Alfred's Premier Piano Course

Alfred's Premier Piano Course is the current flagship graded method from one of the largest music publishers in the United States. It is designed for private-studio pedagogy, and homeschool families adopt it largely because private teachers already use it — which makes the method's strengths and constraints inherited rather than chosen.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Traditional / subject-specialist / graded method
Worldview	Secular
Grades	Prep through Level 6 (roughly ages 5 through early teens)
Formats	Print books with audio and online video support
Cost tier	Budget (per-book) / Standard (full course)
Parent intensity	3 (higher if no outside teacher; lower with a private teacher)
ESA-common	Varies (fine-arts items often eligible where ESAs exist)
Accredited	No
Established	2005, per Alfred Music's catalog history
Website	alfred.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Careful sequencing from pre-reading through intermediate repertoire
Ease of teaching	3	Accessible to non-musician parents in the early levels; technique work benefits from a teacher
Content quality	4	Polished editorial, strong original pieces, good classical adaptations
Flexibility	4	Families can buy only the strands they use; no all-or-nothing kit
Value for money	5	Per-book pricing keeps the annual cost among the lowest in its tier
Worldview scope	5	No doctrinal content; usable across every worldview
Visual/design	4	Full-color, consistent, lightly illustrated; not childish past Level 2
Support resources	4	Online Assistant Videos, CDs and audio, large supplementary catalog

Who the publisher is

Alfred Music is one of the largest music-education publishers in the world, founded in 1922 and headquartered in Van Nuys, California. Its piano catalog spans beginner methods (Alfred's Basic, Prep Course, Premier Piano Course) and a broad body of supplementary repertoire and theory. Premier Piano Course was released beginning in 2005 as the newer, more methodically sequenced companion to the older Alfred's Basic Piano Library.

The author team — Dennis Alexander, Gayle Kowalchyk, E. L. Lancaster, and Martha Mier — are composers and pedagogues whose individual piano catalogs have been in print for decades. Alexander and Mier are particularly known for their original intermediate solos; Kowalchyk and Lancaster for pedagogy scholarship. The method reflects their combined experience, and its best pieces are their own compositions rather than arrangements.

Alfred is not a homeschool publisher. Piano teachers are the primary market, and most homeschool families using Premier Piano Course are doing so because their child's private teacher assigned it. That supply chain matters: Alfred does not offer a homeschool parent support line, does not publish a parent guide, and does not ship kits. The books are sold individually through music retailers and online vendors, priced per unit.

The core pedagogy

Premier Piano Course is a graded method in the traditional American sense. It assumes a one-on-one teaching relationship, sequential lesson pages, and weekly practice between lessons. The course progresses from pre-staff reading in the Prep Level through Level 6, which lands a student in early-intermediate classical literature (Clementi sonatinas, simplified Bach, pop-rock arrangements, original teaching pieces).

Each level is published as a family of coordinated books rather than a single textbook. A student at Level 2, for example, might work simultaneously from Lesson 2, Theory 2, Performance 2, Technique 2, and Sight-Reading 2 — all keyed to each other so that what the student sees in the Lesson book is reinforced in Theory and practiced in Performance and Technique. Families can buy only the strands they want. A family that has a private teacher doing ear training and sight-reading separately may purchase only Lesson and Performance; a family teaching entirely at home will usually want the full set.

Signature mechanics: (1) Integrated strand books — the five coordinated volumes at each level let a teacher or parent load exactly the balance of reading, theory, technique, and performance the child needs. (2) Audio tracks at two tempos — every Lesson and Performance book ships with recordings at practice and performance tempo, which is unusual at this price point and genuinely useful for students without a teacher nearby. (3) Online Assistant Videos — Kowalchyk walks through specific lesson-book pages on video, free to book owners. (4) Pre-reading staff before full-staff notation in the Prep Level, which flattens the entry curve for young children.

A day in the life

A seven-year-old working through Level 1A at home with a parent-coach might spend twenty-five minutes on piano daily: five minutes warm-up (Technique 1A), ten minutes on a new concept from the Lesson book, five minutes on Theory, and five minutes on Performance. The parent guides through the Lesson page, plays the audio track once at practice tempo, then has the child attempt the piece. Concepts introduced Monday appear in Theory Tuesday, and the week's Performance piece is polished Thursday and Friday. A teacher, if present, typically meets weekly to assign the next set of pages, correct technique, and rotate the sight-reading and performance repertoire.

A ten-year-old a year into Level 3 with an outside teacher works closer to forty-five minutes daily: warm-ups and scales from Technique, ten to fifteen minutes on Lesson-book material, targeted passage work on Performance pieces, and occasional reading at sight. Parents at that level are typically off the piano bench entirely, intervening only when practice isn't happening.

What they do exceptionally well

Per-book affordability. Individual Premier Piano Course Lesson books run roughly $9.99 each, with CD-bundled volumes around $11.99, as of April 2026. A full five-book level — Lesson, Theory, Performance, Technique, Sight-Reading — comes in under $50 before any retailer discount. Compared to proprietary homeschool music kits, Alfred is the budget option at every level. For a family taking outside lessons, the books are essentially consumables.

