Here’s a great way to explore some of the most popular European dance music of the early seventeenth century. This book contains easy piano arrangements of several dances from dance collection entitled Terpsichore published by Michael Praetorius in 1612. At the time he was one of the most famous musicians in Germany and the publication consisted of over three hundred dances in four, five and six parts. The name is pronounced “terp-SI-cory” and rhymes with the word “hickory”. Although the dances were probably conceived for string ensemble Praetorius was well aware that in practice, they would be played by any instruments that happened to be available. The five dances in this set actually include eight different numbers. These arrangements are based on the original 1612 publication, which did not include dynamics, phrasing or articulations. Any shown in these arrangements are the suggestion of the arranger. The keyboard parts have been fully fingered though fingering is omitted from repeated sections to encourage the player to memorize them. If the music is being played on a digital piano, the harpsichord sound (if available) might sound more authentic. The music is printed in fairly large easy-to-read notation and this collection would be ideal for the elementary keyboard player. The audio sample contains (1) Volta (2) Two Courantes and (3) La Bourée.