Piano The Books

i bought this for my brother who started taking piano lessons a while back, and it's got a great selection of some the most beautiful music i've ever heard (i love john williams). good if you love jurassic park, etc. & many other timeless musical scores!

Boook was in GREAT shape, super super super fast shipping. Wonderful seller. Buy from this person! Thank you so much! We used one of the songs as a joke in our wedding (Indianna Jones theme song... I'm an Archaeologist) and people LOVED it! Thanks for helping to make our special day even better!
A+++++

If you are looking for a book with various themes of John Williams, look no further. This book contains many of his great hits from, like the book says, 1969-1999. It includes the themes from Born of the Fourth of July, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Jaws, JFK, Schindler's List, E.T., Close Encounters, and Superman. It also includes Duel of the Fates, The Imperial March, Luke and Leia (for all you Star Wars fans), Cadillac Of The Skies, Hymn to the Fallen, Seven Years In Tibet, Scherzo For Motorcycle and Orchestra, and many more. If you are a fan of John Williams and play the piano, this book is for you! P.S. Also look for the 2-CD set of the same name which includes all of the same songs.

This is the best piano book in the world.

This book has all of Williams's best. The songs sound really good on the piano and are easily reconizable. I recommend it to any John Williams fan.

I like the spiral binding, easy to keep the pages flat, you get a large number of music pieces, many well known, nice variety. The only problem is they are not exactly easy for a beginner and I found one piece (so far) where the note just does not fit, it sounds off comparing to what I remembered, however that may be just me.

I have been playing for about 10 months and enjoy this book, but most of it's too hard for me. The advantages - LOTS of music, a good variety, not just classical like in some books (though there's nothing remotely modern in here - no pop or rock or anything). But as one reviewer said, it's not "easy", just easier, and it's not for beginners. For example, most beginner books have most or all the music in C, F or G or their minors (either no or one sharp or flat), in this book, a lot is in keys with 2 or more sharps or flats. The two isn't so bad, but the "or more" is a challenge. Also, the music requires a lot of playing both hands simultaneously (as opposed to beginner books that have more playing mainly chords and close half or quarter notes on the left hand, so that the amount of simultaneous movement is reduced).

This AMSCO Publications product (1998) contains some of the same
compositions found in their Library of Piano Classics book (1987); but the latter has 350 pgs of unaltered (I think) classical music, while the former
has 239 pgs of simplified classics and light standards.

Both books contain Debussy's Le Petit Negre in the same form. Therefore I suppose that the publisher considers the real composition easy enough to include it unaltered in Easy Piano Favorites. But other classical
compositions common to both books are indeed simplified. This is
accomplished by using fewer notes, rewriting in "easier" keys, and shortening
the original compositions so as to leave out hard parts. For instance, Liszt's
Liebestraum in the "hard" book is six pgs. long and is written in the key of
A flat (4 flats). In the Easy Piano Favorites book it is two pages long and is
presented in the key of F (1 flat). Beethoven's Fur Elise, generally considered
to be easy enough (key of C, etc) that generations of piano teachers have
taught it to generations of students, is 4 pgs in the original. In Easy Piano
Favorites it remains in the key of C, but has a different (easier?) bass and takes
up only one page.

Your reviewer, who once played reasonably well in his youth in his own
living room, has forgotten most of his piano skills in his old age. But I can play much that is in Easy Piano Favorites, and expect to be able to play most of it
in the foreseeabe future. I'll never be able to say that about the contents of
the more difficult Favorite Piano Classics.

What a nice surprise to open a book with almost 150 of the world's best classics in easy to play arrangements! This book contains 237 pages of music from the early composers such as Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, etc. It also contains music of such great composers like John Philip Sousa, George Gershwin, George M. Cohan, Gonoud, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, etc . This book is beautifully bound with a sturdy, plastic comb making the pages easy to turn on the piano. The pages are quite legible and bright. This book is highly recommended for all ages. My students love it. It is a spectacular collection and quite a bargain for this amount of repertoire.

A great book for first or second year piano players. Covers classical as well as favorites. The spiral binding helps to keep the book open. Both my daughter and I are enjoying this book.

The many new singing english translations are exceptional, A great addition to the Christmas repetoire.

I often play for multi-ethnic groups,this book enables me to taylor- make each performance. It contains music not only from almost every European country, but some unusual gems from South America, China, the Philippines and Japan.

