This is the collection of classical piano repertoire I created for work with my own students, most of whom were not primarily interested in "classical" music.

In my experience, every elementary piano student should be given the opportunity to successfully play:
Spinning Song (even if you leave out the middle section at first)
Minuet in G (page one)
Fur Elise (page one)

Eventually, they should experience (if not master--that's ultimately up to them) each piece in this collection.

All hand positions and finger numbers are presented so that students can spend their time preparing successfully--not "figuring out" with endless frustration and incorrect solutions.

"Minuet in G" from the Bach notebook is a great example. Let's consider just the first page. Many (most) elementary students would love to play this piece. The RH by itself is easy. The LH is also "not difficult", but it's not self-evident, either. The notes are easy enough, and the fingering choices seem inconsequential. You could play it with several different fingering solutions.

Hands Together: Humans can pay attention to only one thing at a time: in this case, the RH or the LH. Whichever hand is receiving the attention, the other must be on "automatic pilot". You can switch focus rapidly to give the appearance that you are paying attention to two things equally, but that is not what is happening.

So... both hands need to be rehearsed (better word than "practiced") until the correct execution is the "default" behavior.

If that (sufficient correct repetetition) has not happened, then consistent successful performance with both hands is never achieved. Students complain that they wish they could be more "consistent". They don't have a chance, sadly.

"Practice Makes... "

If you said "Perfect" then you've fallen into a sinister trap.

"Practice makes Permanent." When a student actually does what has been assigned, in many cases that is the beginning of the end of their piano career.

Here's the process in general:
Students "write in their own fingering" and then, and then practice (repeat) their incorrect solutions. They are unable to perform the desired piece consistently and don't know why. How long can a student tolerate this ineffective approach?

That's something for us professionals to consider.


Perfect for introducing classical repertoire (similar to Suzuki, Bastien Piano Literature, etc). The advantage here is that all fingering is included so that students play more!

Contents

Minuet in G from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Minuet in G from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Minuet in G minor from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Musette in D from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Minuet in F Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ecossaise in G Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonatina in G Ludwig van Beethoven
I Allegretto
II Romanze
Sonatina (In the Antique Style) Op. 157, No. 4 Fritz Spindler
I Allegro
The Wild Horseman, Op. 68, No. 8 Robert Schumann
Fur Elise (Famous Page 1) Ludwig van Beethoven
Spinning Song, Op. 14, No. 4 Albert Elmenreich
Arabesque, Op. 100, No. 2 Friedrich Burgm�ller
Ballade, Op. 100, No. 15 Friedrich Burgm�ller
Solfeggietto Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Toccatina, Op. 27, No. 12 Dmitri Kabalevsky
Fur Elise (Complete) Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonatina, Op. 55, No. 1 Friedrich Kuhlau
I Allegro
Sonatina, Op. 36, No. 3 Muzio Clementi
I Spiritoso
La V�locit�, Op. 109, No. 10 Friedrich Burgm�ller


These are the documents that I have used to introduce classical music to my piano students. No note is presented without its corresponding proper fundamental technique (fingering). In other words, there is no such thing as a note separate from its hand position and fingering.

The hand position notation is used to better communicate what exactly is being demanded of the student. Students? repertoire is no longer limited by their music staff reading ability. Nor do they suffer from their own painful inability to solve technical issues. This approach restores ?playing music on the piano? to primacy and supports ?helping a student play music on the piano? as the central activity of the piano lesson.

Weak students are able to play real (not simplified) music and not feel penalized. Strong students complete their preparation even more efficiently. In all cases, spending less time on fingering means more time for higher levels of musicianship: coordination, pedaling, physical technique, control, tone, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, expression, emotion, drama, compositional analysis, and historical context.

Good luck!
Scott Camp
scottcampislandpiano@gmail.com

Contains:
"En Face Du Miroir (Facing The Mirror)"
- taken from the Isadar solo piano complete collection, "Red" (also available on SMP)

Sounds like: Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Liz Story, George Winston, early Windham Hill solo piano artists

Transcribed by: David Shenton ( https://www.shentonmusic.com/ ) verbatim to the sound recording

Album & Songbook Review by: Kathy Parsons

Red is pianist/composer Isadar?s genre-defying tenth solo piano album and seventeenth independent release from the past twenty years. It is also the third installment in a trilogy of solo piano albums released in the past year - Reconstructed, a Will Ackerman-produced anthology of some of Isadar?s best piano pieces; O Christmas, Isadar?s second piano Christmas album; and now Red, a bittersweet love-themed album that took seven years to produce and that consists of the first new original solo piano material Isadar has released in more than ten years.

