Picking up the keyboard.

[Archaon]

I'll try not to make this too wordy for once.

Long story short, I want to learn to play the keyboard, but the only place that does actual lessons around here is way too friggin' expensive. (Almost $60 for a one hour session? I think not.)

Can any of you musically inclined folks recommend any books or applications on this subject?

[DramaNoMore]

Search for "Piano Methods".

It really sucks when you don't know the exact name of what you're looking for.

[Caster13]

I've also been thinking about picking up the keyboard/piano since (I think) it won't require me to twist my fingers and wrists like playing the violin does--and thus making it a better instrument to ease into music theory with. Any suggestions for good, cheap keyboards?

[Zephyr]

Ouch $60? I can see that for maybe advanced students, but charging that for beginners is murder. I get them for $45 a month for a 45 minute lesson each week, it's crazy cheap and a great teacher. If that's the only place around there, that sucks, but I'm really not sure what I could recommend. Depending how beginner you are you could start going through some Alfred level books then make the jump to RCM later.

[Moseph]

If there's a university with a music department in the area, call the piano professor and ask if he/she has any students who give or would be willing to give lessons. It's common for university-level piano students to do this, and the prices are likely to be lower.

[Diodes]

Hey I'm a piano teacher and for adults, I like to use the Adult Piano Adventures All-in-One Lesson Book by Faber. Piano methods are usually designed to have a lesson book along with theory and technique at each level, the all-in-one includes all of that stuff. Another good all-in-one book is the "Adult All-In-One Course" by Alfred, but I tend to like Faber more than Alfred because I think they just explain things a little better, and the material they include seems to go better with each lesson. That's just my opinion though, you could check out both in a music store and see which appeals to you more.

Here are some links to the Faber and Alfred books on Amazon. Err Amazon doesn't have a picture of the Faber, so here's a link that does.

BTW I tecah at a store and times are pretty rough now, as you could probably guess. We charge $32/half hour lesson (I don't think 1 hour is really necessary at the beginner level anyway). At home I charge a little less, $25/hr. But $60/hr does sound like the going rate these days, unfortunately.

Good luck and hope this helps!