This is basically a compendium for those of you good people who have started the first few (possibly unsteady) steps towards becoming a pianist. The piano is all at once the most accessible and most taxing of instruments – intricate, complex and richly satisfying once you have a basic degree of mastery.
As always we’re here to support you through the first of hopefully many steps towards becoming a competent musician, so without further ado here is our Ultimate Starter Pack: a complete guide of the best titles we have available along with recommended instruments with different tiered price ranges going from affordable to premium.
1) Malcolm Riley/Paul Terry: Sight Reading Success – Piano Grade 1
Every single book in the massively succesful new Sight Reading Success series contains great advice and a series of practice tests that will guarantee your students (or you) will tackle the sight reading element of their Piano exams with ease.
2) Grade 1 Piano Solos
With this excellent sheet music songbook, you can learn a huge range of Piano Solos from a great selection of eras, genres and hits! These have all been chosen carefully with the specifications of the important exam boards in mind. This book is perfect for beginner piano players, including some pop faves, classical tunes and timeless classics.
3) Frederick Stocken: Scale Shapes For Piano – Grade 1 (Revised Edition)
Scale Shapes is an thrilling, unique illustration-based method to learn Piano scales using the Stocken technique.
Based on the major exam board requirements so you’re not going to be doing anything pointless – it’ll all contribute to you as a musician as a whole
4) Playing With Scales: Piano Level 1
Playing With Scales is a great, new resource, designed for young musicians to find JOY in the often mundane world of scale practice.
Playing With Scales presents creative and inspiring backing tracks in a number of styles to transform scales and arpeggios from dry tasks into something you actually want to do. All the time (seriously).
5) David Turnbull: Aural Time! Practice Tests – Grade 1
Aural awareness is a thing you need to be aware of, ok? Get it right here.
6) Paul Harris: Improve Your Sight-Reading! – Grade 1 Piano (2009 Edition)
Totally revised, totally sick, totally sight reading. New edition. New contents. New you.
7) Really Easy Piano Collection: 50 Fabulous Songs
It’s basically loads of recognisable, cool songs which you can learn to play super quickly.
8) Easiest 5-Finger Piano Collection: Huge Chart Hits
Get playing some of the best as quickly as possible with this excellent sight reading publication.
9) Einaudi: The Easiest Original Pieces
We love this guy. We’re pretty sure you do too.
Play his beautiful music with almost no effort at all. Isn’t that what you want?
10) Timeless Songs For Easy Piano
11) The Easy Piano Collection: Debussy Gold
