Music for Little Mozarts: Music Discovery Book 1 Review

I'm a music teacher with over 12 years experience teaching young children.I useThe Music For Little Mozart's Series for my youngest students first.To ensure that you have adequate coverage of all the materials presented, make sure you get most of the books in the series.The Lesson Book is a great start, but this is the next most important book.It has Great songs to sing and play along with.Don't worry if you don't sing, your child will, with encouragement, and the help of the CD that comes as a two CD set (the other CD goes with the Lesson Book).These are very important for teaching steady beat and the joy and fun of music, and can "bring them back" to the keyboard when interest wanes.No kid can resist the racing car song with the Glissando's where they run their fingers over the keys after the song says, "Ready, set, go!"

The next most important book is the workbook that gives the student the chance to show off their new skills and has some great listening exercises you can do with them.It is not the coloring book, which is really just a coloring book. Lastly, I recommend also the Recital book.It tells you at the top of the page which page in the Lesson book it corresponds with (they all do), and it gives the student one more song to practice their skills with.

I recommend sitting down with the student for no more than 1/2 hour breaking it up into 5 min. each of review of previous topics, lesson book, recital book, workbook and Music Discovery Book with CD.You can play the CD with the lesson book to review the material on a later date and the CD of the Music Discovery Book at any time while they are playing with their toys or doing "homework" in their workbook.

I like Book 2 set as well, and you can continue through 3&4 or move to Alfred's other Piano books 1A-6 .

Click Here to see more reviews about: Music for Little Mozarts: Music Discovery Book 1

Product Description:
The unique Music Discovery Book contains songs that allow the students to experience music through singing, movement and rhythm activities. Music appreciation is fostered through carefully chosen music; Mozart, Beethoven and Sousa are introduced. Melodies to sing, using either solfege or letter names, help students learn to match pitch and discover tonal elements of music. Correlates to the Music Lesson Book 1. Familiar songs include If You're Happy and You Know It, Mexican Hat Dance and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Get 1% OFF

Want to buy Music for Little Mozarts: Music Discovery Book 1 at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

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!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Czerny-Schaum Book 1 (Schaum Master Composer) [Paperback]

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.

Want to buy Czerny-Schaum Book 1 (Schaum Master Composer) [Paperback] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

Mikrokosmos Volume 4 (Pink) (Mikrokosmos (Boosey & Hawkes)) [Paperback] Review

Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, whose reputation as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century is now firmly established, composed the Mikrokosmos between 1926 and 1939 with the express purpose of teaching his son, Peter, how to play piano, though level IV is the last volume (of VI) intended purely as instructional material.

These pieces are pedagogically and aesthetically impressive.Beginning in book one, Bartok makes remarkable artistic use of the most simple tools, often limiting himself to a set of five notes per hand (exercises without shifts).The works are not all diatonic, encouraging trust in the eyes and a true ability to read not always achieved by more predictable exercises.Skills are developed systematically to tunes beautiful to the ear, delightful to the theoretician, and engaging to the student.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Mikrokosmos Volume 4 (Pink) (Mikrokosmos (Boosey & Hawkes)) [Paperback]

Product Description:
The definitive edition (1987) of the piano teaching classic. Includes an introduction by the composer's son Peter Bartok. (English/French/German/Hungarian text). In 1945 Bela Bartok described Mikrokosmos as a cycle of 153 pieces for piano written for "didactic" purposes, seeing them as a series of pieces in many different styles, representing a small world, or as the "world of the little ones, the children".Stylistically Mikrokosmos reflects the influence of folk music on Bartok's life and the rhythms and harmonies employed create music that is as modern today as when the cycle was written. The 153 pieces making up Mikrokosmos are divided into six volumes arranged according to technical and musical difficulty. Major teaching points highlighted in Mikrokosmos 4: Thumb undervention, crossed hands, triplets in 9/8 time.

Want to buy Mikrokosmos Volume 4 (Pink) (Mikrokosmos (Boosey & Hawkes)) [Paperback] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

FastTrack Keyboard Songbook 1 - Level 1 (Fasttrack Series) [Paperback] Review

This book is great.Just remember to shift your hands as indicated by the finger numbers and be sure to master those notes as they teach you before moving on too fast.But you'll be surprised how fast you learn.But everything in this book is on playing notes and scales on Treble Clef.There is no bass clef in this book or the second (Keyboard Chords & Scales)... I just bought it 3 weeks ago and am loving it.The book does teach you music notes.It just gets confusing when it renumbers the notes (not explaining that your hand is moving over a key for a while and then back again.They make it sound like you just reach your finger while keeping your hand in place.This is not true after the first page of learning A and B notes in Middle C.)But I am wonderfully surprised at how fast you pick up and start playing.I never read music before and now I am.That in itself is amazing.

