The Easy Piano Series: Film – 12 Pieces for Elementary Pianists
This is an eclectic selection of 12 arrangements of popular film themes, ranging from classics such as ‘As Time Goes By’ from Casablanca to more recent numbers such as ‘City of Stars’ from La La Land. It is in a clear, easy-to-read format, and aimed at the elementary or Grade 1 and 2 pianist. There is something for everyone here, adults and teenagers and your average Disney-loving child, including: ‘Hedwig's Theme’ from Harry Potter; ‘Pure Imagination’ from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; and ‘How Far I'll Go’ from Moana. Also, several of them are from films which are part of a series, and so have extra mileage in them: ‘New Moon’ from The Twilight Saga, the Star Wars main theme, ‘Davy Jones’ from Pirates of the Caribbean, and ‘The Ring Goes South’ from The Lord of the Rings.
Grade 1 to 2 is just about right, probably erring more towards the higher end of Grade 1 into Grade 2 level, but they are very useful for post-exam pieces, quick learns for the early intermediate plus pianists, and for those who just love playing current tunes to their friends. One of my exam-stressed pupils used them as a bit of piano therapy and gave them five stars. The arrangements are great – although it's a shame that we don't know who the arrangers are to give them credit – and are enjoyable to play whatever level of pianist you are.
The Easy Piano Series: Shows – 12 Pieces for Elementary pianists
Like the Film arrangements, these are clearly presented and range from classic to more contemporary songs: ‘Summertime’ from Porgy and Bess, (I have to say that this has some not very convincing harmonies in it but it is the only one that does), ‘Where is Love?’ from Oliver, ‘On The Street Where You Live’ from My Fair Lady, and ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ from Oh, Kay! to ‘Breaking Free’ from High School Musical, and ‘Wait For It’ from Hamilton. There is also ‘Memory’, from Cats, ‘Maybe This Time’ from Cabaret, ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease, ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie, ‘You Give a Little Love’ from Bugsy Malone, and ‘Nowadays’ from Chicago. So often pianists hear a wonderful song at a show, and get a version of it only to find out that it is either a clunky, boring chord accompaniment with a separate vocal line, or not very true to the original piano arrangement. These arrangements are great: true to the originals, easy to play (without sounding dumbed down) and enjoyable.
A Dozen A Day Songbook: Book Two – Early Intermediate
There was great excitement among piano teachers recently when we discovered that Leonard Cohen was making his debut appearance on the new ABRSM Piano Syllabus for 2019-2020. There he was on the Grade 3 B-list of pieces sandwiched between Reinecke and Mier. Further investigation revealed that his contribution – an arrangement of ‘Hallelujah’ – came from an A Dozen A Day book. Goodness me, this couldn't be so – aren't ADAD those different coloured books of exercises with the Lowry-like stickmen illustrations? How did Cohen infiltrate them? After this double shock I managed to calm myself down and ordered a copy, and it is amazingly good.
The ‘Hallelujah’ arrangement is very good and pianistic but so are all the other Broadway, film and pop hits it includes. Usually in an anthology such as this there are some that are less good, not so popular, but this is not the case here. There is ‘Moon River’, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’, ‘This Land Is Your Land’ (more appreciated in the USA than the UK), ‘A Whole New World’, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘Once Upon A Dream’, ‘You Raise Me Up’, ‘I Walk The Line’, and ‘In The Mood’. The arranger is Carolyn Miller, a Hal Leonard composer and arranger, who immediately goes on my list of very trusted arrangers. Each piece in the songbook has a subtitle specifying which ADAD group precedes it in Book 2 (the one with the green cover). And your works-warm-ups and technique exercises are all sorted here. A fabulous little book. My congratulations to whoever found it and got it included in the ABRSM syllabus. It just goes to show that you should always check the ‘other pieces’ lists.
