Pianodao

2024 • The Pianodao Top Ten

The last twelve months have been as busy as ever for Pianodao, with 110 fresh articles and reviews added to the site, reaching a larger international readership than ever before.

On a personal note, the year has brought many other professional highlights, from fresh music publishing achievements, to regular teaching at my studio, contributing at national events and courses, and helping to launch the Art of Piano Education Awards and Milton Keynes Piano Celebration events.

And how could I forget the thrill of being able to support and advise players around the world via my online feedback service?

As far as my writing on this site goes, I have listed the Top Ten most read posts of the year, but first I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have supported Pianodao in any way at all over the last year: as piano learners, players, colleagues, friends, supporters and donors.

If you found any of the articles or advice on Pianodao helpful this year, please consider showing your appreciation with a one-time donation. Your generosity enables the site to continue supporting piano players and teachers everywhere.

To make sure you don’t miss out on any upcoming posts, news and reviews, please remember to sign up for FREE notifications using the link below. And why not also consider joining our online club?

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Contemporary Piano Masters

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

Hal Leonard’s bumper piano book Contemporary Piano Masters first appeared in 2019, together with an ‘easy piano’ version. Offering “40 pieces from the world’s leading piano composers”, the collection soon became a best-seller.

I gave that first edition a positive review, and have subsequently used the standard version with several students, right up until a couple of years ago it disappeared from view.

Now, having updated the licensing agreements involved, a revamped second edition has appeared, again with an ‘easy piano’ counterpart. But with many similar collections now on the market, how do these new volumes fare? Let’s find out…

Ghostly Piano Tales

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

In addition to her superb Play it Again Piano series for adults returning to the piano (reviewed here ) and ground-breaking Women Composers: Graded Anthology series (reviewed here), Melanie Spanswick is a busy composer with a growing catalogue of titles to her name, including several from Schott Music.

For her latest, Spanswick delivers 24 Imaginative Piano Pieces for elementary to early intermediate players which dive headlong into the world of the macabre. Is there suddenly a chill in the air?

David Önaç • Spirituals

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

When Elena Cobb invited me to be an occasional consultant for her EVC Music publishing venture, the project she foremost had in mind was a collection of Spirituals arranged by David Önaç. Already aware of Önaç‘s brilliant work, and excited by this new concept, it was a pleasure to advise in the early stages of the project’s development.

Spirituals has now arrived, and as my early enthusiasm anticipated, I believe it to be a publication of some significance. I anticipate that piano teachers will warmly appreciate this material, and that it will prove popular with learners across the elementary and intermediate range, from Initial to Grade 5.

Rooted in universally beloved melodies, nourished by the distinctive harmonies of the Gospel tradition, and expertly crafted to suit elementary to intermediate piano players of all ages, David Önaç has delivered a gem of a collection that is sure to be treasured by pianists throughout the early years of their playing.

Here is why I think this book deserves a place on the shelves of elementary to intermediate piano players everywhere…

Your New Piano Journal

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

Keeping you own Piano Journal is an idea that is so simple it seems obvious, yet so powerful that it could transform your piano journey in the months and years ahead.

In my book How to Practise Music, I wrote the following to suggest adult learners keep a piano journal:

“Older learners often like to keep their own journal in which they write a more reflective account of their practice journey, which may or may not be shared with a teacher. These can be excellent tools for structuring practice sessions, probing for solutions, or looking back on previous work.”

It is a suggestion I unpacked in more detail in my article Keeping Your Own Piano Journal, which fascinatingly proved to be one of the most popular posts ever published on this site.

That article includes an explanation of what a piano journal is, what the benefits of keeping one are, how to get started, and questions that you might wish to reflect on in your piano journal.

I won’t rehash the answers given in that article, but I want to let you know about a new gift book from Edition Peters, a simple but gorgeously presented notebook which could be the ideal repository for your reflections and tool for piano journaling over the next year.