This is a great book for preparing a culturally diverse program in that Levin carefully selected the music to represent many countries and cultures. Among the interesting rarities are a Huron Indian Christmas song from Canada; Christmas songs from China, the Filipines, Mexico and South America; and unusual selections from such countries as Australia, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Greece, Sweeden, Russia, Holland and Armenia. Virtually every Christian culture is represented. Many of the Jewish and Hebrew titles I've seen nowhere else!

It has a lot of classical titles that I've been meaning to get, and the arrangements are as good or better than what I've played over the years. There's a lot of attention paid to detail. And most of the songs still sound rich or complex. It has a LOT of titles. I'd recommend it.

The Christmas and Holiday songs in this book include those that we would all like to play but that most of us are unable to. This "fake" book provides a system whereby ordinary people who love this music but who have not had the musical training that they might wish they had, can play them too. The sound of these arrangements is unusually lush and authentic for arrangements of this kind. The book also contains pieces less commonly included in popular books of this kind, such as the hauntingly beautful Huron Carol, well known to Canadians such as myself but possibly less well known in other countries. Even if this were the only piece in this book, it would be well worth purchasing. In fact it contains a large selection of holiday songs.

You know who you are. Busted!

Well I have too many and love lots of them.

But this one is the best.

This book has helped me more with my playing and improvising than any other. But do not pay some outrageous price. It retails for around $29 new.

If you play jazz piano, this book is a necessity!! Randy Halberstadt puts into text, elements that are not always first on your mind. I have been playing over 30 years and have just about EVERY jazz piano book there is, and this should be your "piano bible".

Not only will this book show you how to get great at your playing, it shows you how to practice as well. I can hardly put it down. I thank Randy for taking his time to write a book like this.


Joe Mankowski
Buffalo, NY

You can read this book at your instrument, or not. I'm rereading it now for about the 4th time and still getting a ton out of it. I couldn't practice for the last several days, but I read a few pages here and a few pages there. Last night I finally got to get back on my piano, and everything I read flooded back, and I had a great practice.

I found this book, and then discovered that the author is local here in Seattle. I made it my task to become his student. He is such a great teacher, and his teaching and style is right here in this excellent book. Even my other jazz piano teacher has his own copy. I put this book right up there with the Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine - something that every aspiring jazz pianist should own and reread frequently.

This book makes you think. But it also fills your practice sessions with "Aha!" moments. While the format is simple, the author does put you through your paces and you will emerge a much better pianist with a deeper understanding of pop piano, blues, gospel, funk and country. The riffs and cliche sounds of each are showcased in a way that sets them apart and distinguishes your playing style. This is a rare book. You ought to have it whether you're still struggling with faking or already working the music circuit.

I was shocked when this book arrived, it's so thick packed with 400 pages, thank goodness for the plastic coil binding. This book includes a huge selection of songs, many of the well-known pieces that I already had in several other books, but also a wide variety of new songs that I haven't heard/played before. The level is intermediate to advanced-intermediate. I'm picking up piano again after a very LONG hiatus and I'm absolutely thrilled to have found this gem. If I had to give up all of my books and keep just one, THIS WOULD BE IT! And I would still have enough to play for a very long time. I highly recommend this book.

This 400 page book edited by Amy Appleby includes the best of every book I've ever studied from. It contains over 125 great masterpieces. There are 24 Renaissance and Baroque (e.g. Purcell, Scarlatti, Bach and Handel), 21 classical (e.g. Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart) , 28 Romantic (e.g. Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky), 16 Impressionist and Modern Composers (e.g. Debussy, Dvorak, and Rimsky-Korsakov), 10 Light Classics (e.g.Gounod, Strauss and Waldteufel), 10 opera themes (e.g. Bizet's 'Carmen,' Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro' and Sullivan's 'H.M.S. Pinafore'), 10 scenes from the ballet (e.g. Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and the Nutcracker) and 7 duets by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Diabelli, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Tchaikovsky. The book is beautiful bound with a rugged plastic binding that stays open on the piano.The pages are bright with legible notes. I would recommend this book for the serious student who is playing four years or more. This would make an excellent holiday or special occasion gift for piano enthusiasts. It is an excellent value. You may want to throw away all of your old piano books and just keep this one with all of your favorites.

