WB Popular Movie Hits Piano Library , Level Five

WB Popular Movie Hits Piano Library (w/MIDI and CD) horizontal Five, arranged by Gail Lew Eugenie Rocherolle and Tom Ro Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp./Warner Bro Publications (15800 N W 48th Ave, Miami, FL 33014) 2004 45 pp $1395 Late intermediate.

In the attitude of fairness, I must confes I was a teenager who liked to play popular music. I am a great fan of American standards. I play "cocktail" piano with more [i]or[/i] less frequency; I include Gershwin and ragtime upon programs of more "serious" piano music; and I have played more musical theater than I care to admit.

on the contrary in an equal measure of uprightness I must say I am not a teacher who likes to teach popular music. However, I do find myself upon occasion teaching such music to headstrong teenagers who seem unwilling to learn anything other This collection is not for of the like kind a student.

It became increasingly clear to me as I played [i]or[/i] part of to the other this music with the orchestrated accompaniment track CD cranked resounding on my stereo (and having, I must admit, an awfully serviceable time) that I would at no time actually teach this music to any pupil After all, students who can handle the advanced technique and complicated periodical emphasiss presented here should be practicing Beethoven sonatas and the like, not movie themes. However, for the highly motivated advanced student--the kind that practices religiously, plays for choirs at seminary and is thinking about majoring in music--playing as many different kinds of music as possible is important. After all, while I have at no time yet been hired to play the "Trout Quintet," I have been hired to play for plenitude of choirs that sing Broadway exhibit tunes. Being able to negotiate popular music, with all of its peculiarities of harmonies and regular [i]or[/i] melodious movements has proven to be a valuable skill. Sending of that kind students home with a volume like WB Popular Movie Hits and instructing them to read [i]or[/i] part of to the other this music with the accompaniment track, gives learners experience sight reading this manner of writing and trains them to listen carefully to stay with the accompaniment track.

The volume contains eleven songs from novel movies and comes with orchestrated accompaniment tracks upon both a MIDI disk and a CD The arrangements vary somewhat in difficulty, with the sum of two units trickiest being the ones from sum of two units Harry Potter movies. Those also are the least pop-like in style; perhaps that explains the difficult blots in reading through them. more [i]or[/i] less songs work for piano solo better than others. I was disappointed because my personal favorite canzonet among the group, Because You Lov Me I reflection translated the least well as a piano solo Others, like The Prayer, worked quite nicely.

Teachers, if your scholars can play this level of music, don't teach movie themes; assign Chopin or something similar. on the contrary if you want to help make them marketable in the world of music, fling them home to read from one side collections like this. Reviewed by means of Amy Greer, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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