This book for beginners at the piano is a breath of fresh air. It is fun, amusing, and unlike any other beginner tutor I know of.

High Speed

by Odette Bilby (Partita Music), 60pp, 2021

Available on Amazon

I would say it was aimed at KS1 - roughly ages 5-7 - and it would suit a bright student with a quirky sense of fun, and a creative bent. Sometimes it is quite silly (and this is not a criticism). I found myself smiling at little details ("NEWSFLASH: A Duck has got under the fence" almost as a throwaway aside to help remember that the note D is found in the space under the treble clef staff).

The book is in black and white (albeit with many invitations to colour things in).

The page is busy - probably too busy for me. Every square inch is filled with clip art of animals (sometimes randomly: What is the llama on p.23 there for?). Some children will love this; for others it may be sensory overload. Even the music pieces themselves have 'graffiti' scattered over them: helpful instructions, tips, an emoji, or some random clip art. It is certainly distinctive.

I don't care for the double naming, e.g. "leger (ledger)", and "grand staff (grand stave)", if only because it makes the already busy page busier still.

You can tell, from the pages, that the author has a wealth of experience, and must be a great teacher herself, and has really thought about how to introduce new topics. For example, it is the only beginner piano book that doesn't start with middle C, but rather with notes within the staff for each hand. That is interesting - since it focusses attention on the staff from the outset, rather than notes below or above it.

There are many, many examples of practical ideas and assistance.

The book's title is "High Speed": we are promised absolute beginner to Grade 1 in 60 pages, so naturally, parts of the book feel like they could do with more material to reinforce and consolidate, rather than introducing yet more new things. For me, I felt that starting two-handed playing was rather quickly disposed of, rather than given giving the student time to absorb the new difficulty. Perhaps a second book of ancillary pieces is planned. It should be.

There is also a lot of theory worked in along the way, so that any child that stays the course, will have a good theoretical and practical grounding for Grade 1 (and a bit more, actually).

At the very least, every piano teacher should buy a copy as a resource - it is crammed full (literally!) of teaching tips and ideas.

Bravo!