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Rating: 
Summary: Has a lot of standards, but arrangements are pretty simple
Review: I bought this because I wanted a book that had a lot of the standards. It does. I like to play and sing with my kids (toddlers) and with extended family on different occaisions. I like that it has different holiday songs, ("When Irish Eyes are Smilin'") some patriotic stuff ("America") and plain old songs ("By the light of the Silvery Moon." ) I do wish that the arrangements were a little more difficult...I am not really a great player (one year of lessons in Junior High) but I found myself putting in extra chords and endings. But I am not sophisticated enough to really know what I am doing here, so I have to make it up. Some of the the Gershwin stuff was better, but still cut down. I would call it just beyond beginner. It reminds me of the kind of stuff you hear kids play at piano lessons (year 2). Still, even I am confortable with adding a little here and there, so you can too. OR if you just want to open the page and play a whole new song with few or no mistakes, a novice will like it. Plus it has many songs you would like in an anthology and a nice spiral-like binding--hence the 4 stars above. Overall, a nice book.
Rating:
Summary: Has a lot of standards, but arrangements are pretty simple
Review: I bought this because I wanted a book that had a lot of the standards. It does. I like to play and sing with my kids (toddlers) and with extended family on different occaisions. I like that it has different holiday songs, ("When Irish Eyes are Smilin'") some patriotic stuff ("America") and plain old songs ("By the light of the Silvery Moon." ) I do wish that the arrangements were a little more difficult...I am not really a great player (one year of lessons in Junior High) but I found myself putting in extra chords and endings. But I am not sophisticated enough to really know what I am doing here, so I have to make it up. Some of the the Gershwin stuff was better, but still cut down. I would call it just beyond beginner. It reminds me of the kind of stuff you hear kids play at piano lessons (year 2). Still, even I am confortable with adding a little here and there, so you can too. OR if you just want to open the page and play a whole new song with few or no mistakes, a novice will like it. Plus it has many songs you would like in an anthology and a nice spiral-like binding--hence the 4 stars above. Overall, a nice book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Overview of Condensed Songs
Review: I quit piano lessons in the eighth grade (the familiar story of the indimidating piano teacher) but I kept playing on my own all through high school and this is the book I played over and over. It has a fantastic overview of many American musical genres of the first half of the 20th century, occasionally dipping slightly back to the late 19th.The arrangements are fairly easy to play for the intermediate piano player yet they sound deceptively impressive. Guitar chords are also present. The only reason I didn't give it a five-star rating is that, in keeping with the Reader's Digest tradition, this book is condensed; only the choruses of the songs are present. Having grown up with this book, I had no idea that most of these songs had verses not included here. So if you need the entire song, this book won't help you. But if you want a great, playable overview of American songs from the 20th century, then this book is a good choice.
Rating:
Summary: Great Overview of Condensed Songs
Review: I quit piano lessons in the eighth grade (the familiar story of the indimidating piano teacher) but I kept playing on my own all through high school and this is the book I played over and over. It has a fantastic overview of many American musical genres of the first half of the 20th century, occasionally dipping slightly back to the late 19th. The arrangements are fairly easy to play for the intermediate piano player yet they sound deceptively impressive. Guitar chords are also present. The only reason I didn't give it a five-star rating is that, in keeping with the Reader's Digest tradition, this book is condensed; only the choruses of the songs are present. Having grown up with this book, I had no idea that most of these songs had verses not included here. So if you need the entire song, this book won't help you. But if you want a great, playable overview of American songs from the 20th century, then this book is a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Great chording
Review: This is a great songbook for the indtermediate player. The arrangements are full of wonderful rich harmony chording that is not hard to follow. I love a great deminished 7th chord and this book has it. I own five of the Readers Digest song books and whish I had more. In particular I would suggest "The Treasury of Great Showtunes" from this same series.
Rating:
Summary: Great chording
Review: This is a great songbook for the indtermediate player. The arrangements are full of wonderful rich harmony chording that is not hard to follow. I love a great deminished 7th chord and this book has it. I own five of the Readers Digest song books and whish I had more. In particular I would suggest "The Treasury of Great Showtunes" from this same series.
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