Book Description
Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course is designed for the beginner looking for a truly complete piano course that includes lesson, theory, technic and popular repertoire in one convenient, all-in-one book. This course has a number of features that make it particularly successful in achieving this goal, among them are smooth progression between concepts, the thorough explanation of chords and outstanding song material. At the completion of this course, the student will have learned to play some of the most popular music ever written and will have gained a thorough understanding of the basic concepts of music.
Customer Reviews:
Well crafted course for the older beginner.......2007-09-09
After reviewing numerous 'method' books on piano, I found this one to be the most comprehensive and well rounded of the lot. Utilizing the best apsects from the myriad methods developed over the years, this book engages the student with popular tunes, theory and technical exercises from the likes of Hanon and Leschetizky, without overemphasising any one element at the expense of another.
Excellant!.......2007-08-26
This book is easy-to-understand and very thorough. I'm using it under the guidance of a professional instructor, but I think it could be used independantly with great effect, as well. It starts with the absolute basics, but it's amazing how quickly an adult can move along. I feel quite confident playing everything covered in this book, and I've enjoyed it very much.
I'm 31 years old, and I've spent, probably, 6-9 mos total in Level 1 (with a few months off this summer). I've just purchased Level 2, and I fully intend to finish this course through Level 3.
Get This Freakin Book!!!!!.......2007-08-07
I have had no prior knowledge of the piano whatsoever. I mean no lessons no nothing! I bought the book and after 1 week of practicing at 1 hour everyday I'm half way through this book. I'm playing music with ease folks! I signed up for a piano course and found out about this book. After looking through it I dropped the class and started teaching myself. Call me crazy but its paying off. You actually can learn on your own. Imagine what your friends and family will think of you when you said you learned from a book. Can we say "gasps". It's easy to understand and takes you along the way the RIGHT way. Get this Freakin Book!
Great method book.......2007-08-03
I love this series for teaching piano. It is very methodical and logical. And I love that it incorporates the Hanon exercises. I see students grow leaps and bounds using those!
If you use the correlated 'Greatest Hits' book, you've got a teaching/learning package that can't be beat.
By the way, the series is labeled 'Adult' but I would recommend it for any student who is past the age of brightly colored pictures and kiddie lyrics. I guess I'd recommend it for anyone over the age of 13.
useful beginner's guide .......2007-05-18
I found it useful but I use many other pieces of music to complement this book.
Book Description
A beginning course for adults who prefer a chord approach. It teaches chords for both hands so that the student can play more than single note melodies. It contains outstanding songs such as "The Entertainer," "Scarborough Fair," "Greensleeves" and "Amazing Grace."
Customer Reviews:
Love this book.......2007-08-31
I had knowledge on music and some self-studied skills on Guitar and Harmonica, but no experience with any keyboard instruments. I found this book very easy to follow and very well structured. After a little bit more than one month, I have finished the C position exercises, and fell very comfortable with self-studying piano.
Highly recommend to adults who want to self-study piano in their own pace!
Great for Lessons.......2007-08-17
These books were required by my piano teachers. They were very easy to learn from and and use for more practice and fun.
Highly recommended.......2007-08-15
I have no musical background whatsoever and this book makes me feel like I've got lots of talent. It is easy to navigate and learn the basics. A truly must have for every beginner.
Just what I needed!.......2007-03-21
I am a thirty-something person learning the piano with no musical experience at all. This book has definitely taught me to play, and no other book I picked up came close. The Alfred book starts at the very beginning with pictures of numbered fingers and numbered keys. And within a few pages you're reading music and playing with two hands! The pace is appropriate for an adult, progressing quickly, but with full explanation of each new skill.
I would still recommend getting additional beginner books if you're serious about learning the piano, because it's useful to have a variety of resources, but this book is the one that taught me to play.
Good luck!
CD Not Shipped With Book. Buyer Beware.......2007-01-09
I bought this book with a lot of excitement and was surprised when I saw that the CD was not shipped with the book. I don't know how I am supposed to purchase the CD or download the audio files. It's a little frustrating.
