Reader's Digest: Family Songbook [Spiral-bound]

Reader's Digest Editors (Editor), Dan Fox (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1981

spiral bound Book

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 252 pages
• Publisher: Readers Digest Association (July 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895770024
• ISBN-13: 978-0895770028
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Book is okay if you are looking for "I only have eyes for U, February 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Reader's Digest: Family Songbook (Spiral-bound)

I didn't know what was in this book because it was shrink-wrapped at Borders but took a chance b/c it was on sale. It is NOT for beginners. I was looking for a book with fun songs for me to play on the piano w/my 2.5 year old daughter, but this is not what we were looking for! It may be what you want though.

Here's the contents: There are 8 categories of songs: Down Memory Lane (Roaring 20s, World War I, Jazz Age), All-Time Broadway Hit Parade (Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter), Great Music from the Movies (Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart), Swing Years (late 30s and early 40s, Louis Armstrong, Guy Lombardo), Treasury of Operetta & Semi-Classical Hits (Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg), Gaslight Varieties, Greensleeves, and Music to Lift the Spirits (anthems, hymns).

The book says each song has been arranged for piano, guitar and organ. It says the arrangements can be easily adapted to any treble-clef C instrument such as accordion, chromatic harmonica, violin, flute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, recorder, marimba and xylophone.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Overview of Condensed Songs, May 12, 2004

By 

Kathryn J. Atwood (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reader's Digest: Family Songbook (Spiral-bound)

I quit piano lessons in the eighth grade (the familiar story of the indimidating piano teacher) but I kept playing on my own all through high school and this is the book I played over and over. It has a fantastic overview of many American musical genres of the first half of the 20th century, occasionally dipping slightly back to the late 19th.

The arrangements are fairly easy to play for the intermediate piano player yet they sound deceptively impressive. Guitar chords are also present.

The only reason I didn't give it a five-star rating is that, in keeping with the Reader's Digest tradition, this book is condensed; only the choruses of the songs are present. Having grown up with this book, I had no idea that most of these songs had verses not included here. So if you need the entire song, this book won't help you. But if you want a great, playable overview of American songs from the 20th century, then this book is a good choice.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Has a lot of standards, but arrangements are pretty simple, May 1, 2002

By 

Nanciejeanne "Enjay" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reader's Digest: Family Songbook (Spiral-bound)

I bought this because I wanted a book that had a lot of the standards. It does. I like to play and sing with my kids (toddlers) and with extended family on different occaisions. I like that it has different holiday songs, ("When Irish Eyes are Smilin'") some patriotic stuff ("America") and plain old songs ("By the light of the Silvery Moon." ) I do wish that the arrangements were a little more difficult...I am not really a great player (one year of lessons in Junior High) but I found myself putting in extra chords and endings. But I am not sophisticated enough to really know what I am doing here, so I have to make it up. Some of the the Gershwin stuff was better, but still cut down. I would call it just beyond beginner. It reminds me of the kind of stuff you hear kids play at piano lessons (year 2). Still, even I am confortable with adding a little here and there, so you can too. OR if you just want to open the page and play a whole new song with few or no mistakes, a novice will like it. Plus it has many songs you would like in an anthology and a nice spiral-like binding--hence the 4 stars above. Overall, a nice book.