The Library of Easy Piano Classics

A very big THANK YOU to everyone that has utilized our music instructional resources and public domain piano downloads. We appreciate the interest countless hundreds (per day!) have shown in what we are doing, and hope to constantly improve over the course of time.

As most of you inquiring about sheet music may know, I am the one who usually answers all queries regarding music (though often times others do the actual searching). And, when I think one arrangement is better than another, or when I know one edition is inferior to another, I will offer my advice whether it's asked for or not 8-) . This applies particularly to classical piano, piano solo arrangements, piano - vocal music and teaching methods: where my 25 years of teaching experience, years of composing and arranging, and Doctorate in music (Piano Performance) are used to benefit those who do not have the music in question right in front of them.

All sheet music is NOT the same quality! There are frequent enough times where I will use the wonderfully descriptive term "rip-off" which pretty much everyone understands, or I will simply point out why I think one version of a score is better than another, OR I will -- very happily -- point out that the arrangement, folio, or particular piece of sheet music is a very good one and well worth the money.

The Library of Easy Piano Classics $24.95

This large collection would be a perfect choice:

• for anyone who has ever asked or wondered, "what's a good collection of classic music for fairly easy but not too easy piano, that doesn't sound dorky once you've learned it?;"
• for those who would like to play some classical music but don't know many titles or composers names i.e., "I Like it, but I don't know what titles to buy;"
• for professional keyboardists needing some good sightreadable music to supplement their wedding prelude music, or to use as background music at black tie "cocktail parties"
• for piano teachers looking for great sightreading material for more advanced students
• for Music Students wanting to increase their familiarity with the general repertoire
• for anyone that wants the Biggest Bang for their Buck

Minimum requirements for getting the most out of this volume:

• Be able to read the Treble and Bass Clefs without difficulty
• Know how to use the damper pedal and una corda (soft) pedal
• Understand rhythmic values i.e., Whole notes / Half notes / Quarter notes, etc.
• Know what Triplets are and how to play them
• Be willing to spend perhaps a few minutes a day for a week to master one of the more challenging pieces

The Library of Easy Piano Classics $24.95

This very large collection is enthusiastically offered as "One-Of-The-VERY-Best" by me, Dr. Rein P. Vaga, D.M.A. with such confidence that I am also personally guaranteeing it (since I'm the head honcho, I can do these things) with a 100% money back guarantee (as long as it's returned in new condition).
And please understand that I have NO connection with the publisher, they are not giving me ANY special deal (I wish they would!), and we make no more pennies off of this anthology than we do off of anything else we sell.

REVIEW: Here is what is Very Good to Excellent in this volume:

• LARGER THAN USUAL NOTATION. It's really a joy to look and see the music without effort. Perfect for talented youngsters or especially for us Middle-Age + types with specs!
• BRIGHT WHITE PAGES WITH JET BLACK INK. There are no blurry notes against yellowed pages (are you listening, Kalmus?)
• WIDE ALLOTMENTS. Nothing "crammed" together, layout is generous.
• FINGERINGS YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE. (!)
• ABUNDANCE OF ARTICULATIONS (perhaps too many at times) e.g., staccatos, slurs, accents, etc.
• WONDERFUL VARIETY OF PIECES (see below for examples). There are many "Greatest Hits" type pieces that I haven't heard for years, and frankly, a few I've never even heard before!
• GOOD RANGE OF DIFFICULTY - there are indeed some hard pieces, but just as many easier ones as well.
• OVERALL, EXCELLENT ARRANGEMENTS. THEY SOUND GOOD!How many times have you learned an "easy" version of something, just to have it still sound like something is missing?
• COMPOSER'S BIRTH - DEATH YEARS ENTERED BELOW NAME ON EACH PIECE. No big deal, really. It's just a nice thing to have added.
• PLASTIC SPIRAL BINDING USED IN VERY LARGE BOOKS. . . Well, the great thing is that the book opens flat on the music rack!
  No typical frustrations. . . of trying to play beautifully while the book slowly closes on you and you're leaning way over, trying to see and keep playing with your heart on your sleeve right to the moment just before the book is going to slam shut,
  -- so you slap the page with your hand to open the book again but instead it falls in your lap, so you throw it on the floor and jump up and down on it to flatten it
  . . . really ruins the mood