I have not judged the quality of the book.
Other buyers, please be aware that the book does not ship with the companion audio CD.
Book Description
This bible of the piano marketplace is indispensable to buyers and owners of pianos, amateur and professional players alike. Hundreds of thousands of pianos are bought and sold each year, yet most people buy a piano with only the vaguest idea of what to look for as they make this major purchase. The Piano Book evaluates and compares every brand and style of piano sold in the United States. There is information on piano moving and storage, inspecting individual new and used pianos, the special market for Steinways, and sales gimmicks to watch out for. An annual supplement, sold separately, lists current prices for more than 2,500 new piano models.
Customer Reviews:
Required reading.......2007-03-31
If you're buying a piano, you have to read this thoroughly first. This applies to acoustic pianos, both vertical and grand, new and used. This book taught me how a piano works and how to tell what's wrong with it (in general). Didn't make me an expert, but I now feel qualified to buy a piano and not get ripped and get one that will suit my needs.
You also have to get the bi-annual(?) supplement that includes pricing.
Very good except for ratings which are useless.......2006-12-20
This is a very good book for people with little knowledge of pianos. The sections on construction, things to look out for, sales gimmicks and techniques etc. It is a very good source for most things related to pianos purchasing except his ratings. The historical information about the companies is interesting if not particularly helpful but the ratings which are based on biased opinions are essentially useless. It has created a tier system which basically just feeds people egos. the pricing secions are a little more helpful but not greatly.
I recommend using the informations sections and ignoring the rating sections.
BUYER BEWARE!.......2006-10-08
I agree that this book is a compendium of very valuable information, especially for the novice buyer. But despite a lifetime playing the piano and a career as a piano teacher, I made a terrible mistake following his recommendation. He raves about the Schimmel piano, a German-made instrument. I bought one about twelve years ago and have hated it ever since. The store owner even replaced it with another identical model, which was no better. The dampers don't work properly and the strings continue to vibrate after the key is released so it sounds as if you always have a half pedal in use. Both pianos did the same thing. I am now shopping for a replacement...without the book.
A Must Have.......2006-08-27
Unfortunately, I purchased a piano before reading this book. Fortunately, based on the information in this book, I made the right decision. I just happened to be lucky. But I wish I had bought the book earlier.
For the person wanting to buy a new or used piano, this book is a must have. Most people want to know what the best piano is for the money. Using the information in this book, you will be able to figure that out. And without this book, you could spend years spinning your wheels.
The bottom line is - quality costs money. Buy the best piano you can afford up front. Don't buy a spinet or mini-grand. Just by reading this book I found out they are a waste of money. I wouldn't have know that otherwise. Read this book. You will save yourself time, headaches, and money.
By the way, I bought a Yamaha U1.
THE book for Piano Consumers.......2006-03-18
If you are considering the purchase of an acoustic piano now or in the future, this book must be on your short reading list. Fine tells you about how a piano functions and what potential pitfalls to be aware of in the purchase of a new or used instrument.
Average customer rating:
- easy to read
- An easy way to learn...
- Excellent place to begin
- Perfect just for beginners
- Excellent despite the stale jokes
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Piano for Dummies
Blake Neely
Manufacturer: For Dummies
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Piano, 3rd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to)
ASIN: 0764551051 |
Book Description
At first glance, a piano may seem like an intimidating instrument that would be very difficult to learn how to play, but despite what your seventh-grade piano teacher may say, playing piano isn't brain surgery. It just takes time, practice, and patience.
Piano For Dummies starts at the very beginning and walks you through everything you need to know to turn that oversized hunk of furniture into an instrument that can make beautiful music. If you don't know how to read music, this book explains in friendly, uncomplicated language all the basics of music theory and applying it to playing the piano. And if you've been playing piano for a while – or took piano lessons when you were a child but haven't played since – you can pick up some valuable tips to improve your playing or use the book as a refresher course.
