Piano Essentials: Scales, Chords, Arpeggios, and Cadences for the Contemporary Pianist (Book & CD) [Paperback]

Ross Ramsay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Book & CD | Publication Date: October 1, 2005

Learn piano basics, as required of every piano major at Berklee College of Music. The exercises featured in this book will help you improve your sight-reading skills, and memorize new material in less time and with more confidence. Scales, chords, arpeggios, and cadences will improve your tone, dynamic range, and sense of rhythm. You will become more comfortable with fingerings, develop speed and agility on the keyboard, and will build a foundation for further study.

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Berklee Press (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876390491
• ISBN-13: 978-0876390498
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great practice foundation, November 12, 2005

By 

Nikki Heyward (W. Palm Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Essentials: Scales, Chords, Arpeggios, and Cadences for the Contemporary Pianist (Book & CD) (Paperback)

I got this book about 3 weeks ago and already its improved my skills in a number of areas. Everything is organized in such a way that you just automatically progress. The incluion of every scale with chords gives you a good warm-up for every practice.
The really cool thing about this book is it doesn't overwhelm you with theory, but has just enough for you to understand (or remember if you forgot)the basics. I feel that even after you advance you could still use this book as a review and a warm-up. Great for beginners and those of us wanting a a good basis for review or practice. The only thing I wish they would've thought of was to use a ring binding instead of regular book. That way you can lay the book out on the music stand better.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, wonderful book, June 24, 2006

By 

Dewitt Strong "Sightreader" (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Piano Essentials: Scales, Chords, Arpeggios, and Cadences for the Contemporary Pianist (Book & CD) (Paperback)

I've been playing scales, chords, arpeggios and cadences on the piano for 55 years. I've digested countless music theory texts and workbooks in those years.

No one puts it all together as well as Ross Ramsay. His text is clear, logical and wonderful, wonderful, from the first definition of a scale to the advanced exercises at the end. This book is a great find and a great help for any pianist.

Plus, when you work your way to page 81, you learn that you have mastered the major and minor scales that are part of the Berklee College of Music Piano Department requirements. You'll play as well as Diana Krall! This is a real life book. Treat yourself.
D. Strong

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dedicated self-instructing pianists must be DEDICATED!, July 19, 2006

By 

Eric C. Sedensky "late-to-jazz musician" (Madison, AL, US) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Piano Essentials: Scales, Chords, Arpeggios, and Cadences for the Contemporary Pianist (Book & CD) (Paperback)

Like many aspiring musicians, I'd heard a lot about Berklee, so when I decided to try to teach myself piano, this is one of the books I turned to. Although I haven't gotten that far into it yet, I'm finding it pretty useful. The theory review and accompanying exercises are good for getting the musical juices flowing, and the clear text is concise and vaguely satisfying (keep reading). I don't know that this book is helping me to play any better (yet), but I like the feeling of security it provides me by filling in gaps in my musical knowledge. This book includes a CD that is very helpful in learning the passages and seeing where you are going next. Throughout the book, I get the feeling that they are setting up an instructor to give the student a little more information and "inspiration", as though they are telling you what the juicy kernel of piano knowledge is without actually letting you touch it. Hopefully, this feeling will go away when I get to the later lessons. I would say this book is useful for the serious self-instructing student, but would probably serve a beginning pianist with a regular instructor even better. But in an area where quality instruction manuals are sparse and individual needs vary so widely, I think this book has a good amount of utility.