Walter and Carol Noona

This pre-primer, and the following primer level book lead into the Noona Comprehensive Piano Library's series of method books. My biggest negative about the Noona method books is that they have so many different paths to follow that it can be quite confusing! There's Noona BASIC, Noona COMPREHENSIVE, Noona CLAVIER... you get the picture. The Pre-Primer uses only pre-reading notation. From a musical perspective, I like this book, along with the workbook, very much for a 1st grade beginner. They cover the usual young beginner topics - 2 and 3 black keys, naming the white keys, basic note/rest values, steps and skips, forte and piano. I particularly like the way this method emphasizes musical playing - legato touch is discussed here from the very beginning, as is staccato. Slur lines are introduced in this book, not later. Reading by steps and skips is promoted by the use of small x's in between notes that skip. I also like the many phrases throughout the pages that help a student relate to their kinesthetic experience - "Listen for the repeated notes. What does a repeated note feel like in your finger?" In another place: "How did your 5th finger feel on the dotted half-note?"

Page layout in these pre-reading books is very important to me. These pages look good - I can see the line of the notes, but they're not too small for youngsters. There in only one page where I felt that the lines of notation were too close together for the student to distinguish them easily. All the pictures are in color, and are big enough to capture a youngster's imagination but don't overwhelm the page.… (mere)

I'm a big fan of the Noona materials, and it's a shame that Heritage Music Press doesn't have good descriptions of the Noona methods with screen shots and such. They make a great alternative to the "position" oriented approach found in Alfred and Bastian. I started my 4-year-old daughter in this set of books - the Primer Pianist, Primer pieces, and the Primer Games, and then realized how wonderful they'd be for my pre-piano camp this summer. At the end of Primer A, students have learned the finger numbers, LH from RH, good hand position, names of white keys, basic note values (including two-eighths), and steps and skips, all with lots of cute songs to sing and play - some by rote, and some with pre-reading notation. The material on the page is large enough to be accessible to non-readers, and cues for the kids are symbolic rather than written. (For instance, it uses shapes on the fingers to show what keys to put the fingers on, and instead of indicating LH and RH, it shows an outline graphic of the appropriate hand.) There are lots of opportunities for creative music-making ("Make up a piece on the piano called 'Up and Down The Stairs." Do you want it to sound loud or soft? Fast or slow?") Explanations are all imaginatively phrased for little ones (For clapping a half-note: "Pretend to catch a bug, then hold it for one more beat.") The Games Book includes away-from-the-piano activities and crayon worksheets - just right for active preK and kindergartners. I thought that the black and white pictures might be a negative until I used the books with my daughter. "Can I color those?" she asked excitedly.… (mere)