Here are some of the topics you'll find in Piano For Dummies:
- Buying a piano: Acoustic versus electronic
- How a piano works, and how to care for one
- Left- and right-hand piano techniques
- Examining keys, scales, melodies, harmonies, and chords
- Plenty of musical examples to play
- The history of piano musical styles
- Advice for piano teachers
- A Top Ten list of pianists you should know about
Piano For Dummies also includes a glossary and a free CD, which includes audio of all of the examples in the book so that you can play along.
So if you've always wanted to learn to play piano, but you don't have the time to take piano lessons, you can pick up the basics in Piano For Dummies; you'll be tickling the ivories with ease in no time!
Customer Reviews:
easy to read.......2007-10-01
This is an excellent book for teaching yourself piano. All the reviewers who slam this book for corny humor can go jump in a lake. There are plenty of serious music books that just shovel out the facts in a dry manner, so if that is what you want, fine, no reason to get uptight about a book that trys to use a more human touch. I want to also make it clear that the book does not tell jokes per say, so you dont have to read through long groaners to get to the material. The author simply interjects personal examples. Its a technique that is used in all the dummies books, if you dont like it, dont read dummies books.
An easy way to learn..........2007-07-16
It's very easy to learn piano with the this book and it's really funny. You learn without the stress of a regular "learning manual".
Excellent place to begin.......2007-07-06
Easy to understand - even for someone with no musical talent or experience. Great place to start.
Perfect just for beginners .......2007-05-14
This book is perfect if you want to play piano and you don't know anything about it. The book is plenty of jokes and all kind of information but nothing complex that you can't take it. This book is worthy of its title :-P I bought this one because I bought first "The piano handbook" and this one is not so good for beginners, but perfect for intermediate and advance that missed something or what to learn a different scale or style.
Excellent despite the stale jokes.......2007-04-20
I wanted to brush up on piano playing as I haven't been near a piano for about 40 years, and for this purpose I found the book excellent, though I haven't read similar introductory books so can't compare. Other reviewers have complained about the stale jokes, but for me this was a minor irritation. Music theory can be tedious, and the typically light "Dummies" touch counteracts what could otherwise have been a ponderous read. Even bad jokes are preferable to learned tomes that take themselves oh-so-seriously.
The book contains a wealth of basic and reference information, and the various issues are explained clearly, assuming no prior music knowledge. Unlike many introductory books the chapters do not necessarily have to be read in sequence (though doing so would probably provide a better basis) - the book is well structured, with lots of references to other chapters should you need clarification of terms explained elsewhere.
Using a DIY book effectively instead of piano lessons obviously requires some effort from the reader's side, though the accompanying CD does help. I also liked the attention given to the various styles, from classical to rock, blues, pop, jazz, country and soul.
One of the first hurdles is learning to read notes, after which things become much easier. If you want to start playing real songs and tunes as soon as possible, you'll find a few in this book, including the beautiful "Aura Lee" (made famous by Elvis Presley as "Love me Tender") which is surprisingly easy to play.
On the downside, many of the other tunes serving to illustrate a point are, to my mind, not very exciting, but then having musical notation of the more modern hits would probably have increased the selling price due to royalties considerations. So, for instance, we get the traditional and rather tame version of "The House of the Rising Sun" instead of the haunting hit arrangement by The Animals, who made it famous in popular culture.
When I was a kid I had a year's piano lessons, but it just didn't work for me. Reading this book has helped me looking at music and the piano / keyboard in a new way, and I have since bought a few "Easy Piano" songbooks and enjoy mastering new tunes.
Book Description
Designed for those who have limited piano skills as well as those who play electronic keyboard, this deluxe edition includes a set of peel-off stickers for the piano or electric keyboard. One hundred hits, such as Alexander's Ragtime Band * Tomorrow * You Made Me Love You are featured.
