Beginner Classical Piano Music: Teach Yourself How to Play Famous Piano Pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven & the Great Composers (Book, Streaming Videos & MP3 Audio) (Piano Book for Adult Beginners)

Damon Ferrante’s Beginner Classical Piano Music is a great way for an aspiring pianist to learn the fundamentals of the piano. The book starts with basic finger exercises that allow the student to get familiar with correct hand positioning and posture. In the process, the students will become familiar with simple time signatures, intervals, and the location of the musical notes on the piano. The book then progresses into an in-depth lesson on the interworkings of musical notation and its correspondence with the musical staff. While learning the basics of musical theory for the piano, the student will also perform exercises with a metronome to strengthen his or her fingers and keep a steady timing. These basics will fully prepare the student for the familiar musical scores that lie ahead. I am a fan of the use of real piano pieces throughout the course of the book to keep the students interest. Who wouldn’t want to play pieces including Pachelbel’s Canon, Beethoven's Fur Elise, or Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Mirlitons from the Nutcracker? I also like the amount of detail for each used in each lesson every step of the way. The videos are the biggest bonus as I am a fan of visual learning, and I feel if a student gets stuck or doesn’t fully understand how to interpret a passage at first, they can look to the video for advice and direction. With this added feature, it feels as if my piano teacher is sitting next to me. I feel the purchaser of this book will find the same enjoyment for piano as I did, as they embark on a fine journey into the world of music.

I have been playing piano for many years now, but was interested in using this book as a reference to some easy classics and additional teaching techniques for some of my current piano students. The videos included in the eBook make it super easy to read the information and then see the demonstration. I was glad to see Damon's focus on identifying and practicing patterns in music to assist in learning more quickly.For those who learn best by reading, he includes many tidbits about the history of the pieces and the meanings of some of the terms used in musical notation. For those who prefer learning by doing (kinetically) the videos are a great way to learn the techniques. And for those who learn through listening, many of the pieces have recorded files of the end result. Overall I think it is a great resource to work through with an instructor or by yourself for a very self-motivated person who wants to learn. It is a great value, as this book, if used for lessons could fill a student's curriculum for years. Beginner Classical Piano Music: Teach Yourself How to Play Famous Piano Pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven & the Great Composers (Book, Streaming Videos & MP3 Audio)

I had two years of piano lessons when I was younger and then self taught myself the rest of what I know. The one thing that I noticed right away was how I was using the wrong fingers when going up and down the piano. I am enjoying learning to use the right fingers so that I can play more smoothly and with less looking at the piano. I wish I had this when I was trying to teach my boys piano. First they would have liked a man teaching and they would have gotten to play songs that they and others could enjoy sooner. This is much more rewarding than the sterile way I learned to play the piano. I was so excited to get a metallic star then but that did not motivate my boys enough. The videos add so much to this way of learning the piano. It turns piano language into a language that you can see and understand. More than worth my time for downloading and playing.

This book starts with a lot of beginners theory, great if you're just starting out. As an intermediate beginner, I skimmed through the first 40 pages. I got this primarily to practice sight reading and I like classical music so the material won't get boring.The music is greatly simplified for beginners. That's good... but if you are used to hearing some of these classical songs, you might be put off by some of the simplified chords and they won't sound quite right to your ears.However, there's also a lot of teaching detail you might not find in other "simplified piano classics" books so it's still a good addition to my little assortment of piano books.

I've always wanted to learn piano or to teach it to my children someday. This book has a very straight forward explanation and lots of visuals to help those who are more visual in their learning capabilities (such as myself). Not only are there pictures for me to follow and reference, but there are videos also, which help me out a lot. I also like that I can view this on any device, especially iPad since I can prop it up on the music sheet holder to see the instructions directly in front of me. Damon Ferrante's writing and speaking are very clear and simple, so it makes understanding the exercises very easy. While watching the videos, I almost feel silly for thinking playing piano is something too difficult to do!Each chapter is broken down in easily digestible lessons so I don't feel overwhelmed while practicing and can revisit them when needed. I also have never tried kindle before and am definitely liking having a musicbook on an app as they are usually very large and bulky. As the videos are on youtube, you will need an internet connection to view them.I also plan to use this once my infants get older so they too can learn and I can also help them along as they practice.