as much as you can before signing them up if you can.

[BDKmom]

My kids (8 and 10) have been taking lessons for 2 years and use the Faber Piano Adventures series. It starts off using numbers instead of notes, which I felt got them playing more interesting pieces sooner, and kept their attention in the early stages. Also, the series has a variety of books with different types of music, which I think is also nice for beginners. I returned to piano lessons at the beginning of the summer, after having taken a good bit as a kid, and I have enjoyed the series also.

[Percycat]

I also taught both of my children at first.

I started my son when he was in kindergarten using the Alfred prep course. This series is like the Alfred basic course, but goes a little slower and is better for younger children with smaller hands. We used the lesson book and the theory book; I used my own books for sight reading and developed my own finger exercises depending on what skills I thought needed more work.
https://www.alfred.com/alfreds-basic-piano-prep-course/

You could start your older 8 year old in the Alfred basic piano course. This course goes faster than the prep course. Some of the pieces will be similar, so you may not want both children in the same books.

I started my daughter in Faber Piano Adventures. I wanted her to have her own music and not feel like she was following in her brother's footsteps. I had organized a piano club for DS and some of his friends who played piano to give him some performance and duet experience. One of his friends was learning through Piano Adventures and the music was really interesting. https://pianoadventures.com/browse/l...no-adventures/

I supplemented with my own music or music they said they wanted to learn (you can download sheet music for any song) and also purchased several books Famous and Fun books -- Carol Matz is a great piano arranger -- I let my son pick pieces from the books as challenge pieces. https://www.alfred.com/supplementary...ort=popularity

FYI -- I taught my son K-3rd grade and then transferred him to his current teacher. He is now a senior in high school, plays piano for the high school jazz band, participates in music festivals, and composes music. I taught my daughter for about 6 months in Kindergarten before deciding to wait a little longer. I enrolled her with the same teacher when I enrolled my son, but she had a hard time. It turns out she has dyslexia and had a very hard time reading music. Teaching my son and sharing music with him is one of my favorite experiences as a mom. Teaching my daughter was one of my most frustrating experiences.

I hope you and your daughters have fun and enjoy playing music together.

[Liziz]

Thanks for the feedback! I hope it will be a good experience....we shall see!