piano music

I recently got an upright piano from freecycle! Whopee! I have always wanted to learn to play the piano. Can anyone reccomend some music books that will help me teach myself to play this piano? Before I go out and just buy songs that I like, I am thinking there must be some beginner books for adult students? Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Congrats on the piano!!! If it were me, I'd just head for the music shop and look through beginner books. I'd actually start going through books at the shop and try to find something that seems comprehensive to you (because everyone learns differently). And try to find some books that actually let you practice instead of just scales and theory. A lot of the books have the note letters written beneath the actual note symbols and those could be helpful. Sorry I don't have any recommendations- I took lessons when I was a child (hated the workbooks). Good luck!!

Cheryl

Hi hmstyl, I agree with cj - we're all different, so eventually it might be a good idea to go visit a store and look over the many different study guides.

However, a teacher I respect a great deal once told me that if I were ever to teach that his favorite author is a team, James and Jane Bastien. Here's a course they wrote for beginning adults:

Older Beginner Piano Course (Bastien) Neil A. Kjos Music Company (1977) - This course consists of the following 2 books, and the second one is designed to be a companion for the first one.

Method:
Older Beginner Piano Course, Levels 1,2

Theory/Technique:
Musicianship for the Older Beginner, Levels 1, 2

The following are some suggested repertoire to supplement the above course books:

Classic Themes by the Masters (1978)
Easy Piano Classics (1978)
Favorite Melodies the World Over, Levels 1,2 (1977
Religious Favorites (1978)
Solo Repertoire (1982)

I found some sources of free sheet music online. They are listed in the 8th post of the following thread, and there are some great beginner pieces in there, but some digging would be required. I hope to continue developing it and to include beginner's/children's corners in all the sections.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/566811/

Well, good for you on acquiring the piano and have fun :-)

Karen

Karen - that is amazing! You have creating a massive library. I can't wait to get some of that free sheet music. I can read music a little, I took organ lessons as a child, so I can work out a song if I spend enough tie on it. I think I will look for the course books you reccomended - that would certainly help me learn at my own pace.

I am so excited about this piano, you just don't know! someone has stripped the finish off the piano - making it real easy for me to refinishing the wood.

I think this piano is about 100 years old. Inside there is a bar of beautiful cherry wood with the name O.W. Wuertz. If anyone knows anything about this piano I would love to know more about it!

Thanks, everyone, for all your help.

Have you tried the following?

type www.google.com in address box and hit enter

then, type Wuertz + piano in the search box
(you don't need to here, but suppose, for the sake of argument, you were looking for black pianos by Wuertz, then you would type -
Wuertz + "black piano"

Anyhoo, looks like some pertinent info there, plus some of the piano dealers who sell Wuertz pianos might be able to help you out.

My teacher told me that one thing to look for with an old piano is the condition of the felt at the back of the hammers connected to the keys - it tends to wear out over the years. I would love to hear anything else you may learn about buying an old piano in terms of what to look for.

In your research, could you ask whether any upright pianos made by Wuertz found their way to the main island of the Philippines (Luzon) before WW II?

gorgeous piano!

I am working through the books "Alfred's Basic Piano Library, (Willard A. Palmer, Morton Manus, Amanda Vick Lethco) Lesson Book Complete Level 1 for the Later Beginner , Lesson Book Complete Levels 2 & 3 for the Later Beginner and "Piano Adventures by Nancy and Rendall Faber level 2B" with a teacher.

Have Fun!

I also really like the Alfred books. What have you found so far, hmstyl?

When I was a kid taking piano lessons, we all had the same book: The John Thompson "Teaching Little Fingers to Play"....I loaned mine to a friend who taught herself to play from this book and all the "level" books that you use after ...
I don't know if they are still in print or not, but it seems like everyone I know who plays, had that book when they were learning.
Great piano by the way !!!!

thanks! I appreciate the compliments on my piano, but I am sorry to say that I haven't made much progress yet. We have been busy with the animals this month. I have 3 mama goats and 4 babies born this month! They are cute as can be, but I worry over them when they are small and try to spend a lot of time around them to get them "people friendly" so they are easier to handle when they get older.

We do poke around at the piano keys now and then, and I have been teaching DH to read notes, as best as I can remember them: Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE, so he is ready for the starter books, too!

I will start looking for those books soon. Thanks for the reccomendations!

don't forget the same rhymes for remembering the line and space notes for the bass cleff: Great Big Dogs Fight Animals.....and ....oh no...I can't remember the other one !!!!

I drove my family members completely CRAZY practicing scales!!!!!!!!!
Piano recitals were the WORST !!!! You had to get all dressed up in Church clothes and get up on a stage and play in front of people you didn't even know...some of the girls would throw up because they were so nervous...(of course we had a field day with THAT !!!)