Click Here to see more reviews about: FastTrack Keyboard Songbook 1 - Level 1 (Fasttrack Series) [Paperback]

Product Description:
A supplement to the FastTrack instruction books, this great songbook/CD pack features 8 great songs in rock score format: Brown Eyed Girl * Great Balls of Fire * I Want to Hold Your Hand * Oh, Pretty Woman * Wild Thing * Wonderful Tonight * You Really Got Me * Your Song.

Get 11% OFF

Want to buy FastTrack Keyboard Songbook 1 - Level 1 (Fasttrack Series) [Paperback] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

Five Centuries of Keyboard Music [Paperback] Review

Gillespie was professor of Music at the Indiana University. He endeavored to satisfy a wide range of interests. From the clavier literature student to the musical gourmet , he presents the different phases of keyboard development . Beware about the organ music . He prevents the organ music has its own niche and requires a separate volume .
Individual chapters and articles will be helpful in quickly locating information about particular composers , even the most unknown and sometimes neglected composers of the different countries and periods . Footnotes and bibliographies will be important for the professional , student , performer or simply casual investigator .
As result of the final reading you will obtain a precise scope about the developmentof the works for the solo keyboard , traditions , interconnections from the first works of the sixteenth century to the new composers of today.
A real must for the music lovers and every person sincerely interested in the evolution of the instrument.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Five Centuries of Keyboard Music [Paperback]

Product Description:
Practicing musician and professor of music discusses 350 composers and their works for harpsichord and piano. Includes 116 musical examples.

Want to buy Five Centuries of Keyboard Music [Paperback] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

Masterwork Classics, Level 5 (Alfred Masterwork Editions) [Paperback] Review

The Mastering the Piano series is a boon for teachers and students alike.They are good buys - the CD is certainly helpful for students who no longer are that familiar with repertoire at this level.As with the others, the selection is excellant and pretty much at the same level except for the challenging Grieg, Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.The advantage of having all the pieces at the same level of excellance and ability is that one book can cover a years study, minimizing the expense.This volume contains a Joplin rag as its contempory piece - an appealing choice.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Masterwork Classics, Level 5 (Alfred Masterwork Editions) [Paperback]

Product Description:
A progressive repertoire series designed to motivate students while allowing them to progress evenly and smoothly from the earliest classics toward intermediate literature.These pieces are from the standard classical literature, chosen to appeal both to teacher and student. Each volume comes with a corresponding CD.

Pianist Valery Lloyd-Watts studied at the Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the Royal College of Music in London. She earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin, where she studied with Paul Badura-Skoda.

Want to buy Masterwork Classics, Level 5 (Alfred Masterwork Editions) [Paperback] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

Music for Little Mozarts [Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD] Review

This is a two CD set each CD is 30 minutes long.The second CD is for the "music discovery book", I love this CD, it is just perfect for group music classes and it is a fun CD for kids to just listen to.There are 25 songs: a hello song (mentions mozart mouse and beethoven bear), a goodbye song (could be used for any program), 8 rhythm instrument songs, 5 movement/music appreciation songs, and 8 listening/ear training songs.

The first CD is essentially a "book on CD" of the "music lesson" book and I don't see why you would ever use it because a teacher could read the story herself much more entertainingly.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Music for Little Mozarts [Audio CD]

Product Description:
Two compact disc recordings (sold as a two-disc set) support the concepts introduced in Level 4. The disc for the Music Lesson Book includes the narration for the story, as well as two performances of each piece-an acoustic piano version and an orchestrated version. The disc for the Music Discovery Book contains all of the songs and the "Listen and Sing" examples in the book performed by a teacher and students. In addition, professional performances of all listening examples for music appreciation and movement activities are included.

Want to buy Music for Little Mozarts [Audio CD] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Piano Selections [Paperback] Review

I have been playing violin for quite a while and just bought this book. There is a version that comes with a cd which is very helpful. Their are note in 3rd, 4th and 5th position but they are transposed down for those who can't play them. The most recognizable themes are there (harry's wonderful world and hedwig's theme) and a few that are hard to recongnize, such as dobby's theme (this is why the cd is so good). Since their are not that many copies on amazon.com, be sure to check out your local music store. Mine had a book for every instrament and also came with paino accompaniment!!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Piano Selections [Paperback]

Product Description:
Featuring stunning full-color photos from the hit movie throughout, this deluxe songbook contains 11 John Williams compositions arranged for piano solo: The Chamber of Secrets * Dobby the House Elf * Family Portrait * Fawkes the Phoenix * Flying Car * Gilderoy Lockhart * Harry's Wonderous World * Hedwig's Theme * Moaning Myrtle * Nimbus 2000 * The Spiders.

Want to buy Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Piano Selections [Paperback] at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below: