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Pianodao is the piano music, education, and wellbeing site of teacher, writer, consultant, and composer Andrew Eales.

Essential Piano Education Resources 2026-7

Discover the best new releases and classic piano education resources to support your teaching studio in 2026. Here’s the annual round up…

ADHD • Insights for Pianists

This page is the gateway to Pianodao’s acclaimed ADHD series of articles, which bring together expert clinical insight and piano education advice to support learners, performers, and teachers.

Autumn is a time of dynamic change and possibility, the old giving way to the new. As the ‘fall’ approaches, let’s take another look at our Active Repertoire and reflect on our piano goals for the coming months.

Halloween Favourites

As Halloween approaches, many teachers and players ask about top choices of easy, but spooky, piano music to enjoy on these darker evenings. When it comes to whole collections dedicated to exploring the ghoulish and macabre, here are my top choices.

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Autumn Repertoire Project

Active Repertoire Project
Written by Andrew Eales

Pianodao’s popular Active Repertoire Project nudges and reminds us to develop a set of three or four pieces which we can play with confidence, fluency, and expression, for our own and others’ enjoyment, and preferably from memory.

By making this a top priority, we can:

start our practice sessions positively, with music we enjoy
more quickly memorise our favourite pieces
overcome our anxiety and feel more at ease playing to others

The Autumn Repertoire Sheet is FREE to download, and includes the regular spaces to list pieces to continue enjoying, as well as space to keep track of new projects and core technical work. Click here for the download:

Autumn Repertoire Project Sheet

Essential Piano Education Resources 2026-7

Educational Resources
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

It can be overwhelming keeping track of all the latest and best resources, and I have found that my annual roundup of my favourite new releases and returning classics can be just as helpful to me as it is for other teachers reading this.

As we begin another academic year, here’s my selection of standout piano education publications from the last few months, evergreen classics that are still at the heart of my teaching, and must-have music collections with an educational focus.

To read my in-depth evaluations of any of the publications shared below, and for a better understanding of which might suit your and your students’ particular needs, simply click on the titles to open the full reviews, or right-click to open them in a new tab.

ABRSM • Encore Plus

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Spin the clock back to 2015, and ABRSM’s Encore series of four graded piano books was among the first ever reviews on Pianodao. I loved the series then and still do, although much has changed in the intervening years, and Encore has been due an update that accounts for the intervening decade of syllabus publications.

That now arrives in the form of Encore Plus, a new set of four books that broadly match the grade groupings and spirit of the original series, again compiled by Karen Marshall and complete with her teaching advice.

The original series remains available; these new volumes are not so much replacements as complementary collections, bringing together a more contemporary selection of repertoire drawn from recent ABRSM syllabuses.

ABRSM are certainly no strangers to graded compilations of this sort, but I think Encore Plus is among their best series yet. In this review I will reflect on the included repertoire, consider Marshall’s supplementary teaching material, and assess the overall quality of the resource…

First 50 Left-Hand Patterns

Educational Resources
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Over the last couple of years, Hal Leonard have been expanding their hugely popular First 50 series of bumper songbooks for easy piano to include some interesting educational titles that fill a particular niche. The first of these titles that I reviewed was Alistair Watson’s First 50 Chords, about which I wrote,

“I have no doubt that this book will find significant popularity, and deservedly so. I am sent plenty of educational material to evaluate; this particular book is a real “keeper”, and one which I anticipate making plenty of use of in the years to come.”

That said, I also mentioned a few caveats, questioning whether the publication offered sufficient material to help players effectively realise lead sheets in practice::

“Learning to vamp using the given chord patterns is likely to be the key that unlocks real enjoyment of the material, but many learners particularly struggle at this point”

Few things sound as unpleasant on the piano as bashing out root-position triads at the lower end of the keyboard. So for pianists who want to play from chord notation or create vamp accompaniments, learning stylistically appropriate left-hand patterns is an essential skill to prioritise, but one for which there are too few methods or manuals.

Happily, Watson’s latest book in the series, First 50 Left-Hand Patterns is a brilliant sequel to his previous outing, and aims to address this point…

Classics for Ten Fingers

Educational Resources
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Over the last couple of years, OUP Music have done a stellar job of thoroughly updating, revising, and giving a fresh new look to their beloved Piano Time series and Tunes for Ten Fingers books, refreshing the musical content of the existing bestsellers and adding additional titles to reinvigorate the range.

When I first heard of the latest title, Classics for Ten Fingers, I wasn’t immediately inspired, imagining it to be a collection featuring dull arrangements of the usual classical hits, but I’m happy to report that the book has far exceeded my initial expectations.

Written by Michael Higgins (who also brought us the excellent Christmas for Ten Fingers) and published by OUP Music, Classics for Ten Fingers is billed as A first piano book of easy classical pieces with accompaniments, and is a beautifully presented, colourful collection full of unexpected musical surprises.

In fact, it is so good that it’s not just a must-have for existing users of the series, but could equally entice those who prefer other methods but want to expand their beginner resources to include a wide and diverse range of great piano composers from previous generations…

The Piano Scale Book

Educational Resources
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

When I reviewed Ben Andrew’s first three graded Piano Scales Books a couple of summers ago, I wrote in my conclusion:

“Ben Andrew and Hal Leonard must surely be congratulated for bringing so useful and innovative a new approach to a crowded market, and one which so uniquely supplements those already available… I suspect that for many beginners, Ben Andrew’s Piano Scale Books could transform the early stages of scales learning for the better.”

Now Hal Leonard have published his complete version of The Piano Scale Book, a manual that applies his unique visual approach to learning scales and arpeggios across every major and minor key (up to six sharps and flats).

To understand his method, you need to read my main review here, and I won’t repeat the same content again. Rather, in this review I will look specifically at the new complete manual and comment on anything that is new or different…

ADHD and piano competitions

ADHD • Insights for Pianists
Andrew Eales with Louise Eales RMN, NMP

Continuing our series exploring the challenges and opportunities faced by pianists with ADHD, this article unpacks the issues faced when taking part in competitive piano events, which range from local festivals and school competitions to major international competitions.

This article aims to foster understanding, encourage players who feel confused by their reactions to competition, and promote discussion about how we can create a healthier, more inclusive performance culture.

As ever, I extend my gratitude to my wife Louise for sharing her extensive clinical expertise, offering important editorial suggestions across this series of articles. This article arose from our many conversations about the topic of how ADHD has impacted my own piano journey.

For an in-depth introduction to ADHD, outlining what it is, how it is diagnosed and treated, and how it impacts piano players more generally please refer to our article ADHD • A Pianist’s Guide.

Paul Harris: Play with Rhythm!

Educational Resources
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

While Pianodao has featured several books and series by my friend Paul Harris (you can explore my other reviews here), I can only scratch the surface of the more than 500 publications already to his name.

Harris’s latest looks set to become another classic, a standout publication that superbly fills a gap many of us didn’t quite realise existed.

Play with Rhythm! is billed as “a workbook for developing a sense of pulse, rhythm, and counting”, suitable for musicians of any instrument or genre, and can be used in individual or group lessons, or on your own at home. According to the publishers Faber Music,

“Suitable for players of Grade 2 (Elementary) level upwards, this practical workbook takes students step by step through a series of simple activities that will develop a real understanding of rhythm and awareness of pulse.”

Having perused a draft some months ago, and now the finished product, I think that this winning publication will quickly establish itself as an essential resource, so let’s take a closer look.