Grade 1 Piano Pieces: My Favorite Books (2015 syllabus)

[@KeepingOnTheWatch]

Although I'll be starting Level 3 RCM in a couple weeks I've recently started going back to my Preparatory A and B books to exercise my sight-reading. I found this video to be of great interest since I'll be getting into my Level 1 books shortly. Nice to know that there are other sources of repertoire out there that I can get my hands on.

[@371anr]

Another Hal-Leonard collection that's very good is "First 50 Songs by the Beatles You Should Learn on the Piano". Because some people love the Beatles and that's it.

[@Ariaya1]

This was great! hope you do more of these. It's nice to get ideas for lots of different styles for each level, too. Variety is always a win/win. :)

[@PianotvNet]

+Laura Whitaker That's absolutely how I feel, glad you liked it! :)

[@hadeelatteyeh4720]

great video! one question if I may ask, whats the brand and colour number of your lipstick?

[@mikecipriani7495]

I love Beatle music I play most of the songs in Beatlemania 1967-1970 Vol 2 and I read A Beatles' Odyssey Alan W. Pollack's Notes. I also am reading The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles by Dominic Pedler.

[@charleslaine]

Another FYI, that Anne Crosby piece "Angelfish" that is discussed at 4:37 is included in the 2015 Celebration Series Repertoire level 1 book.

[@charleslaine]

OK, so about "Best Songs Ever", it turns out there are 5 different versions of the same book, all with pretty much the same songs. I found the following in a user-posted comment on Amazon... (a) Best Songs Ever - E-Z Play Today (b) Best Songs Ever - Easy Guitar (c) Best Songs Ever - Big-Note Piano (d) Best Songs Ever - Easy Piano (e) Best Songs Ever - Piano/Vocal/Guitar

[@michaelmcgill8104]

Thank you for all these suggestions! I'm big into video game music. I own all the Final Fantasy Books from #1-#10 and some Mario and Zelda Books as well as a few others. My main goal for leaning the piano was to be able to play all that stuff from my books. (I also play classical too). One interesting thing about most of my Japanese game sheet music, is that it is published by one particular company (DOREMI), and the pieces are graded to fit the Beyer Piano Method. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the "Ferdinand Beyer Piano Method" There are like 120 pieces that go in ascending difficulty. Apparently it was used a lot in the past but fell out of favor, but maintained a strong following in Japan. So the pieces will have a number at the top of each piece anywhere from 40-120 (going by 5's). For example '75'. So that means if you can play Beyer exercise 75 properly, you should be ready for that piece. That is very helpful. That would be nice if all books that have a collection of music at different grade levels had a grade number above it.

[@PianotvNet]

+Michael McGill That's great to know about the Beyer method - it seems like a really useful system, I'll have to look into it. Thanks for the information! It would definitely be a big help if all pieces had some sort of guide like that. Video game music is great, I've taught a fair bit from the FF series but need to get more of those books! :)

[@dorotheemackenbach4808]

About the bigger notes and adults: When we get a bit older our eyesight gets lees good, so I, we elderly would like it if notes are not so small.

[@sadcottonballdog]

Yes! I see this as a problem for adults who have weary eye sight. I hope that people will later on choose to make some special books with bigger notes for those in the correct needs.

[@anthonybutts1400]

It helps to go to a library and ask them to make copies of your music but increase the size of the pages. :)

[@barnahappy3573]

Hi! I’m using the piano adventures books and looking online it seems like their level 3 would be equivalent to grade 1. Would you agree?

[@TheRealWinsletFan]

The Connections series book 1 seems to be impossible to find.

[@sammysabbah6118]

Hello, I want to start by saying that I love your videos! I am a music major in college as a drummer and percussionist. I have been playing piano for about 6 or so months. My piano teacher currently has me learning clementi op. 36 in C. 1st movement. What grade level am i considered? To be honest, I have never heard of "grades" until I starting watching your videos. Can you please explain that concept to me? Thank you in advance.

[@cantdothis6899]

Sammy sabbah, I’m not sure what grade that piece is, but she mentions grades a lot because the rcm (royal conservatory of music), uses grades! It’s mainly used in Canada, so that might be why, and ik I’m a year late...

