The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering Piano

Rating:
Summary: A must have reference
Review: Although this book is designed to be a complete keyboard coarse, it is so densely packed with information and moves so fast from one subject to the next, that it would not make a good self-study guide for someone who knows absolutely nothing about playing the piano. The information is all there, but in a no nonsense fashion, not in a more user-friendly, take the time to really make sure anyone can grasp the concepts that are commonly found in beginner courses with much more modest goals. That said, as a comprehensive reference to playing styles, techniques and methology it is unsurpassed. Anyone with a basic grasp of piano playing, will find it most useful. Are you trying to play some Bach or Mozart but can't remember or never knew how to play a trill or mordant? This book will not only show you all of the various ornaments and explain not only how to play them, but offer many examples of what is in stylistic keeping for a given time period for a piece of that tempo. If that is not cool enough, it also explains the reasons for why it was used and relates it to later developments not in that style of music but in current styles of music, so you have a basis of information to make your artistic choices. Want to know how romantic music such as Debusey is traditional pedaled; this book will show you and explain what you are trying to acomplish soundwise. Maybe you studied classical music for year and now want to play a bit of bluegrass or jazz, this book will teach you about that too. Or maybe you want to just pick up some pop sheet music and be able to improvise a bit of additional accompanent, because what is provided sounds so empty. The answers are in this book too.

The book is divided up in too many broad chapters that explore a cluster of concepts exploring both musical theorie and practical techniques. Each section has elaborate exercise and several complete pieces of music, all of which can be heard on the accompanying cd. History notes and biographis on relevent composers round out the chapter. In fact there is so much, sidebar information, that you can learn a lot by just flipping around and reading those. There is also a large reference section in the back containing both suggestive listening and music to play and a comprehensive musical dictionarie. The only thing missing is an index, which would make it much quicker to locate the desired information. The only other thing I didn't care for was the fold out table of contents at the beginning of the book that are subject to damage when you fold them back in. They really should have been printed on the inside of the cover.

Unless you have a degree in music, it is hard to imagine that anyone could not find something to learn from this amazing book. As I look though it, I am constantly amazed by how much has been packed into this 290 page bundle. The book has a sturdy hard cover and opens to spiral bound pages that make the book a pleasure to prop up on the piano. All in all this book is well worth the price.

As a side note, Americans should be aware that the author uses the British names for notes values and time signature (i.e. semibreve rather then whole notes and crotchets instead of quarter notes, duple time for double time). They explain the two sets of names in a chart near the beginning and then ever after use the British terms. As someone use to the American/Northern Eurpean names, I find a bit confusing, but am getting used to it.

Rating:
Summary: May be hard for beginners
Review: I agree with a reviewer that this book may not be suitable for absolute beginners but rather for people who has experience before and did not play for sometime. But regardless it is a great piano book.

Rating:
Summary: A real treasure!
Review: I found this book by browsing Amazon.com and bought it based on other people's recommendations. I just received my copy and am totally thrilled with it! It is a visually stunning book and beautifully written. I am so happy to have found this book; it is very likely I would never have heard of it otherwise. Many of the pieces are beyond my playing level at this point, but it is a wonderful inspiration to me and gives me a great incentive to push forward with my studies. The accompanying CD is awesome; the pieces are played by the author and provide needed listening experience -- a very important feature missing in other books of this type.

Rating:
Summary: Problems
Review: I found this book to be a huge basket filled with "piano" that was dumped on my head seemingly all at once.

It feeds the ego in that it is very "classy" in appearance. Beware of the ego.

Problems:

It does not address the common 61 keyboard. You will find yourself perplexed staring at TWO possible middle C keys. You will end up discouraged and on the net searching out a free on-line instruction course to share with you which "C" it is. (It is the one on the left.)

It dumps vastly complex material, way over your head and need, right at the start, if are the raw newbie, who didn't know there was such a thing as a "middle C." You don't need to know intricate Italian or Latin wording for months ahead of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Which is also missing), and because it is missing you're in for a nasty jolt learning to read the music by sight especially the bass. It is the British put it this way versus the Americans who express that way...all this for a person who is learning there is such a thing as a "middle C?"

It is pretentious.

So which shall it be? Do you want to head into jazz or great classical music? Never mind that you cannot play Home on the Range. And you're going to be hard pressed to play Jingle Bells.


