Music and Piano Books: Recommendations for All Levels

As a beginner, especially a self-taught beginner, it can be challenging to know what piano books to use. This section is dedicated to my recommendations for various levels and genres.

Beginner Piano Books

 

 

 

If you’re an absolute beginner, this video is the place to start. I always recommend having 2 or 3 books per level, which roughly equates to 4-6 books per year in the early stages.

All of these books are related to the RCM syllabus, so they contain pieces you could do for exams (if that’s what you’re into). If not, simply look at this as a collection of great books at this level.

This is just like the video above, only it discusses books at a grade 2 level (generally an adult’s second or third year of piano, depending on progress).

Intermediate Piano Books

 

 

 

 

Grade 3 marks the start of early-intermediate playing on the piano. Just like the previous videos, I share my favorite books for this level.

Grade 4 is fairly similar to grade 3 – only with more difficult repertoire. The focus continues to be on sonatinas and hand independence.

Other Book Recommendations

These books aren’t music – rather, they’re about music. This video showcases a wide variety of my favorites, from theory to goal setting.

Every monthly Q&A session features 4 questions. In this video, 1 question was about choosing music books, which I thought you’d find helpful here.

This question explores the balance of method book pieces versus supplemental material, and how much to work on of each.