Classics: Teaching Little Fingers to Play/Early Elementary Level

While there are a couple of songs that I do not personally like in this book, the book is excellent. The songs are wonderful for beginner students: maybe not absolute beginners, but beginners with a little bit of piano playing and music reading experience. This book is a good way of introducing young piano students to the world of classical music. I am using this book with one of my piano students (age 8) and am very pleased with it. I recommend it to other piano teachers. :)

Got it for our child who just finished the basic teaching little fingers to play. He played through this book on his own without any problems - practicing his sight reading - , as it is quite simple. Mostly just requires playing the right hand - never really both hands at the same time (when the left hand is needed it could have really also been played by the right hand...). But the pieces are therefore also not very interesting without the accompaniment. The accompaniment however needs some practice even for a skilled player - but it could also be that I'm really not used to reading music for both hands in treble clef.

I am a beginning piano player. After a few months of lessons my instructor suggested I purchase the Classics for Little Fingers book. The arrangements offer just enough challenge so that my skills are stretched and I am encouraged to practice and improve my skills.

I wanted to leave a quick note as I felt the previous reviews did not give enough detail to this book. There are 11 songs in this book:-Ode to Joy-A Little Night Music-Surprise Symphony-Bridal Chorus-Symphony No.5-Swan Lake-Barcarolle-Can-Can-Lullaby-Country Gardens-Turkish MarchIt is not like the Alfred series where the letters are written for you. Basically, it is a partial music sheet with a teacher's accompanient, student hand position (this is really useful for kids/beginners) and definitions on the side (ie. rest, dynamics, crescendo). My 6 yr old son just started piano and wanted something a little bit more challenging. I wrote the letters under the notes and he was able to follow them. Great book with nice songs but I would use it as a recital practice in addition to the Alfred series.

I use this book for beginning students who are young and have no experience reading music. They all feel a sense of accomplishment and are able to learn these songs in a few weeks. The only complaint I have is that in the beginning of the book there are one or two melodies and the publisher has written fingers for both hands near the notes. My students are confused as to which numbers they are to be reading and they find it distracting. We just skip that page and move on to the next easy song. This book is easy because it moves in small incremental steps, provides words to the songs so that we can sing and thereby reinforce the melodies. I highly recommend the book and the other books in the series!

This book has a delightful assortment of classical music pieces edited for a young new student. My granddaughter continues to choose pieces from this book to play for learning and for performances. She is 9 years old and would rather play this music than popular tunes.

I think this little book of classical music is awesome! It is a wonderful way to introduce the earliest beginning piano students to composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and others. These pieces are fun and easy to play!

My son loves this book! I like the duets so we can play together, and he enjoys nice music that he can play himself as a beginner student.