Forms 1 (Ages 6-9, 1st-3rd Grade) and Form 2 (ages 9-12, 4th – 6th Grade): 
The PNEU used The Child Pianist by Mrs. Curwen for piano instruction.
You can find The Teachers Guide to  Mrs. Curwen’s Pianoforte Method ( the Child Pianist) here. Parents who have some piano experience and would also like to save money could easily use this program at home with their children.  I suggest that you read this guide first thourougly so you understand the methods and then you can work through it with your children.  The only free Student book I have been able to find online is her Step One Child Pianist book. You could print this and then try using the teachers guide with the student book.  The other Steps could be purchased from England if you so desired. I have purchased several and hope to scan them and make them available in the Member Lessons as soon as I can!

Form 3 (Ages 12-13, 7th and 8th Grade) and  Form 4 (Ages 14-15, 9th and 10th Grade) :
Students were encouraged to continue their piano playing by studying pieces by the term’s composer that they were studying for Music Appreciation. So if the PNEU was studying Bach for that specific term, the children would also work specifically on piano pieces by Bach that were at their level of playing ability.

Along with playing pieces by the terms composer, the book Introduction to Music by H.E. Piggott was scheduled. Introduction to Music  is a “living” introduction to music theory. Page numbers aren’t given in the programmes. I believe this is because Music/Piano Instruction was to be done in afternoon time. I isn’t scheduled in morning lessons on the timetable and notes on the archive indicate that piano was to be done as an afternoon occupation. Therefore, the student would most likely read this in their afternoon leisure time. Piano Lessons were taught either by a teacher (one hour lessons were typical in that time period) or by the mother. It’s perfectly fine to have a 30 Minute Lesson with a hired teacher today.  If the mother taught her child, lessons were to be done daily for 15 minutes in the younger forms, gradually moving to a 30 minute time period. Short Lessons! To learn more you can read a Parent’s Review article The First Music Lessons by Mrs. Curwen.  I suggest Suzuki Lessons for the modern student taking with a hire teacher.  I think that the philosophies line up nicely. A parent could probably also try and bring Mrs. Curwen’s Teachers Guide to a modern teacher and ask them to try some of the lessons as well if they were so inclined. Here are a couple pictures from Introduction to Music the form 3 and 4 music theory book that Mason used.  This book will be scanned and made available to Members eventually as time permits!  ​

Foundations of Practical Harmony and Counterpoint by Reginald Owen Morris is unavailable online as far as I can tell, but we do have the table of contents so we can see the types of things the Upper High School Students would have been studying for their piano/instrumental studies.  (This book is similar to what I learned in my college music theory courses, so I suspect it would have been used by students who were much more serious about pursuing musical studies.  I can’t imagine that a student new to music would be able to understand this book well, BUT I could be wrong. I just received this in the mail this week, so new info on this book coming soon!)

Here is the Table of Contents for this book:

COMMON CHORDS 3
FIRST INVERSIONS OF THE COMMON CHORD 14
HARMONIZATION OF MELODIES 21
Two OR MORE NOTES TO ONE 29
THE CHORD OF THE DOMINANT TTH IN ROOT POSITION 35
SUSPENSIONS 41
THE INVERSIONS OF THE DOMINANT SEVENTH 49
APPOGGIATURAS CHANGING NOTES AND ANTICIPATIONS 53
ELEMENTARY MODULATION 59
THE SECONDARY CHORDS OF THE SEVENTH 65
THE DOMINANT MAJOR AND MINOR NINTH 72
PART II 81
MELODY AND RHYTHM 83
THE HARMONIC ASPECT 89
COMBINATION OF Two PARTS IN THE FIFTH SPECIES 94
COUNTERPOINT IN THREE PARTS 101
CHAPTER PACE 107
SUSPENSIONS 117
THREE FREE PARTS 135
APPENDIX I 143
Copyright