Customer Reviews:
Easy way to play 100 unforgettable hits.......2001-02-16
There are a hundred reasons why I love this book and would recommend it to anyone. 1...It has the notes, the chords and best of all it has the easy numbering system where c is 1 ; d is 2; e is 3 ; f is 4; etc........2...don't let the easy numbering system discourage you.....the opposite is true......if you have some initial success playing show tunes and old favorites you will continue playing music.........3.....Your success will motivate you to practice without noticing how much work you are doing....it will be fun..........4.......You will do songs like THE WAY WE WERE, I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO, STARDUAST, SEPTEMBER SONG, FLY ME TO THE MOON, APRIL IN PARIS, DIXID, THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, GOD BLESS AMERICA, ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT AND SO much, much more.......5......the idea with music is to have fun.........6......to be able to gather around the piano and play some tunes is a real confidence builder.......7......like exercise equipment, language courses and so many other activities, if you don't have success along the way you will give up.......you have success which motivates even more success............8....even more remarkable is that from playing these show songs you develope a feel or style of your own and you get a "sense of music" that is invaluable..........9.......I like the idea that with a few hours of practice on a song you can have fun with it.........10......maybe your classical music teacher will shake his head, but you will make more progress on the time put in than with so many of the other courses or books......11....Here is the sad and funny part to the whole review....something this wonderful is out of print.......it shows you that people in our society often fail to appreciate wonderful and simple pleasures............It was written in 1991........12.....the reason I would buy and own one or more of these books is that they will help you in family and social situations.....suppose you want to meet that cute girl or handsome guy........being able to sit down and play EMBRACEABLE YOU, FOOLS RUSH IN , GREENSLEEVES, I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU OR IN THE MOOD can be very useful............it is great to be able to teach others to play, to share this book, for romantic moments, .......it is useful to play the piano the way knowing how to dance is useful...........13....nearly all of us have taken a few piano lessons and we learned dumb, go no where songs.....when we see someone who can play great show tunes, great film memories, look back fondly tunes or inspiration, country or special songs at Christmas a sense of fun, envy and wanting to hang with that person happens.........14.....In several instances when I sat down with this book, girlfriends were impressed, wanted to hear more or we just had fun with the words and melodies.......15............In today's rushed world where time is at a premium, learning 100 old standards can be a priceless tool...........Instead of spending weeks learning Topcatta and Fuge in D minor which is great, learning a half dozen or two dozen show tunes can be priceless.........16.....not only does the book have words, but a little history of each song..............17.....finally, for the serious musician you will appreciate the fact that you can do blending......by that I mean you can effortlessly shift from THE WAY WE WERE to AS TIME GOES BY..... and then back again.......18.....also I found that as I learned these songs I learned a lot about logical chord progressions that make the songs work.......19....they picked easy to play but hard to forget melodies.....20.....once you mastered the melodies you were doing amazing chordal changes and fancy fingerwork............21.......I think of Liberace and other musical masters like Elvis and this book lets you build your own style...........22.......this book is great for situations where you sit down, play the piano and have nice relaxed songs that help people feel mellow.........MUSIC SHOULD NOT BE TORTURE ....MUSIC SHOULD NOT HUMILIATE YOU....... this book allows you to make the progress necessary to have fun and feel that future learning is worthwhile...........I was so happy with the book that I called the publisher and wanted to buy all the other easy way to play books and discovered it was out of print.............the old joke that the really great books are always out of print is true..............don't let that discourage you.......this book is great
Great piano for all levels.......2000-05-26
This book has several levels to play from, two hands, one hand notes, and one hand numbers, all together. This makes it easy to advance with both hands. For the more experienced player the tunes have the chords and enough changes in key to play a lot of nice songs quickly. Has sections for whatever mood you may feel like playing that day, such as show tunes, hits, and seasonal favorites. Large for easy reading and well worth adding to your collection.
Great songs - Great format!.......1998-02-22
If you like the classic songs from popular music to show tunes in an easy to read format, this is for you. It gives suggested settings for keyboard and melody line with chords. It also has easy to play treble and bass, but experienced musicians will be able to fill in as desired.
