Customer Reviews

Vanessa Carlton - Harmonium

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

 

 

When I purchased this music book, I had high hopes that the arrangement would be the one that Vanessa would use if she was perfoming. Just flipping through the book, you can automatically tell that she had NO involvement at all in arranging these songs. They all suck.

I love Vanessa, she's a wonderfull musician with a talent that the rest lack. But this book isn't the best. If you're looking for a good arrangement, look elsewhere.

None of the songs in this book are written in the way that Vanessa plays it on the CD. All of it is just the melody of the song and some chords added to it. Some of the lyrics don't even match up to what she really sings (ex. in "Who's to Say," the book said 'who's to say that this is not our love' when on the cd it's 'who's to say this is not enough')

I was extremely disappointed, with this book, especially since Vanessa's first book (Be Not Nobody) was true to the CD. I don't know what happend to this one. If you would like to buy the actual version of the songs that Vanessa plays, get it somewhere else.

I think this book is great! Yes, I know that they are not true to the album, but it isn't to hard to arrange the music yourself to what Vanessa plays. As long as you have the right key signature and chord progressions(which Harmonium has!!!) you can play it by ear. Try improvising, that's what I do and you can come up with great sounding music from this book. Regards to the vocal in the piano part: I personally think that some songs need it!!! Songs like San Francisco and white houses are simply to repetative. it gets easy to get bored.
Anyway, this book is awesome with great music. My personal favorites to play are Half a week before the winter(The piano solo bridge is exactely what vanessa plays!!!) and papa. Private radio is catchy and annie is a gem.
I highly recommend this book.

This book has great songs in it. The Harmonium book has many more fun songs to play than does her first book Be Not Nobody. The songs in this book are in quite easy keys to play in. The keys of the songs are:
1.Afterglow = C Major
2.Annie = A Major
3.C'est La Vie = D Major
4.Half a Week Before the Winter = E Major
5.Papa = E flat Minor
6.Private Radio = B flat Major
7.San Francisco = C Major
8.She Floats = G Major
9.White Houses = C Major
10.Who's To Say = E Major
The songs in this book are not too difficult. The most Difficult songs are Papa, Half a Week Before the Winter, and Annie. Every song is fun to play and a joy to listen to. I definately reccommend this book!

I really like this book. It is better than what I expected it to be!