Several weeks ago, I received a nice fat stack of books in the mail, compliments of Jerald Simon, President of Music Motivation. Before I even had a chance to play through them, several students eyed the cover of Sea Fever and picked it up to find out what was hidden beneath the cool-looking design. 
The music inside is the same kind of attention-getting music with lots of repetitive figures and big, flashy sounds. Each piece is preceded by a brief lesson that introduces key theory concepts and technical skills contained in the piece. The selections are full of 4-note chords, sixteenth note passages, and lots of moving around on the keyboard, so I would classify the arrangements as late-intermediate to advanced.
Each of these other books contain a similar layout and style, and you can hear recordings and view samples of many of the selections on the Music Motivation Blog.
Triumphant – “10 original piano solos”
Hymns of Exaltation
Jazzed About Christmas – “For beginning and early intermediate students”
Playin’ Around and The Jazz Song – “Two Jazz Piano Solos”
Jazzed about Jazz – “For the Intermediate Piano Student”
An Introduction to Scales and Modes, part of the Theory Therapy series, contains scale and chord letterings and fingerings for all the Major and minor scales and each of the modes. A handy reference guide!
Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb, part of the Innovative Improvisation series, is designed to introduce students to various improvisation techniques using a familiar folk tune. The Teacher’s Tips scattered throughout the lessons help even the most improvisationally-challenged teachers feel like they can help a student grow in this area.
Now, for the great news…Mr. Simon has graciously offered to give away a copy of a book of your choice to three Music Matters Blog readers! So, take a look at the links above, pick out your favorite, and leave a comment below in order to be entered in the drawing to win your chosen book. The drawing will be held on Wednesday, March 17 at noon, CST, so be sure to leave your comment before then! I’ll notify the three winners as soon as I hold the drawing, and will announce them here on Thursday.
These sound great! I would love to own Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb…
Awesome! I would love Hymns of Exaltation!
The variations on Mary had a little lamb really stuck out to me. I have a student who would really enjoy it! Thanks for the review. I have been looking at these and wondering if I should give them a try.
Boy they all look so great, although the teacher in me would like Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb I think I’m going to go for Triumphant! Thanks Natalie!
I would love to use Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb with my students!
Think I’d like Sea Fever!
Love,
HEidi
My my … how to choose?!?! I think I’d probably go for Jazzed About Christmas
Several of my students would fight over a copy of Jazzed about Jazz!
Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb would be so interesting to use with my students! Also, the Hymns of Exaltation would be great for myself
I would love to have Variations on Mary Had A Little Lamb. It looks like so much fun, and I like the fact that it teaches students to apply the techniques to other pieces of music.
They all look so interesting! I would love the Mary Had a Little Lamb variations book.
I really like the Scale and Modes book. This year I am teaching all of the unusual scales as well as all the modes and this book would be so helpful right now!
Wonderful! They all look fantastic. I would love an Introduction To Scales and Modes. Thanks for the chance to participate!
I listened to the clip from Triumphant and it sounds like something that would be motivating for some of my boy students! Thanks for offering this drawing!
I am so excited to find out about these books! It’s hard to choose, but I will select “Jazzed About Jazz.” Thanks!
Hard to choose! But those “Jazzed About Jazz” songs are just too cool!
What a great offer! I think the Jazzed about Christmas would be a good addition to my library. Thanks Simon and Natalie.
I’m very interested in checking these out – particularly the scales book and the Mary Had a Little Lamb Book. But they all sound interesting. Thanks Natalie – keep the info coming!
I would love to have the Hymns of Exaltation!
They sound interesting! I’m thinking the “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for my studio.
WOW! These are so neat! Especially love the scales and modes and Hymns of Exaltation.
I just love “mary had a little Lamb” variations. This is something differant to motivate the students.
The variations on “Mary Had a Little Lamb” would be really fun to have!
I’d love to try the “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. It sounds like a lot of fun.
They all sound great, but I think I might choose Sea Fever. Thanks for your great blog. I love it!
Thanks for this Natalie! I just listened to some of the songs from Sea Fever – they sound like they’d be fun to play (and assign!) so I’ll go for that!
Cool! I would love Sea Fever!
Jazzed about Jazz would be a great motivator for students to practice. Wonderful upbeat songs!
I’m thinking about incorporating the “Variations on Mary had a little lamb” into my next recital and would love that one.
Can I have the book “An Introduction to Scales and Modes”? It looks so great!
What fun! I’d love to have “Mary Had a Little Lamb” variations.
VARIATIONS ON MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB, all the way!! It’d be an excellent book to introduce my students to jazz. I think coupling jazz concepts to such a familiar tune would also make the learning process more fun for them as well. Would really love to win this one!
This is too hard to choose! I would have to say Sea Fever, though, and then I will definitely have to buy Mary had a Little Lamb! Thanks so much!
The Variations on Mary Had A Little Lamb would be great to have in the my studio.
Thanks
I would love to get Sea Fever! This would be a great book for me and my sudents.
Thanks so much
These are awesome resources, Natalie! I love them all! I would have to start with “Triumphant”~ it’s such a hard choice!
BLessings to you!!