Good Collection to have in your library. The piano pieces are the originals with fingerings, not simplified arrangements. The orchestral transcriptions are okay, although I have seen better from Schirmer, e.g. "Dance of the Reed Flutes". Still, they are not over-simplified arrangements, as I found to be the case in "The Definitive Classical Collection", which I returned. Over all a good addition to your musical library, especially when put together with Amy Appleby's "Piano Classics". Difficulty level is advanced-intermediate to advanced.

This is a fantastic collection. It ranges in difficulty from intermediate (the full, unabridged version of Fur Elise), to quite advanced material. It is sure to keep me playing and improving for a long time to come. Wonderful material, great variety, great range of difficulty, and great price. This is 100% recommended.

When I bought my abbreviated keyboard in April, 2005, I did not realize I would need ALL the keys. However, this collection of classical pieces has caused me to start saving so that I may indeed purchase a full-sized keyboard. Currently I feel rather comfortable with Beethovan's beautiful "Fur Elise" and would like to master Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from "The Messiah" by Christmas (as a gift for my husband). For those who want to maintain their skill level, for those who want a challenge, and for those who want to experience some beautiful music "up close and personal," I highly recommend this collection.

I played many Clementi sonatinas in my younger years and decided to give this a try. I've only been able to try out a few since I just received this book but I have a feeling it is going to be one of my favorites. I can't wait to be able to sit down and really play these. The book is beautiful and the music is difficult so I would not recommend this for a beginner.

I bought this book solely to play the G minor "Didone Abandonata" Sonata because it is so tragic, but he has so many other quality sonatas. I had never heard any of Clementi's sonatas until I had to do a presentation on Clementi's music for a Piano Literature class in college and I heard several of his sonatas. His music really is underestimated and I find it challenging to play, even more difficult than Mozart. These sonatas are a pleasant surprise considering how long they have been around. I love Dover's editions for the price and the quality of the music. Buy this book and you won't regret it.

This reproduction by Dover of the Peters edition of these sonatas is pretty good and very affordable.

I brought this after reading about how Beethoven liked Clementi sonatas and how much better his sonatas are comparing with his sonatinas (which i find boring). The very first sonata - op.7 no.3 attracted me immediately so that I decided to learn it. There're some very rich sound/polyphonic elements in it like Bach's, and also dramatic elements like Beethoven's, which just make this sonata sounding quite unique and fun to play. It's my first time learning a Clementi sonata, and find it a fascinating experience. I'd recommend any intermediate or advanced pianists give Clementi sonatas a try!

I learned a few superficial Clementi sonatinas when I was studying the piano as a child and was surprised and delighted to find (through this collection) that his sonatas are significantly more substantial. If you like Haydn piano sonatas, try these; eight measures into the first one, you'll be thinking "hey, this is nice."

THE RAGTIME KID is a historical mystery based on actual people and events surrounding Scott Joplin's composition and publication of The Maple Leaf Rag in Sedalia, Missouri in 1899. The story is told through the eyes of Brun Campbell, a young white piano player who hears Scott Joplin's "colored" Ragtime music and becomes obsessed with it and the composer. He leaves his home to study piano with Joplin in Sedalia and becomes involved in a murder case and an interracial struggle for control of the black composer's music.

Until I read this book, I knew little about Joplin or Ragtime music, but I found this book fascinating. Karp has done a wonderful job of bringing to life a time and place that seems very distant to many us now. Karp's Sedalia is a turbulent mixture of blacks and whites with strongly held feelings about the desired relations of the races - former Union and Confederate soldiers, freed slaves, freeborn blacks, abolitionists, and KKK members all live in this small town. And when Scott Joplin, a talented, educated black man, refuses to sell the rights to his music cheaply to a white man, it is like putting a match to a powder keg.

The thing I found so interesting about this book was the amount of historical fact that Karp has used in the story. He has basically created the mystery to suit and explain the fantastic and unprecedented events of 1899. While he did create several fictional characters for the story, Karp populated Sedalia with many of its actual inhabitants and businesses. Those of you who know more about Ragtime than I did may already know that Brun Campbell isn't a fictional character, that he did study with Joplin in 1899, and was a professional musician for much of his life. Me? I was surprised.

While the resolution of the mystery is a little too sensational to ring true, Karp's exploration of the motivations of the different historical characters is a delightful study of conflict and compromise. Frankly, I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to find out how these real-life people from long ago turned out.