And, here is what I think could have made it better:

• TAKE THE WORD "EASY" OUT OF THE TITLE!! Publishers do this to sell to a broader market, students hate it because it makes them feel like it's inferior music.
• SOME ARRANGEMENTS e.g., "Für Elise" (by Beethoven), HAVE LEFT HAND SIMPLIFICATIONS THAT ARE UNNECESSARY. It would have been better to have added the more difficult notes as an ossia within the measure, realized by smaller note heads, as is done in many of the other pieces in the collection.
• NO CREDIT IS GIVEN TO ANY OF THE ARRANGERS! - I don't care if they're already dead!
• TABLE OF CONTENTS PRINT COULD BE LARGER. Personally, I like a table of contents that is alphabetized by composer's name, with another table of contents alphabetized by song name. The ultimate would be a thematic index, but this volume is way too large for something like that.

LIBRARY OF EASY PIANO CLASSICS
- PIANO SOLO, 296 PAGES: $24.95

includes the following (I have added complete titles and "where from" if not accurately indicated in contents):

• Albéniz - TANGO
• American Spiritual - DEEP RIVER
• American Spiritual - LITTLE DAVID
• American Spiritual - SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT
• Arne - RULE, BRITANNIA
• Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach - THEME from SOLFEGGIETTO
• Johann Sebastion Bach - AIR ON THE G STRING (SUITE No. 3)
• Johann Sebastion Bach - ARIOSO
• Johann Sebastion Bach - SHEEP MAY SAFELY GRAZE from CANTATA No. 208
• Beethoven - FüR ELISE
• Beethoven - ODE TO JOY from SYMPHONY No. 9
• Beethoven - from SYMPHONY No. 6 (PASTORAL SYMPHONY)
• Beethoven - THEME from 5TH SYMPHONY
• Beethoven - THEME from SONATA OP. 27 No. 2 "MOONLIGHT"
• Beethoven - THEME from SONATA OP. 13 "PATHETIQUE"
• Berlioz - THE SHEPHERDS' FAREWELL from THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST
• Bizet - THEMES from CARMEN
• Boccherini - MINUET
• Borodin - THEME from POLOVTSIAN DANCES (PRINCE IGOR)
• Brahms - GAUDEAMUS IGITUR from ACADEMIC FESTIVAL OVERTURE
• Brahms - HUNGARIAN DANCE No. 5
• Brahms - THEME from SYMPHONY No. 1
• Brahms - THEME from VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF HAYDN (ST. ANTHONY CHORALE)
• Chopin - PRELUDE Op. 28 #7
• Chopin - TRISTESSE STUDY (ETUDE Op. 10 #3)
• Clarke - TRUMPET VOLUNTARY
• Daquin - THE CUCKOO
• Debussy - CLAIR DE LUNE
• Debussy - GOLLIWOG'S CAKE WALK from CHILDREN'S CORNER
• Delibes - WALTZ from COPPELIA
• Delius - THEMES from LA CALINDA (KOANGA)
• Dibdin - TOM BOWLING
• Dvorak - HUMORESKE
• Dvorak - THEME from NEW WORLD SYMPHONY
• Elgar - CHANSON DE MATIN
• Elgar - LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY (POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE)
• Elgar - NIMROD from the "ENIGMA" VARIATIONS
• Elgar - THEME from POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE MARCH No. 1
• Elgar - THEME from CELLO CONCERTO
• Emmett - DIXIE LAND
• English Air - DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES
• English Air - COUNTRY GARDENS
• English Air - GREENSLEEVES
• English Air - THE BRITISH GRENADIERS
• Fauré - PAVANE
• Fauré - BERCEUSE
• Fauré - PIE JESU from the REQUIEM
• Fauré - SICILIENNE
• Gossec - TAMBOURIN
• Gounod - AVE MARIA
• Grieg - MORNING from PEER GYNT SUITE
• Handel - BOURREE and AIR from WATER MUSIC
• Handel - THE HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH
• Handel - HORNPIPE from WATER MUSIC
• Handel - LARGO from XERXES
• Handel - SARABANDE from SUITE XI
