Piano The Books

This third volume of Alfred's Premier Piano Course continues to fulfill my expectations. It is extremely well organized and incorporates many things I have wanted to find in one series like intervalic reading, early presentation of Bass clef recognition, immediate use within a musical context of every new rhythmic idea, one or two measure technical previews that really make their point, and even some theory presentation that is then applied to the next piece with minimal but pointed drill. There is a separate Theory book that goes with the series.

The pieces are short and attractive and include familiar songs and other selections in various styles. I would use an adjunct Sight Reading book, but this volume itself could be used as a refresher book and sight reading supplement on its own.

Not being a lover of assignment books, this one impresses me and seems very helpful. It starts with a Performance Repertoire page - a nice idea to open with your successes! The dual assignment pages are laid out efficiently; 1 page for minimal instructions and check offs by the teacher and boxes for the student to write in daily practice times and a second page with more adequate space for expanded teacher suggestions. 4 staff lines are available for teachers who like to write out scales or exercises (or students to write little compositions) and there are places for feedback to and from parents.

An excellant continuation of this excellant and fresh new Method Series. The pieces are varied and lean to a jazzy or "popular ballad" style which will appeal to contemporary students. Notwithstanding, the clear, sound pedagogical approach, clean print and format and appealing pieces will prepare students for any style of music since the jazzy pieces are excellant for rhythmic precision and understanding, the Waltzes and Ballads for legato and expressive playing and the one early Rondo introduces a different more classically oriented style and articulation. Level 3 also introduces the pedal thoughtfully and it is generally well placed to enhance the music, not smear the line!

Alfred's Premier Piano Success is great. Comes with a folder to hold all of the books. Great for organization.

This book is great for people just learning to play piano. I have a keyboard at home that I practice on. It takes you step-by-step through each phase/step, and one lesson builds on the next. I m learning a lot with this book- highly recommended.

Do you have Alicia Keys' live album? If you liked 'Unplugged,' check out this book. Great piano parts/vocals/and guitar chords. Includes 'Wild Horses,' 'Karma,' and 'A Woman's Worth.'

This is a fine collection of the songs of Broadway's most celebrated
composer-lyricist, Stephen Sondheim.
His music has been consistently superior to any and all who have ever written a Broadway musical, particularly those of his contemporaries.
His works have been performed all over the world for decades now, a
clear indication of the admiration and respect due to a composer of
the highest caliber and genius of Stephen Sondheim.

I got this book because I've been "woodshedding" jazz standards, and while my ear grows I wanted to see what the journeymen do when it comes to playing tunes that have had the soles played off of them for close to 100 years in some cases. Dick Hyman is the master with boatloads of experience playing the "american songbook" for decades. This book does not disappoint. The suggested chord substitutions for the common chords is what is instructional. He may have 2 or 3 separate subs which not only give you alternatives, but they also give you food for thought if you are trying to teach yourself how to suggest your own substitutions. On top of that, the harmonic substitution suggests alternate ways to solo to the tunes. There's no replacement for experience, and Dick definitely has it.

As a guitar player, I found this superlative though I figure if you're a keyboard player, it will make even more sense to you.

Zoot says check it out.

Most are Joplins which are easily and most completely found in "Collected Works", or the later edition "Complete Works" published by the New York Public Library, half of the remaining easily found on E-bay but at $5 to $20 apiece, and the remainder, like 'Ham and !' and 'That Demon Rag' just not available anywhere, save the very rare occassion on E-bay for $100s!!

1. Agitation Rag
2. Back to Live
3. Black Smoke
4. Chatterbox Rag
5. Climbers Rag
6. Country Club
7. Dimples
8. Eatin' Time Rag
9. Encore Rag
10. Frisco rag
11. Glad Cat Rag
12. Ham and !
13. Harlem rag
14. Heliotrope Bouquet
15. Holy Moses Rag
16. Honey Rag
17. Hot Chocolate Rag
18. Just ask Me
19. Kinklets
20. Kismet Rag
21. Leola
22. Lily Rag
23. Magnetic Rag
24. Majestic Rag
25. Mashed potatioes
26. Old Veirginia Rag
27. On easy Street
28. Original Rag
29. Pleasant moments
30. Queen Rag
31. Red Peppers
32. Silvers Eccentric Rag
33. Sweet Pickles
34. Tennessee Tantalizer
35. That Demon Rag
36. That "Hand-Played" Rag
37. That Lovin' Rag
38. That Scandalous Rag
39. Walkin' on the Rainbow Road
40. Whoa ! Nellie!
41. Worlds Fair Rag.

I now own All-American Ragtime vol.'s 1, 2, 4, and 5. All these books have a wide variety of ragtime songs to play. I am an intermediate-skill piano player, and there are about 5-8 songs in each book that I can learn. The rest of the songs I hope to tackle after I've learned the more basic ones in each book. Book 1 has a nice little introduction to playing ragtime by Scott Joplin himself, with some practice measures. I would not recommend these books for a beginner player. While they are challenging and a stretch for my fingers in some cases, I'm having a lot of fun learning to play Ragtime.