Wicked: A New Musical - Easy Piano Selections Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wicked: A New Musical - Easy Piano Selections
Book Review: Awesome Musical
Summary: 5 Stars
Although the accompaniments are hard to play - they match the music in the actual show so if you are looking for a challenge this is the way to go.Book Review: Great arrangements, one of the best "Vocal Selections" books
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this music book after reading the real book and hearing reviews of the musical. Although I haven't yet seen the musical the songs contained in this book are excellent. I am very satisfied with this book. Unlike many "Vocal Selections" books I've come across, the arrangments of this are wonderful and sometimes challenging. Please note, these are NOT unplayable as some may have suggested.
Once again, I am very satisfied with this book...5 stars on the product.
Another note, I ordered this product when it was out of stock. It seemed like it took forever to come. My advice is to order this seperately if it is out of stock (I ordered 3 other music books, all in stock); I also used the budget shipping...everything came together in one shipment. So it took a little time to come. My little mistake, but just a heads up if you are eager to receive your orders.
Book Review: Wicked Fanatic Here!!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been taking piano lessons since kindergarden, so 6 years and I can play every song in this book
*NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED
*THE WIZARD AND I
*WHAT IS THIS FEELING
*DANCING THROUGH LIFE
*POPULAR
*I'M NOT THAT GIRL
*ONE SHORT DAY
*DEFYING GRAVITY
*I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER
*WONDERFUL
*AS LONG AS YOUR MINE
*NO GOOD DEED
*FOR GOOD
SOME OF THEM HAD CHORUS PARTS TAKING OUT BUT ARE JUST AS GOOD AS BROADWAY!!
Book Review: Wonderful arrangements, Great score for Vocal Acompaniment!
Summary: 5 Stars
This version of the Wicked Songbook is the one that DOES NOT have the melody interpolated throughout the piano part-- it is meant as a "vocal line with piano accompaniment" version. It is described by Stephen Schwartz in his forward to the book as being "essentially a reduction of what is played by the show orchestra, edited so that it is playable by one person with two hands and ten fingers."The songs have been adapted so that they may be sung out of the context of the show, with longer instrumental sections, chorus parts, and other such material being trimmed out in most cases. Though this gave me pause at first, I am learning that it really serves the material in this sense, making the music perfect for performing on its own, out of the story-driven context of the show. (Some cuts include the 'We Deserve Each Other' section of "Dancing Through Life", and the 'Who's that Mage...' counterpoint in "One Short Day")
All the favorite songs appear here, from "The Wizard and I", to "Dancing Through Life" and even an excerpt from "Thank Goodness" entitled "I Couldn't Be Happier". There have even been some small additions to the songs to make them work better for solo performance-- I love the new added verse in "No One Mourns the Wicked", for example. It makes for exciting rediscoveries of these already familiar pieces.
The arrangements are challenging, yes, and except for in one case all the songs appear in their original show keys (which means, e.g., that "Defying Gravity" is in Db, "One Short Day" is in F#, etc, but are well worth the effort-- both those songs sound amazing. "For Good" has been taken down a half step and appears in the book in C major). For those trying to compare this book to the P/V/G (with melody) version, I would say there is NOT a huge difference in degree of difficulty between the two books.
The wonderful result of this effort is that the arrangements are SO true to the score. It's really encouraging that Hal Leonard is starting to let composers publish more accurate and exciting versions of their work, and that what we get in the vocal selections is not some cheap simplified thing that sounds nothing like the nuanced and complex score but instead is actually rich and fantastic and interesting.
These Vocal Selections are without a doubt some of the best I've seen produced. Huge congrats to Stephen Schwartz for getting out the music in such a way that the core of the score really is still intact and ensuring that the great songs from this show will be performed for a very long time. Just Amazing.
Book Review: Easy, Easy...
Summary: 3 Stars
This is not a complicated score. The music is simple to play, the vocal lines are easy to sing. For women there are a few power ballads, even a sensitve number or two for women. However, there is virtually no material at all for men, so be warned.