Alfred's Prep Course is an exciting and colorful piano method for young beginners, ages five and up. The full-color illustrations are delightful and the wonderful melodies and lyrics were chosen to please very young students, taking into consideration their attention span as well as the reach of their small hands. The basics of music are introduced through the use of tuneful but simple music that advances at the proper speed for small children to comprehend and enjoy. Level A gives students a chance to play tunes immediately, on black key groups and then on the white keys using pre-staff notation (letter names written in notes). The staff is introduced 2/3 of the way through and students play several tunes while reading from either the treble or bass staves. The grand staff is introduced toward the end of the book and the young pianist begins to play tunes in C Major position. Rhythms throughout the book are simple (quarter, half, dotted half, and whole notes).

Level B gives instruction with fun pieces that reinforce elementary-level concepts. The pieces are generally in the form of simple, eight measure songs in C and G Major positions. Other concepts introduced in the Level B book are melodic and harmonic 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, and 5ths; phrasing; and rests.

The pieces in Level C continue to be charming and child-oriented. This level focuses on several new concepts including time signatures (3/4 and 2/4), accidentals, accents, staccato, fermatas, eighth notes and rests. Middle C position is introduced as well.

Level D falls at the late elementary level and features slightly longer pieces, generally 16-32 measures in length. The concepts presented are slightly more advanced than in the previous books and include tempo markings, damper pedal, and half and whole steps. Tetrachords are used as an introduction to the Major scale. The keys of C and G Major are presented, instructing the student to play them in one octave between two hands.

The varied pieces in Level E highlight a few new concepts, including dotted quarter notes; 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, and octaves; and more about the C and G Major scales, including playing them in contrary motion, but only in one octave.

This final level of Alfred's Prep Course takes the student to the early intermediate level with songs and pieces that reinforce new concepts including ostinato, syncopation, triads, primary triads, chord progressions, I and V7 chords in C Major and G Major, and the D Major scale. Pieces include arrangements of familiar tunes and originals by the method's authors.