Average customer rating:
- Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by his Pupils
- Must have for anyone seriously studying Chopin
- A must have
- You need this if you play Chopin
- great book on how to play Chopin
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Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by his Pupils
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Chopin, Frederic
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ASIN: 0521367093 |
Book Description
The accounts of Chopin's pupils, acquaintances and contemporaries, together with his own writing, provide valuable insights into the musician's pianistic and stylistic practice, his teaching methods and his aesthetic beliefs. This unique collection of documents, edited and annotated by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, reveals Chopin as teacher and interpreter of his own music. Included in this study is extensive appendix material that presents annotated scores, and personal accounts of Chopin's playing by pupils, writers, and critics.
Customer Reviews:
Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by his Pupils.......2007-02-14
I satisfied with this book very much.
Must have for anyone seriously studying Chopin.......2006-07-14
To the general public Chopin is famous for his beautiful piano music. However, in his days he also was a renowned piano teacher with some revolutionary ideas (at least for his time) about piano technique. His students included rich, aristocratic ladies (he had to make a living) and some very talented students.
Luckily many of the things Chopin told his students during their lessons have been preserved in various diaries and notes by his students and have now been compiled in this book.
Also, Chopin made a start with a piano method (which he did not complete). This method is also included in this book.
If you are a piano student this book is simply a must-have.
If you are not a pianist, but seriously interested in Chopin's ideas about (his own) music and teaching you also should buy this book.
JJ Eigeldinger wrote more excellent books about Chopin which unfortunately are still only available in French.
A must have.......2004-06-06
AAA++++...a must have book if you are serious about playing Chopin. A wealth of valuable information. Very highly recommanded.
You need this if you play Chopin.......2004-02-15
You need this book if you play Chopin. There is a wealth of information on playing Chopin's music directly from the composer and his pupils. It has answered many questions and cleared up some misconceptions I had about this music.
great book on how to play Chopin.......2002-08-17
For those of us who bungle at the keyboard and can always use more guidance, this book offers a great start in understanding Chopin's music. Probably the most difficult piece to play in public is Chopin Ballade No. 4, and Chopin offers some incredible insight into how he wanted it played. As you know, the music notation on the sheet cannot cover every intention of the composer, much like writing cannot capture everything, but most of what we want to say. This book supplements your understanding of the music. I would not be surprised if your great piano teacher pulls material out of this book in order to advise you on how to play Chopin.
Average customer rating:
- The right thing to learn playng piano
- As described
- great book!...
- Euh...
- Still the best
|
Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises - Complete: Piano Technique
Manufacturer: G. Schirmer, Inc.
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ASIN: 0793525446 |
Product Description
This collection of exercises has been a "Must Have" for many years. Designed to build independence and dexterity.
Customer Reviews:
The right thing to learn playng piano.......2007-08-01
A very rigorous metod to exercise all hand fingers at virtuosism of pianoforte.The first twenty exercises are a milestone:I did'nt find that in
others music's books.
As described.......2007-06-08
I'm trying to learn the piano, using the method used by Scott "the PianoGuy" Houston. His method helps you avoid reading a lot of standard music notation, especially the bass clef. A friend recommended the Hanon exercises to me, which is why I bought this book. It is forcing me to read music, which I don't much like. I've just started the exercises. I'm not very far along, but I have hopes that it will help me progress. About the only thing I can say, which is neutral, is that the book is as described. It is what I thought I was getting.
great book!..........2007-05-24
The reason why I love this book is because the drills get progressively difficult, but at a pace that is totally manageable... If you can get through this book and you can read music, I'm a firm believer that you will be able to play most anything that you wish to...
The drills contained in this book can knock 5-10 years off of taking piano lessons etc. There are generally two aspects of piano playing, reading music and technical ability and dexterity... This book can help elevate your technical ability and dexterity and confidence very effectively in a relatively short period of time with focused effort... It's a great book for the practicing technical pianist!
Euh..........2007-05-12
I don't know what to say about this book. Practice reading music before buying?
