Alfred's Basic Piano Library: Universal Edition Theory Book 1A

This is the universal edition and uses terms not used here in the United States. It looks nearly identical to the US version, which I have taught from for several years (and is fantastic). This book will work if you are familiar with music terminology, but could be confusing if you aren't - especially for the young children it is designed for. I was very surprised to see a quarter note refered to as a crotchet! Normally I buy from our local music store but they are closed with Covid 19. I didn't even realize there were different editions - I should have read the description better.

What I love about this is that my son is actually taking piano classes with a instructor. So it’s easy for him to understand what he is doing. If he wasn’t then it will be a little bit difficult for him to understand the notes. Otherwise it is a very great beginners book.

This one is 2nd edition published in 1993 the other one Amazon has listed for just a little bit moreis the 1981 edition.I bought this one not realizing there were two editions on here and come to find out this one uses some british wording for the music notes like minim, crotchet, now granted they also use the english like Quarter note Half notebut it is a little confusing for kids when they are first starting out to see a note listed with two names for the same thing.So get the older edition when you need this book.Otherwise this is a great series to learn from and the lessons are easy to understand and the graphics tend to hold all 4 of my kids interest when they are working in their Alfred books.

It had British system note names, like crochet, minim, etc.! NOT what wanted! And no indication on the front of the book that it was the British System! I teach in the US and have never had this problem before. So, BUYER BEWARE!! We had already written in the piano and theory books when we discovered the problem, so I couldn't return them.

This item is slightly different in language than the book I was intending to order. I did not notice that this was the Universal Edition of the book until my student opened it for her first lesson. Upon review, I discovered that notes I teach as 'Whole', 'Half', and 'Quarter' were labeled 'Semibreve', 'Minimum', and 'Semiminim'. The lessons are primarily the same and have sufficed so far, but I would appreciate larger print on the front to show the difference in advertising.