Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Last year at around this time I reviewed the very-specifically-named Calming Christmas Carols for Graded Piano (read the review) and noted,
“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.”
At the time I wondered whether publisher Hal Leonard might extend the graded concept to other popular collections, and sure enough, earlier this year they launched the excellent Beatles Graded Pieces for Piano (reviewed here), and hot on its heels a Disney collection, again for Grades 1-5, and the subject of the review.
In common with the Beatles Graded Pieces for Piano collection, this new release includes new arrangements by Christopher Hussey, along with appropriate introductory exercises suitable for learning the pieces at each grade level. Read on to find out more…
First impressions
Like the Beatles book, the Disney Graded Pieces for Piano collection has a tasteful matt card cover that channels the image and mood of the content, in this case featuring the beloved Mickey Mouse leaning against a grand piano.
Within, the book has 80 pages printed on white paper, held together with staples. There is no written introduction for the concept of the collection itself (although it’s fairly obvious what’s going on!), so after the main contents page we’re straight into Hussey’s Grade 1 Exercises, which occupy two pages.
There are five pieces for each Grade, and the Grade 1 pieces are super-easy, single-page arrangements. Thereafter, the Exercises per grade take up two or three pages, while the pieces grow from two pages to four by Grade 5.
I should interject here that should you wish to use this music for ‘own choice’ selections in a Performance Grade, be careful to time the pieces, as they are generally longer than the pieces set by exam boards at Grade 2-5 level.
25 works for piano
Here’s the complete list of the popular tunes which Hussey has picked and arranged, showing their grade level so that you can get an idea of how they might fit into a larger curriculum:
Grade One:
• Reflection (Mulan)
• A Whole New World (Aladdin)
• I See the Light (Tangled)
• Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)
• Let It Go (Frozen)
Grade Two:
• Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast)
• Circle of Life (The Lion King)
• The Bare Necessities (The Jungle Book)
• Under the Sea (The Little Mermaid)
• You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story)
Grade Three:
• Hakuna Matata (The Lion King)
• The Second Star to the Right (Peter Pan)
• Into the Unknown (Frozen 2)
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Mary Poppins)
• True Love’s Kiss (Enchanted)
Grade Four:
• Surface Pressure (Encanto)
• Love Is an Open Door (Frozen)
• Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid)
• This Is Halloween (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
• When She Loved Me (Toy Story 2)
Grade Five:
• Friend Like Me (Aladdin)
• We Don’t Talk About Bruno (Encanto)
• Speechless (Aladdin)
• Almost There (The Princess and the Frog)
• Trip a Little Light Fantastic (Mary Poppins Returns)
There’s some obvious and inevitable omissions here, but I think Hussey has selected a decent and varied range from across the deep and very rich Disney catalogue.
It’s at this point that I am rather brutally reminded of my advancing age: both my immediate descendants are now in their thirties and we have no grandchildren, so most of the Disney movies of the last 15 years or so have passed me by unnoticed.
For the purposes of this collection, my lack of recognition of some titles is of course a promising sign that Hussey’s choices are bang up to date!
The arrangements and exercises
I’ve written before that Christopher Hussey has a special gift for arranging songs as accessible piano pieces which are well-suited to learners while retaining the essence of the originals, and his ability is well evidenced in this new collection.
The five Grade 1 pieces are certainly well matched to the level, and yet playing through these arrangements, I certainly felt they did justice to their sources, and that I was playing the real thing, albeit in a super simplified way.
The Grade 2 arrangements, however, seemed a little challenging for the level, and this is a mild concern that follows through the subsequent material. But as a teacher, I have long noticed that pupils playing songs they love often rise to a slightly higher challenge, spurred on by their enthusiasm and aural knowledge of the original, so any benchmarking concerns I have are perhaps misplaced.
Most of the songs adapt well for the instrument, and at intermediate level, I was particularly pleased by Hussey’s renditions of Be Our Guest, Circle of Life, The Second Star to the Right, Part of Your World, and Friend Like Me. These all adapt nicely into super piano solos, but several of the other arrangements here would also make memorable and popular pieces in school concerts and studio recitals.
The exercises which introduce each Grade section are another highlight, and I find it encouraging to see rhythmic and technical exercises presented as the core skills pupils need in order to play their favourite songs well.
In all cases, these are well thought out and presented, and while learners might be tempted to merrily skip past them, I strongly suggest teachers maximise the potential offered by this thoughtful, holistic approach.
Closing thoughts
The classic and contemporary songs that enliven Disney’s enduring canon of animated movies are of course beloved the world over, and it’s no wonder that many children and adults alike enjoy playing them on the piano.
This outstanding collection deserves a place in every teaching studio, and I have no doubt that many learners are going to be asking for their own copy of this beautifully presented publication. Even those teachers who are perhaps reluctant to stray too far from the pedagogic classics will warm to the educational value of Hussey’s included exercises and the book’s graded, structured approach.
With respectful arrangements of many of the most popular songs of the twentieth century and beyond, designed to be enjoyed throughout several years of musical learning and interleaved with more “serious” music, it’s hard not to fall in love with Disney: Graded Pieces for Piano.
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