Tag: Seasonal Piano Music

Christmas Songs for Kids

The PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY
Selected & Reviewed by ANDREW EALES

Too late for inclusion in this year’s Christmas Shortlist: Elementary round up, but as delightful as it is fresh, Hal Leonard’s Christmas Songs for Kids delivers,

“25 Holiday Favourites arranged for Easy Piano, with practice tips for learning each song.”

This tastefully presented collection is definitely worth a look, and will no doubt appear in next years Shortlist, but for now here’s a quick look at what’s inside…

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Piano Calm Christmas

The PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY
Selected & Reviewed by ANDREW EALES

Philip Keveren is one of my favourite arrangers and composers whose music has a contemporary popular vibe. He is also clearly industrious: this year alone has seen the release of his clever Circles: Character Etudes in 24 keys (reviewed here) and the hugely appealing Piano Calm (reviewed here), both of which are quickly establishing themselves as firm favourites with my students.

Now Keveren brings us the sequel to the latter collection, Piano Calm Christmas. And if it lives up to its recent predecessors, we can look forward to something very special indeed.

So let’s find out…

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Capturing the Spirit of the Season

The PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY
Selected & Reviewed by ANDREW EALES

As autumn nears its end, the thoughts of musicians everywhere are no doubt turning to the coming season, likely to be a musically rich one for many.

Piano players and teachers are always on the look out for fresh material, and I’m happy to remind you of two excellent collections co-written by composers Alison Mathews and Barbara Arens, Capturing the Joy of Winter, and Capturing the Spirit of Christmas.

Both were positively reviewed here when they appeared in 2016 and 2017 respectively, and it’s high time to consolidate my thoughts into a single review. So here goes…

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Faber Music Christmas Piano Anthology

The PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY
Selected & Reviewed by ANDREW EALES

Faber Music have brought us some fabulous anthologies of late. Last Autumn, I reviewed their Faber Music Piano Anthology, and more recently the Faber Music Classical Film Collection.

And now they’ve brought out the Faber Music Christmas Piano Anthology, which proves to be a massive and hugely impressive collection of the best and most popular seasonal tunes, expertly arranged for piano solo at intermediate to advanced level.

There’s been a gap in the market for something like this – it’s never easy to recommend a collection for all ages that covers the most wanted classic and contemporary festive songs. So is this it? Let’s find out …

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