Jazz Keyboard Toolbox [Paperback] Review

This book provides a very understandable set of basic, but useful, concepts that apply to playing Jazz on the keyboard.As a percussionist, I think the information is also appropriate for mallet students. The CD is very helpfull, and supplies you with plenty of time (with the recorded material) to work with the tunes/techniquesin the book.Bill Cunliffe did a commendable job with this book.He put as much into this 48-page book as one could/should expect.

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Product Description:
Now you can learn to play jazz keyboard without knowing a lot of complicated music theory. This step-by-step method uses listening and play-along techniques that make learning to play jazz fun and easy, with just enough theory to understand the concepts. You will gain a solid knowledge of the basic tools needed for accompanying and soloing in any jazz setting. A CD is included, so you can play the examples and tunes along with a professional jazz band.

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Contemporary Music Theory - Level Two: A Complete Harmony and Theory Method for the Pop and Jazz Musician (Piano) [Paperback] Review

Mark continues from Contemporary Music Theory Level 1 to take you through chapters on 'II-V-1' progressions, 5-part chords, substitutions, harmonic analysis, voiceleading, 'upper structure' chords, and pentatonic& blues scale applications in this Level 2 continuation. Again, likethe Level 1 book, Contemporary Music Theory Level 2 has very detailedexplanations and exercises to test what you've learnt. An excellent seriesof books by Mark Harrison.

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Product Description:
The Music Theory series is designed from the ground-up to explain the terminology and musical structures needed for modern applications. Level One is an introductory course which covers music notation, key signatures, basic scales, intervals, modes, diatonic relationships and 3-and 4-part chords. Level Two is an intermediate-level course covering larger chord forms, "definitive" chords in major and minor keys, substitutions, analysis of key centers in tunes, "upper structure" chords, voiceleading, and pentatonic and blues scale applications, a complete glossary of terms, and hundreds of written theory exercises with answers.

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Allegro Barbaro and Other Short Works for Solo Piano [Unabridged] [Paperback] Review

Bartok was the first composer who really got me interested in what one could still technically call "Classical music." I remember hearing his Piano Sonata No. 1, Sz. 80 for the first time and being completely blown away by it. It was so primal and yet still refined in a musical sense. It was like listening to a man lose his mind at the piano while still retaining enough intellect (musically) to function.

But onto the review:

To my dismay, this collection does not contain the Sz. 80 sonata, but it does contain a myriad of other Bartok works which perhaps define him as an artist even better. Bartok was truly our first ethnomusicologist. His experiments with recording the folk music of his homeland (Hungary) and other Eastern European countries and arranging it in the Western tradition brought Western music as far East as it had been up until that point. Sure, there were Russian composers before Bartok who integrated their own folk music into Western styles (The Five, Tchaikovsky, even Rachmaninov), but Bartok's Eastern European studies are a different animal all together.

For starters, Bartok studied Western music under the care of Hugarian teachers at the Royal Academy of Music at Budapest. Here he was perpetually influenced by teachers (Franz Liszt [indirectly], Janos Koessler) and other students (Zoltan Kodaly) who had already begun studies of their own folk music in comparison to Western styles. This book contains great examples of these folk influences translated into the Western style in the intellectual and profound way that Bartok was known for.

This book features Bartok's shorter works like the Romanian Christmas Carols and Hungarian Peasant Songs that offer the average Western listener an abstract approach to Bartok's homeland. The seemingly unnatural rhythms (which the pianist will undoubtedly have trouble with at first) come second nature to the folk music of Eastern Europe. And by reading and playing through this book, the music student will see that Bartok's fundamental understanding of music is unbelievably far removed from the understanding of music that Westerners are raised in.

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Product Description:
Treasury of rewarding piano works from one of the 20th century's most influential composers. Includes the dancelike Allegro Barbaro, a sonorous, boisterous piece of power and bravura; 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs; six Rumanian Folk Dances; 20 Rumanian Christmas Carols; and eight Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs. Musical gems for pianists at intermediate and advanced skill levels.

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371 Harmonized Chorales and 69 Chorale Melodies with Figured Bass [Paperback] Review

This is a nice edition to have. Playing two Bach chorales every morning is kind of like doing some jumping jacks and eating a spoonful of codliver oil...which is to say, good for you. After playing the first 120 you can expect some chorale fatigue to set in, but all the while you'll be absorbing good voice-leading and voice-doubling technique as though by osmosis. What's more, Bach will still surprise you- there are chords so jarring and dissonant that their sudden, logical resolution is like watching a rabbit being pulled out of a hat.
On the downside, the notes are small (this edition really packs 'em in) and it can be easy to get lost on the page. No texts are provided, either, aside from the opening words, so you have to accept on faith that some of the more contorted harmonizations are justified by the text. It's still nice to have, though, and looks nice and musicological sitting on the piano.

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Product Description:
The great Baroque master composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote music for every combination of instruments and voices. His simplest and purest work are four-part chorale compositions and settings, so perfectly constructed that they evoke meditative spirituality. "Figured bass" was a Baroque system of notating harmony. In addition 371 chorales, this collection includes 69 melodies with figured bass. This classic Schirmer edition, edited by Albert Riemenschneider, has sold over 1,000,000 copies since its release in the early 20th century. Primarily for keyboard, the chorales can also be played by other instruments.

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Music Flash Cards Set A (Hal Leonard Student Piano Library) [Misc. Supplies] Review

The Music Flash Cards are fine and arrived in good shape, but it takes three weeks or more to get them to my house. They must ship it by bicycle!! I am not sure if I will use them again.

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Product Description:
120 color-coded cards to review basic musical symbols, all notes from low ledger C to high ledger C, and rhythm patterns in 4/4 and 3/4. Perfect as a supplement for all piano methods.

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Contemporary Music Theory - Level Three: A Complete Harmony and Theory Method for the Pop and Jazz Musician (Piano) [Paperback] Review

I've played music for years, and now that I'm retired, I wanted to understand more about what I was playing.I picked up Mark Harrison's Contemporary Music Theory Book level 2 and made my way through it.I was stunned to find that I had been instructed incorrectly on several points.That was one reason I purchased the book.I wanted to clean up some confusion I had with theory. Now I've just finished the level 3 book.Mark Harrison's books are structured with achievable learning steps.His lessons are followed up with exercises after the chapter to reinforce concepts taught in the chapter.The answers follow the exercises.This is greatly appreciated because it gives the reader immediately feedback.The reader can check the answers, and if there was an error made, the reader can go back and correct any misunderstanding before moving on.If you want to learn more about music structure and harmony, these books are an excellent source without having to go through music theory classes.The lessons are clearly written out and understandable.These books provide the reader with skills so they can not only understand the movement and progressions of chords, but be able to substitute chords in any key for harmonies they may want.Mark Harrison is an expert.This is the best set of theory books that I've ever seen.

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Product Description:
This book is the product of Mark Harrison's experience teaching hundreds of students at the world-famous Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. Suitable for instrumentalists, vocalists, composers and songwriters, this Level 3 course covers the chord tones, extensions and scale sources for all major, minor, dominant and diminished chords, and then applies the contemporary shape concept to create voicings, polychords, and to harmonize melodies.

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