which piano book would you recommend for a five year old?

[sylar]

DS1 is 4 (5 in April) and is the only child in his class who is not taking piano lessons. Its partly because we thought he had enough on his plate starting school and partly since I don't really have another £40 for two twenty minute lessons every week.
However he has now noticed that everyone else does piano.

He's settled in well at school after the first term and is one of the best readers etc and so I think he will be fine taking something else on. We have a piano at home which he messes about on and DH plays and is happy to teach him but doesn't really know where to start. Can anyone recommend a good teach your child piano book. I've looked on amazon but the reviews are variable. Coming out on the side of the usborne one with the CD and ten little fingers?? Can anyone help?

I am amazed that everyone in his class takes lessons! Most piano teachers will not start a child on the piano untill they are 6/7 and can read fluently.

My ds started with the Alfred series if that's any help. He was 6 nearly 7 and progressed very quickly. The books are simple and teach how to read music well.

My son started with 10 little fingers but he was 7, now age 9 passed grade2

Me too Kammy. Its another reason we didn't bother starting him at school. I thought there would be one or two but it turns out they all do it. Some have been having proper lessons at home from the age of three. It is a selective independent though so its a bit like that.

Not desperate for him to start yet - although I do think its a nice instrument to be able to play - in fact he wants to play the guitar more than the piano(!) but feeling like we need to keep up with the crowd and if DH teaches him for a bit and he doesn't like it then at least we've not forked out for expensive lessons!

for Ten Fingers is a great first piano tutor for littlies.

The other one I really like is Me and my piano

When ds2 was this age, rather than try and teach him piano, I chose to teach him theory of music. We used these books, which have stickers and stuff and are fab for little ones. Within weeks he was 'composing' tunes and writing songs himself. He sent one off to Blue Peter and won a badge!

As a result when he finally started piano lessons when he was nearly 7, he could already read music well and made very rapid progress immediately.

If you go this route Chester's flashcards are great too. You can use them to play all sorts of games.

HTH

Oooh Roisin, I like the theory book! Might get that for ds.

A dozen a day is a great series. Not sure how appropriate for a 4 year old but worth looking at. Really good in terms of improving flexibility and having fun too.

Dd2 started on Tunes for Ten Fingers by Pauline Hall when she was 5. She loved the pictures and colouring in that were included in the book.

She whizzed through that book and the ones at a similar level, and I think that learning to read music at the same time as words actually helped her.

She is now struggling with moving away from 10 fingers to the rest of the keyboard. She is now 6, and we are going back to revisit the early pieces because she is not ready to move up to the next level.