Hi everybody,
The book that really got me interested in piano again, though of course I must have had an underlying interest or else I probably would not have gotten it, is "The Piano Handbook" by Carl Humphries. I give it 4/5 piano stools! Since I'm in a multipersonality mood, let's format this review as responses to rhetorical questions:
Why did you pick this book?
Well I was at Barnes and Noble, and it was basically either this or piano for dummies, and that probably would not have done me any good. This book did not set arbitrary intelligence minimums for their book's audience! Heh. Anyhow, I didn't actually flip through the piano for dummies, it might be excellent, but I don't think it was much cheaper and this book seemed to cover a lot of ground.
Ok, why is it good?
Well, as I just said it covers a lot of ground. It's really a good crash course in the piano. What I did is I started on page one and went through it page by page until unit 10 or so, and then I just started skipping around to get the stuff I wanted.
Oh, wow, how well said! By why is it not so good?
It doesn't really provide an in depth look into anything. Also, it's basically worthless as a discussion on various musical styles, at least other than classical. I feel like you already have to know a lot about that kind of music, maybe from playing another instrument, or maybe just from listening, in order to have any clue what the book is talking about.
That's perhaps a matter of taste. But where this book really falls down is cohesion. It's suppose to be a handbook, which means it should be possible to look up a topic, and learn about that topic. But the book is not really laid out that way, instead you have to kind of remember what unit what you want to know is in, and then if it references stuff from before, you have to kind of remember what unit that stuff is in, etc. There is a table of contents for each unit, but there isn't one for the entire book. Honestly, I think they just didn't understand that this was suppose to used in some ways like a reference book, and that it therefore requires certain things, such as a table of contents you can use without flipping pages to all the unit table of content pages.
I see, how clearly stated. What about the CD?
Actually, I never used the CD. To be honest, I didn't feel like I needed it. And no, I don't feel like the CD addresses the main issues above, the problem is that it attempts to cover an entire musical genre, and by musical genre I mean like "Rock and Roll", using only a couple of examples, each approximately 2 or three measures long. Which is fine in a way--it's a handbook, it could be helpful if you see a listing on craigslist for a musical style you have no idea how to play, you can learn enough to fudge it, buy some clothes indicative of that style of music, and then say you are heavily influenced by the type of music you actually like to play. But, it's not in depth study material in any case.
Wow, that was defensive. Well defend this, you suck! Anyhow, who should read it?
This is a really good book for someone who has played a rather large amount of piano without any formal training whatsoever, since it does touch on a bunch of techniques and exercises that you have probably been missing out on. Also, it is good to rekindle an interest in piano, since it's broad survey nature is likely to touch on something that you might find interesting, and then you can look into playing that using materials that cover that more in depth. And if you're interested in classical or jazz, well you are boring and artsy, respectively. And more apropos, you will definitely find the purchase price worth of instructional material in this book, provided you are not a beginner.
As to whether a beginner could use it successfully, I don't know. The terseness of the coverage begins on page one, and if you don't already understand how to read music notes, and how to follow rhythms, then this book could be a bit overwhelming. I am not a music teacher, but I want to say this material is more for someone who already knows it but needs a refresher that they might be able to use as a reference than as first time instruction material. Or who already knows most of it, but has a gap or two. If you know how to play but don't know how to read music, for instance, this would probably be adequate. It's just that learning to play the piano is hard to learn from scratch, and this material is probably not good enough for you. Feel free to try it, it won't be a total waste of money because you might use it later, but then again if it doesn't work don't give up, try something specifically written to help a beginner start making music, or else hire an instructor.
So that's 4/5 piano stools?
Yep.
Anyhow, have a good one.
Malcolm
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