Customer Reviews

Chris Rice - The Living Room Sessions (Piano Solo Personality)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love all the music in this book. I find that others love this music too. All the hymns can take you back to a certain place in time. I owned one copy of this book - and took it to a camp and left it out for others to play. For the three weeks I was there, you could hear person after person sit down to play out of this book. The book is now trashed and falling apart.

Bought another copy of this book - and play it in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Older people stand outside in the halls and are moved to tears over this music. My second copy is starting to fall apart.

I've gone and bought 2 more copies. This book is one I never want to be without.

Chris Rice really did do an awesome with this book! He took all of our favorite hymns and made them all new and fresh with his arrangments! I play these as prelude at my church a lot and I also play them as piano solos for people and they always go over big! The songs are challenging so you don't get bored, but they are not so hard that it's frustrating trying to learn them. I would say the level is intermediate/hard. (but not too hard!) I would DEFINITELY recomend this book to anyone and everyone! Buy it!!!!

Chris Rice's beautiful arrangements of classic hymns are great for preludes and offetories. On the challenging side of moderate, these arrangements show off the technique and musicality of a moderatly advanced piano player.

I have to say that I am addicted to this book! I bought it 4 days ago, and I have spent every spare moment since playing out of it. I can't get enough of playing the arrangements! This is coming from someone who is rarely interested in sitting down and playing something from a book. It is challenging, but not so hard that you get get frustrated after the first page or two and quit. It is possible to play the whole arrangement and HAVE FUN while playing it. I LOVE IT!!!!! I was talked into buying it, and I am SO GLAD I did....you will be, too!!!! (I can't wait to receive the Christmas edition!)

My wife has this songbook and loves to play these songs they are such beautiful arrangement of classic hymns. I love to hear her play Saviour like a Shepherd. Great songbook for for the piano and the songs are appropriate to be played in church services as offeratories etc...

This book has some of the best contemporary settings of church hymns I have ever heard. I was not an exceptional keyboard player, but listening to these hymns motivated me to sit down and play! Every piece is wonderful, I would recommend them to anyone - This is a great book and well worth the price!

Chris Rice has such a wonderful knack for arranging. You'll love this compilation of some old favorites with a fresh twist. Beautiful for playing in church, or in the home for your family. The level is Intermediate, or Intermediate +.

I am an intermediate piano player and have had this book for almost 10 years now. It is by far the one I use the most, both for playing for pleasure at home and for church music. The arrangements even work well as background music for weddings or other events like that. The hymns are classic and recognizable, the arrangements are expressive, lyrical and elegant - but still easy enough to play (I'm an intermediate pianist) with minimal practice. They tend to run long (7-10 pages), but there are many places that you can end them sooner, if you need a shorter arrangement. If I had to narrow my collection of sheet music down to one book - this would be it. I SO wish he would put out a second volume!

The song titles are:

All Creatures Of Our God And King (I use this and For the Beauty... a lot for weddings)

For The Beauty Of The Earth

Be Still My Soul (very peaceful arrangement, I use this and the contemplative portions of Like a River Glorious and Savior Like a Shepherd... for funerals)

Like A River Glorious

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

The Church's One Foundation

Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

Fairest Lord Jesus

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

How Great Thou Art

Jesus, What a Friend For Sinners

This Is My Father's World

I love all the arrangements in this book; they are very enjoyable and relaxing to play. He does some neat things with key signature changes and rhythms so while all the songs are very pretty and flowing they are not too similar and it doesn't get boring. I was surprised to see it was all traditional hymns and none of his own music.

Note for church musicians: the pieces are all fairly lengthy, probably too long for special music but perfect for communion or before the service.

I bought this gift for my husband for his birthday. He's a big Chris Rice fan and was looking for some music to noodle around with on the piano. The music isn't terribly difficult (which can be nice because you don't always want to have to practice to be able to play a song, so it's nice for relaxed playing). I personally wish it came with words, but then again the CD it's from doesn't have words. I just pull out a hymnal while he plays. For people more formally taught for piano, my husband commented that some of the writing can be awkward - guessing that it's been a while since Chris Rice has had formal training with the piano - as there are some less traditional parts (in terms of music arrangement and not that the hymn is "modernized"). Just an FYI if it matters to anyone. Over all, my husband likes the book and is glad to have some music to noodle with.