The Pianodao Bookshelf includes reviews of biographies and books that will be of interest to piano players and educators.
Reviews of books which address lifestyle and qigong practice are included elsewhere on the Pianodao site. Here, you can browse reviews of those books which specifically address piano playing, teaching, history and the lives of musicians.
Pathways for Playing
How to Practise Music
The essential, pocket-sized companion for every musician!
Accessible and authoritative, HOW TO PRACTISE MUSIC is Andrew’s highly acclaimed book of tips for anyone who wants to get more out of their practice…
The Complete Pianist
Without question, Penelope Roskell’s The Complete Pianist is the most monumental publication yet to arrive for review, and with 560 large format pages, 250 newly-devised exercises and more than 300 supporting online videos, I can well believe that it’s the most comprehensive book ever written on piano playing!
Intrigued? I bet! So let’s take a closer look…
The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces
Susan Tomes’ latest book, “The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces” is quite simply an essential purchase for any piano enthusiast, offering as it does a veritable feast of salient information and insight into the instrument and music which we love so much.
Here’s the Pianodao review…
Mark Tanner’s ‘The Mindful Pianist’
“…a landmark within the pianist’s literature, becoming one of those few truly essential books for anyone who has an interest in the world of piano playing and teaching.”
Pathways for Teaching
The Piano Teacher’s Survival Guide
Once in a while a book appears which must be considered essential, an instant classic, and this is one such publication. The Piano Teacher’s Survival Guide instantly establishes itself as the very best practical manual available for today’s piano teachers.
Musicians Who Teach
I have no hesitation in recommending this book as an essential primer that should be required reading for all who teach singing or a musical instrument in the UK. Buy it, absorb it, and you will certainly have no regrets!
More Than Music Lessons
Merlin B. Thompson’s book “More than Music Lessons” is one of those books which could prove to be a game-changer for any instrumental teacher who takes time to absorb and apply the author’s key messages…
Paul Harris • How to Sight Read
Paul Harris’ sight-reading resources have played an important role in my teaching for years. How wonderful to now have this book, which brings us a deeper understanding of this important aspect of musical learning.
Latest Additions to the Library:
Women and the Piano
In her latest book, Susan Tomes delivers an impassioned exposition of the impact that gender has had, and continues to have, on the development of professional pianism and the wider piano community…
The Symphony: From Mannheim to Mahler
With impeccable timing at the start of a new academic year, Faber Music have just released The Symphony: From Mannheim to Mahler, an accessible new guide written by Christopher Tarrant and Natalie Wild, which hopes (and deserves) to become a standard text for A’ level and undergraduate students.
Paul Harris: Unconditional Teaching
Paul Harris’s latest book, “Unconditional Teaching”, is without question a profoundly rewarding read.
I simply cannot recommend it highly enough.Here’s the Pianodao review…
Howard Smith: Note for Note
Any self-published autobiography could too quickly be written off as a vanity project; Howard Smith’s newly available Note for Note offers a strong rebuttal of any such inclination, delivering a rich banquet that could both inspire the “returning adults” of the amateur piano world and inform those of us who teach them…
Mindfulness in Sound
Mindfulness in Sound is at once entertaining, interesting, absorbing and challenging. And though less-directly concerned with the art of music-making, this seemingly slight volume offers up a surprisingly deep and rich mix of helpful information and inspiration.
Memoirs of an Accompanist
Hot off the press comes the autobiography of Helmut Deutsch, one of the most successful and sought-after lieder accompanists of our time. Deutsch has accompanied, both on stage and in the recording studio, the likes of Hermann Prey, Olaf Bär, Brigitte Fassbaender, Jonas Kaufmann and many others.
His is a career and life in music that will surely yield both insight and a rich seam of anecdote, so let’s take a look…
Listening through the lens
Listening through the lens is the recently published memoir of BAFTA-award winning documentary-maker Christopher Nupen, who has made more than 70 productions on classical music and musicians.
In his book, Nupen tells the story of his varied and often astonishing life…
Paul Harris: Cancer and Positivity
Replete with Paul’s trademark intellectual curiosity and thought-provoking insight at every turn, Cancer and Positivity is ultimately a warm and hugely inspiring account of one man’s triumph over adversity.
The Waco Variations
Rhonda Rizzo’s superb novel explores the transformative power that music – good music – can have in all our lives.
The Classical Piano Sonata
Michael Davidson has provided an indispensable guide for every serious pianist and music-lover…
Mindfulness in Music
Mark Tanner’s new book traces vivid connections between mindfulness and music which are not only tangible, but also genuinely thrilling…
Lipatti: Remembering a Legend
100 years after his birth, Dinu Lipatti’s extraordinary legacy continues to shine…