The Contemporary Keyboardist - Stylistic Etudes (Instructional) [Paperback] Review

John Novello has composed an excellent collection of contemporary piano studies.All but a few are contained on a single page.Fingering suggestions are plentiful.Chord qualities, progressions, the use of modes, special scales and rhythms are clearly presented.Each piece is annotated at the end of the book and practice suggestions are made.John encourages the player to experiment with these etudes and to write their own.

John describes the work as intended for the advanced beginner to intermediate player.I consider myself at that level.Many pieces in this collection exceed my current abilities.Some are easier.Most are accessible. John's recordings of each etude are on the accompanying CD.I have found listening to the CD enjoyable and helpful.It provides clear examples of how to play his work.Additionally, it has allowed me to quickly pick out pieces I wanted to begin practicing.

While there's not much here for the fan of country music, a wide variety of styles are represented.Jazz, pop and rock styles make up nearly half the collective work.Blues and Latin examples are well represented. The gospel oriented tunes were a delightful surprise.I wish there were more of them.

If you're a fan of Hal Leonard's keyboard style series, you will like this book.It contains less theory and more great examples of how to create and perform contemporary music.I'm certain I will be enjoying this book for years to come.

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Product Description:
The author of the critically-acclaimed "bible" of contemporary keyboard playing, The Contemporary Keyboardist, now brings students 86 studies that cover 17 contemporary keyboard styles - jazz, rock, funk, Latin, country, stride, blues, pop, gospel, and many more. This pack includes notes on playing, and both a CD and a General MIDI disk featuring recordings of each etude for the student to play along with.

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Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes & All Keyboard Instruments [Paperback] Review

These are not "Chord Melodies". Rather they are chord improvisations over the changes of six tunes: Misty, Billie Joe, a Blues in Bb, Watch What Happens, Sunny and The Days of Wine and Roses.
Very dense chord arrangements showing different harmonic possibilities with the basic changes. I recorded these as I learnedthem, so I could listen to them to really absorb the material.
Joe gives no harmonic analysis at all, so it is up to the reader to figure out the theory, and boy, there's lots of it.
I'm a professional jazz guitarist and teacher....playing nearly forty years, and I still review these and pick chord licks that I like, transpose them to other keys, positions and strings, analyze the voice leading, chord substitutions, etc. I've had this book for years, and lots of it has slowly seeped into my playing. I'll play a piece, pick a chord lick that I like (like any one of them), and then try to apply it to my improvisations in other tunes.
In my opinion, for advanced players, this is one of the best books out there to dig into some really lush and melodic chord playing. I found it tough reading....and I'm a pretty advanced player. But I have worked through most of the major guitar books out there and this one is one of my mainstays.
While I'm here, I'll also recommend:
Fusion - Joe Diorio
Joe Pass on Guitar
Howard Roberts Guitar Manual Chord Melody
For players new to jazz and not so advanced, a standard book is
Mickey Baker Jazz Guitar Volume 1.

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Product Description:
The art of improvising chord-style solos is an important part of any musician's resources. This book has been written to improve that art for guitar, vibes and all keyboard instruments. A careful study of these solos will give you a thorough understanding of chordal playing and substitutions. It is great for voicing as well as improvisation.

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The Very Best of John Williams Instrumental Solos, Cello Edition (Book & CD) [Paperback] Review

This is a great book to practice cello and have fun with these movie melodies, the CD is a helpful device, there are some pieces a little bit difficult for me that I'm a begginer but not too much, I'm very pleased with this book and CD.

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Product Description:
The award-winning music of John Williams includes some of the most popular and well-known movie themes ever! This incredibly versatile new collection includes some of Williams' most-loved titles arranged for Level 2-3 instrumentalists. All arrangements are completely compatible with each other and can be played together or as solos. Each book contains a carefully edited part and a fully orchestrated accompaniment CD. Each song on the CD includes a demonstration track, which features a live instrumental performance, followed by a play-along track. The piano accompaniment book includes a CD that features various instrument demonstration tracks from the series. Titles are: Can You Read My Mind? (Love Theme from Superman) (Superman) * Cantina Band (Star Wars®) * Double Trouble (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) * Duel of the Fates (Star Wars®: Episode I The Phantom Menace) * Fawkes the Phoenix (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) * Harry's Wondrous World (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) * Hedwig's Theme (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) * The Imperial March (Star Wars®: The Empire Strikes Back) * May the Force Be With You (Star Wars®: The Empire Strikes Back) * Olympic Fanfare and Theme (1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles) * Star Wars (Main Title) (Star Wars®) * Theme from Superman (Superman) * A Window To the Past (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).