• Handel - SEE, THE CONQUERING HERO COMES from JUDAS MACCABAEUS
• Handel - WHERE'ER YOU WALK
• Handel - ZADOK THE PRIEST
• Holst - I VOW TO THEE, MY COUNTRY (JUPITER from THE PLANETS)
• Humperdinck - EVENING PRAYER
• Ippolitov-Ivanov - PROCESSION OF THE SARDAR from CAUCASIAN SKETCHES
• Irish Air - COCKLES AND MUSSELS
• Irish Air - LONDONDERRY AIR
• Irish Air - THE MINSTREL BOY
• Liszt - LIEBESTRAUM No. 3 (NOCTURNE)
• MacDowell - TO A WILD ROSE from WOODLAND SKETCHES
• Mahler - THEME from DEATH IN VENICE (SYMPHONY No. 5)
• Massenet - MEDITATION from THAïS
• Mendelssohn - O, FOR THE WINGS OF A DOVE
• Mendelssohn - ON WINGS OF SONG
• Mendelssohn - WEDDING MARCH from A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT'S DREAM (this is THE wedding processional)
• Mozart - A MUSICAL JOKE (from K.522 last mvt.)
• Mozart - ALLELUIA (Exultate, Jubilate)
• Mozart - THEME from ELVIRA MADIGAN (Piano Concerto No. 21)
• Mozart - THEME from SONATA IN C MAJOR (K. 545 1st. mvt.)
• Mozart - THEME from SYMPHONY No. 40
• Mozart - THEME from CLARINET CONCERTO
• Mozart - THEMES from EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK (Serenade in G Major)
• Mussorgsky - PROMENADE from PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
• Offenbach - BARCAROLLE from TALES OF HOFFMAN
• Offenbach - CAN-CAN from ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD
• Pachelbel - CANON
• Parry - JERUSALEM
• Ponchielli - DANCE OF THE HOURS from LA GIOCONDA
• Puccini - O, MY BELOVED FATHER from GIANNI SCHICCHI
• Rossini - THEMES from THE BARBER OF SEVILLE
• Rossini - THEME from WILLIAM TELL
• Rubinstein - MELODY IN F (Op. 3 No. 1)
• Saint-Saëns - THE ELEPHANT from THE CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
• Saint-Saëns - THE SWAN from THE CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
• Satie - GYMNOPEDIE No. 1
• Schubert - AVE MARIA
• Schubert - MARCHE MILITAIRE
• Schubert - ENTR'ACTE AND BALLET MUSIC from ROSAMUNDE
• Schubert - SERENADE
• Schubert - THEME from the OCTET
• Schubert - THEME from the UNFINISHED SYMPHONY
• Schubert - TWO SONGS: ROSE AMONG THE HEATHER and TO MUSIC
• Scottish Air - AULD LANG SYNE
• Scottish Air - THE BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND
• Scottish Air - CHARLIE IS MY DARLING
• Scottish Air - THE SKYE BOAT SONG
• Smetana - THEME from VLTAVA (Má VLAST)
• Sousa - THE LIBERTY BELL
• Strauss Sr. - RADETZKY MARCH
• Strauss Jr. - THE BLUE DANUBE
• Strauss Jr. - TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS
• Sullivan - FOR HE IS AN ENGLISHMAN from H.M.S.PINAFORE
• Sullivan - TWO TUNES from THE MIKADO
• Sullivan - TWO TUNES from THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
• Tchaikovsky - DANSE DES MIRLITONS from THE NUTCRACKER
• Tchaikovsky - THEME FROM ROMEO AND JULIET
• Tchaikovsky - THEME from PIANO CONCERTO No. 1
• Tchaikovsky - THEME from SWAN LAKE
• Tchaikovsky - WALTZ from SWAN LAKE
• Verdi - CHORUS OF THE HEBREW SLAVES from NABUCCO
• Verdi - GRAND MARCH from AIDA
• Verdi - LA DONNA E MOBILE from RIGOLETTO
• Vivaldi - THEMES from THE FOUR SEASONS
• Wagner - BRIDAL MARCH from LOHENGRIN (the! wedding processional)
• Wagner - PILGRIMS' CHORUS from TANNHÄUSER
• Wagner - SAILORS' CHORUS from THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
• Warlock - PAVANE from CAPRIOL SUITE
• Welsh Air - ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT

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Problems, Questions, Suggestions?
Email to: Dr. Rein P. Vaga, D.M.A.