Piano The Books

This is a wonderful book for the study of music. Learning to play the piano as an adult is not an easy task; however, this book breaks the steps down into easily understood blocks of instruction. The CD in the book was a little fast for me to keep up with. I will have to figure out another strategy to make that aspect of the text work for me. The lessons in the book along with the student exercises in both practical and theoretical formats are great learning tools for progressing with the study of the piano. Including the finger numbers on the staff was a wonderful idea and makes the lessons flow along with minimal interruptions. I highly recommend this book for all adult beginners. Other great books for relaxation are: "Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body and Soul," which feature the new Epulaeryu poetry form, "Everyday Miracles," and "The Language of Poetry Forms."

I am very happy with this product. As a beginner, I am able to read the music and teach myself these wonderful Cuban songs.

I've enjoyed "Jazz Up Your Christmas" for many years, and have performed it at parties each year. I'm glad that I can add Lee Evans Holiday Jazz to my repertoire.

Leo Ornstein (1893? -- 2002)remains one of the most obscurely fascinating figures in American music. Born in Russia in about 1893, he was a child prodigy who studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In about 1905, his family fled Russia to escape the pogroms and emigrated to the lower east side of New York City. Ornstein studied music at a predecessor to the Juilliard School of Music and toured Europe in the early 1910s with his teacher, Bertha Fiering Tapper. During this time, Ornstein received a compositional "epiphany" and wrote some wildly dissonant, percussive piano pieces which established his reputation as the "bad boy of American music."

Upon returning to the United States, Ornstein, young and handsome, all of 5'4" with a mane of long black hair, became a charismatic pianist (With the outbreak of WW I, he never again toured Europe.) who played the standard repertoire together with his own and other modernist compositions. Ornstein had a successful career as a concert pianist until 1925. In the interim, he married Pauline-Mallet-Prevost, who was a fellow student at the conservatory, and the daughter of a wealthy family, highly different from Ornstein's own background. The marriage lasted over 60 years.

Suddenly, in 1926, Ornstein abandoned the life of a concert pianist for reasons that remain obscure. He taught at a conservatory in Philadelphia and ultimately opened his own studio. He did no more concertizing and ultimately became forgotten. In the 1950s, the Ornsteins retired from their studio and wandered around the United States, finally settling in a trailer in Brownsville, Texas and then moving to Wisconsin.

Ornstein was "rediscovered" in the 1970s, and was the subject of news features and a number of recordings. During this time, he continued to compose. Pianists Marc Hamelin and Janice Weber are among the artists who have recorded Ornstein's solo piano compositions, from the radical early works to the more conservative, virtually unknown pieces he composed late in life.

It is fortunate that there is a recent thoughtful biography of Ornstein, the man and the musician, "Leo Ornstein:Modernist Dilemmas, Personal Choices" (2007) by the musicologists Michael Broyles and Denise von Glahn. Their work is the product of eight years of research, including interviews with Ornstein's family, and study of his large output of music.
The book proceeds on many levels. It is a study of the composer's childhood in Russia and the immigration of his family to the United States, in company with many Russian Jews. It is also a study, in Ornstein's case, of assimilation and Americanization, and its consequences. We learn a great deal about the United States, up through WW I, and about musical life of the time. Finally, Broyles and von Glahn give an overview of Ornstein's music and detailed descriptions of some major pieces, especially the "Quintette" and the early radical piano works.

Underlying any consideration of Leo Ornstein is the question why he abrubtly abandoned his concert career in the mid-1920s for a life of obscurity. The authors offer a variety of answers, including Ornstein's aversion to risk-taking, and his desire for a peaceful mainstream life in America. They are critical of his marriage to Mallet-Prevost, for wanting to keep Ornstein to herself and to hinder the development of his career - a decision in which Ornstein at the least obviously acquiesced. It remains unclear to me whether the authors' criticism of Mallet-Prevost is well-founded.

The authors take a similar approach to the change in Ornstein's music from its early anarchy to its latter approach which Ornstein described as "expressivist". Ornstein became disenchanted with the development of modern music which he characterised as overintellectualized, experimental and formalist. His own music, in contrast, was emotive and spontaneous, wearing its heart on its sleeve. The authors are somewhat critical of Ornstein's technical skills as a composer and his difficulty in handling complex forms. They also raise questions, as they do in considering Ornstein's life, about the composer's abandonment of his Jewish-Russian roots, including his relative lack of contact with his family after he became successful, his desire to be mainstreamed into America, his isolation from other composers and intellectuals following the end of his career as a performer, and his aversion to risk-taking as factors that contributed to his obscurity.

Following my reading of this book, I listened to the Naxos recording of Ornstein's piano music by Janice Weber with renewed interest and appreciation. Broyles and von Glahn have written a meditative, troubling biography of a composer who deserves to be remembered and, more generally, of the changes and challenges faced by Jewish immigrants to the United States early in the 20th Century.

Robin Friedman

This book on improving has helped me to improve my improving on the organ. This was recommended by an organ professor from Indiana University.

This is the second book in the "Let Us Have Music For Piano" series by Maxwell Eckstein. The first book was so good that by comparison this one isn't as good. However, it is still such a good collection that I recommend it highly. Eckstein is an excellent arranger and I find all of his collections excellent for entertaining as well as for beginner pianists to learn performing with.

First, disclaimer: I took a course taught by the author (Piano Technology, one semester, Montgomery College, in the 1980s, using this book as the class text). One result is that as I page through the book, I hear his gentle Kentucky accent in my head, and I remember his energetic, encouraging enthusiasm for anyone who was interested in the subject matter.

The book is a treasure of reference and reading material for anyone interested in piano construction, tuning, mechanics, repair, and/or general music theory and history. Even if there are now inexpensive tuning devices that guarantee equal temperament, a piano tuner needs a solid basis and knowledge of technique, and it's all here -- using a tuning hammer, the evolution and development of equal temperament, a specific theory and approach to tuning co-developed by the author, repairing and regulating vertical and grand pianos, and even the rudiments of operating a small business.

The breadth and depth of information packed into this 375 pages is impressive, but it's the clarity of the writing that's most surprising, including a certain sentimental charm that shows up in the tone of the narrative, for example in the Preface: "... I am a practical man and I use my two ears. You have two ears, too. So study hard, practice your tuning every day, and should some of these thoughts and ideals rub off, I shall be glad to know about it."

I'm no child and I love this book! I'm also no great pianist, but I can read music, play a little, and am willing to practice until I get it. This is one of my favorite books for practice because the great kids' songs make me smile, so it's really fun to learn them. It's one of the happiest books I've ever owned. Who couldn't love "Sing a Song of Sixpence" or "Frere Jacques" ?

This is a dream collection collection of classical pieces that are so easy to master, it had me playing some of my all-time favorite pieces in almost no time. Very clear and easily laid out, the arrangements maintain all of their richness while being perfectly accessible to pianists of all levels of expertise. With this collection, you can easily turn your home into a little concert hall!

This is a really stellar collection of hits that are simple enough for an amateur and elegant enough for a polished performer. The selection is wonderful, offering a generous sampling from across many different genres. I'd say it's the perfect collection for anyone who wants to master different styles for their own enjoyment or keep guests humming at a party!