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Perfect Wrong Note - Learning to Trust Your Musical Self (Softcover) (Amadeus) [Paperback] Review

I am a professional musician, a retired piano teacher of 25 years. In October of 2004, I produced my first cd of pre-Baroque pieces into an album called, "Carry the Light."Recently, I found out about "The Perfect Wrong Note" by William Westney from a friend. The book is stunning, progressive and suffice it to say, it will rub some traditionalist the wrong way.Westney totally challenges traditional teaching methods and rightly so. There is a revealing "Question and Answer" section in the book on pp. 95-97 which provides an astute summary of Westney's teaching philosophy. I found the following Q and A challenging to some very traditionalist teachings on using the metronome; "Is it a good idea to use a metronome?"Westney's replies, "Only for short periods, as a check of tempo consistency.If we use it too much we become passive slaves to it, and our inner rhythm stays dormant."Westney emphasizes that playing the piano is a "whole body, whole brain" experience.In terms of Westney's approach being a "feel good" philosophy, nothing could be further from the truth. When asked (p. 97), "Can your approach be simply stated as, "Just don't fret about wrong notes, after all nobody's perfect.?"Westney's response is clearly direct; "No.This isn't a feel good philosophy: it's a pragmatic problem-solving plan along the road to artistry.Control, accuracy, and refinement are still the goals."Westney takes a groundbreaking approach to teaching piano without killing the hope and aspirations of the student.That is to be herald and this work will be deeply respected by teachers willing to take on new and exciting challenges that take heed to an important ethos Westney holds for anyone practicing the piano."As you practice sense that you are taking care of yourself at every moment.Expect musical performing to be fun and feel good.Question any part of it that doesn't feel that way.Think of yourself as a healty athlete. Relax frequently and take stock." (p.227) I can't think of any performing philosophy that is more hope filled than that.

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Product Description:
In this groundbreaking book, prize-winning pianist and noted educator William Westney helps readers discover their own path to the natural, transcendent fulfillment of making music. Drawing on experience, psychological insight, and wisdom ancient and modern, Westney shows how to trust yourself and set your own musicality free. He offers healthy alternatives for lifelong learning and suggests significant change in the way music is taught. For example, playing a wrong note can be constructive, useful, even enlightening. The creator of the acclaimed Un-Master Class workshop also explores the special potential of group work, outlining the basics of his revelatory workshop that has transformed the music experience for participants the world over. Practicing, in Westney's view, is a lively, honest, adventurous, and spiritually rewarding enterprise, and it can (and should) meet with daily success, which empowers us to grow even more. Teachers, professionals, and students of any instrument will benefit from this unique guide, which brings artistic vitality, freedom, and confidence within everyone's reach.

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Czerny-Schaum Book 1 (Schaum Master Composer) [Paperback] Review

I purchased this for my son who is a 'later beginner' piano student. He currently is using a couple of the Bergerac "First" books and his teacher was looking for a technic bookto go with them. The Bergerac series had none that I could find, so after reading up as well as I could, I chose this. His teacher was very impressed. This is really a technic book that can be used with other series in that it covers just about any technical problems (e.g. staccato, left hand melody, interweaving hands) a student might encounter in other books. The exercises are short and focus on strengthening both hands. Probably not for a just beginning or advanced student but that murky in between. Highly recommend!

