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Piano Books

This is a compilation of most of the piano books I've used over the last eight years.

Pace Books

This is the piano learning approach that my teacher, Mrs. Weber, used. There are four books: Creative Music, Finger Builders, Music for Piano, and Theory Papers. Creative Music focused on learning how to compose your own music. The book would give you a line of music, a "question", and you would respond with your own line of music, an "answer". In Finger Builders, you learned how to do different exercises to warm up your fingers. Music for Piano dealt with different musical techniques and styles of writing. It was designed to expose you to the basics of piano, so you can carry those skills into the more difficult pieces. Finally, Theory Papers focused on how to write the music. It taught you how to create the musical staff, chords, and the order of sharps and flats.

Famous & Fun Classics

The Famous & Fun Classics books were easy arrangements of popular classical pieces. I used these along with the Pace Books. They were a great gateway into the more difficult pieces.

Piano Literature

After I finished with the Famous & Fun Classics books, I moved on to the Piano Literature books. Each book has compilations of music from the different musical periods. They differ from the Famous & Fun Classics in that they are the original compositions by the composer. They were not made easier. I am still working through the 4th book of this series.

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The Brown Scale Book

After I finished the Pace Books, I moved on to The Brown Scale Book. This book has scales, arpeggios, and other exercises for every major and minor key. It is very useful because I run through scales before I begin practicing. It helps to warm up my fingers.

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Jazz, Rags, & Blues

While I only ever used the 3rd book of the Jazz, Rags, & Blues series, I did enjoy it. It includes a lot of fun pieces to play. I particularly liked the piece called "Railroad Street Blues". It was a nice break from all the classical piano music I was learning.

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Christmas Delights

I used the 1st and 2nd books of the Christmas Delights series. (I misplaced the 1st one though.) These were much like the Famous & Fun Classics books because they had very easy arrangements of popular Christmas carols.

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Christmas Hits

This was one of the more recent Christmas carol books I used. The arrangements in this book are more difficult than the Christmas Delights, but they are not terribly complicated. I still love playing all of the songs in this book.

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Elson's Pocket Music Dictionary

While this is not a book of sheet music, it is still very useful. It gives background information on music elements, terms, and composers. You can always look things up online, but it is nice to have most of the information in one place.

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