How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home [Paperback]

Ward Cannel (Composer), Fred Marx (Composer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1981

This method is a truly entertaining approach to learning how to play the piano. Written by Ward Cannel of the Piano Consortium, the method breaks down music theory into visual concepts which are fun and easy to grasp, so you can learn to play the music you want to play! Perfect for those piano lesson dropouts!

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (January 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385142633
• ISBN-13: 978-0385142632
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

138 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is actually a cookbook, July 16, 2003

By 

Photoguy (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home (Paperback)

Many of those who have reviewed this book here mention that it is a book on music theory. Yes there is some theory in this book and some of it is hard to find in other beginning piano books. I find the section on harmonic progression particularly enlightening. But rather than a book on theory, this is a cookbook with recipes for creating full sounding music out the vocal lines of sheet music, lead sheets, and "fake books".

One criticism I have seen of this book is that the style of playing is only suitable for playing old standards, like those by Cole Porter or Rogers and Hart. This is partially true, but if you enjoy the kind of music that is the background in so many movies, particularly Woody Allen films, this book is a gold mine.

If you have taken lessons, you will find it fairly easy to pick up on the method here, even if you can't sit down an play anything right now. A lot of it will come back quickly. If you are a rank beginner, this will be a lot of work. Even so, if you put the effort in learning this method that you would put into getting through an adult beginning piano book, you will come away with so much more. That said, I will recommend that you also invest in a beginning piano book and work through that at the same time.

There is, or was, a companion VHS video for the book. It is extremely entertaining and allows you to see and hear examples of the methods taught in the book. It is about two hours long and very well done. I haven't seen it around lately, but if you get this book, try to find the video also. Same title as the book.

63 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ditto: Best Music Book I've Ever Read, August 27, 2000

By 

David Stein (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home (Paperback)

I just got an older copy of this book (1976) and was looking for more stuff made by these authors. I was hoping to see a newer version of this book that included a CD.

Anyway I wanted to "ditto" the sentiments expressed by many other reviewers. This book explains music in a manner I've never seen done so thoroughly and yet simply. Its *perfect* if you have some music background, but never really got past intermediate phase. Rank beginners will have a more difficult time with the musical notation. However, this book is *so* good that I'd still recommend it to beginners as well... you can learn a lot about making music - some will be applied later than sooner, but its better to already have this book than risk going on for years and having forgotten about it. It will become a reference and guide as you get better.

The issue of unfamiliar songs is not a problem - they refer to old "standards" which you can easily find mp3 on the net. I'm also unfamiliar with these songs, and having started to listen to the "standards" has opened up a whole new genre of music for me which I really enjoy.

The issue of humor is deserved. These guys try to be funny but the puns make me gag more than guffaw. Its getting to point that its funny because its so not funny. But the great content makes up for this.

This book has opened up a whole new understanding of music for me. I now see patterns in music I never knew existed (circle of fifths). And it has explained some little things I've always half-wondered about but never could articulate. Like for example, why some notes of a melody will clash with the harmony... should I create chords for these notes? Or do I just let them clash? Exactly how do they relate to the current chordal structure? Which notes should I make chords for? How do I design my bass cleff arrangement? How do I fill in treble cleff harmony with the melody? Etc. etc.

These guys rock! (Or at least they do the fox-trot and the swing! Oh god.. that's the same kind of bad puns they use throughout the whole book... now I'M starting to do it!)

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise! Praise! Praise!!! This book changed my life!!!, July 24, 2005

By 

simple as that - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home (Paperback)

This book has changed my life! I struggled at the piano forever until I discovered this wonderful book! While it clearly will not be for everyone wanting to learn piano, it was perfect for me. As a youth, I hated piano lessons because of the mechanical approach to learning songs that I didn't even like. I felt like I was a human playback machine. Know what I mean? Whereas, it seemed my guitar-playing friends were having all the fun. When they wanted to learn a new song, they would just start asking what the chords were. Then, they would just practice playing the chord progression at home. Later, when they got really comfortable with that, they would start getting really creative, adding interesting little frills and things and MAKING A LOT OF COOL MUSIC knowing, really, just a little bit of actual information about the song + having musical ideas of their own. So, how come piano lessons were always so different? You don't have to be jealous of your guitar-playing friends anymore. This is the book my friend's guitar teacher would have written, if he played piano. You learn a song by playing its chords. Once you're comfortable just playing the chords, you add melody. It can be easy and it can be difficult, it depends on the song, how quickly the chords change, how complicated the melody is, and how much "extra" of your own you want to add. It's a very flexible approach to playing. I highly recommend it. Best of all, unlike boring piano lessons, nobody is going to make you practice music you don't like. You can use this method on any sheet music which has a) a key signature b) a meter c) chords spelled and d) a one note melody line. Fake books are best, because all extraneous stuff is removed, but you could use this method with any sheet music meeting those minimum requirements. And, you will play these songs using only four reversible chords, an amazing but real time saver, key to the success of this "fake" method!