What does this mean?Pros & Cons
Pros
Carl humphries' book is (to use the critic's ancient term) a triumph! The book has a very nice hardcover with an internal spiral binding, so pages stay open when playing. The binding (at least in my edition) is spiral - a very smart move, as it sits n... Read More
It is amazingly dense with information, yet never boring or excessive. The only thing missing is an index, which would make it much quicker to locate the desired information.
Humphries shows how recent styles are related to their influences, including classical composers like debussy and schoenberg, without making the styles seem like lesser entities of their legit ancestors. American-style is included as well.
Cons
This book is not for a beginner. You need to be a musician on something else at the very least. The explanations are vague and confusing.
Highlights
Quality
The print quality is great and the cd certainly helps selflearners like me significantly
The quality of the book is superb
Unit 2 starts moving on to real pieces and introduces black keys and broken chords i spent quite a number of weeks working on 2
Having largely given up on learning piano as a child my playing skills were pretty poor
Price
If this book cost moneyit would be worth it
The cd is a great added value since you can hear what the songs are 34supposed34 to sound like before launching off on your own
Packaging/appearance
It is densely packed with a wide spectrum of knowledge and information with a nice selection of practice pieces
Although this book is designed to be a complete keyboard coarse it is so densely packed with information and moves so fast from... Read More
As i look though it i am constantly amazed by how much has been packed into this 290 page bundle
Competitiveness
Combine it with a few videosdvds like the 34van cliburn competition34 yes
As other reviewers have noted the pace is definitely fast compared to the graded lesson books commonly used by piano teachers
Also humphries shows how these recent styles are related to their influences including 34classical34 composers like debussy and... Read More
Overview
- How are reviewers describing this item?
piano, great, good, many and classical. - Our engine has profiled the reviewer patterns and has determined that there is minimal deception involved.
- Our engine has determined that the review content quality is high and informative.
- Our engine has discovered that over 90% high quality reviews are present.
- This product had a total of 221 reviews as of our last analysis date on Apr 16 2024.
Helpful InsightsBETA
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
Not like almost every other book 34play this and dont ask questions34
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
Having largely given up on learning piano as a child my playing skills were pretty poor
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
I was interested in learning how to play but my enjoyment of piano music is largely on contemporary music not classical
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
Mini composer biographies are presented throughtout and an extensive glossary listening guide and suggested repertoire covering many different styles european asian contemporary folk are listedat the back
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
And format couldnt be better it has a very nice hardcover with an internal spiral binding so pages stay open when playing and the book will stand up to some abuse though beautiful as it is you wont abuse it
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
Second this is a difficult book
Posted by a reviewer on Amazon
It does cover the full range of piano players absolute beginner to very advanced but as a result it has to move very quickly
Review Count History
Price History