I have been reviewing and thoroughly enjoying Isadar?s releases since his second piano album, 1999?s Active Imagination, which still stands as one of my favorite recordings. Even though I have been a big fan for many years, I was still blown away by Isadar?s live performance in my house concert series in July 2010. The man has magic fingers and an extraordinary piano touch that are perfectly suited to express his imaginative, distinctive, and emotionally powerful music.

Isadar is also a singer/songwriter and an electronic musician who creates the music videos for much of his music, dramatizing the stories that inspired the songs. I will always be partial to Isadar?s piano albums because his voice and vision are unique, incorporating jazz, new age, pop, and classical stylings into a musical language all his own.

Red opens with ?Broken Valentine,? a free-flowing expression of heartbreak and the broad range of emotions that go with it, alternating between grief and confusion then shifting to perhaps anger and resignation - a great beginning. The title track conveys the freedom of an improvisation while weaving together a variety of upbeat themes. ?The Man Who Broke My Heart? is energetic and in constant swirling motion - also very free and from deep within. ?The Stairwell? is darker and much more mysterious, overflowing with Isadar?s intriguing accented rhythms and picturesque compositional style. My favorite track is the almost nine-minute ?Letting Go,? a piece that intertwines a series of musical vignettes into a powerful, colorful musical collage. I love the way Isadar seamlessly goes from flowing and smooth to a bouncy jazz style to high drama without missing a beat. Great stuff! ?En Face Du Miroir (Facing the Mirror)? is much lighter, with fingers dancing nimbly around the piano keyboard. The album closes with ?Blood ... Thicker Than Water,? again a combination of changing themes that could well be a musical family portrait - different personalities working separately and as a unit, bound together by the unseen ties that keep families together through thick and thin.

Isadar has created another piano masterpiece that should be more widely heard than his previous releases due to the success of Reconstructed. I hope so, anyway! Red is available from isadar.com, Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby. Very highly recommended!

Isadar?s Red: Solo Piano Sheet Music Collection is a note-for-note transcription of all seven pieces from Isadar?s 2013 CD/download release by the same name. The music was transcribed by David Shenton (shentonmusic.com) with clear, concise notation that includes dynamics, pedaling and metronome settings.

Isadar is an amazing pianist with a style all his own, so this isn?t a book that most pianists will be able to just sit down and play. It will take some work and attention to detail to get this music right, but it will be well worth the effort. Having the recording for handy reference would be a big help.

Rhythms are often complex and syncopated, but are usually repeated within each piece, so once you have them, the rest will follow fairly easily. There are only a few chords with a reach of more than an octave and none of the key signatures are terribly difficult. The layout and spacing of the music is excellent, and the paper stock is a bright white 9?x12? format with a stapled binding.

If you enjoy listening to Isadar?s music, I?m sure you will enjoy playing it, too! This songbook is available from isadar.com. Recommended!

The songs with their key signatures and the number of pages is listed below:

Broken Valentine - C minor (3 flats) - 4 pages
Red - A minor (0 sharps or flats) - 5 pages
The Man Who Broke My Heart - A minor - 6 pages
The Stairwell - F# minor (3 sharps) - 7 pages
Letting Go - F minor (4 flats) / C minor (3 flats) - 8 pages
En Face Du Miroir (Facing the Mirror) - Ab (4 flats) / F minor/ Bb minor (5 flats) / Db (5 flats) - 7 pages
Blood ... Thicker Than Water - A Minor/ C (0) / F (1 flat) - 7 pages

Isadar is an artist on both Enlightened Piano Radio & Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, the latter featuring some of today's biggest names in solo piano music, including Ludovico Einaudi, David Nevue, Brian Crain, Kevin Kern, Robin Spielberg, Michele McLaughlin, Philip Wesley and over 300 more...

Also available as sheet music in physical songbooks, digital downloads, as well as software for Yamaha Disklavier player-pianos.

For more information, visit his website at: http://www.isadar.com