My personal exp goes like this: I cannot read music sheets like a pro, I'm completely juvenile, and it just didn't work for me, this book. IT IS COMPLETELY MY FAULT that it didn't work too. I never committed to it and honestly, the only thing I can complain about with this book was that it was just not engaging, I was never drawn in. I got bored.
I'm no Mozart or have any intention on being that good, so if you're like me, you'd further explore. I've yet to try any others, always open for suggestions too.
Still the best.......2007-04-21
Hanon's Virtuoso Pianist is still the best single-volume work for the pianist. It has everything: five-note patters to improve the strength of all the fingers (particularly 4th and 5th), scales (even the dreaded scales in double-thirds!), arpeggios. If you can be patient and work hard, the rewards are priceless. And, some people have mentioned "feeling the burn" when doing the exercises. If you feel a burning sensation, STOP. Playing the piano correctly should neither hurt nor burn.
While the demands on a pianist have certainly increased since Hanon wrote his exercises, so many technical problems can be eliminated after a complete mastery of this book. If you master this book--you can do EVERY exercise in EVERY key to the metronome specification--you are quite the virtuoso indeed.
Book Description
Endorsed by Kenny Barron, Jamey Aebersold, Richie Beirach, and more, this book presents all the information a student of jazz piano needs in an easy-to-understand, yet thorough, manner. For intermediate to advanced pianists, written by one of the acknowledged masters of jazz piano playing.
Customer Reviews:
A Treasure.......2007-08-22
This is the book I have been waiting for for many years. Levine has come up with the ultimate tool for teaching both yourself and others. It is amazing how skilful he is in proceeding progressively, building on previous chapters as he goes along. He convincingly pieces things together one by one. Following these steps you are invariably gaining competence and confidence in negotiating the piano. A bit of background knowledge in (not necessarily Jazz) harmony and scale theory on the side of the reader would be useful, but it is certainly not indispensable, since in this respect Levine takes nothing for granted, unlike many other authors who seem to relish in building up walls and talking to the initiated few exclusively. Particularly helpful are the suggested tunes to work on and the suggested recordings to listen to. They make you understand the points at issue by putting them into practice. Conversely, it is exciting to suddenly hear and understand often quite familiar compositions and solos on a different level by seeing how they "work".
The book may be a little hard, though, for beginners on the piano. The density of the material together with too many technical difficulties regarding playing would simply be overburdening. But an intermediary level of skills is perfectly sufficient, technical brilliance by no means necessary.
I should not forget to mention Levine's enthusiasm grounded on a breathtakingly complete command of the material. The pleasure he obviously has in teaching is also quite contagious. It must be wonderful to have him as a teacher.
The spiral binding is a rather good idea, since it keeps the pages in place. And the book smells alright when opened - not altogether unimportant, given that you are likely to sit in front of it for hours on end.
Wonderful one volume work on jazz piano...........2007-05-05
If you are already a piano player and have some knowledge of music theory, this book will help you take your understanding of jazz to a new level. It covers a LOT of musical ground and places it within a historical context.
This is not a book that is loaded with exercises, but it is packed with concepts that one could apply and that would take most pianists years to master. Even if you are very good, you will not outgrow it anytime soon.
The Jazz Piano book goes into various types of chords, voicings and how to use them. It also talks about modal harmony, constructing various types of scales and how to apply these ideas to improvistational solos.
This book is well-organized, fascinating, filled with good pictures, examples and ideas. It is a bargain at any price.
If you are new to the jazz world and classically trained, I recommend Jazz Improvisation for the Classical Pianist. This will help you to get away from thinking in patterns on a page with specific fingerings and get you to develop your ability to hear tones and intuit music in intervals. This is an important step toward being a good jazz pianist. It will also help you to break a lot of the conditioning that comes from many years of classical training that does not serve you well within jazz.
