Customer Reviews

The Contemporary Keyboardist and Expanded

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john novello's contemporary keyboardist is a complete guide to become an professional modern keyboardist. it features hundreds of easy exercices in many different music areas such as basic rithim, improvisation, advanced harmony etc... plus many interviews with today's most important jazz players such as herbie hancock, chick corea etc... A MUST.

John Novello's Chapter three puts the art of music in perspective by making the student commit to a practice strategy. The practice strategy is key to this book because without it you probably won't get very far in your own music development. His pre-practice, practice, post-practice and playing operating standard is really good and should be a standard for every keyboard instructor. The book is very good and I would recommend it. It is over 550 pages long and I like the comb binding which is good for keyboardists. The only fault I can find with the book is the assignments section at the end of the chapters. I know for a lot of students, they would want a more concrete answer list somewhere so they could at least have confirmation of their own thinking to guide them towards a more productive experience with the book. This book is for the advanced keyboardist.

John Novello is an amazing musician. Having a book that gives insite into his approach would be quite valuable all by itself, but he has put together a very comprehensive work that is a must have for any musician looking to expand his/her knowledge and abilities. In this modern age where the electronic keyboard provides the easiest access to the world of instrumentation, as a songwriter/arranger I find John's Contemporary Keyboardist to be an essential reference, especially as my main instrument is the guitar.

While there are several jazz theory books out there, there is no one book that covers the concepts as clearly and practically as The Contemporary Keyboardists. A good intermediate player who combines the applications of this text with the techniques in "The Craft of Piano Playing" by Alan Fraser will soon find themselves playing almost anything they can imagine.

I have had an opportunity to use John's book for many years. I am a film and TV composer with many credits and years of experience. But I could not play or write Jazz. Johns book unlocked the secrets of improvisation and chord voicings in this book. Within two weeks I finally understood Jazz and could play it. Also his detailed layout of extension chords, has been valuable to me as an arranger and composer. For anyone who is serious and passionate about piano, jazz and keyboards this book is vital and valuable. I appreciate the amount of research and time John spent creating such a great tool, especially since he is a very active performer and recording artist.