[@michaelmcgill8104]

do you have any suggestions for good books and material for RCM Preparatory Level? I'm trying to find old RCM preparatory level repertoire books (and higher) just for more sight reading or practice material of a set level, but once they phase out the old stuff, it becomes next to impossible to find. I'm checking kijiji and ebay but that will probably come down to luck.

[@PianotvNet]

+Michael McGill I could suggest a lot of the more "kiddie" style books (still great for adults): Kabalevsky 24 pieces for children Donkin comics and card tricksDonkin jumping in the mudCrosby Freddie the frogNiamath in my garden

[@PianotvNet]

+pianoTV sorry the formatting didn't go so well on that post, hope you can still make sense of it!

[@michaelmcgill8104]

+pianoTV Yep I understood it. Thank you very much!

[@charleslaine]

I have the 8th edition of "The Best Songs Ever". It is NOT "big note". So, they must have changed the layout in this edition. It just looks like normal sheet music. At the top mine says "Piano - Vocal - Guitar" so maybe I just have a different version of the same book.

[@PianotvNet]

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know there were so many versions!

[@annewright7291]

I like the tunes in the Big Note books, but books too big for music stand and too many page turns. I like Martha Mier jazz books, but especially like her Romantic Sketches, Romantic Impressions.

[@KeepingOnTheWatch]

Allysia, this evening I sat down with a piano teacher for the express purpose to guide me in choosing 3 pieces for my Preparatory A exam. He told me that ALL 3 pieces can be chosen from my Preparatory A Piano Repertoire book. I'm not convinced that what he told me is correct. The way I read page 12 in the 2015 syllabus is completely different than his advice. Seems to me that 1 piece must be from my Prep A repertoire book (triangle beside it), 1 piece must be from another book (circle beside it) and 1 other piece must be chosen from the 'Repertoire from Method Books' list on page 13. I'm confused. Is he correct? Am I reading the syllabus correctly? Any suggestions?

[@PianotvNet]

The triangles just mean that the song is included in the main Preparatory book. Circles mean they can be found in other books, but not the main collection. You can probably use one book for all 3 songs, as long as you choose a song from each category (list A, list B, etc) - but if there is one from each category included in the book, then go for it!

[@KeepingOnTheWatch]

Thank you

[@netradagar4294]

what level piece is fur Elise ?

[@PianotvNet]

I'm pretty sure the whole thing is around a level 7, though the first movement (the famous part) is much easier than that.

[@netradagar4294]

really are you serious? I have been playing the piano for over a month and a half and i can petty much play the whole thing easily ,not joking

[@netradagar4294]

hi ,thanks for the reply ,but ,are you sure it is of level 7 cause i've been playing the piano for only like 2 months and i can pretty much play the whole thing easily

[@treetroll3726]

Netra Dagar I think what you mean is that you can play the first movement of the piece, which is relatively easy. The second and third movements are more difficult and that is why the piece is listed as a level 7.

[@PIANODAWN66]

Which are the three books you use for your beginners students?

[@PianotvNet]

It depends, but I always use the Piano Adventures adult book 1 and 2, which serves as the center for early lessons. Additional books beyond that are based on the person's preference.

[@themaggattack]

"a hefty tomb" haha X-D

[@daniellemunyalo2464]

Many thanks, I have been researching "music theory books children" for a while now, and I think this has helped. You ever tried - Foonlant Dumbstruck Formula - (search on google ) ? It is a smashing one of a kind guide for discovering how to teach your child to read music notes minus the hard work. Ive heard some pretty good things about it and my colleague got cool success with it.

[@cilaboom]

first!

[@typedeaf]

I don't love the Beatles! Just FYI. We exist.

[@KeepingOnTheWatch]

Don't worry about loving the Beatles - just 'Let It Be'.

[@TheNo149]

I'm sorry but you are talking about your favorite books here and this only makes sense if your audience recognizes you as a skilled teacher and not a random teacher down the street. I'd rather have a complete review of every major grade 1 method book available.