The Library of Easy Piano Classics

My favorite music book ever! The contents are huge, filled with all your classical favorites, from "The Barber of Seville" to "The theme from William Tell", to both "Largos" by Handel and Dvorak, to the famous Beethoven pieces, such as "Moonlight Sonata" and "Fur Elise," and much much more! This is really a fantastic piano book. For beginner players: This book, while called "easy" is not your average right-hand only piano book, with simple notes and the non-existence of ledger lines. While a few of the songs in this piano book are easier, some of the songs are more complicated. For a person just beginning piano, this book will probably be harder for you to play. For intermediate players: This book provides a wide scale of intermediate to more difficult songs. I consider myself an intermediate pianist, and I find these songs quite playable. I don't like to have to sit down and puzzle out what notes are where on the keyboard, or practice difficult rhythms. I want to sit down, and just play, and I can do that with this book. That being said, the songs are not overly easy, on the contrary, some are quite difficult, and provide a enjoyable challenge. For advanced piano players: Don't be scared away by the word "easy". Yes, for the person who can play highly complicated songs, the pieces in this piano book may seem quite easy. But they still provide an adequate challenge, as well as much fun and enjoyment. I was delighted to discover this piano book. While you can learn all the pieces from cover to cover, I use the songs in this book purely for enjoyment. They are easy enough for me to sit right down and play, yet hard enough that I am properly challenged. This book provides a large range of classical pieces, from well-known to lesser-known. I highly encourage you to buy this book. The one thing I will say is that this book doesn't have much written-in dynamics, so feel free to add your own. I would also suggest purchasing the NPR's Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music along with this book. That way you can look up composers after you play their piece, or look up unknown musical markings, for the peak learning experience.

About one year ago I purchased both volumes 1 and 2 of Library of Easy Piano Classics - they have been inspirational to me as a returning student of the piano. I studied for 10 years as a young adult, then dropped it for 40 years and decided to return a year ago at age 70. My fingers felt like lead, I could barely read music, and I almost gave up. With the help of my piano teacher, I am re-learning the piano and studying the usual exercises (Hanon, Czerny), but the best part is learning to read music again and practicing these beautiful classical pieces in an "easy", shorter format. These books inspire me to take on the original compositions. I am gaining speed and dexterity practicing the abbreviated easy versions of classical music - and believe me, they are not the usual kindergarten variety of "easy" - they do challenge me but they don't tire me out as I regain my skills. One year after resuming my lessons, I am playing original Chopin and Beethoven pieces, but I also study many pieces from these easy volumes as an adjunct to the more difficult original pieces - just for pure pleasure, enjoyable, and fun. I recommend both these books to beginners and those who are re-learning the piano - you and others will love to hear you play ; these books will motivate you to not give up as you build your skills and eventually take on original works. This set of books is for my piano teacher, at his request, who will use them for students of all ages.

I am trying to teach myself to play piano, and this book is great. After spending time playing songs from kindergarden, it's really nice to sit down and play something that gives you a lot of pleasure and really makes you want to play more.This book has really motivated me to practice more and concentrate harder in the time I do spend at the piano. Also, it's a great bargain - it's a huge book and a LOT of songs for the price. Usually you spend 12-15 dollars on a thin book with just a few songs.

I received this book as a gift and it instantly became my all-time favorite compilation. Although I am an advanced pianist who loves to play the original versions of many of these songs, I still turn to this book again and again for pure listening and playing enjoyment.Like the other reviewers, I appreciate the quality of the selections and the spiral binding. But what I love most about this book is how cleverly the pieces have been simplified. They are easy enough for an advanced student to sight read, yet somehow they retain all the essence of the originals, so they don't sound like the watered-down kiddie versions I remember playing in my "lesson books." They would definitely provide enough challenge for a beginning or intermediate student building a repertoire.I feel the reviewer who stated that the arrangements were "needlessly simplified or altered" completely missed the point of this book. Imagine learning to play the "Moonlight Sonata" or Schubert's "Serenade" in a few weeks or even a single sitting! The pieces are condensed, but when you are playing just for fun, it makes sense to play only the parts that people recognize and admire. And what a great idea to transpose Chopin's "Etude in E" into the key of F so that it is actually possible to enjoy its lyrical beauty without going mad trying to remember all those sharps. Since composers tend to be men with large hands, I've had to chop notes out of their four-fingered chords all my life, so why not have the publishers do it for me? In short, this book does all the right things to make these songs a joy to play.Whether you are a beginning student looking for recital pieces, an intermediate student wanting to learn sight-reading, or an advanced student who just needs a welcome break from months of laboring over the originals, this book has something for everyone. I would recommend it as an addition to any home with a piano.

I've purchased several collections of classics and this one is the best. It contains without a doubt every song you can imagine wanting to learn to play - everything from Fuer Elise to Moonlight Sonata, from the Carman theme to the Danube Waltz. Easy to read notes, and written at a level that even I, with only 1 year of lessons under my belt, can attempt to play some of my favorites. It's spiral-ring bound, so lies flat during playing, a definite advantage. My piano teacher likes it so much that she's asked me to order 2 more for her other students.

This book is one of my favorites for hours of piano playing fun. In fact, both my mother and my sister ordered their own copies of this book after they saw mine.The selections are wonderful and I really like the physical construction as well - nice heavy paper and a spiral binding make it easier to turn pages.The arrangements are simplied versions of well known "classics". As another reviewer said, the word "easy" in the title can be misleading. They are easier than the original compositions, but I think many of them will still challenge the intermediate piano player.Of course, a serious piano student might want to get something closer to the original compositions, but I think these arrangements do a nice job of capturing the spirit of the piece without over-taxing those of us who are just playing for fun.