Customer Reviews

John W. Schaum Piano Course: A, The Red Book

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The John W. Schaum Piano series is an excellent way to introduce children to the piano. Geared to the early grade school level, A-The Red Book is a follow-up to Pre-A-The Green Book. All the piano books in this series feature colorful illustrations, easy-to-read notes, and simple hand positions. The book progresses from very simple melodies at the start to more complex "melody and chord" songs at the end. Children love to sing along as they play the notes. I have found this to be a great way to for younger kids to learn to read music and begin their study of the piano.

I used the older version of this book when I was a child and it was excellent. Easy to read and understand. Perfect for learning to play the piano if you want to go at your own pace. I had a private instructor as well but the book was the key to my lessons. I have almost the entire collection but they are a bit out-dated so I plan to buy the new ones soon for my own review, and also so I can teach my kids to play when they are old enough. I loved the John W. Schaum series. Note: These books aren't really theory based so if you intend to teach yourself, you'll also need a book to really teach you the basics (Tip: I used the AB Guide to music theory by Eric Taylor, it's alittle difficult to find now though), once you master the theory, you'll be on your way to playing tons of songs. Fun fun fun!!!

I was very happy to be able to find the John W. Schaum Piano Course books. Many years ago, I was taught to play piano using these books and now I'm able to teach my children the same way. This book provides a very simply step-by-step approach to piano playing that is challenging but still easy enough for children to understand and to practice what they've learned on their own.

In my opinion, Schaum's piano course (from the 50's, I think!) is the best piano course published in the last 100 years. It's been given slick new covers, but the text hasn't changed.

There are eight lettered books, A-H. Then there are two "After the H Books" and one "Pre" book, called the "Green Book."

I myself used Alfred's and had some impressive success with that, but I must aver that Schaum's is a superior series. It takes the student much, much deeper and at a much more comfortable pace without, at any point, throwing anything horridly intimidating in his face.

I didn't know about Schaum's while I was learning piano or I would have switched over. As it is, I can still get put through my paces with the F, G, and H books, which take me into realms Alfred's did not get into, at least explicitly. And Alfred's certainly goes far deeper than either the Bastien or the Faber.

Too bad these don't come with CD's, at least to my knowledge.

This is a great way to learn piano. I have taught this method for many years and it has never failed any of my students. This books offers fun songs yet is packed with important information from the start.

"Schaum's A-Red Book" is great for the student who needs a little extra work before moving on to "Thompson's Grade 1 Book". I usually start my students in "Teaching Little Fingers to Play", but I have discovered that many of them need extra material before they are able to move on to "Thompson's Grade 1 Book". This book is the one!!

these are great books for beginners. I am teaching my young children piano and using this series. They are well-priced as well.

This classic beginner's piano book hasn't changed over the years, but it doesn't need to. You can't improve on perfection! My students enjoy this book as much as I did when I was a student in the early 70's.

I've been preparing to teach piano, so it was great to learn this system was still available after fifty some years since I first began to learn to play.

As I went through this volume, I began to remember bits and pieces of the time I was learning to play, flashes of memory of how much fun I was having - due in large part to my teacher's joy of teaching. She is probably more responsible than anyone else for my embrace of music as a career.

Highly recommend the Schaum system and approach. It worked for me and then some!