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. ( )