Favorite character? Dr. Walter Overstreet. Did I guess it? Mostly. Will I read another? This is the first book of a Ragtime trilogy and the quality of Karp's writing and the ability to draw in the reader makes this a definite yes. I have to know how it ends!

We already knew that Larry Karp was a talented mystery writer, thanks to his previous novels. This latest work shows that he can write historical fiction and make it fascinating. Even though I started the book knowing nothing about ragtime music, by the end I wanted to learn more!

His other strength is his ability to create characters that are so real, and so endearing, that the reader quickly begins to identify with and root for the protagonist(s). This makes the book a real page-turner, because you can't wait to read more about what "your" characters are doing!

If you haven't read anything by Larry Karp yet, you're in for a treat!

I've just re-read Larry Karp's The Ragtime Kid, and just as you shouldn't play ragtime too fast, you shouldn't read Karp's book too fast, either, lest you miss the music of his prose and the nuances of the stories he tells.
In this, his latest book, it's 1899, and young piano player Brun Campbell has run away from his rural home in Oklahoma to Sedalia, Missouri. He's only just heard ragtime for the first time, and hopes to learn this new music from the master himself, Scott Joplin. Arriving in Sedalia, and looking for a room for the night, he stumbles, literally, upon the body of a woman, and picks up two objects that will become vital to the solution of her murder. He finds employment at a music store, and begins studying with Joplin, but when a man he knows is innocent is arrested, Brun is, however unwillingly, drawn into the search for the real murderer.
Though Sedalia is a town filled with music, it is only 30 years since the end of the War Between the States, and racism is very much a part of this story. Joplin insists on being taken seriously as a musician, and receiving royalties on the sheet music which will bear his name as composer, an unprecedented demand for the times. Thus, another plot line develops, as Joplin pursues his ambitions despite some unprincipled and amoral adversaries.
The characters here are a mixture of real, from Joplin and Campbell and other musical figures, and fictional, to some of the townspeople. In skin color, they are black and they are white, and in character they are black and white, as well, but the two categories do not necessarily overlap. Brun himself is a fifteen-year-old, a musical Huck Finn in some ways, coming of age in a world more complex than he ever imagined, and he's learning, at first hand, what black and white are all about. As events unfold, Karp vividly captures the sheer awfulness of racial (and other) bias as it was then.
Just as there are two plot lines, there are two narrative voices here, speaking in a gentle counterpoint. One voice is someone who knows Brun and tells his part of the story, occasionally noting that "Brun once told [him]" about one event or another. The other voice is an omniscient third-person narrator, who recounts Joplin's story, and the ongoing search for the murderer of the woman whose body Brun found. As Brun's music lessons commence, his plot and Joplin's intertwine, connected by some unscrupulous music promoters, and by his own efforts to absolve the innocent man.
All the characters, and some of them are surprising, are vividly realized, and they all speak very much in their own voices. Those voices, moreover, are often eloquent. Early in the book, Joplin tells Brun that ragtime is like "a bright sunny day, just a perfect day, but . . . sooner or later, the lovely day will have to end." Even more moving is a grieving father's lament for the brutal death of his son, which he knows will not be investigated: "[We] was born slaves, and now we been set free, but I don't see the leas' difference. White men kill us on the plantation, they kill us now, an' it's no matter."
From the geography of Sedalia to its weather, the sense of place in the novel is intense. It's a book that takes place in a hot Missouri summer, when the air is "close to drinkable," and we breathe in that heat and humidity as we follow Brun through the city. More characters appear, his life becomes more complicated, and as he puzzles out the solution to the murder, the action leads up to a triple denouement. First there's a violent confrontation with some brutal men, followed by an even more suspenseful encounter which culminates in the unmasking of a murderer. Then, in a shocking turnaround, Brun's own "lovely day" is over, and his life moves in a new direction.
The Ragtime Kid is a scrupulously researched look at a time in America's musical and social past, a fiction that can, as Karp notes in the concluding pages of his book, tell "a truth more striking and wondrous than any historical reality." It's a book written with humor (and not a little irony), with occasional pathos, and always with generosity . Listen to some Joplin while you read it

Larry Karp writes books. He doesn't just write genre fiction; he writes each work as an individual, well-crafted, offbeat narration. Even in his Music Box series, published by the now-defunct Write Way, all three novels were entirely singular, and unique. So, too, is *The Ragtime Kid*, an outstanding piece of historical intrigue that focuses on the origins of ragtime music and is written within the murder mystery/crime literature category of fiction.