I throw books that fail me in the trash can. This one was thrown away. I don't regret having purchased it. That seems odd in a way. It isn't. We all have to start somewhere. To buy this book is to sit in wreckage. It's fragments of "paino" raining down all around oneself. Some of the fragments were worthy. How do you even go forth and know what program to buy if you can't "discover" yourself and those fragments a little bit?

You'll discover that many "Play the piano" books have problems all of which are different.

I went through Jan Durrants course (She's an independent out on the web) along with scraps from this book to grasp "there is such a thing as a B key.) They went into the trash can together when I was done. The point of the trash can for me was, "Gee, I can see that I need many rounds of Twinkle Twinkle and Row Row Your Boat to sight read the notes, because timing is hopeless if I don't." It was onward and forward to a new and different course that is more concentrated on Twinkle Twinkle.

If you are an adult who was forced to take piano lessons as a kid for YEARS, you bucked it all, and now twenty years later are taking a new look at it-this book is for you. You won't find it "a basket of piano dumped on my head." You'll know what to do with all these fragments raining down around you.

If you're a newbie too, well, for whatever reason we're not obtaining professional and valid lessons, but are going the route of the independent. This is just on par. In with one course and out with another. A miracle course isn't out there that I have found. Be sure you find Gilbert DeBenedetti out on the web for those free music sheets of Twinkle Twinkle. You're going to need those especially for that bass. (He also has a course which I ordered but it hasn't arrived yet.) Be sure also to obtain
The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear by Germaine Griggs out on the web. (You might find the free CD part useless on an XP.) That is a music theory workbook which is not quite "learning how to play the piano." It fights the dumb down. He is one of those "genius kids" we sometimes hear about on the news. He is about 20 right now. The true genius (factually) knows how to speak to the people. You'll learn. No problems. You're own version of Twinkle by ear is ahead of you. If you're going to do this-do it right. Music theory has to sit right next to your practice sheets of Twinkle.

I am at the stage in less than a month (And this book was my first) of "I know a lot from my own perspective. Knowing numerous things does not make for adequate swiftness in reading music. I am officially way past "There is such a thing as a middle C," and this weird looking thing means two beats." I can pick out a few of the songs from the SSPX church hymn book, and the Lingua Angelica song book. Scrap timing. My bass side in sight reading is deplorable beyond description. On to
DeBenedetti to see if this imbalance, (representing serious cracks), can be fixed. The fragments raining down all at once created a Frankenstein piano player. I didn't sign myself up as an independent to be a musical monster. This was not my goal. This is how it is turning out for me.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Excellent
Review: I played piano for a year before, and have been thinking about picking it up again. After doing a good deal of research both online and in local book stores, I bought 3 books online. It didn't take me long to realize that this one is way better than the other two! It is densely packed with a wide spectrum of knowledge and information, with a nice selection of practice pieces. The print quality is great, and the CD certainly helps self-learners like me significantly. I almost want to return the other two books since this one is all I need for now, and the months to come. Worth every penny, and more importantly, worth your time!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book for Piano Self-Learning
Review: I started learning piano recently and have been extremely satisfied with this book as my primary guide. The author has included lots of exercises that graudally build up your piano playing skills. The book starts with the primaries and takes a willing reader all the way to fairly mature level classical, rock and jazz piano. The piano music reeprtoire guide and included CD (with recordings of exercises in the book) are also very useful. At about the cost of one private piano lesson, there is really nothing to lose here.

Rating:
Summary: This is the one to get.
Review: Thank you, Carl Humphries, for this book. I have used similar techniques in teaching my students over the last 20 years. I have been trying to write this book for about 3 years, but find myself too damn busy teaching lessons and performing. This book includes everything, from the basics to the most advanced. AND, it doesn't ignore the 20th century. What I mean is that so much great music was made in jazz, rock and latin music in the past 100 years and I find that the local "Ivory Tower" (the BYU piano department) tends to either ignore it or pooh-pooh it.

Also, Humphries shows how these 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. Now I can start giving my students this book, instead of continuing to promise them that I'll get my book done--and then not delivering for God knows how many years.

My critiques of this book are that I wish there had been more emphasis on ear training, application of jazz voicings and structures and improvisation. There is a CD included, which I love, of all the written material in the text. But while Mr. Humphries does write that ear training is vital, there is little in the text to work with. I have my own approach to this, so it's okay, but I'd love to see it in his book because not only was it the original way to communicate music, it is also the more effective. Don't get me wrong; I am into the whole sight reading thing, but it is so limited in conveying emotion and "feel" that you can get from learning music by ear.

