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Title: How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons : What Music Is and How to Make It at Home by Ward Cannel and Fred Marx ISBN: 0-385-14263-3 Publisher: Hal Leonard Pub. Date: 01 January, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (26 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This is actually a cookbook
Comment: Many of those who have reviewed this book here mention that it is a book on music theory. Yes there is some theory in this book and some of it is hard to find in other beginning piano books. I find the section on harmonic progression particularly enlightening. But rather than a book on theory, this is a cookbook with recipes for creating full sounding music out the vocal lines of sheet music, lead sheets, and "fake books".
One criticism I have seen of this book is that the style of playing is only suitable for playing old standards, like those by Cole Porter or Rogers and Hart. This is partially true, but if you enjoy the kind of music that is the background in so many movies, particularly Woody Allen films, this book is a gold mine.
If you have taken lessons, you will find it fairly easy to pick up on the method here, even if you can't sit down an play anything right now. A lot of it will come back quickly. If you are a rank beginner, this will be a lot of work. Even so, if you put the effort in learning this method that you would put into getting through an adult beginning piano book, you will come away with so much more. That said, I will recommend that you also invest in a beginning piano book and work through that at the same time.
There is, or was, a companion VHS video for the book. It is extremely entertaining and allows you to see and hear examples of the methods taught in the book. It is about two hours long and very well done. I haven't seen it around lately, but if you get this book, try to find the video also. Same title as the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very different...
Comment: Being a person that fits the title rather well, I was browsing through amazon for some good books to get started playing piano/keyboard again. Since I didn't know what to get, I ordered a bunch of them (I looked at my local music store, but they carried mostly classical sheet music and guitar stuff).
If judged as a textbook, it certainly doesn't deserve 5 stars. You will want another book. What it does deserve the high rating for, is that it helps unmystify so many seemingly difficult things, and in the process helped me remove so many roadblocks, that I now just want to sit down at the piano and have fun. After reading it in one long session, I could sit down at the piano, and start reharmonizing simple children tunes I played by ear, adding fancy cocktail-piano type arrangement (and I only knew how to pick the melody before I got the book).
If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. Earlier I used to think chords were mostly set in stone, except for jazz musicians, but they are too clever for their own good, so that doesn't apply to me. Ok, it still doesn't sound fantastic, they are still simple children tunes, and since my playing sucks, I have to practice a lot to get to the point where someone would want to listen, but it's a start! And since I can now have fun doing it, I chances are that I will start to get better at it.
For what it is, the book gave me a lot of new ideas, and a lot of ideas for what to start practicing. But don't start with this book alone, get another (more boring) book, to teach you all the boring stuff. This, however, is the book that will set you free, and make practicing the piano fun again! Take the book as a light supplement to whatever else you read and practice with, and I'll guarantee you that you'll be positively surprised.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not an easy read for a beginner
Comment: I am a total beginner when it comes to playing the piano, so I found this book very hard to read. I think it assumes a certain level of knowledge on the reader. However, I did understand alot of it because I read basic piano theory from the book called "Play Piano in a Flash". That book was over simplified, but it taught me enough to understand alot of this book.
There are some major problems that I found with this book. First, all the diagrams are hand-drawn. I found it very distracting to read notes that are hand-drawn... sometimes very sloppily. And many of the weird piano symbols are hard to make out because of the sloppiness. The book was written in the 1970's so that helps explain why it's hand-drawn instead of a nice sharp computerized graphic.
I also found that the explanations of the diagrams were not good. Some chord notes that were drawn didn't seem to be in the right place... either there are lots of mistakes, or i'm just not understanding things. This added to the frustration.
The sample songs are just not familiar to me. Maybe if you're 50+ years old you would know the songs, but not if you're younger!
I actually did learn things in this book... that is why i gave it 2 stars.
Maybe I would like this book better if I alreay had lots of piano experience. I don't know. I'm totally frustrated with this book. I'm going to buy a similar book called "How to play from a Fake book". Hopefully that will be better for me.
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Title: Play Piano in a Flash! by Scott Houston ISBN: 0971286108 Publisher: Houston Enterprises Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Instant Scale and Chord Guide for Keyboards by Gary Meisner ISBN: 0793500087 Publisher: Hal Leonard Pub. Date: September, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: How to Play from a Fake Book by Blake Neely ISBN: 0634002066 Publisher: Hal Leonard Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels by Howard B. Richman ISBN: 0961596309 Publisher: Sound Feelings Pub Pub. Date: June, 1986 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title:Play Piano in a Flash! Full Video Set DVD ASIN: B00009A8ZX Pub. Date: 20 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $49.95 |
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