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Product Description:
Carl Czerny was a prolific composer who wrote approximately 1,000 published works. As a pupil of Beethoven and the teacher of Franz Liszt, he was a transmitter of ideas from one great master to another. His many collections of exercises and studies range from the easy and progressive to the virtuoso. The Czerny-Schaum edition is based on selections from Op. 599, Op. 139, Op. 821, Op. 718, Op. 636, and Op. 261. The objective is to bring together, in condensed form, excerpts that stress many varieties of technical problems. Special emphasis is placed on equal development of both hands. The technical points are equally divided between the right and the left hands. The exercises are purposely left brief, thereby avoiding stiffness and tension. Using the Czerny-Schaum exercises will improve piano technic when used in conjunction with a program of balanced repertoire.

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Jazz Hanon (Private Lessons) [Paperback] Review

This book's major drawback is its lack of variety. The left hand voicings for the first 13 exercises I practiced over a period of eight months were the same, using the root, perfect fourth, and flatted seventh. The right hand involved variations on a minor pentatonic scale, moving chromatically through two octaves. Though I enjoyed the serious practice and development of certain fingerings, I have reservations about its improvisational value. In fact, I don't think it's always wise to practice exercises that have little practical applications. Technique is not an end in itself, and I would have preferred exercises and etudes based on real jazz progressions that incorporate more than just pentatonic ideas. The latter half of this volume seems a bit more inspired, but there's room for improvement. Overall, I give it four stars because some benefits may be derived from this inexpensive book, but what should have been a modern approach to Hanon's original exercises in a jazz context turned out to be stylistically limited and of questionable use. With some imagination, this could have been a far more versatile effort.

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Product Description:
This one-on-one lesson with Musicians Institute instructor Peter Deneff features 50 exercises for the beginning to professional jazz pianist, covering: angular lines, large intervals, pentatonic patterns, blues scales, irregular chromatic melodies, double-note patterns, suggested fingerings, suggestions for practice, and more. Also available by Peter Deneff - 695226 - Salsa Hanon.

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Music Reading For Keyboard: The Complete Method (Musicians Institute Essential Concepts) [Paperback] Review

I have recently started using this book. I also have the sight reading secrets book by Richman, which I have reviewed separately.

I was trying to decide between both these books when buying originally.While the other book contains some very good tips, this book is more comprehensive and is widely used as a text book for musicians.

It is very well organised, and well written in the style of a sight reading course, and has good rhythm and sight reading exercises to work on before doing the specific examples which are done in a variety of contemporary styles including rock bebop and Latin Jazz. The examples are interesting and not too complicated. As with many things, the more you practice, the more you improve to the point where you are naturally better.

I consider this better than the Richman book, although that book really helped me with breaking down more complicated rhythms, and I do recommend both books.

I hope you find this review helpful.

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Product Description:
A complete method for: notes, rhythms, keys, time signatures; treble and bass clefs; right and left-hand patterns and accompaniments; popular song styles; repeat signs, accidentals, codas; and more.

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Contemporary Music Theory - Level Three: A Complete Harmony and Theory Method for the Pop and Jazz Musician (Piano) [Paperback] Review

I've played music for years, and now that I'm retired, I wanted to understand more about what I was playing.I picked up Mark Harrison's Contemporary Music Theory Book level 2 and made my way through it.I was stunned to find that I had been instructed incorrectly on several points.That was one reason I purchased the book.I wanted to clean up some confusion I had with theory. Now I've just finished the level 3 book.Mark Harrison's books are structured with achievable learning steps.His lessons are followed up with exercises after the chapter to reinforce concepts taught in the chapter.The answers follow the exercises.This is greatly appreciated because it gives the reader immediately feedback.The reader can check the answers, and if there was an error made, the reader can go back and correct any misunderstanding before moving on.If you want to learn more about music structure and harmony, these books are an excellent source without having to go through music theory classes.The lessons are clearly written out and understandable.These books provide the reader with skills so they can not only understand the movement and progressions of chords, but be able to substitute chords in any key for harmonies they may want.Mark Harrison is an expert.This is the best set of theory books that I've ever seen.

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Product Description:
This book is the product of Mark Harrison's experience teaching hundreds of students at the world-famous Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. Suitable for instrumentalists, vocalists, composers and songwriters, this Level 3 course covers the chord tones, extensions and scale sources for all major, minor, dominant and diminished chords, and then applies the contemporary shape concept to create voicings, polychords, and to harmonize melodies.

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