Last August I reviewed a piano method series called Piano Pronto. I wanted to give an update now that I have experienced the series with quite a few of my students in the last 8 or 9 months. I’m happy to say that I am very pleased with Piano Pronto. It has been the perfect segue for my Pianimal students to go from Book G into Piano Pronto Movement 1. Movement 1 gives them a little review and then moves forward. It has been my lifesaver for transfer students. It also served as my lifesaver when I realized after several months working with a student that a particular method wasn’t meshing too well with this student. I was getting frustrated, I could tell he was not motivated at all with the pieces in the book and knowing his personality after working with him, I knew I needed to switch him to Piano Pronto. I did, and what a difference!
In January I started a new adult student and had her choose the method that she would like to work from. While she never took lessons herself, all her kids did and she was very involved in their practicing. So she was familiar with the basics. I was so happy that she chose Piano Pronto as her method choice as I wanted to try it with an adult student and see how it went. My adult LOVES the series. She is now in Movement 2 and progressing so nicely. She loves being able to recognize the pieces she plays, and she loves doing the written activities in the book as well. After this experience I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to use Piano Pronto with an adult student. Matter of fact, I have a piano Dad that has 3 of his boys taking lessons. He is going to school and taking music classes but he expressed to me that his playing skills aren’t where his educational skills are. He asked if I could recommend something that he can learn at home with to work on his playing skills. I showed him Piano Pronto Movement 1 and he was delighted and said that is exactly what he was looking for.
All and all I am real happy with Piano Pronto. My students are enjoying the pieces they are playing. Many of them they recognize which is exciting. I wanted to also share that Piano Pronto is running a spring special- 10% off of all the books. The code is: SPRING10 and will expire April 1st.
What I love about Piano Pronto is the preparatory exercises for each piece. If the student masters the prep part, they have alll they need to learn the piece well. I often assign the prep a week before the piece. I’ve only used Pronto as a course with a few students (notably a teen intermediate student starting with level 4 and a couple of beginners starting with the first level) and it’s not my primary method, but it’s been great with the student’s I’ve used it with. I used Jennifer Eklund’s Beethoven units with summer students last year and combined it with composition studies as we examined composition ideas explored by Beethoven and created our own. This summer I plan to use her Mozart material in a similar manned. It was a great hit!
Thanks for your updated review, Jennifer.
That’s one of my favorite things about PIano Pronto as well! I think it’s something that sets them apart from anyone else. Great idea to assign the prep a week before the piece. Although I know several of my students who would get so excited about it, they would go ahead and learn the whole piece. Il ove the idea of using the Beethoven unit for the summer students! Great idea!
I adore the Pianimals ladies – Flo & Marie – I got the chance to meet them in person. For some students who finished the G book, it was a tough decision to figure out the next step. My son has a student who will be at this point in a few weeks. I looked at Piano Pronto and purchased music based on your opinions. Thank you!
You’ll have to let me know how it goes Patti! I was able to meet Flo in person when my family went to DisneyWorld a couple years ago. That was awesome. Haven’t met Marie…
Anyway, you’ll notice that Movement 1 will be easy for them at the beginning so they should move through that book pretty quickly. (Which is always a good confidence builder). Then when they go into Movement 2 they will LOVE the pieces. Lots of fun pieces in that book!