5 comments about Thoroughly Modern Millie: Vocal Selections.

1. I am in love with this musical!! The music is spectacular, the soundtrack is amazing and the movie is cute and spunky with the fabulous Julie Andrews. I was very excited when I found out that the sheet music to Thoroughly Modern Millie was available and I just had to get it!! If you like musicals or 1920's jazz, you will defiantely love this musical!



2. I have seen many a musical, including Monty Python's Spamalot, the 25th Annual Putnam Co. Spelling Bee, Kiss Me Kate, Flower Drum Song, etc.. and I have to say that Millie is still and will probably always be my favorite. The music is just so fun. I don't know any other way to describe it. My personal favorite to listen to: the Speed Test. My personal favorite to sing along with: a toss up between I Turned the Corner and Gimme Gimme.



3. A bit tough at times for intermediate players, but a good choice for those wanting the V/G/P parts for the show.



4. I love Millie so I have wanted this for a long time. Sometimes I hesitate buying the music books for musicals. The arrangements can slaughter the real music sometimes. This one is really good though. It holds of lot of the good chords that you hear on the soundtrack. It is also really fun to sing a long with. I think this book is definately one of the best vocal books from a musical.



5. 
   The young girl I bought this for loves it. It was the perfect gift.

No comments about Piano Adventures Christmas Book, Level 3A.

2 comments about My First Book of American Folk Songs : 25 Favorite Pieces in Easy Piano Arrangements.

1. Product was exactly what I wanted and it arrived in a timely manner. Very satisfied



2. Perfect for kids and entry level piano players (like me who is a 35yo woman JUST learning)will pass these on to the kids I am teaching on an even lower level of learning. Well written, cute graphics, interesting little dittys to play.

5 comments about Arias for Mezzo-Soprano: Voice and Piano (G. Schirmer Opera Anthology).

1. If you are calling yourself a mezzo soprano but you don't have this book, you are not doing yourself any favors. This book contains a wide variety of the most popular and most widely performed mezzo arias in the repertoire. It even includes arias from some contemporary operas. Like I said, if you are a mezzo, you need this book.



2. This book is a must-own for any mezzo-soprano (as are the corresponding volumes for any other voice type.) I daresay this is the anthology standard for aspiring opera stars. I purchased mine when starting college and learned my first aria from it--"Non so piu, cosa son". Ten years later I am still finding pieces that fit my voice as it grows into works by Bizet, Massenet, Donizetti. And I know that I will continue to use it in years to come as I grow into the luscious arias of Dalilah or perhaps Mascagni's Lola.
   
   Having had the opportunity to work with Dr. Robert Larsen, I can say that he is one of the most knowledgeable people in the business about opera and how to get young people started. The translations provided are not poetic--they are accurate, true translations! The plot summaries are brief but helpful, enough to get you started, but short enough to encourage you to do your own work. Larsen notates alternate endings, appogioturi, and other traditional performance notes. I guarantee, if you buy this book, you'll use it until it falls apart. I'm on my second one now.



3. Great book! The translations are so useful, and the collection is quite standard. Definitely a great book to have in any singer or teacher's library.



4. This book definitely has all the commonly sung arias for mezzos such as "When I Am Laid In Earth"(Dido's Lament) from Purcell's opera Dido & Aeneas,"Che Faro Senza Euridice?" from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice,"Voi Che Sapete", and "Non so piu cosa son" from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, "Una voce poco fa" from Rossini's Barber of Seville & more! I agree with the above posts! A must have for all mezzos!



5. The book came really fast and was in great shape, though it was bought new. The price was half of what I would have paid for the same book from the publisher's website.

3 comments about Older Beginner Piano Course Level 1/WP32.

1. It is a user-friendly piano course book especially for an older beginner. The content of the book is very clear.



2. This is the greatest book you can use to learn how to play the piano. I used this book in college and within weeks I was playing like a pro. and I 've never played a piano before.



3. This book is really great. It arrived at my house in good condition and in an orderly fashion.

No comments about Sonatas - Book 2: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, Vol. 2) (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, Vol. 2).

4 comments about Play Piano in a Flash: The Next Step.

1. This book gives the basics of improvisation when playing from a fake book. It is a good tool for a continuation of the learning process. The use of a varied base line, improvisation within a chord and the pentatonic scale are worthwhile skills.



2. This book is an excellent primer for the advanced-beginner pianist who wants to leave sheet music behind, or for the by-ear or lead-sheet player who has attempted at least a couple of songs using the "right-hand melody, left-hand chords" arrangement presented in many methods, including of course, "The Piano Guy's" (Scott Houston), "Play Piano in a Flash" series.
   Scott Houston and Bradley Sowash propose to take the reader to...well, the next step beyond the barebones arrangement described above and to introduce him/her to more sophisticated harmonies and options for creating bass lines and thus fuller, more satisfying arrangements of lead sheet melodies.
   
   They have succeeded.
   
   Using a songlist of the usual suspects including "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain", Sowash and Houston guide us, in a casual, conversational style through some elementary ideas of chord construction, including inversions, minor and dominant 7th chords and then they explore some options available for LH parts. The authors then gently introduce some exercises demonstrating construction of simple bass lines, melodic ornamentations, improvisation and then move into slightly more complex re-harmonizations and a brief introduction to chord substitutions and more complex LH patterns like pseudo-stride.
   