Also, he has a few exercises dealing with jazz voicing, but only from Bill Evans (who happens to be a brilliant example), but I find that quite limiting--especially when the book refers to so many other Early Jazz, Swing, Bop, Post Bop, West Coast and Modern Jazz players. Perhaps a rounding out of these ideas that Humphries brings up would make the book more complete--and that would go for the discussion of Latin and Rock as well.

While I appreciate the discussion of the various scales used in improvisation, I was disappointed to find little or no discussion on improvisation itself, which might include sections on motifs, motif development, counterpoint improvisation, 'comping, and include some transcriptions of great improvisors such as a few lines from Jarrett's Koln Concert.

All in all though, Humphries' book is (to use the critic's ancient term) a TRIUMPH! Bravo; I look forward to a second edition with more cool stuff.

David Cannon

Rating:
Summary: Finally, a book that includes EVERYTHING piano
Review: Thank you, Carl Humphries, for this book. I have used similar techniques in teaching my students over the last 20 years. I have been trying to write this book for about 3 years, but find myself too damn busy teaching lessons and performing. This book includes everything, from the basics to the most advanced. AND, it doesn't ignore the 20th century. What I mean is that so much great music was made in jazz, rock and latin music in the past 100 years and I find that the local "Ivory Tower" (the BYU piano department) tends to either ignore it or pooh-pooh it.

Also, Humphries shows how these 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. Now I can start giving my students this book, instead of continuing to promise them that I'll get my book done--and then not delivering for God knows how many years.

My critiques of this book are that I wish there had been more emphasis on ear training, application of jazz voicings and structures and improvisation. There is a CD included, which I love, of all the written material in the text. But while Mr. Humphries does write that ear training is vital, there is little in the text to work with. I have my own approach to this, so it's okay, but I'd love to see it in his book because not only was it the original way to communicate music, it is also the more effective. Don't get me wrong; I am into the whole sight reading thing, but it is so limited in conveying emotion and "feel" that you can get from learning music by ear.

Also, he has a few exercises dealing with jazz voicing, but only from Bill Evans (who happens to be a brilliant example), but I find that quite limiting--especially when the book refers to so many other Early Jazz, Swing, Bop, Post Bop, West Coast and Modern Jazz players. Perhaps a rounding out of these ideas that Humphries brings up would make the book more complete--and that would go for the discussion of Latin and Rock as well.

While I appreciate the discussion of the various scales used in improvisation, I was disappointed to find little or no discussion on improvisation itself, which might include sections on motifs, motif development, counterpoint improvisation, 'comping, and include some transcriptions of great improvisors such as a few lines from Jarrett's Koln Concert.

All in all though, Humphries' book is (to use the critic's ancient term) a TRIUMPH! Bravo; I look forward to a second edition with more cool stuff.

David Cannon

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended to piano players of all skill levels
Review: The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide For Mastering Piano by pianist, composers, and music journalist Carl Humphries is a straightforward, "user friendly" tutorial for mastering the art of piano playing. An erudite text (illustrated with both black-and-white and color photographs) deftly detail various styles of play ranging from romantic, to classical, to jazz, rock, blues, and more, as well as technical matters such as hand positions, pedaling, tonal balance, chord progressions, etc. The Piano Handbook is enhanced with an accompanying music CD which has tracks relating to 69 different exercises. Highly recommended to piano players of all skill and experience levels seeking to improve, The Piano Handbook is designed in a spiral bound format which will conveniently lay open flat while practicing music.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended to piano players of all skill levels
Review: The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide For Mastering Piano by pianist, composers, and music journalist Carl Humphries is a straightforward, "user friendly" tutorial for mastering the art of piano playing. An erudite text (illustrated with both black-and-white and color photographs) deftly detail various styles of play ranging from romantic, to classical, to jazz, rock, blues, and more, as well as technical matters such as hand positions, pedaling, tonal balance, chord progressions, etc. The Piano Handbook is enhanced with an accompanying music CD which has tracks relating to 69 different exercises. Highly recommended to piano players of all skill and experience levels seeking to improve, The Piano Handbook is designed in a spiral bound format which will conveniently lay open flat while practicing music.