Original intermediate repertoire. The editorial choice to use original compositions by Alexander, Mier, and others — rather than watered-down arrangements of classical pieces — gives Levels 3 through 6 genuinely enjoyable music to play. Students finish the course with a sense that they have learned music worth playing, not that they have slogged through simplified Beethoven.

Audio and video support. The free Premier Online Assistant Videos and bundled audio tracks make the method unusually self-service for a traditional print curriculum. A child who misses a cue in the book can usually find Kowalchyk explaining the same page on video.

What they do poorly

Not designed for the homeschool parent. The books assume a teacher. They do not explain, in plain language, how to hold the hand, how to correct posture, or how to teach reading from scratch. A musically literate parent can close this gap. A parent who has never played piano will feel the gap by Level 1B, where hand position and rhythmic coordination begin to matter more than the book alone can teach.

No formal scope-and-sequence across strands. Because the five strand books at each level are coordinated but not scripted, a family teaching without a teacher has to decide how to pace the books against each other. Premier does not publish a week-by-week schedule the way homeschool-native methods do.

Repertoire thin on diverse traditions. The course's musical diet is heavily Western classical and American popular, with some jazz exposure later. Families seeking substantial non-Western repertoire, or deeper folk-music integration, will need to supplement.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Alfred's Premier Piano Course if: your child studies with a private teacher who uses it; you want a secular, per-book piano method you can buy incrementally; you have at least one musically literate parent; you want professional-quality repertoire and audio support without paying for a subscription platform; you value flexibility to skip strands you do not need.

• Skip Alfred's Premier Piano Course if: you have no piano experience and no outside teacher and want a curriculum that teaches the parent alongside the child; you want a single open-and-go workbook rather than five coordinated books; you want a Christian-integrated music program; you prefer a streaming video method where the screen is the teacher; your child needs a Suzuki-style listening-first approach.

Cost honest assessment

As of April 2026, individual Premier Piano Course books retail on alfred.com at approximately $9.99 for most Lesson books, $9.95 to $11.99 for Performance and Theory volumes, and around $8.95 to $9.95 for Technique and Sight-Reading. A full five-book level lands in the $45 to $55 range before retailer discount. Alfred also sells Value Packs bundling Lesson, Theory, and Performance at a modest savings.

Compared to Piano Pronto (Jennifer Eklund's method, roughly similar per-book pricing with digital subscription add-ons) and to Hoffman Academy (video subscription at about $15 per month), Alfred's Premier sits at the affordability floor among serious methods. Where Alfred costs more than Hoffman over a year is when a family adds a private teacher; that relationship, not the books, is where the money goes.

An all-in annual books budget for one homeschooled student progressing a level per year runs $45 to $60. With a private teacher at market rates ($30 to $50 per half-hour weekly), total annual cost lands in the $1,500 to $2,500 range — most of it paying the teacher, not Alfred.

ESA eligibility notes

Because Premier Piano Course is secular and sold as individual trade books through standard music retailers, it generally clears ESA vendor approvals where fine-arts materials are permitted. Arizona's ClassWallet marketplace and Florida's Step Up For Students have historically reimbursed Alfred piano books through retailers such as Amazon Business and Sheet Music Plus. Private-lesson reimbursement is separately handled by most state ESA programs and often covers a significant portion of a year's tuition. Families should verify piano-specific vendor policies within their state marketplace, as music instruction and music materials are sometimes handled under different categories.

Alternatives

• Faber Piano Adventures — a family would choose Faber over Alfred's Premier for its stronger pedagogical scaffolding for parent-as-teacher, wider non-classical repertoire, and better-documented scope and sequence.
• Hoffman Academy — a family would choose Hoffman over Alfred for video-first instruction that replaces the need for a teacher entirely, with a lower upfront cost and a tighter scope.
• Piano Pronto — a family would choose Piano Pronto over Alfred for Jennifer Eklund's contemporary repertoire, bright modern design, and strong pop-crossover content.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Alfred's Premier Piano Course product pages at alfred.com, the per-book pricing and bundling structure on the publisher's current retail site, the Premier Online Assistant Video catalog at the Alfred Music portal, and sample pages of the Lesson, Theory, Performance, and Technique strands at Levels 1A through 3. We cross-referenced against Cathy Duffy Reviews, the Faber Piano Adventures comparable method, the Hoffman Academy video platform for pricing parallels, and current retail listings at Sheet Music Plus and Christian Book Distributors. Biographical information on the author team of Dennis Alexander, Gayle Kowalchyk, E. L. Lancaster, and Martha Mier was verified against Alfred Music's published composer catalog. Prices and edition information verified April 2026.

A note on comparability: Premier Piano Course and Alfred's older Basic Piano Library are frequently confused in homeschool discussions. They are distinct method books, published by the same publisher, with different authors, different pedagogical sequences, and different editorial philosophies. Premier, released starting in 2005, is the newer and more carefully graded method; Basic Piano Library, first released in the 1980s, remains in print but is generally considered less methodically sequenced than Premier. Families evaluating Alfred as a piano option should read the specific method name rather than relying on "Alfred" as a generic reference. The review above addresses Premier Piano Course only; Alfred's Basic Piano Library would receive a separate editorial evaluation.