Piano Textbooks & Resources

Complete Color-Coded Flash Cards dominates early instruction, while Carol Tornquist's Top 50 Praise & Worship: Piano Book appeals to teachers working with worship and contemporary music. Alfred's Basic Keyboard Chart and Willard A. Palmer's practice materials continue to anchor studio routines. Christine H. Barden's Alfred's Kid's Piano Course, Complete (with video and online audio) gives younger students a full multimedia entry point to piano study.

Recent additions include Three Studies by Christian Wolff, The Piano Player: Anime by Kenichi Nagahashi, and Craig Armstrong's The Faber Music Mindful Piano Anthology, all published in 2026. Büsra Kayikçi's Eskizler and Salvatore Martirano's Stuck on Stella round out the latest solo repertoire.

E. L. Lancaster brings decades of piano pedagogy expertise to this collection. As former Executive Editor of Piano for Alfred Music and long-time professor at the University of Oklahoma, he shaped the Alfred's Kid's Piano Course materials that remain foundational for young learners.

Gayle Kowalchyk teaches piano pedagogy at California State University, Northridge, and her work on Alfred's Kid's Piano Course reflects her extensive background in both piano performance (studied at Northwestern) and class piano program direction. Her materials are designed for teachers who want research-informed, classroom-tested approaches.

Carol Tornquist wrote herself into teaching through her own early path: she began piano by ear at four and later directed her music education background toward worship and contemporary styles. Her Top 50 Praise & Worship: Piano Book is the collection's second-biggest seller because it meets a real classroom need for accessible arrangements of songs teachers and students want to play.

Christine H. Barden specializes in early childhood music and co-authored Alfred's Music for Little Mozarts. She brings both preschool music authority and direct teaching experience (she runs her own studio in Reno, Nevada) to beginner method design, making her work particularly valuable for teachers working with very young pianists.