I had my first lesson this past Saturday. I'm not using any book right now. I can read music fairly well. I want to play by ear and to improvise.
My 10-year-old grandson was using Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Piano. But my grandson didn't like the songs in the book. So I gave the piano teacher the easy version of AMEN. The teacher showed him the correct fingering. So now my grandson is working on AMEN. My grandson prefers this to the piano book. I have three other grandsons, 4-year-old twins, and their 3-year brother. They like to sing. So the 10-year-old plays AMEN while his younger cousins sing. By the time my grandson can play AMEN proficiently, I'll select another song for him to play.
I'm working on the stride technique. The piano teacher played a very nice AMEN using stride. He has me working on the left hand. He wants me to practice the stride progression ( I IV V7) in every key. I found this to be boring. So once I got the stride going halfway decent, I started playing single notes, AMEN, with the right hand. This sounded pretty good and had a nice bounce to it. So I started playing other songs (using single notes in the right hand, stride in the left hand) like Jesus On The Mainline, Victory Is Mine, etc. Very nice and challenging ... I'm acquiring hand independence and it's making my brain twist.
My next lesson is after New Year's Day; even so I better make sure that I can play my assigned lesson without getting ahead of myself.
I'll post one of my practices once I get it smooth. With the help of my piano teacher, I'll develop a similar practice routine for the level 1 and level 2 beginner.
One day, we'll have this room rocking.
We'll be the rocking gannies!!!