Customer Reviews

The School House Rock Songbook

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

 

 

Only contains the ten songs "Conjunction Junction", "Dollars and Sense", "Electricity, Electricity", "The Great American Melting Pot", "I'm Just a Bill", "Interplanet Janet", "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly", "My Hero, Zero", "No More Kings" and "Three is a Magic Number". I would have been willing to pay three times as much for a complete set, or happy to get a consistent set (all History Rock, for example) but the odd selection is annoying and nearly useless. Don't buy it unless you are specifically looking for one of these songs.

I viewed this book at a bookstore before buying it so I knew exactly what it included. I have no problem with it being incomplete and I do have a lot of fun playing the pieces. I especially enjoy the fun bits -- the intro. to "Conjunction Junction" is a kick.

If you are a good pianist and have some rhythm (swing baby), you should be able to play the music.

One thing I don't like about most piano books (including this one) is the binding. Most of the time it's a real fight to keep the book open unless you break the binding.

After reading the other reviews of this book, I realized it was exactly what I was looking for! I wanted sheet music for some of the songs. This book had many of the songs I was looking for...in particular "Interplanet Janet", "Three is a Magic Number", "I'm Just a Bill", and "Conjunction Junction".

If you are looking for sheet music for Schoolhouse Rock, this has some good ones in it! There is very little in the book besides the sheet music, so I could see why other people were disappointed if they didn't realize what this book really contained.

You shouldn't get this book unless you certainly like one of the contained songs. Only 10 of the 51 Schoolhouse Rock songs were used. The 41, or full season's worth minus the plot, not used, are in no particular order:

Interjections Tyrannosaurus Debt The Weather Show The Body Machine Busy Prepositions The Tale of Mr. Morton Tax Man Max Mother Necessity Three-Ring Government A Noun Is A Person, Place or Thing Naughty Number Nine The Check's In The Mail This For That The Good Eleven Fireworks The Preamble Elementary, My Dear The Four-Legged Zoo Do The Circulation Telegraph Line etc.

Summary:
Absolutely recommended. These songs make great party tricks for intermediate pianists and guitarists.

Details:
As other reviewers have noted, this book contains only ten songs:

Conjunction Junction
Dollars And Sense
Electricity, Electricity
The Great American Melting Pot
I'm Just A Bill
Interplanet Janet
Lolly, Lolly, Lolly (Get Your Adverbs Here)
My Hero, Zero
No More Kings
Three Is A Magic Number

I understand why the first review was so poor - why songbook publishers don't include the song listing I'll never know - and if you're buying the book sight unseen, it's a huge letdown. But for those who are okay with the book's contents (or lack thereof), let's talk about the book itself.

This book is for:

- Voice - includes all words and separate vocal line
- Piano - includes piano accompaniment with incorporated vocal line.
- Guitar - includes chord notation as well as tablature. Note - I'm not a guitarist, so I don't know how tab is oriented, but I was under the impression that the strings are usually oriented horizontally - in this songbook, the strings are vertical.

Piano-wise, I'd rate this at an intermediate skill level. The arrangements aren't very complicated - the right hand does all the work and the left hand tends to follow a simple bass line - but an early-to-mid intermediate player is going to have some work to do. The arrangements occasionally travel way off the staff lines. I'd say that the timing could be pretty difficult - it's very bluesy/swingy, lots of triplets - but if you're familiar with the songs to start with, you already know the timing. Smaller hands may have some trouble in a couple of places - I found a few places where chords and/or fingering were a stretch for my octave+2 reach - but that can be worked around.

It's a shame that they don't seem to have released sheet music for any of the other songs - I'd love to have "Unpack Your Adjectives", "Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla", and "Interjections", not to mention the Preamble to the Constitution - but what this book does, it does pretty well. Recommended.

It has all the songs you would expect, but the style of the songs written doesn't translate well into piano music.
They did do a good job however in making this song book.

-dave

It is good. The product was undamaged and it has some great songs in it.

I'm rather disappointed as only the top 10 songs have been included. Is there anywhere we can gain access to the other songs?

This book is not what I expected. It is designed for musicians, of which I am not. I expected a book filled with every song just like the video series and with only the words to the songs. A lot of my favorite songs were not included. Only 10 songs with sheet music is included.