Essential Keyboard Repertoire, Vol 1: 100 Early Intermediate Selections in Their Original Form - Baroque to Modern, Book & CD (Alfred Masterwork Edition: Essential Keyboard Repertoire) (Paperback) - Common

Love this collection. I usually use it for students when they reach Level 2 if they are strong readers as an introduction to early classical literature. The list of pieces is great and the plastic binder helps the book lay flat on the piano rack. Students love it as a supplementary book.

Hit that button!I received my copy of Essential Keyboard Repertoire Volume I last week and have practiced every night. My wife says she feels like she’s in a Jane Austin movie whenever I play songs out of this book, so not only will you become more proficient at the piano, it could very well change your love life forever.This book is perfect for someone who dropped out after their second year of piano lessons when they realized that A) No rock band wants a keyboard player and B) It doesn’t hold the attraction that Richard Marx led you to believe it did. You’re not musically illiterate, but a struggling reader in the red robin circle of musicians. Your skills eclipse “Hot Cross Buns” and “Three Blind Mice”- (wait a minute – are those the exact same melodies?!?!) and you’re ready for the challenge of becoming a pianist; not just a keyboard player.I suggest you start with page 61, Minuet by WA Mozart (not to be confused with page 23, Minuet by L Mozart – Wolfgang’s father). Its lilting melody made of broken chords shifting between major and minor will be manageable to play, yet make you feel like there is hope for you, yet. You will exude confidence and maybe even get a little cocky and start to study the historical significance of the piece on the internet. That is the moment you will realize Mozart was 6 years old when he wrote the song you are so proud of playing.The good news is there are 99 other songs in this compilation, arranged in a sensible sequence to help you progress to the point where you might be able to play something Mozart wrote when he was 10 or 12!Happy Playing:)

This is great! Another review complained about Gurlitt & Kabalevsky, but these are essential pieces/composers for early intermediate piano, and interesting too! The print is just right, not too small. I've taken a photo of the table of contents for your convenience.

I purchased this book because I could see on Amazon that it started out with lovely and easy to play Baroque classics, which is appropriate, as my wife is learning to touch the Harpsichord. And it was cheap. For some reason the vendor sold me two copies, a bad omen. The initial pieces, as the order is chronological, are what I expected. But, after a little Schumann, something strange happens. For reasons I cannot fully fathom, other than an occasional Tchaikowsky and Bela Bartok, we are obstinately treated to some very bad music by very obscure figures, who might as well remain unknown, I might add. How about 8 turgid pieces by Cornelius Gurlitt (1820-1901)? Or 10 dull pieces by Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)? Almost half the pieces in this collection are thus neither "Essential", nor in anybody's "Repertoire". Almost all the composers after Schumann are also, strangely enough, Russian. Including Samuel Maykapar, who tried to play Beethoven for Lenin, yet survived in Leningrad until 1938, and Kabalevsky, head of the Union of Soviet Composers, twice winner of the Stalin Prize.There is a lot to be said for discovering less known composers. During the Baroque it seems there was an abundance of culture and musical know-how, so that even the least exceptional king, princess or merchant's daughter was able to turn out a decent Allemande, or a charming Minuet. Stern Leopold Mozart, like J.S. Bach, filled little notebooks full of pedagogical musikstoffe for his offspring, and these of course show up in the volume at hand, along with other relatively unknown, yet perfectly musical, specimens of germanic tonal engineering of the period.But after 1850, we all know something went terribly wrong, and it went wrong in many different directions. The evidence is before us in this collection. Even the unearthing of P.D.Q. Bach could not lay the seal of doom on the classical period. But fishing in the brackish undertow of the modern era is another story. It brings up mostly glaucous eyeless monsters and albino progenitors of the scaly dodecaphonus horribilis, like Socialist Realist Kabalevsky, whose Little Fable, his Op 27 No 2, is representative: both hands play exactly the same line, a sort of neomelody that goes nowhere. Counterpoint with a Socialist Realist twist. THIS is Essential Repertoire for special occasions, like when your in-laws come to visit.I suspect that some other issues may be involved, such as the sheer impossibility, for students of the "Early Intermediate" stage, to play anything written for the piano after Liszt had set the bar at the Olympic gymnast level, and after even more adventurous spirits started exploring the "prepared piano" with the aid of jackhammers, crucified hamsters and dental drills. Residual Rights may be another issue, as some of the better music of the late 19th century, and early 20th, is still subject to licensing in some countries. Maybe all this is why Alfred Publishing put before Ms. Olson the unenviable task of finding (or making up) lesser-known easy-to-play early 20th century music with which to pad their 100 piece volume. Things are apparently no better in their other collections, if you look. Maybe I'm just unwilling to consider the simple explanation: Ms. Olson's very bizarre taste. Be that as it may, this material offers one tempting application. The second half of this spiral-bound book can be removed, beginning at Cornelius Gurlitt (he who, according to Wikipedia "wanted music to educate people, not to entertain people") without in the least damaging the first (and useful) part, and these last 40+ pages can then be buried in a time capsule or placed aboard Voyager 22, to strike fear and avoidance reflex in the hearts of creatures far removed. Still, there may be better ways to spend your money.

