The Progressive Pianist, Part Two is (obviously) the second book in this very instructive and user-friendly series. Written by a conservatory-trained musician, the book is an all-in-one approach to piano instruction. The Progressive Piano is designed to be used by parents with minimal music training. (I think that at least a little exposure to music would be a very helpful thing here, if only to make sure you get the hand/wrist position right.)

For much less than the cost of music lessons, and all the convenience of teaching at home, you get both piano technique and music theory in one volume.

The introductory material is a crash course in piano pedagogy (fancy term musicians use for “teaching”). There are brief descriptions of how to practice; how to (and how not to) use the fingers, hands, wrists, and elbows; and how to motivate yourself and your student.

Online support is available, along with music tracks in MP3 form that you are encouraged to download and transfer to a CD. The author highly recommends listening to the tracks before playing the exercises. Though we followed this same practice in our Suzuki string training, I have a word of caution to speak from my own experience with piano. My earliest teacher used to play pieces for me before setting me to learn them. She noted, however, that I learned to play from listening, and rather than learning to read the notes I simply played by ear what I'd heard her play. To my chagrin, she stopped “previewing” for me and I had to read the notes off the music, which I considered a lot harder work. If you have a student who has a gift for playing by ear, you may slow down or interfere with his learning to read music, if you play the recordings as suggested. On the other hand, if you're not a musician yourself, you will definitely want to listen to the recordings to make sure your student is learning them correctly!

Also, the recordings we listened to go pretty fast, so you might want to remind your student to start slow and gradually work up to the polished speed.

Book 2 is divided into three parts: Performance Pieces, Theory Worksheets, and Finger Exercises. A lesson consists of learning one Performance Piece, together with completing a corresponding Theory Worksheet. The Finger Exercises, aimed at strengthening the fingers and improving dexterity, are performed as called on in the Lessons (for example, “Play exercises 1-7”). Pleasant original compositions form the bulk of the music, though I did notice at least one simplified Beethoven selection.

The Performance Pieces start out with very simple two-hands-together playing (mostly sustained notes in one hand while the other hand plays a melodic line and gradually builds in complexity). Many of the pieces remind me of the sonatinas I played as a young pianist. Our youngest, listening to some of the MP3 recordings, commented that this music made her smile—a good thing if you want your student to enjoy playing the same piece over and over in practice!

Teaching and practice suggestions appear at intervals on the pages, set off by boxes.

The Theory Worksheets assume previous teaching in music theory. Well, this is Book Two, after all. Popping up among the musical examples are compositions by Schumann, George Bohm, and Jean-Phillipe Rameau. You can find a full list of topics presented in each volume on the publisher's website. The book contains a complete answer key for the worksheets.

The Finger Exercises remind me of the Hanon exercises I used to do, combined with Etudes (musical studies) by various composers. These help to develop dexterity and strength, as I mentioned, in addition to teaching your hands to work together as well as independently.

The last page in Part Two is a Certificate of Merit for completing the book.

The approach found in The Progressive Pianist is as much about discipline and character training as it is about acquiring musical skill. For example, on the publisher's website you'll find a link called “Why music?” leading to the article “Reasons Not to Let your Children Quit their Music Lessons.” Reading through this article, I was encouraged all over again to persevere when the children start to whine and complain (and resist in more subtle ways).

The one problem I see with The Progressive Pianist is that you have to maintain your own motivation. If you are paying for music lessons, and the lessons are coming around every week, you have a vested interest in your child's regular piano practice. If you're teaching your child yourself, it's easy to let the piano practice slide in the face of busyness and the demands of daily living.

As we tell the children in our family, anything worth doing... is worth doing. Press on. It's worth it. With diligence and a consistent approach, The Progressive Pianist can help your student become a competent keyboardist, and at much less cost than weekly piano lessons.