   Overall, the presentation is practical, friendly and emphasizes exploration by the reader (who is admonished not just to read, but to play, play, play through all the examples).
   
   My only quibble with the presentation (and it is a small one) is the lack of a discussion on practisng the chords and their inversions for each lead sheet before trying to create arrangements, which may result in less experienced beginners becoming frustrated and attributing their difficulties to the method. More experienced players will be able to run through the exercises quite rapidly, and will gain confidence in the steps required to go from melody line to fuller arrangment.
   
   All in all, this book offers a user-friendly, technically accessible and surprisingly comprehensive foundation for lead-sheet and by-ear pianists to start creating full-sounding arrangements on their own. In fact, by extending the ideas in this book by yourself with regular practise, you will be able to go quite far as your technical skills improve. You should be able to read simple music in both clefs and be able to play very basic arrangements hands together to benefit from "The Next Step".



3. I am a beginning piano player. At the ripe old age of 59, I do not want to spend a lot of time learning the "classical" approach to piano. I just want to play tunes on my own! Scott Houston's got the right idea! This is the second one of his books that I have purchased and it is PERFECT for my needs. One of my many personality flaws is that I am terribly impatient, but once I forced myself to slow down and really make sure I absorbed what Scott and his co-writer were saying, I learned VOLUMES on how to use both the left and right hand in playing piano. The exercises are great too. Maybe another character flaw of mine is that I get overly excited about books? By the way, if you're just starting out, I would recommend that you first buy Scott's "Play Piano In A Flash" paperback...it's an easy read but very helpful too.



4. Excellent. I'd recommend this over the introductory books for anyone who has had some piano lessons in the past. I love this way of playing--so enjoyable. Scott makes everything very clear and puts the creativity and fun back into being a piano player--two things that are often left out of traditional piano instruction. Recommended.

2 comments about Schindler's List.

1. John Williams is one of the most gifted people that music has allowed us to be affected by. The process he takes to make his music is far from random. It is all carefully planed, and all built masterly to fit the mood of the film he's composing for. While nearly all of his music is masterfully beautiful and touching, Schindler crosses the line. How Williams knows so much about Jewish music is beyond me, but the way he incorporates it into the score is amazingly touching. While I don't want to go too far, it could be said that the theme from Schindler's List covers all the hardships the country of Israel has had to go through until today. For a while just hearing the soundtrack was enough for me. But soon, I came to the conclusion that I had to learn how to play it, how to make it happen under my own power. And that's when I found this book. For anyone who wants to feel emotions that they haven't felt since they were in 4th grade learning about the Shoah, here it is. Sieze it.



2. I was just speechless when I went over just the main theme song from this movie. I also bought the cd and I can say that John Williams truly out did himself with these works.

4 comments about The Peanuts Illustrated Songbook.

1. This book is great in three ways: First, the music itself is first rate. The arrangements in the book are the real thing and are quite a bit more difficult than the "easy" piano versions. Second, there are great-looking comics on most every page, which makes it a joy just to look at. Lastly, there is a lengthy history of Peanuts and how Vince became involved with it.
   The only aspect keeping this book from a 5 rating is the binding. The book wouldn't lay flat on the piano, which made it practically impossible to play. I brought it to Kinko's and got it spiral bound for about $4, and now it works great. Poor thinking on the publisher's part, though.



2. Where to start? First, Vince Guaraldi was a great talent and our real loss is the wonderful music he would still be producing today.
   
   Second, his Peanuts work is one of the main gateways to jazz for today's young minds. I don't know where the music would be today without the fans he introduced to it.
   
   Third, Fantasy Records, who release his CDs, does an abysmal job in preserving the Charlie Brown musical legacy. Each and every CD they release is a slap-dash affair and dishonors the creators. "Oh, Good Grief" was less than 30 minutes long! His son should kick some butt. Just had to get this off my chest.
   
   Finally, this music book is a delight! It's comprehensive and lovingly presented with colorful illustsrations. Most selections include transcriptions of Vince's jazz solos, grace notes and all. And the harmonies seem to be complete and error-free. (I really like Vince's use of the 13th chord with the flatted 9th.)
   
   I did the same as the previous reviewer and had the book spiral bound at Kinko's. One star deducted from an otherwise excellent product.



3. I've just received this today and it really is beautiful to look at. But I do wonder why they had to print every single page of this book on glossy paper?
   
   It seems like it would be much less durable than regular paper over time, and more prone to smudging and fading. This special paper requires extra careful handling, so don't even think about going near this with unclean or greasy fingers unless you delight in seeing great black finger streaks across your music.
   
   Also, since the pages are so glossy and thick, it is impossible to open this book at the piano without it snapping shut in your face. I usually prefer music books bound this way, because spiral-binding destroys paper edges faster, but I really cannot open this book to a particular song for more than 2 seconds, even when I try to hold doewn the sides with heavier books.
   
   It's a great value anyway, and I'm probably just being overly anal about the glossy pages. This is the only place you'll find some songs, such as "Thanksgiving Theme" and "Frieda with the naturally curly hair," so you might as well add it to your music collection.



4. Moderately easy to moderately difficult; reasonably accurate interpretations. Since it's not easy to find anything but simple sheet music type arrangements of these pieces, this folio is well worth the money. The introductory essay is excellent.

No comments about Piano Adventures Popular Repertoire, Level 1.