Pianodao

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Pianodao is the piano education and wellbeing website of teacher, consultant, composer, and author ANDREW EALES.

As the festive season rapidly approaches, here are my latest and best Christmas and Winter piano music recommendations, brought together in one easy-to-use shortlist to help you find exactly what you are looking for!

Winter Repertoire Challenge

Musicians have always had a significant part to play in the feasts and festivals of community life, and for piano players this is a time of the year in which our Active Repertoire can play a particularly significant role in our music-making…

Music We Might Have Played

Written in partnership with musician and broadcaster Jack Pepper, with a foreword by Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, ‘Music We Might Have Played’ brings together nineteen stunning piano solos for early advanced players.

The Three-Dimensional Pianist

Understanding the importance of the three dimensions of musical learning, Musical Mind, Body, and Soul, empowers us to teach, learn and practise music holistically, making effective and lasting progress.

ADHD • A Pianist’s Guide

Discover how ADHD impacts piano practice, lessons and performance, along with a range of expert clinical advice, and educational strategies that help.

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John Rutter • Complete Piano Album

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

One of the most extraordinarily popular and successful British composers of his generation, John Rutter’s choral works, anthems, hymns and carols are beloved the world over for their distinctive mix of French choral, English pastoral, and American popular influences.

John Rutter has enjoyed a long career at the pinnacle of the English choral world, from his appearance as a chorister in the 1963 recording of Britten’s War Requiem conducted by the composer, through his time at Cambridge and his numerous prestigious appointments and accomplishments up to the present day.

As he enjoys his 80th birthday year, Rutter is rightly considered a national treasure, and his publishers OUP Music are celebrating with a fresh compilation of his two recent solo piano albums in one superb book of 16 pieces, as well as the publication of his piano concerto, Reflections.

The Complete John Rutter Piano Album brings together his transcriptions first published as Piano Collection: A Flower Remembered in 2020, along with those that make up the subsequent John Rutter Christmas Piano Album.

For fans of his music, the Complete John Rutter Piano Album is an obvious and more cost-effective choice, so the review that follows draws from and replaces my earlier reviews of the initial, separate publications.

Bluey: First Ever Piano Book

Educational Resources

Selected and Reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Since its launch in 2018, the Australian animated series Bluey has conquered the pre-school world, while winning multiple awards, critical acclaim, and praise for its positive messages, wholesome family values, and focus on playful childhood learning.

Created and written by Joe Brumm, Bluey has spawned a stage show, video game, upcoming feature length movie, and an avalanche of merchandising that includes toys, books, an album of music from the show, and now the Bluey First Ever Piano Book, written by the show’s music supervisor and composer Joff Bush, and published by Faber Music.

Bluey front cover and sample pages NEW with logos — Bluey First Ever Piano Book

The Bluey First Ever Piano Book is, like the television show, aimed at pre-school children, designed for early informal learning without an instructor, and for shared enjoyment by children with their parents. As Faber put it,

“This book is for beginners to play with their favourite grown-up. No musical know-how is required. You’ll be helped along the way by Busker (AKA Bluey composer, Joff Bush). Have fun making Bluey music magic together!”

Bluey First Ever Piano Book is unlike anything I have previously reviewed, so I began by watching a few episodes of the show (purely for research purposes, of course). But as a piano educator, what’s my opinion of the book?

Winter Piano Anthology

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

The Faber Music Piano Anthology series of deluxe bumper books have proven one of the popular publishing successes of recent years, and certainly these robust collections combine excellent value for money with a compelling mix of piano music for late intermediate to advanced players.

With more than a dozen titles now in the series, the anthologies cover a wide range of musical styles and tastes. Some home in on specific genres, such as pop ballads, jazz standards, and piano duets, while others mix core and lesser-known classics, piano arrangements, and relaxed contemporary solos.

For a look at previous titles, you can explore the series here, but let’s now turn to the latest addition, a seasonal chilled Winter Piano Anthology…

Christmas Imaginations

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Growing numbers of music publishers are embracing the trend of releasing multi-composer compilations of new piano music, a formula which offers them plenty of scope to champion different names, showcasing a variety of contrasting styles and individual voices.

Earlier this year I praised The Sonatina Collection from Hal Leonard, which features nine inspiring late intermediate works by some of American’s leading contemporary composers. Many of the same names now reappear in a fresh anthology of Christmas Carol arrangements from the publisher.

Christmas Imaginations features 16 familiar melodies reimagined in a variety of styles from jolly jazz to more lyrical ‘poignant preludes’, and the collection is again well suited to late intermediate players.

