To be honest, I wasn’t that thrilled about reviewing these two books because I thought they might be kind of, well…weird. They are written by a contemporary composer and are simply called, “Blue” and “Purple.” The subtitles were even more scary, “Contemporary Music with a Harmonic Twist” and “Jazz and Blues,” respectively. I’m not much […]
Repertoire Suggestions
And the Winner Is…
#22 – Jenny Boster of The Teaching Studio blog! Congrats, Jenny! However, not only is Rebekah giving away a copy of Old MacDonald had the Blues, she has also put together three fabulous deals that are available for Music Matters Blog readers: Old MacDonald had the Blues Buy 2 get 1 FREE. Buy two books […]
EveryNote – the world’s largest digital music library…
…at least that’s what their website claims. Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I just came across this EveryNote website for the first time. One of my students was interested in finding a piano transcription of Vivald’s Four Seasons, and our online searching led us to this vast database of digital music downloads. […]
Review and Giveaway of Old MacDonald Had the Blues Piano Book by Rebekah Maxner
If student demand is any indication of quality, this music “re-telling” of classic folk songs is already destined for success! Shortly after receiving a copy of “Old MacDonald Had the Blues” from its composer, Rebekah Maxner, a student asked me what it was. I played him a sampling of some of the pieces and he’s […]
Review and Giveaway of American Portraits Piano Book by Wendy Stevens
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is an audio clip worth? In a departure from my typical process of reviewing new materials, I thought it would be cool to give you samplings of the actual music rather than mere words attempting to describe the music. In fact, didn’t some great musician say […]
Review and Giveaway of Showers of Blessing Piano Book by Jenifer Cook
Anyone who has followed Jenifer Cook’s The Church Pianist blog knows that she is a gifted pianist and teacher. Her ability to communicate improvisation and arranging techniques to aspiring pianists is unparalleled in my opinion! It’s one thing to be able to play and improvise well, but a whole different thing to be able to […]
