Review and Giveaway of Peter John Stoltzman’s Commercial Piano Workbooks

If you’re looking for a piano course (either to learn from or to teach) that is practical, easy-to-understand, and effective for quickly learning the skills and concepts to become a contemporary musician, Peter John Stoltzman’s Commercial Piano Workbooks may be just what you need!

Peter sent me a set of his workbooks to review, and I have thoroughly enjoyed perusing them and considering them for use with older students in the future. I think they would be perfect for an individual or group of teens or adults looking to develop practical musical knowledge along with the skills to make them effective musicians in the 21st century.

The workbooks sport a clean layout with a combination of text and diagrams that make it easy to understand each concept that is presented. Peter is a master at explaining music theory concepts in a way that makes sense for any pianist! I especially appreciated his approach to teaching chords as “shapes” on the piano and then grouping them according to their shape (black key-white key combinations). His emphasis is clearly on helping students develop not just a theoretical knowledge, but the topographical skills necessary to execute that knowledge with fluency.

The addendums include an explanation of the “Charlie Banacos” sight-reading method, which includes extensive practice with rhythms (utilizing individual rhythm cards arranged in varying patterns) and familiarizing oneself with geographical areas of the piano as represented visually by notes on a staff. This in itself would be worth the price of the workbook for a pianist who is looking for a doable approach to build better sightreading skills!

The workbooks include links to play-along tracks that can be used with the exercises in the book and also to complete the technology assignments he gives (a unique feature!) and links to instructional videos that can be utilized by the student as a reminder or watched by a teacher for suggestions on how to present various concepts. For the teacher, Peter also includes a brief weekly lesson plan outline for a 16-week course.

If you’d like to check out this fabulous series for yourself, Peter has kindly offered to giveaway one free set of these piano workbooks to a Music Matters Blog reader! Just leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator on Friday, February, 19, at noon (CST). Enjoy!