Winter Repertoire Challenge

Active Repertoire Project

The ACTIVE REPERTOIRE PROJECT encourages players to build fluency in their playing and the confidence to share their music with others.

As winter sets in, enveloping everything in its frosty embrace, we can find it challenging to stay motivated and inspired. The shorter days, longer nights, and biting cold can make it tempting to hibernate until spring!

The human response, across cultures and continents, has long been to make space and create opportunities for communities to come together: shared festivals and feast days that brighten up the darkest months of the year.

Musicians have always had a significant part to play in vibrant community life, and for piano players this is a time of the year in which our Active Repertoire may thus feature prominently in our music-making…

Christmas Boogie and Jazz

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Brent Edstrom’s stunning series of Jazz Piano Solos collections has reached its sixty seventh volume with Hal Leonard’s publication of the new Boogie Woogie Christmas.

I have previously praised several titles from this series, and in this review I am going to look at the new addition as well as recapping previous three more Christmas books in the series that I have looked at in the past, bringing them together here to help readers decide where to start and which to choose.

Together, these four cover an extraordinary amount of ground, freshly dusted with deep, crisp, and evenly festive brilliance. These Jazz Piano Solos will undoubtedly keep advanced players engaged with their superbly stylish boogie and jazzed up reimaginings of the Christmas canon…

Ivana Gavrić • A Piano Journey

The Pianodao Interview

PIANISTS • EDUCATORS • INFLUENCERS
in conversation with ANDREW EALES

Ivana Gavrić has attracted international acclaim for her interpretations of a broad range of repertoire and storytelling programming, her playing described as ‘electrifying’ (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘impressive, insightful…ravishing’ (Washington Post).

We are delighted that Ivana will be our special guest recitalist at the Milton Keynes Piano Celebration 2025.

And on the eve of the release of her sixth album, Throwback to Dance, it has been a pleasure to catch up with her for a chat about her piano journey so far (we first met when we both taught at The Thinking Pianist course last year)…

Christmas for Ten Fingers

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Over the last two years, OUP Music have done a stellar job of refreshing and updating their enduringly popular Piano Time method series (reviewed here) and Tunes for Ten Fingers (reviewed here) children’s primer books, with a fresh new look, audio files, updated pedagogy, and brand new music.

They haven’t forgotten their evergreen Piano Time Carols book, the long-standing studio essential also now benefiting from a contemporary redesign and downloadable audio, which I will consider below.

Best of all, they have published a brand new Christmas for Ten Fingers, which proves to be a superbly engaging easy collection for younger players, with duet parts, and rich with creative teaching potential.

In the review which follows, I will initially focus on the latter (which is written by Michael Higgins) and then check out the new-look Piano Time Carols.

Pianoworks Christmas

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

I am often asked to recommend a fairly basic Christmas piano book, suitable for Elementary players at around Grade 1 to Grade 2 level, with a selection of traditional carols along with a few more contemporary favourites, and in straightforward, well-crafted piano-friendly arrangements.

Within my teaching practice, Pianoworks Christmas has proven to be that perennial chestnut, and in a crowded market remains my all-time top recommendation for a basic, no-frills Christmas piano songbook.

Although part of the superb Pianoworks series of books for older beginners, the collection has no links to the actual method itself other than branding, and of course the fact that it appeals to adult players as much as it does to youngsters.

Pianoworks Christmas has proven to be hugely and consistently popular with players of all ages, year after year. It’s simply a great book, which essentially reviews itself. But here are my thoughts on it, sample pages, and a full list of its contents…

Calming Christmas Carols for Graded Piano

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

With so many Christmas-themed piano books on the market, and with yet more appearing to challenge our established favourites each year, it takes something quite special and distinctive to stand out from the crowd.

Calming Christmas Carols for Graded Piano, published by The Willis Music Company, is certainly unique, and may prove to be one of those ‘must-have classics’ that we didn’t realise we needed until it appeared.

Delivering “15 Peaceful Pieces for Piano Grades 1-5” freshly arranged by Alistair Watson, with three designated for each level from Grade 1 to Grade 5, the collection obviously has one eye on the education market, the other on appealing to the vogue for music with a relaxed vibe.

Cleverly, and rather uniquely positioned as the progressive collection to which learners can reliably return each year throughout their Elementary to Intermediate piano journey, and thus maximising the book’s continuing value to teachers, learners, and parents, the concept is certainly attractive. So let’s find out how well it lives up to its promise…