The Technique & Art of Organ Playing [Paperback] Review

I am a College professor who has taught piano and pipe organ for over 40 years. I have used just about every organ method book out there. The Technique and Art of Organ playing is older than dirt. Written by Clarence Dickenson, it contains eveything the would be, serious organist needs to know. This is not a method book for those who want to play Theater organ music, jazz, or popular music. It is a method book for the "classical", "church" organist. He covers in detail the four basic methods of organ playing: Manual - Hand technique (Differentiated from the piano technique) Registration - The art of understanding which stops or voices to use in combination with what piece of literature. Pedal - The technqiue of how to play the pedals efficiently and skillfully. And last the Art of how to put it all together to make music.
It's all in one book, and it's a must for any serious organist. I've used other method books and they all come up short to Dickenson's work.

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Product Description:
THE TECHNIQUE AND ART OF ORGAN PLAYING is designed to provide the teacher with the technical material necessary to carry the student from the beginning of his studies through to the acquirement of complete command of his instrument. The aim has been to include in one volume a study of all the distinctive principles of organ technique, with enough illustrations and exercises through which they may be mastered, together with interesting compositions which will at once call for their application.

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Pop/Rock - Note-for-Note Keyboard Transcriptions Review

This book is exactly what the title says it is: accurate note-for-note transcriptions of pop/rock songs.It doesn't have the typical cheesy arrangements with the vocal line mixed into the piano part.It also doesn't have guitar songs that don't quite work on the piano.All the songs have prominent piano/keyboard parts, and every one I've tried is faithful to the original.Since the melody is typically not in the piano, you do need to be able to sing along or have a friend who can sing.But the result sounds much, much better than just about any other piano book I've bought.If you like at least a few of the songs in the book, you will not be disappointed!

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Product Description:
35 note-for-note transcriptions for those who want to play exactly what they hear on recordings. Songs include: Africa * Against All Odds * Axel F * Centerfold * Chariots of Fire * Cherish * Don't Let the Sun Go down on Me * Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) * Faithfully * It's Too Late * Just the Way You Are * Let It Be * Mandy * Sailing * Sweet Dreams Are Made of This * Walking in Memphis.

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Kurzweil PC3X 88-key Performance Controller Review

I've just come back from my local music store after trying the PC3X and the SP2, and being assured by the earnest young sales clerk that the Kurzweil reps had told him their primary audience was not the workstation programmer but, as the name suggests, the "performer," who simply requires the best piano possible for his Saturday night gigging.

But no one could answer my questions about the instrument, nor could anyone draw up one of the many acoustic pianos for a head to head face-off between the PC3 and the SP2.This is a heavy board with everything on it and a steep learning curve--along with over a thousand voices and set-ups.Do I wish to spend a week learning how to call up a few of the most practical voices? Do I want to haul around 60 pounds worth of artillery (excluding power adapters, amplifiers, etc)? Do I really want an RMI piano sound (one of my first pianos, made by Rocky Mountain Industries, aka Allen Organ) and the Take 6 samples?(What! No Frank Sinatra sample?) Lastly, could I resist a price just under 2 grand?

The answer is yes.I decided on the SP2 (I've gone through three SP76s, and the SP2 has 76 notes plus semi-weighted rather than fully weighted keys. Significance: a keyboard you can actually carry).I have doubts about Kurzweil's concern for the performer even with respect to the SP line.While in the store, I couldn't figure out how to access the basses or layer on a ride cymbal.And the thing comes with a gratuitous drum machine.But it's at least 25 pounds lighter than the PC3. Nuff said.

(if you want a more practical piano, but only slightly less heavy instrument, with fully-weighted action, look at the recently discontinued PC1se, which the same Amazon vendor, 8th Street Music, is advertising at a great price (same as the SP2).I would have ordered it--but a roadie apparently doesn't come with it.)

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Product Description:
The PC3 offers an enormous sound set of over 800 programs, raising the bar once again for both audio quality and variety. With the best samples in the industry, and a powerful, responsive synth engine breathing life into them, you'll feel like you're playing an actual instrument, not just playing samples. Of course there's the famous Kurzweil Triple Strike Piano, with dozens of variations to accommodate every kind of player. All of the basic sounds - basses, guitars, drums, horns and synths - have been painstakingly programmed to reflect the needs of today's professional players, representing a broad selection of styles and flavors from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and today.

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Debussy Estampes (Kalmus Edition) [Paperback] Review

Walter Gieseking's Debussy was ideal and Kyoko Tabe is a marvelous pianist in the Gieseking tradition.Her Debussy, like the late master's, is imaginative, evocative, shimmering, sometimes mysterious, sometimes filled with delight. She is more than able to meet technical challenges and get inside the music.I suppose the question could come up--why not just stick with Gieseking himself, to which my response would be that I am always interested in hearing what other pianists have to say.Being under a great influence such as that of Gieseking is as it should be. Tabe is certainly a worthwhile and individual enough voice in her own right. Plus, even modern technology cannot do that much for the limitations of 1940's and early 1950's recorded sound.Chandos has given Tabe wonderful sound.

