Dogs and Birds - Book 1

Customer Reviews:

Being a musically challenged father of a 7-yr old boy learning piano, I have found the Dogs and Birds books invaluable for home use in reinforcing skills learned at piano lessons. I don't know if it is the same for all children but my son seemed to find the association of animal symbols to musical notes perfectly natural and as a result got to know his way around the keyboard pretty quickly. The books are great fun, the illustrations in them can be coloured in (not to be underestimated!) and importantly, they make the subject more approachable. If you are looking at starting your young child on piano, then the Dogs and Birds teaching method offers an ideal introduction that is engaging for both parent and child. So give it a try - it's as easy as Ant Bird Cat!

Having recently begun to teach my youngest, just-4 yr old, to play the piano, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Having already introduced her to the dogs and birds etc. on the piano, we spend a while talking about the story of music held on the pages, discussing the illustrations in great detail. She then proceeds to play the pieces and sing along beautifully. It helps that she has an older sibling who has learnt to play with this method, however I really believe that these books impart a depth of learning and musical understanding even at such a young age. The illustrations capture her imagination resulting in her joy at being able to 'tell the musical story' on the piano and the animal symbols give her the tools to do that. She also enjoys playing games based on the 'car', 'big car', 'very big car' at the back of the book.

I tried the traditional' method of learning to play the piano with my daughter and each practice session ended in tears. She did not enjoy it and it made the both of us miserable. We are now learning the Dogs and Birds method and she is much happier and so is her mother!

My daughter has loved the books and the illustrations! She know the names of the notes very firmly for both clefs and she can now sing the animal names of the notes as she plays a left hand accompaniment. A fantastic, fun, yet serious book for the earliest beginners.

An exciting new tutor book that makes learning the piano fun, musical and accessible. This is the best book I have found on the market for young children. The use of animals captures the children’s imagination and they begin to associate sound with symbol rather than finger number.