I love this book! It has such a great selection of repertoire from the Baroque era of music all the way to the 1900s with composers such as Shostakovich and Kabalevsky. It has a nice range of pieces for late beginners and early intermediate students. I like how they are written in their original form and are original pieces that are not simplified versions of famous pieces. It's important to note that there is a greater emphasis on the early eras of music which is why I think it's a great book for someone interested in music mostly from the Baroque and Classical eras of music.

My piano teacher recommended that I purchase this book and I have started working my way through the pieces. The level is early intermediate and beyond.I like the book very much for a number of reasons. First, the pieces are in their original form and help is provided on how to play the ornaments. Second, the printing is quite large and easy to read.Third, a CD is available and I like to listen first as I begin to read. I purchased the CD separately and it is very high quality as well, with Kim Reilly playing all the pieces in a very professional manner.Fourth, I am trying to sight read some of the easier pieces and this book will certainly help me develop that skill.Fifth, the book is spiral bound and opens (and stays) perfectly on the music desk.Finally, this is completely subjective but I enjoy all the pieces so far.All in all, a great selection and the perfect supplement to any of the classical piano methods you may be using.

Muy cómodo de usar. Las piezas son buenas y la impresión clara. Buena colección.

Il libro è arrivato anche in anticipo sui tempi stabiliti, in ottime condizioni e con cd perfettamente funzionante. Sono compresi 100 brani di diversa difficoltà ma sempre adeguati alle difficoltà di una prima fase di un livello intermedio. Non tutti i brani sono di pianisti conosciuti( ma questo penso sia dovuto al fatto che presentando i brani nella loro forma originale sarebbe stato impossibile inserire un brano di Chopin nella prima fase del livello intermedio in quanto la grammatica musicale è troppo complessa per tale livello) ma sono tutti orecchiabili e non troppo brevi, quasi tutti di due pagine di spartito ed il supporto del cd è fondamentale soprattutto nello studio individuale. Non adatto ad un principiante assoluto ma consigliatissimo a coloro che vogliano suonare dei pezzi ed allo stesso tempo lavorare sulla tecnica pianistica. Pienamente soddisfatta!

I like the sheer number of pieces in this volume of piano or keyboard music. The usual early to intermediate 'suspects' are there, and there are items less common. However there didn't seem to me much variety. But it can provide excellent and challenging sight reading practice as well as being a plentiful supply of music for a voracious pianist. The accompanying CD is well recorded and worth having for for its own sake, but particularly helpful for the intrepid learner, especially if self teaching. A. T. Synge Perrin

Very good repertoire for the beginner pianist. Some easy pieces for the first and second year student.