Actually, I am not sure that Gieseking's influence on Debussy pianism is really so widespread anymore.I've heard more than one performance of L'isle Joyeuse that made it sound like a straightforward showpiece--all display and no sense of exoticism or mystery. I also recently heard Thibaudet on the radio playing Gardens in the Rain and he made it sound like Liszt.I think Liszt is great and some of his music even looks ahead to impressionism, but still, Debussy should not sound like Liszt, even in music that calls for as much technical prowess as L'isle and Gardens. Coming back to Kyoko Tabe--I'm delighted to report that she gets it. She feels this music and her playing has a wonderful touch. This is how Debussy should be played and I highly recommend this CD.

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Product Description:
A collection of advanced piano pieces by Claude Debussy.

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Playing Bach on the Keyboard: A Practical Guide (Amadeus) [Hardcover] Review

This book summarizes many artistic elements of performing Bach, but in a very objective, matter-of-fact way. I found much useful content, but the delivery is very academic, and, in many cases, boring. A sense of humor or story-telling would ease reading, and this book has very little of either.

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Product Description:
In this concise and accessible volume, a noted keyboard artist and Bach specialist takes a fresh look at the performance of J. S. Bach's keyboard music. Addressing the nonspecialist player, Richard Troeger presents a wide range of historical information and discusses its musical applications. The author shares accounts of the musical styles Bach employed and the instruments he knew. In direct and pragmatic terms, he clarifies the importance of notational and style details as guides to the composer's intentions, particularly emphasizing changes in notational norms between Bach's time and the present. Troeger offers core information on dynamics, articulation, tempo, rhythm, ornamentation and accompaniment. He considers controversial issues as well, establishing the importance of the clavichord in Bach's milieu and examining the link between baroque music and rhetoric - a dramatic relationship that can bring great vitality to performance.

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Sammy Cahn's Rhyming Dictionary [Paperback] Review

I've written over a hundred songs and never used a rhyming dictionary! But a couple of weeks ago, I had an inferior rhyme, and a poet friend suggested using a rhyming dictionary. I kept Sammy's book next to my bed because he was a very cool guy, and a great lyricist. I reluctantly reached for his book, found the right page, and GOT A GREAT RHYME! Lots better than the original rhyme. That one cool rhyme was worth the cost of the book and then some. If you are a lyricist - get this book.

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Product Description:
No other rhyming dictionary has been put together so carefully with the song writer's needs particularly in mind.The 50,000 words contained in this dictionary a rearranged phonetically, according to their vowel sounds, rather than alphabetically.

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The Mikado in Full Score [Paperback] Review

Any lover of this Gilbert & Sullivan masterpiece will gain a fuller appreciation of it by being able to follow the lyrics and dialog while listening to the operetta. The score also has a nicely written preface and synopsis of the story. Although knowing how to read music is not essential to the enjoyment of this Mikado full score, buyers that do read music will gain an even greater appreciation of it by being able to follow each instrumental line along with the lyrics of the songs. The Dover score is beautifully printed at a very bargain price to boot. Everyone can derive a great deal of pleasure from this score, no matter what level of musical training they possess. Highly Recommended! (P.S. I understand that the full score of The Pirates of Penzance is due for release this fall)

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Product Description:
The tale of Nanki-Poo and his passion for Yum-Yum has charmed audiences since its 1885 debut with graceful, well-loved melodies such as "Three little maids from school are we," "The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la," and many others. Now available in a newly edited, newly engraved full-score publication based on Sullivan's autograph and the first edition of the full score, this new performing edition by Ephraim Jones and Carl Simpson corrects many errors and incorporates Gilbert's later libretto changes.

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Notebook for Nannerl (Schott) [Paperback] Review

I purchased this book to view some of the first musical notation Nannerl and Wolfgang may have used themselves, and to get a glimpse into the mind of Leopold, their father, as a teacher. It starts with very simple pieces and moves to harder pieces. Fun to play as well.

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Product Description:
In 1759 Leopold Mozart compiled a notebook as a present for his daughter Maria Anna (usually called "Nannerl"). It was intended as a series of instructive exercises and practice pieces. The notebook though wasn't used solely by Nannerl but also by her younger brother Wolfgang, and the talented boy didn't just use it for piano practice but soon started to compose his own little pieces. Either Wolfgang himself or his father wrote them into the remaining empty pages of the notebook. This new edition contains only compositions by Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart. It is a companion volume to 'The Young Mozart' by H. Schungeler, which contains the first and easiest compositions by Wolfgang (ED 9008). Edited by Stefan Simon.

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