Customer Reviews

Easy Classics to Moderns: Piano Solo (Music for Millions)-Volume 17

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought this book was great when I was young and learning to play the piano and I STILL like going back and playing some of them. They are not just "easy" pieces, they are pieces that are beautiful in and of themselves regardless of the difficulty. Perhaps they are beautiful because of their simplicity. Now I'm greatly looking forward to my daughter learning the pieces. She's just starting her first piece from the book today.

This is a great piano exercise book that is good for intermediate and "advanced" beginners. If you have never touched a piano before, and cannot read notes, you are better off getting something like Alfred's All in One volume 1. This is NOT a just "starting to learn beginner" book.

My only gripe with this book is that it does not come spiral bound. Once you get a few pages into the book, it is near impossible to lay it flat on the piano and read it without wanting to bend it.

I decided to take it to fedex and have it spiral bounded for about $6. I suggest anyone do the same as it will make your life easier when you try learning from it.

My young daughter was stuck on playing disney or nursery songs, and it was like pulling teeth to get her to just "try" one of the classics, 'you might like it!' After much goading, she finally "tried" a bonafide classical piece from this volume; some of it was challenging, some were easy. Ok, now we fight about who gets to play which classical piece first! :-D

I bought this book over 35 years ago when I started to teach myself piano. As a young teen I would have been bored by the "Twinkle, twinkle" type music books. Within weeks I was able to play recognizable classical melodies, and yet the pieces were challenging enough that I could work in this book for a couple of years. Found it again after decades in storage; falling apart, but still precious. The fingering guides are excellent.

I was looking to expand my piano playing skills and came across this book. It offers a great selection of challenging, yet beautiful pieces. A must have for any pianist.

I learned my first classical pieces from this book when I was 11 and lost it in a move somewhere. It is a great book for easy-intermediate practice - full of very beautiful music! Some pieces are easily self taught by newer pianists who understand the basics, and others are challenging enough to keep it interesting. I feel it is a great book to diversify you practice at the beginner intermediate level.

Reading some other reviews, I thought I'd post a warning that this book, though it calls itself easy, is more suitable for an early intermediate pianist.

If you're buying for a beginner, there are some other excellent Denes Agay collections to use first. An Introduction to Classics to Moderns (Forty Very Easy Original Keyboard Pieces) is excellent to start out with. Somewhat harder, though still easier than this book are the two volume set, Joy Of First Classics (Joy Of...Series) and Joy Of First Classics 2.

As another reviewer has noted, the bindings on these books are not well designed to open flat. This can be remedied by doing an old-fashioned "book opening" in which you press open a couple pages at a time, alternating between the front and end of the book.

my piano teacher showed me his copy and I ordered it the same day.

it has a wonderful range of pieces and composers, it's good for lessons or just for playing around.

My teacher used this book when she was a young student. One should be able to get a lot of mileage out of this book as it has many pieces from all the periods (baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary). It is a good choice for anyones music libray.

A great book for my kids not only to practice, but appreciate classic music and it's meaning. My son loves all the pieces there and gets to know the emotion comes with the piece.