Randall and Nancy Faber have combined their backgrounds as performer and composer to become leading supporters of piano teachers and students. The husband and wife team has authored over 300 books, including the highly respected Piano Adventures method which has motivated students around the world. The Fabers advocate piano study not only for personal expression and performance success, but also as a vehicle for the student’s creative and cognitive development.
The Faber philosophy, “Learning with ACE”—analysis, creativity, and expression—has driven their curriculum. The philosophy embraces highly integrated right and left-brain modes of teaching, learning, and experiencing pianistic sound.
Our Mission
To develop musical minds and hearts
The Faber teaching philosophy and highly integrated curriculum is built on five dynamics:
Pianistic music
At the core, it is the music itself that leads a child to the piano, the teen after basketball practice, the adult after a long work day. The music in Piano Adventures has a wide variety of sounds and styles and is eminently pianistic. Through artistic pieces, expressive playing can follow.
Our mission is to teach artistry at the piano through the music at every level.
Deeper understanding
Artistic music develops the “musical heart.” Understanding the architecture of musical form, the theory of scales and chords, major and minor keys, and keyboard improvisation develops the “musical mind.” From the beginning, Piano Adventures develops pattern recognition, essential for facile learning. Discovery and Creativity questions encourage students to examine and analyze the score.
Our mission is the student’s musical understanding at every level of the method.
System with synergy
Integrated systems of learning can foster “wholistic retention” for students leading to synergy—the ability to think in concepts that leads to “aha” connections—in myriads of ways. Teacher Guides and videos on this website demonstrate how this can be in action at every lesson.
Our mission is to use effective learning systems to produce exciting synergies.
Individualized learning
Any system of learning is only as effective as it serves the individual. Think “pacing not racing.”
Piano Adventures offers a wide array of individualized choices based on where the student is in life: a five-year-old, an 8-year-old, a teen, or an adult. Each have a course of instruction based on age and experience. Each course offers options within its parameters of what and how to study. In addition, there is a wide variety of supplementary books, with a dazzling array of styles. Choice is always an asset.
Our mission is to cater to the individual teacher and student through thoughtful choices.
Choreography of piano technique
When you learn the choreography of technique, the dance of artistry follows.
Piano Adventures offers an innovative step-by-step approach to technique with 35 carefully sequenced “Technique Secrets” across the 8 levels. The opportunity for teachers to learn, apply, and teach these “secrets” gives their students a tremendous advantage. Students “learn the language of technique” with descriptive, memorable names, physical motions, and applications through exercises and artistic pieces.
Our mission is to teach technique and artistry to all students.
Interviews and Articles
In 2018, Nancy and Randall Faber received the MTNA Frances Clark Piano Pedagogy Award for Piano Adventures.
Read more about the award.A Musical Journey: The Faber Success Story | An Entrepreneurial Presentation by Nancy Faber Friday, May 1, 2015 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., MSU College of Music, Cook Recital Hall Michigan State University, East Lansing MI In conjunction with Nancy Faber receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU College of Music
An Interview with Randall and Nancy Faber, by Steve Betts, Clavier Companion, March/April 2014. Whether they reach an elementary student using Piano Adventures, a five-or six-year-old playing a composition from My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner, or a teacher gleaning information from one of their workshops…
Interview with Randall Faber, by Brendan Lai-Tong of Sheet Music Plus. This video interview and transcript was conducted at the Music Teachers Association of California Annual Conference, June 2013.
Key People: Randall Faber, Part I, An interview with Randall Faber appearing on CUEDIn, The J.W. Pepper Blog, February 22, 2011. This interview was continued on March 8 with…
Key People: Randall Faber, Part II.An Interview with Faber and Faber, by Helen Smith Tarchalski, Keyboard Companion, Autumn 2006.
In 1977, a talented music major went home for summer vacation. Her mother, a piano teacher, coaxed her into attending a workshop that she would have preferred to skip…
Motivational and Developmental Stages in Music Study, by Randall Faber, Ph.D, 9th International Conference on Motivation, September 30-October 2, 2004, Lisbon, Portugal. This paper introduces the Facilitative Factors Model as a new, developmental model of motivation. The model emerged…
Focus on Nancy Faber, Interview with FJH Music Company, Inc., 2003.
Here’s an in-depth look at one of today’s leading supporters of the music teacher…
The Partnership at the Piano of Nancy and Randall Faber, by Suzanne Guy, Clavier, 2003.
Husband and wife Nancy and Randall Faber are known to many teachers as the authors of over 200 books…
Pianist With a Mission, Leaders & Best: Philanthropy at Michigan, 2003.
Randall Faber leads the University of Michigan Music School’s Enrichment Fund…
Randall Scott Faber: Pianist, Author and Piano Pedagogy Clinician, Artist/Educator Interview, PianoEducation.org, December 1999.
Randall Scott Faber enjoys a versatile career as piano soloist, chamber musician, accompanist, scholar, and author…