They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Whoever “they” is. However, if you did so in regards to Rebekah Maxner’s newest piano book for early elementary students, Rock the Boat, you’d be justified. Every piece is as delightful as the colorful illustration on the cover suggests! The student parts are truly simple […]
Resource Reviews
Review and Giveaway of Here Come the High Notes by Marin Marka
The first in a delightful series of children’s books from FableNotes, Here Come the High Notes is an imaginative story that introduces the treble clef and its notes from Middle C through Treble G (12 notes). Author Marin Marka is an occupational therapist and music teacher who has a passion for reaching children of all […]
Review and Giveaway of Kori Buchanan’s Piano Compositions
“Grand.” “Enjoyable.” “Really neat piece.” “I loved it!” Those are the descriptions and exclamations that I heard from students after one week of them playing Kori Buchanan’s excellent piano compositions! Kori has been a longtime follower of Music Matters Blog and contacted me recently about reviewing some of her piano compositions. I thought it would […]
Review and Giveaway of I Wish I Didn’t Quit: Music Lessons
With bookend stories about the fictitious piano student Olivia in his new book, I Wish I Didn’t Quit: Music Lessons, author Nathan Holder paints a picture first of an all-too familiar scenario and later an ideal scenario when it comes to studying music. Himself a member of the “I-wish-I-didn’t-quit” statistic, Holder writes from a collection […]
Review and Giveaway of 100 Left Hand Patterns Every Piano Player Should Know
One of the most valuable skills any pianist can learn is to play popular tunes by ear and easily play them with an appropriate accompaniment. If you’ve ever found yourself blank when trying to think of a new melody to play or out of ideas for a left hand accompaniment, this is the book for […]
Want to Learn to Play or Teach Jazz Piano?
In the last issue of the American Music Teacher, there was a brief review of the new Jazz Piano Basics series by Eric Baumgartner (apparently, it’s “a revised and vastly expanded version of the Jazzabilities series”). It piqued my curiosity, so I decided to order books 1 and 2. I confess that I’m not especially […]