Dr. Karp is a particularly fine writer, and his prose shines, but here, the story itself--and the characters--truly dominate.

The protagonist of the book, young Brun Campbell, is so drawn by the allure of the new music craze, ragtime, that he runs away from home to study with the great Scott Joplin in Sedalia, Missouri. Just off the train, Brun stumbles over the body of a woman, Then, not long after, he has himself a job and becomes a student of the elegant black composer, Joplin, who very well might be a homicide suspect.

Another great theme of the book is American racism. Although the Civil War has been over for a good long time, those who fought in the war--and many in Sedalia did--haven't forgotten--from one side of the great divide, or the other.

Racism, ragtime, and murder are his topics, and Karp intertwines the three adroitly for the novel's readers, then throws in a little romance as a sort of seasoning. Male/female relationships are as complex in The Ragtime Kid as they are in real life.

But perhaps the element that tickled me most about the book is the fine detailing of the time and place. Karp, a longstanding ragtime enthusiast, took the Scott Joplin biography and that of the real-life Brun Campbell, and without distorting the documented facts, wove a tale of what might have occurred. Behind that marvelous foreground though lies a backdrop lending the intoxicating particulars of the time: memories of the Chicago's World Fair in 1893, a young woman eager to perform in vaudeville, a spring-powered fan to drive away the heat, and yellow streetcars providing the Sedalia citizens their transportation.

In short, Karp has created a darn good read, a compelling and literate story that entertains on many levels--as a novel, as a mystery, and as a chronicle of one stage in our national history--a tale peopled by very real and believable characters.

*The Ragtime Kid* proves itself to be both a fun and an enlightening pastime.

G. Miki Hayden, author of *Writing the Mystery* and *The Naked Writer*.

Brun Campbell loves to hear and play music. In Oklahoma city he listens to some musicians in a music store playing a tune by Scott Joplin and knows instantly that is what he wants to learn how to play. He runs away from home at fifteen and hops a train for Sedelia, Missouri in the hopes that he can get Mr. Joplin to give him lessons. On the way into town he runs across the body of a woman strangled to death and he takes a musical money clip that is nearby and a locket on her neck.

In town he meets businessman Mr. Fitzgerald who stakes him to a room at the YMCA and money to buy food while he looks for work. Someone who hears him playing music recommends he ask music store owner Mr. Stark for a job. Mr. Stark listens to him play and offers him a job on the spot. He also auditions for Joplin who agrees to give him lessons. When Mr. Fitzgerald is arrested for the murder of the woman Brun saw the first day he was in town; he knows the man didn't do it. The money clip which belonged to Joplin could implicate him and Brun in the murder. Brun decides to find the killer with the unwitting help of the townsfolk as he maneuvers them in the direction he wants them to go for information relating to the murder.

As historical mysteries go, THE RAGTIME KID is one of the better ones. The author doesn't only write a good who done it, he shows the readers how the plight of the black man had changed very little since Emancipation back three decades earlier. Scott Joplin takes a big risk to be paid in royalties with his name as the arranger of the music, something unheard of in the 1890's. The protagonist has a touch of larceny in him that helps him get what he wants but he is so adorable, readers will root for him in spite of his faults.

Harriet Klausner

I wish Reader's Digest would print some more of these books. It is such an excellent composite of popular music and the arrangements are fantastic. If anyone has a copy, I would love to buy it.

From "Somewhere, My Love" to "On Top Of Spaghetti", this book has so many songs that I find myself humming and wishing I could play. Did you like Sesame Street, Dr. Zhivago, The Godfather? Do you like showtunes? There's over a hundred of them here ... the breadth is part of the fun of the book!

Great book for the intermediate pianist. It's one of my favorites. Reader's Digest needs to reprint it. I borrow it at the public library and would buy it if available.

This songbook has many of the great songs of my youth. The chords are easy, there are guitar chords written above the treble staff and the print is large enough for those of us over 50 to see. The arrangements are outstanding. I wish Readers' Digest would reprint this book. I'd buy it in a second. I have to borrow mine from the public library.

Great songs to play for a party or for your own enjoyment: Georgia on My Mind, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, It's Impossible, My Funny Valentine, The Shadow of your Smile, The Way You Look Tonight, On the Street Where You Live, Honky-Tonk Train. ALL of the songs are excellent piano melodies sutable for the intermediate player.

