Customer Reviews

The Piano Bench of Easy Classical Music (Piano Collections)

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

 

 

The Good:
1) A very wonderful and complete collection of classical songs. Can't tell exactly how many songs, probably 100-150+, nearly 400 pages.
2) Sturdy pages, plastic spiral binding - easy to open, STAYS open, pages can be removed if desired.
3) Nice compositions - songs sound close enough to originals, not so dumbed down that you can no longer recognize them.

The Bad:
1) Most of the pieces are *too* easy - I'm really not very good, and have never had lessons, but could play most everything in here right away - which is great if you just want to play for your family or friends, but if you want to learn, there's probably nothing in here that will challenge you. The alternative to this book, "The Piano Bench of Classical Music" (i.e., not easy classical music) is also a great collection but far far too difficult for anyone with less than years and years of lessons. I wish they made something in between the two... It's great that most of this book is easy, but a few more difficult pieces would have been nice.
2) The index of songs is pretty crummy - Sorted by period (Baroque, Romantic, etc) then by composer ... So if you don't know both, you might be looking for a while...

Overall:
The good far outweighs the bad, and I can't punish the book for being easy when that is what they were going for : ) 5 stars.

I have only been playing the piano for eight months. I ordered this book, thinking I would, maybe, find one or two pieces I could play right away. Rather, I got a "piano bench" full of new music to learn. Not only was I thrilled, but my piano teacher was impressed also.

I purchased this book for my husband, who is beginning piano lessons at age 44. Since he's an adult player, I thought he would get bored and frustrated with the curriculum he's currently doing - and he is - so I got him the book to mess around with. He's a lover of classical music and I thought this would give him a quick win once in a while.

I would not recommend this book, and I wouldn't purchase it again - in fact, I think I'm going to try to hide it from him.

My main issue is that the arrangements are, in my opinion, very poorly done. They've simplified Bach's "Minuet in G" to not include chords. The left-hand arpeggios in "Fur Elise" have been reduced to fifths - understandable for small hands that may not have the reach, but unnecessary for adults. The treble portion of "Moonlight Sonata" has been split into two hands, so the grounding bass portion is gone - and what's worse, the left and right hands are actually overlapping each other in this arrangement, so it's not really an easy arrangement anyway.

With these arrangements, my husband's putting a bunch of work into learning a bad version of a piece that he's not going to want to learn the real version of when he's ready. The arrangement for "Minuet in G" in particular bothers me - after three months of lessons, he's absolutely capable of playing the original "Minuet in G", but had he learned this book's arrangement first, he wouldn't want to.

In the interests of full disclosure, my husband likes being able to play some tougher pieces now - but the arrangements are kind of tough for me to listen to.

Note: I purchased this book in 2009, and it is no longer spiral-bound.

I play the piano, and have a huge collection of sheet music. But I couldn't resist this book when I saw it. The arrangements are easy, but they are not the large note, super simplified for children kind of "easy." I like this collection for when I want to sit down and not work too hard, or when I don't want to practice the "real" arrangement.
Not for very advanced pianists, but great for the casual tickler of the ivories - those of us who took lessons when we were young, but just "dabble" now.
Unlike another reviewer, I happen to like the way the table of contents lists the pieces by time period.

I just received my book today. I haven't had time to sit down and play it, but it looks like a solid collection of songs at the skill level that I was looking for. I was sadly disappointed, however, when I opened my Amazon package and saw that my 400 page paperback piano book is NOT spiral-bound like the other reviewer's was. I would not have ordered it if I had known that. It will be a definite challenge to keep it open while playing.

Delivery Time: 1 Week
* The book was in great shape, there were no tears or markings at all.
* It has plastic spiral binding which is great.
* It's not in large notes, just the way I like it.
* The song selection is great. I've just had 5 months of self-study so it's really the right one for me--not too easy nor too difficult.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the purchase, it even exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend this book (for Grade 2 and higher levels).