Adult Piano Adventures Popular Book 1 – Piano Sheet Music | Timeless Hits & Favorites for Beginners | Includes Let It Be, My Heart Will Go On, ... (Adult Piano Adventures: Popular, 1) Paperback – July 1, 2016

Great book for beginners.

I am a beginner aged 40 and have been playing for about 6 months.I finished PA 1 and am now working through chapter 7 of PA 2.The songs are beginner which, in this case, is not synonymous with “easy”. Some have taken me a couple of weeks (no business like show business, someone like you and the infamous downton abbey), while others I completed in a weekend. The pieces do a good job of getting your hands moving all over the keyboard. Much more so the PA books. Honestly, after playing some of Popular pieces, the PA book exercises seem way easier.The difficulty is somewhat mixed and im not sure if this an intentional strategy to build confidence going into a harder piece.I do wish they had play-along tracks like they do with the piano adventures. That way i could practice at multiple speeds. They also don't really seem to necessarily correspond with the order of the PA books.All that said, i love that this book includes classical , pop, theater and movie. Its a nice combination of different styles and they are elegantly arranged. I feel like the Fabers have high expectations for their budding pianists but the feeling of finally playing a song through is worth it.I highly recommend the book to add some substance to your playing.

This book is Level 1 for Adult Beginners and I was just finishing the Level 1 method book and the first few songs in this book are very good and easy, I am especially fond of My Heart Will Go On which I learned to play on the Ukulele a few years ago.Then I hit the Downton Abbey them and let me tell you, this is my favorite song I have learned to play in the nearly two years of being a Piano Player. It's also one of the most challenging. I've tried many different exercises and songs from YouTube videos but they were either too complex or just the introduction to a song. And while this is an arrangement made for beginners, it is still a complete song, so it has become my go-to song for warming up and what not. It's also a great song to practice isolation techniques because it is a long enough song with enough variety that when you have trouble with chord changes, or whatever, you can easily isolate those measures or notes.Any way, I have only moved on to the song after this, which is also a very good and challenging (but not too challenging) song for the beginner which is There's No Business Like Show Business.But I am no Piano Teacher so, being self-taught, I have no idea if I should have been using this and the Classics book all along or as I did, waiting to complete the Method Book and then take on these.I actually felt the Method Book gave me enough to do so that I didn't need supplementary material. Now I am using the supplemental books as well as reviewing the chapters from the Level 1 book, mostly the Three Minute Technique pages and theory pages before moving on to Level 2.But I highly recommend this book based on the songs I have played and getting the Downton Abbey theme is worth the price of this book if you want a great song that sounds great. I can't tell you how I travel with the notes as I play this one song. It's so Heavenly. And I have never even watched that show!

I am a tough critic. I have been on faculty at five universities and have worked on every level of education. In most cases, I really do not like how course content is presented but in this case, it is not bad. Sight reading and interval recognition have gone quite well in a very short amount of time and that was my main objective from this beginner text for an adult students. It has been about three weeks. I am about ready to finish the book. There are about 20 pages left.I would focus on interval recognition, sight reading and orienting yourself on the keyboard as I mentioned below. If it all goes for you as it did for me, you will associate specific locations on the Grand Staff with a specific key on your piano by the end of the book.If there were a lesson on orienting yourself on the Grand Staff by the location of Low C, Bass C, Middle C, Treble C and High C, it would be a turning point for your overall learning or at least it was for me when I realized I needed some landmarks to accelerate my sight reading.Low C is two ledger lines below the bass clef and the lower end of the bass clef immediately surrounds Bass C, which is one octave from both Low and Middle C. As you move up the bass clef, you approach Middle C, which is one ledger line above the bass clef and simultaneously one ledger line below the treble clef. The G just above low C all the way to the A just below Middle C is the bass clef. The D on the bass clef is (D)ead center of the its cleff. Dead center = D...think that way.The A before Middle C is the last ledger line on the bass clef, and the E above Middle C is the first ledger line on the treble clef, and the treble clef ends at the (F)inish line or last line on the treble clef, which is the F before Low C.From that E to the following F (one octave plus one semitone = a ninth but I do not think that is a musical term.) is the treble clef. Once you are at or beyond Treble C, you are on the upper end of the clef and approaching High C, which is two ledger lines above the treble clef.Okay enough of my stuff. This title has familiar tune such as The Entertainer, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart...So, you will gain exposure to Well known pieces, and the overall style and format are very simple to follow.I purchased the second book that follows this book. I am really interested to see where I will be musically upon completion thereof. If it all continues as it is going, I will be very satisfied.