The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering Piano
by Carl Humphries
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Book Summary Information
Author: Carl HumphriesEdition: Spiral-bound
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-12-01
ISBN: 0879307277
Number of pages: 290
Publisher: Backbeat Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780879307271
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering Piano
Book Review: (Almost) pure genius
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm only on Chapter 2 of this book, but I am amazed. Every exercise is chosen perfectly!
I thought playing with two hands at once was my greatest challenge. The exercises in Chapter 1 start with the simplest little song, Frere Jaques, but the last 6 notes are given to be played with the left hand instead of the right. Then they give you alternating hands, first one hand than the other, until it makes you alternate quickly with complex (for a beginner) rhythm. Then it gives you a very, very simple song with two hands that is easier than the alternating-hands song. When I got to the very last exercise in chapter one, I saw that I was focusing on playing with two hands too much and didn't have the rhythm skills to play it. So I went back to the first exercise and worked at playing each exercise (again) with the metronome, faster and faster. Then I realized: not only are the exercises in Chapter 1 chosen perfectly to train you to play with two hands, but they are also chosen perfectly to train rhythm! Even the last one, which forced me to go back and start over, was just perfect! The way the exercises are chosen and presented in Chapter 1 is just pure genius -- both in getting you to play with two hands and rhythm.
This is not a book for people who want to play music without learning how. If you are "let me just do it" kind of person, get some other book, get one of those play-music-in-30-minutes-without-ever-reading-a-note books. But if you like structure and want to actually *learn* music, this is the one to get.
My plan is to get through chapter 6, which includes 'composing part 1'. I have no desire to play entire symphonies -- or reach chapter 18. Although I'm having so much fun I might not want to stop after chapter 6.
The only part of this book that is NOT done well was the very first exercise, counting rhythm. (which is why I call this book *almost* genius). Counting rhythm is vital to play music, but there is only one page on it that I didn't understand now matter how many times I read it: I couldn't tell if I was doing it right or not!
I had a musician friend demonstrate counting rhythm to me, then I sat there and counted with the metronome "one, two-and-three, four". But without his help some outside-the-book thinking on my part, I'd never be able to play the last song in chapter 1.
This book progresses very quickly and you must understand every part before going onward, or you will fail eventually. So if you don't understand something, you may need to go on the internet and research it yourself until you *do* understand. But as long as you take each paragraph, each exercise seriously, as long as you don't skip around or skip ahead without learning, you will see with what genius this book is put together.
Making it spiral-bound, so it can rest on your keyboard, was also a very smart idea.
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