The Piano Bench of Easy Classical Music download epub

This book is nearly 400 pages. So, not to overstate the obvious, there are a lot of songs, here (see attached images for song list).

Like many "easy" piano books, this is more aimed at intermediate players. As someone who's been playing less than a year, I can attest to the fact that some of the pieces here are just challenging enough to be satisfying, and some would require a long period of study to play. So while some reviewers here who've been playing for many years find the pieces to have been oversimplified, it's probably a good idea to remember...simplification is a feature of the of the book, and not a bug.

The comprehensiveness of the book almost adds to this issue; if you are familiar enough with classical music to buy a 400-page book, you might appreciate more accuracy or complexity. I'm not a huge fan, and even I was somewhat disappointed in one of the pieces (the left hand/rhythm section of "Habanera" leaves something to be desired).

However, as a newer student, this book is more part of my piano studies than something I would just pick up to play a random song from. So I'm generally happy with having bought it- it's probably more than I need. But since I got it used for six bucks, it's hard to argue with the value.

Other gripes:
-The songs are organized by subgenre, which, again, might be nice for people who know their classical music. I would have appreciated some index in the back of the book which allowed songs to be found by composer and title etc.

-The printing is not as sharp as I would like. Not only are the notes somewhat smaller than, say the Hal-Leonard books (not necessarily a problem), but the printed notes are not as sharp, either. They are certainly legible, but I did notice the difference.

The Good:

1) A very wonderful and complete collection of classical songs. Can't tell exactly how many songs, probably 100-150+, nearly 400 pages.

2) Sturdy pages, plastic spiral binding - easy to open, STAYS open, pages can be removed if desired.

3) Nice compositions - songs sound close enough to originals, not so dumbed down that you can no longer recognize them.

The Bad:

1) Most of the pieces are *too* easy - I'm really not very good, and have never had lessons, but could play most everything in here right away - which is great if you just want to play for your family or friends, but if you want to learn, there's probably nothing in here that will challenge you. The alternative to this book, "The Piano Bench of Classical Music" (i.e., not easy classical music) is also a great collection but far far too difficult for anyone with less than years and years of lessons. I wish they made something in between the two... It's great that most of this book is easy, but a few more difficult pieces would have been nice.

2) The index of songs is pretty crummy - Sorted by period (Baroque, Romantic, etc) then by composer ... So if you don't know both, you might be looking for a while...

Overall:

The good far outweighs the bad, and I can't punish the book for being easy when that is what they were going for : ) 5 stars.

I purchased this book for my husband, who is beginning piano lessons at age 44. Since he's an adult player, I thought he would get bored and frustrated with the curriculum he's currently doing - and he is - so I got him the book to mess around with. He's a lover of classical music and I thought this would give him a quick win once in a while.

I would not recommend this book, and I wouldn't purchase it again - in fact, I think I'm going to try to hide it from him.

My main issue is that the arrangements are, in my opinion, very poorly done. They've simplified Bach's "Minuet in G" to not include chords. The left-hand arpeggios in "Fur Elise" have been reduced to fifths - understandable for small hands that may not have the reach, but unnecessary for adults. The treble portion of "Moonlight Sonata" has been split into two hands, so the grounding bass portion is gone - and what's worse, the left and right hands are actually overlapping each other in this arrangement, so it's not really an easy arrangement anyway.

With these arrangements, my husband's putting a bunch of work into learning a bad version of a piece that he's not going to want to learn the real version of when he's ready. The arrangement for "Minuet in G" in particular bothers me - after three months of lessons, he's absolutely capable of playing the original "Minuet in G", but had he learned this book's arrangement first, he wouldn't want to.

In the interests of full disclosure, my husband likes being able to play some tougher pieces now - but the arrangements are kind of tough for me to listen to.

Note: I purchased this book in 2009, and it is no longer spiral-bound.

I have purchased many different classical piano collection books for "easy" piano and this one is BY FAR, the best!
My sincere thanks to whoever made it all happen. I highly recommend it to anyone who is or has students in their late-2nd/3rd year or intermediate level piano skills. Just hope it isn't another Hal Leonard book that the binding will fall apart (probably will, but I'll deal with it!) I am having all my advanced beginners purchasing this book for themselves. Again, my sincere thanks!

I am keeping the book but it did not come with the plastic comb binding as advertised. This means that the book keeps shutting on me. Other than the binding, thus far I find the book a nice and easy way to play some well loved, well known pieces to warm you up to the original classic.

Delivery Time: 1 Week
* The book was in great shape, there were no tears or markings at all.
* It has plastic spiral binding which is great.
* It's not in large notes, just the way I like it.
* The song selection is great. I've just had 5 months of self-study so it's really the right one for me--not too easy nor too difficult.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the purchase, it even exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend this book (for Grade 2 and higher levels).

Excellent compilation of the classics. For us novices.