Patterns for Fun, Book 1: Piano Book

The structure here works because it respects how students actually learn. Sheftel and Wills present each pattern in isolation, explain it clearly, then embed it into a real piece students want to play. That progression from exercise to music prevents the dead-end feeling of pattern drills.

Playful and purposeful at once. The pieces have genuine musical personality rather than feeling like exercises in disguise, so students experience immediate reward when they nail a pattern they've just learned.

Early intermediate pianists building the finger independence and muscle memory needed for more complex technical demands. This works especially well for students who learn better through guided discovery than from abstract explanation.

• Slow the initial pattern presentation to half tempo so students can observe their own finger placement and hand position without rushing to play.
• Isolate the musical selection after learning the pattern, then return to the pattern work only if a specific passage stumbles.
• Encourage students to identify where the same pattern appears in pieces they're already learning elsewhere in their lesson.

Assign these sequentially as part of weekly lessons to build a consistent technical foundation without replacing your core method book. Pair Book 1 with early intermediate solo repertoire to reinforce patterns students encounter in performance pieces.

• Finger independence within hand positions
• Pattern recognition across multiple contexts
• Hand position stability and ergonomics
• Note reading accuracy in familiar finger patterns
• Left and right hand coordination