The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering Piano

This is not for the faint hearted, or for someone just starting the piano I feel, (even though it professes to be a complete guide). I got to Grade 5 many years ago, and wanted something that would stretch me, but build up on what is still there from the past. True, it does start from the very essentials, and with someone with time on their hands and with dedication will gain much benefit from this. The music theory moves at an incredibly fast pace. For anyone at the very beginning, with no knowledge at all, then I wouldn't recommend this. I also am perplexed why there is the inclusion of Part 1, which is the "Story of the Piano". This is extraneous, placing added unnecessary bulk to the book. Such information is of course interesting, but can be easily found in other publications.

I prefer this book to any of the other piano instruction books I have bought so far.PRESENTATION - the presentation is lovely - glossy paper, hardback cover and a spiral binding so it sits easily on the music rest. Very considered and attractive design.CONTENT - It is refreshing to start with something other than Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star...it starts with grown up music - and some very elegant tunes at that! The content does move at pace, but provided you work on each exercise until you have mastered it, it should be achievable. N.B. This is not a book teaching you how to read music, it's a book teaching you how to play the piano. The division of the book into Units makes it feel like a proper course and I have set myself a target of two weeks per Unit, hopefully tying in with fortnightly piano lessons with a tutor I have just started with, so by the end of 36 weeks (or, that is, the full 18 Units) I should have completed the book. I have to add here that there is a CD with the book that plays 69 pieces of music from the book and having listened to the CD right through while still only just at the beginning the book, if I can eventually play all that impressive stuff towards the end of the disc, I will be extremely happy.

A good book on playing the piano. It is not the easiest book to understand but it does go into a lot of details on playing the piano.

I would affirm comments in earlier reviews. The book is particularly good for adults, like myself, who have a little bit of piano experience gained in childhood and want to pick it up again.The book is very attractively produced.

Very good systematic approach. Advances fast. The pieces can be downloaded and listened to online which helps a lot in understanding how they should be played correctly.