I also think it is essential for pianists getting into jazz to apply what they are learning as much as possible. For this reason, I recommend Vol. 3, The II/V7/I Progression: A New Approach To Jazz Improvisation (Book & CD Set) and anything else by Aebersold because this gives you experience playing. The specific link above covers a progression that constitutes 70% plus of most standards. Therefore, this is a good place to get started.
Only for the advanced piano player.......2007-02-17
I consider myself to be an intermediate piano player. But this book I found to be very challenging and intimidating. It is only for the advanced piano player. And unless you have an extensive Jazz music collection, you will won't recognize a majority of the songs in this book. So that makes it even harder to play and learn the material.
The book would probably make a great reference....but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are already a professional Jazz piano player, if not someone who is already playing in a Jazz trio or quartet.
Great Book!.......2007-01-30
I am a Jazz keyboard beginner. I have taught traditional piano lessons for 24 years. But Jazz and other areas of piano are in very separate worlds of learning.
The book seemed to be something I could read to help my learning to play the Jazz styles.
It is a little more advanced than I had hoped. I am sure though, that I will eventually get to that level and then I can enjoy it.
Great resource!.......2007-01-06
I love the fact the Levine's Jazz Piano book is very thorough. The layout is also very logical. One has to be very diligent to work through it, but if you do, there's no limit to the opportunities that will be available to you as a player. It's a lifetime of information for the price of one private lesson.
Book Description
". . . Barbara Owen has succeeded admirably in distilling three centuries of organ registration practice into a volume less than three hundred pages long. . . . Anyone with an interest in the history of the organ and its music . . . will not want to ignore this book." --Sixteenth Century Journal
"It is rare to find a book that combines such careful scholarship with a practical focus that makes it accessible to performing musicians as well as research specialists."--Notes
"An excellent volume from historical, musical style and interpretive standpoints. Highly recommended for all large academic and professional music collections."-- Choice
Barbara Owen has prepared the first work to present in a single book the registrational practices of organists from c.1550 to 1800. The four parts of the book move from the Renaissance through the Early, High, and Late Baroque. Each part starts with a brief description of the political and religious climate of the period and the way such factors affected the compositions and the organ-building of the time.
Customer Reviews:
Great Practical Guide with Historical Background.......2005-10-18
Barbara Owen succeeds in condensing more than 200 years of registration practice in a working volume. The book is organized by time period and nationality, allowing the reader to assimilate the trends of each of the organ "schools." Each chapter is prefaced by a list of the relevant composers, as well as stop lists of representative organs. Perhaps Owen's signal accomplishment is a combination of historical awareness with the practical needs of the performance. For instance, after giving the background on the Italian voce umana stop, she suggests that one can replicate the sound on a mechanical action organ by coupling two 8' principals, with one detuned (half drawn). Overall, a practical reference for the performance of 16th, 17th, and 18th-century organ music.
Book Description
A step-by-step approach to solo jazz improvisation for piano. Learn to improvise using the techniques pioneered by piano greats Lenny Tristano and Dave McKenna. This methodical approach to learning the art of solo jazz piano improvisation will free your creative sense of music. It begins with a review of chord symbol interpretation, walks through bass line development, and ends with how to play several melodic lines simultaneously in stimulating musical conversation. You'll learn how to develop solos that embellish and support the melody, and use lead sheets to help you generate your own musical ideas. Twenty-one lessons present techniques, practice exercises, and tunes based on jazz standards. Notated transcriptions of sample improvisations illustrate each lesson's technique, and the accompanying CD lets you hear a master improviser put these ideas to work.
Customer Reviews:
It is an excellent book!.......2007-06-11
The book is very well organized. There is no deception on the part of the author or the publisher to sell this book. The details of the book clearly let you know what the book covers. As a student of jazz piano, intermediate, I find this book very helpful. I really like the way the author introduces the concepts and then gives examples and etudes to practice. It is one of the best jazz piano books I've bought. But it is not the only book I use to learn how to play jazz piano. You should have an open mind and study all you can from different books in order to progress musically. You'll find similarities in jazz beginner/intermediate piano books, but the good books, like this one, provide you with the proper guidance you need. In my opinion, Neil Olmstead "poured his heart out" in this book. As a music educator myself, I really appreciate the great effort Professor Olmstead put into writing this outstanding book.
