The Piano Bench of Classical Music (Piano Collections)

These are still too hard for me. I am a late beginner. It is a huge book!! So many good songs! It is huge!

I am not sure why this product has been reviewed so negatively by some buyers; I suspect there are either two versions of this product.My experience with this product is excellent overall. The product arrived intact and without any damage. The pages are slightly thicker than your typical printer paper, so they will hold up fine during my use and ripping/tearing won't be a problem for me.The plastic ring binder is made from a fairly thin plastic, as some reviewers have mentioned. This shouldn't be an issue for me and doesn't affect the functionality, but it is delicate... if it were to fall from the stand onto the floor, for example, I could see the plastic breaking.I can see how some reviewers have commented on the quality of the notation clarity. It appears the original files for many of these documents may have been photocopied at a lower resolution, and printed at a higher resolution for this book. As a result, the notes appear to be slightly "bloated" in many of the pieces, and if you look closely, you'll see the staff lines appear to be a little wavy in many places. However, in my opinion, it is still easy enough to read the notation, and doesn't affect my playing.Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. For the price, the music collection is comprehensive ( I love how Scriabin (one of my fav composers) is included in a collection alongside Bach), and I actually enjoy the index in this book, which aggregates the music by it's historical time period. I deducted a star for the print quality and thin plastic binding. Overall, I would recommend to anyone looking for a way to increase their collection of music in one book, without spending the time for search for these individually.

I recently got into playing the piano seriously again and I am really starting to enjoy playing some classical music. So, I decided to buy this book, and it is a lot of fun to play. The editorial additions for dynamics are also very good, although some are not what I made when I first learned the peace (notable the dynamics I came up with for Bach's Invention in F major were quite different), but music is about each person, so I can't really make that a flaw in the book.What I really like about this book is the selection of pieces. I feel like I've heard most of these pieces before at some point even if I didn't know their names. And the ones that I didn't recognize were very nice pieces as well and I am happy to know what they are now. The difficulty of the pieces in this book is probably high-intermediate and advanced. But there are some simple pieces in this book if you practice enough. The arrangement of the pieces by the period of music is also very interesting and helps show the distinguishing characteristics of each type of classical music.The coil binding of this book was very useful as well, since it stays flat open unlike other books where I have to bend the spine and make it stay open. It is a very thick book, but it doesn't come in the way of anything.Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to play classical music and wants a good introduction and selection of pieces.

If you need to browse through large numbers of piano works by major composers this is well with the price. I found a few short pieces I would not have easily come across elsewhere. I am not sure about the fingerings on some of the pieces as they differ from fingerings I am already used to in other editions. They seem less comfortable to me, but might generate a cleaner sound if used. This book is just too heavy to carry around and is not in a performance ready binding. I would say that if you find a piece or a composer you like then you might want to search for a more official copy. This book can be a starting point.

This is an excellent collections of solo piano pieces ranging in difficulty from intermediate to advanced piano. I have an extensive collection of solo piano music, but many of the pieces in this collection are not found in any of mother books. The comb assembly of the book makes it possible to keep the book open flat on the piano's music rest. The scores are clear and easily readable. My only criticism of the book is that in order to minimize page turns in The scores, the music is sufficiently crowded on The page that it is difficult to find space to add notes. If you are looking for a fine collection of classical music at the intermediate to advanced level, I highly recommend this book.

Nice size, clear print

The collection is a great repertoire of classical music with masterpieces for each skill level. No matter how many years of piano experience you have, you will find a challenging piece in the book. And if you are new to piano playing, this book should accompany your scales, chords, and sheet music reading practice. It contains pieces from all the masters of classical music at various difficulty levels. So, you can practice an easy piece of Chopin and study not only the art of music playing but also the style of the master himself.

If you can only purchase one book of classical piano music to enjoy, this would be an excellent choice. We purchased this book as a gift for a family member. She loves the book and is enjoying the challenges of learning each piece in the collection. She is so glad that the editors of the book have chosen these items for the book as she feels the selections are those she would have loved to purchase, although buying each piece one at a time might have been difficult both for cost and availability. The title - The Piano Bench - is descriptive of the actual case of having a book that contains a full file of music for the piano such as you might want to keep in the piano bench to pull out and play for enjoyment and for study.

I bought this after much searching around for a collection of piano music that wasn't too basic.This book would suit someone of between grade 5 and 8 standard as there is much variety within.The book comprises 8 sections:1) Renaissance and Baroque2) Classical3) Romantic4) Impressionist and Modern5) Light classics6) Themes from the Opera7) Scenes from the Ballet8) DuetsThe book is held together in a plastic spiral so the pages easily stay open while playing.This is a book for anyone who loves classical music and would provide many hours of playing

This book is amazing. It has an excellent collection of classical music.

be careful, on AMAZON the same musical content is sold under two different titles: here, as "The piano BENCH of Classical Music", and somewhere else as "The Piano TREASURY of Classical Music", by two different publishers: AMSCO and Hal Leonard.Curious indeed!

Great book! So thick with so many great classical pieces. I only played to grade 6 and it's at the right level for me - not too easy, at the same time, challenging. Now, I just have to find all the time in the world to play these pieces.

Superb value for money. Something here for all abilities and tastes.