The heart and soul of this book are the great short exercises and extended compositions that are excellently rendered on the included CD. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of this book drip smooth jazz just the way you hear it on the radio. It is very helpful to see this beautiful music written out and to hear it on the CD. Harrison illustrates each new playing technique with a very musical example that is fun to practice. He ties it all together with seven beautiful but practical compositions in the last chapter. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are a bit thin. Harrison moves very quickly through the theory. Playing through the exercises in Mark Harrison's The Pop Piano Book will be really helpful in mastering Smooth Jazz Piano, particularly to master Harrison's upper structure over root chord voicings. For an advanced player, this is a stand alone book. The intermediate player will benefit by playing through the exercises in The Pop Piano Book, before moving on the Smooth Jazz Piano.

I'm a big fan of Smooth Jazz and I read just about everything on the subject. I bought this book with the view towards developing my very own unique jazz rhythm. I'm not a very accomplished pianist but my husband is a super player. Unfortunately, he is not a big fan of Jazz. So, I just winged my lessons from this book alone and here are my thoughts on the book.
I thought the book worked very well for me. I easily understood the how to create various rhythms. The CD that came with it was super and an excellent learning tool. I now play my own style of smooth jazz. I'm sure I won't be cutting a CD for a recording studio, but I'm happy. My husband just shakes his head.

If you have some experience with Jazz this book is excellent! It is very logical and methodical in it's lay out and easy to understand. If you go through it step by step you will come out at the end with a much better understanding of how to identify and voice chords for any jazz application.

Before buying this book I have to say: It helps to have some keyboard experience and to know how to read music. Smooth Jazz Piano does a good job of introducing theory, harmony, voicing and melodies (not riffs). You'll get a nice helping hand in soloing or improvising but you'll probably want to get another cd or transcribe to improve in these areas. I HIGHLY recommend this book for the student of contemporary/smooth jazz.

This book includes important information about the differences between various jazz styles and what makes each one unique. It starts off nice and easy talking about the importance of scales and modes in jazz and quickly moves on to the harmonies and voicings that make jazz stand out. It goes through some styles of the great smooth jazz pieces, making rhythms easy to comprehend. It also goes into soloing techniques, which can be scary, but this book makes the ideas make sense. The book moves quickly but provides the information that is important for those of us looking to play. It comes with a very handy CD which allows to hear what it's supposed to sound like. I highly recommend this book.

The book is medium-it isn't an easy book you only play once and then you're bored, but it isn't very difficult. Some of the arrangements are needlessly crazy, but some are well done. A piano player of about 3-5 years is about the right level.

The piano and vocals are clearly printed which makes for a good quality score. Chords for each harmony are printed in the vocal sections but not in the introductary measures. Difficulty of music depends on the particular song for example, "Somewhere" and "One Hand, One Heart" are easier. I've enjoyed playing this music and would recommend it.

If you want to play/arrange/orchestrate or simply see the genius of Berstein, this is the way to go. As an arranger, I needed reference to orchestrate a West Side Story Medley for a show, and I'm not talking your regular "standard" tunes. This vocal score is also a piano reduction of the orchestrations and was aboslutely what I needed. You can see nearly every instrument line, counter melody, even instrument indications. This was the best $50.00 I may have every spent. Saved me hours and hours of trying to "lift" off the lines. They were all there, even for the dance sections from Cool & The Rumble, which is what I really needed. Don't hestitate if you're looking for the real Berstein stuff!

The music from West Side Story is captivating, and I love being able to relive it again and again. Hearing the music from the show takes you back to the story of a modern-day Romeo and Juliet.

If you're looking for a faithful translation from the full score, this is the one. This score is based on Bernstein latest revision as reflected in the Carreras Te Kanawa recording (1985).

But be warned, this score is only for upper-intermediate/advanced pianist, classically trained. It's not a fakebook, it's not a simplified/reduced piano score for casual use. The arrangement gives two alternatives for playing some part of the song, and you can choose to play it the hard way or the easier way (which is still rather difficult). The hard way is of course the most faithful to the orchestral score.

For example, the dance part in "America" can be played by using single notes of the left hands rather than using full chord, which is great if you're trying to cope with the tempo. The arrangement for the slow pieces such as "one hand one heart", "maria", "tonight", and "somewhere" is really beautiful.

Tip: Listen to the "west side story" conducted by Bernstein himself to get a grasp of the tempo, dynamics and phrasing.