In order to get another great insight on jazz piano improvisation, I also highly recommend the following book:
Mel Bay's Essential Jazz Lines: Piano Style of Bill Evans One of the authors of this book, Per Danielsson, offers a lot of great free guidance on jazz piano on the internet. Check out his web site.
I'm currently studying both books and I'm highly motivated to practice. Good luck with your jazz piano learning journey.
This book works against itself.......2007-01-25
This book has a wealth of information for people who want to develop their left hand in order to play solo jazz piano. The problem is, the author expects the reader to laboriously plow through tons of non-intuitive etudes with strange right-hand melodic lines in order to practice his techniques. It would be much more helpful, and much less confusing, if the author just provided left-hand etudes, or less unorthodox melody lines for the right hand. I was excited to approach this book, but I was really looking for a much more straightforward approach. (If I wanted to learn to play like Tristano, I would transcribe a difficult Tristano solo.)
Ok if you are new to jazz piano.......2007-01-05
I was looking for some ideas to improve my solo jazz piano playing, but found that if you are in any way a performing jazz pianist, you will find most of the exercises in this book are already familiar to you. It focuses a lot on walking bass lines. I was hoping for a little more in the way of ideas for intros reharm and such. A good book if you are not all too familiar with jazz piano playing, but not for anyone who is at more than intermediate level.
A Fine Book in What it Sets Out to Do.......2006-12-09
I bought several books recently to help me class up my fake book renditions (I'm a old rocker. I can read music with effort, but I'm much better at playing fake books), including this and Mark Levine's Jazz Piano. I'm still working through them, so some of this review may evolve over time. Random observations:
* I find the CD only marginally useful.
* The real strength in this book for me is the pacing. It slows me down, forcing me to spend time on fundamentals that I get tempted to skip over to get to the "fun part". It's a lot like having a real piano instructor saying, "Let's learn this first, and we'll get to that other stuff in good time when you're ready." Olmstead's teaching experience really shines through here.
* The slight differences in left hand voicings between Olmstead and Levine (Levine uses VII and III for bottom notes almost exclusively; Olmstead does not) were a little disorienting.
* Olmstead is kind enough to provide complete example songs with the same chord progressions as popular standards. He gives completely scored versions, and fake book renditions, depending on the lesson being taught. Very user-friendly, and no need to go find a fake book that tracks this volume.
* The traditional book binding is very inconvenient - it is hard to keep the book opened for practice and the book gets very beat up over time.
* This book gives a LOT of attention to walking bass lines, with very good explanations. It could be beneficial to beginning bass players despite the "solo piano" title. Even though I did not feel like I lacked in this area, I found this section worthwhile, and helpful to give me a vocabulary to communicate better with bass players.
* Due to the attention paid to the fundamentals, constructing strong improvised melody lines and interesting chord voicings don't get much attention.
* At a certain point the book jumps from basics to creating multi-part basslines and gets pretty advanced in parts. Even so, the author remains true to his promise and lays out the concepts clearly before throwing the student in the deep end of the pool.
This book and Levine's give you two perspectives on the same elephant. Both are valuable, and neither is really complete on its own (nor are they complete when combined). There is less overlap between the two books than one might expect. This book would be particularly gratifying to proficient music readers, because so much is written out, while Levine's is more gratifying to me because I take what he gives me and apply it to my fake books. We should all work on our weaknesses, so it is good that this book forces me to read music. This book and some hard work will do a fine job at creating the foundation of skills and knowledge that the author sets out to build.
Great beginning!.......2005-09-04
This is a good book for someone with basic Jazz theory knowledge. You still need have some foundation of Music Theory. It's a good book to be taken with supplemental teaching! Great recording eventhough does not follow the book(mostly his own voice leading).
Thanks for creating effort and teaching for those of us that involve with music and love of it!
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- Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
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