For the Piano (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics)

This instructional piano book is exactly what I expected it would be. My piano teacher uses it in her studio and she recommended it to me to help me develop my skills with classic piano. Like many instructional piano books the music starts out easier and gradually develops in complexity. I am looking forward to being a good enough pianist at some point to play at the back of the book.

My order was processed and shipped in a timely manner and was delivered in perfect condition. A perfect buying experience.

After years of fiddling with difficult sonatas and other random pieces I realized I was getting nowhere fast with the piano. Working off of some basic skills aquired from a year of piano in the second grade and 7 years of cello in school orchestra, I knew I could easily teach myself if given the right material to build on. After much searching I came across First Lessons in Bach and never looked back! The first few pieces were just at my level and were short and easy repertoire builders. Its been 3-4 months and I have already memorized the first of two books, playing memorized pieces with ease and joy! All songs are short, sweet, and full of musical wisdom. This book has changed my entire approach to the piano.

The piano book "First Lessons in Bach" came quickly as usual; I can trust the store.com for most of my online purchases. I will definately order more piano books from the store. It was exactly what I was looking for. I don't expect to find heavy covers and large print, but this one was easy to read. The cover is fine and the price is right. As a church pianist and organist, I have been through my share of Schirmer's music books, and this one is just as reliable as the others I have in my collection.

I have played guitar and organ for many years reading melody line and cord line. To play keyboard (piano) reading the bass clef is required. "First lessons in Bach" is an excellent introduction. A note to music publishers: If two lines were placed between the staffs the lower clef would be like the upper down two octaves, making it simpler to learn to read. The third line above the upper staff (e) could be placed on a slightly longer line indicating the bottom line of a new staff

Alfred Larson
Flowery Branch, GA

When playing classic guitar, I usually play baroque to enhance my musical skill. The nature of baroque music makes each note play clearly, and most of them are dance, require playing with energetic. So I planned to play baroque after completing first book of John Thomson.

Having seen reviews of this book, I decided to buy one. I can play minuet in G already. The second piece, minuet in G min look not too hard. Beginner can benefit from these pieces.

At begin of each piece, it has a note of the practicing objective. The playing mark is also very detail, every staccato is marked. There are fingering too.

The pieces themselves are great, but product came with a large vertical crease down the middle as though it had been folded in half and therefore does not lie flat well. I got the spiral bound version.

never having been a pianist of any quality (i learned what i know of piano 30 years ago in music theory classes in atlanta), and being unfortunately retired (meaning easily bored), i bought a midi keyboard, the chopin nocturnes (which i used to play !) and this book. the chopin nocturnes are still a bit beyond me, but the easy bach is great - to the point i am recording variations on the famous bouree for multitrack midi in garageband on my imac here. wish for more, of course. then, back to chopin !

Let me start with an embarrassing admission. I've been playing piano for nearly thirty years. I'm intermediate. I can tackle some intermediate/advanced material, like Michael Nyman's pieces from The Piano. But when I took lessons years ago (only four years), I never took scales or classical music seriously. Thus, I can play pop rock, soundtrack music, and certain expressive classical pieces, but solid, finger-strengthening, mind-puzzling classical pieces I avoided.

Now, at thirty-eight, I'm starting over, and I'm embarrassed to say that I really need to practice these pieces! They make my mind work. I need to concentrate on fingering. I'm proud to be humbled because I'd love to work my way up to playing Bach inventions, variations, preludes and stuff, but I never had the background or training. These simple pieces, designed for young pupils, are great for old or young. They are "songs" in their own right, so you won't be bored. And they subtly introduce all matters of technique (stuff that I never got or never took seriously). I cannot recommend more highly this "First Lessons" book as a place to begin. Once you make it through this book (both Book 1 and Book 2), you'll be ready to tackle more challenging pieces found elsewhere.

This book is well made, the printing is good quality and easy to read. It's a large format book (30cm x 22cm) and because it's thin (only 40 pages) it sits perfectly on the music stand. Based on this book I'm likely to buy other Schirmer books.

I really enjoyed this book. Coming back to piano after 20 years of not playing, I found it just the right level of challenge (as a teenager I had gotten as far as grade 9 RC) and fun to revisit many songs I played as a youth.

With such emphasis placed on piano methods these days, it's easy to forget that old standards, like these little Bach pieces, provide rich musical material for students. I highly recommend infusing the young pianist's curriculum with Bach.

Compared with other BACH piano books, the arrangement in this book is superior. Schirmer has done a great job on composing each Bach number in this book. Highly recommend for piano students who are interested in Bach.

Not what the publisher claims. If you want the real story of this tome, google 'Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach' before you purchase it. Not that it's a bad purchase for a beginner, but I dislike publishers who lie to make a sale. Wikipedia has a good explanation of 'Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach', what it truly was and insight into the Bach family.

The Schirmer series of books are an excellent introduction to the classics for one learning the piano. The compositions are arranged to ease much of the complexity that is generally found in the original compositions giving the beginner a chance to learn pieces they have heard but normally wouldn't be able to tackle without more years of practice and skill-building. I would say a student would need at least a year or two of lessons, practice and skill-building before tackling the compositions in the Schirmer books.

Compared with other BACH piano books, the arrangement in this book is superior. Schirmer has done a great job on composing each Bach number in this book. Highly recommend for piano students who are interested in Bach.

Not what the publisher claims. If you want the real story of this tome, google 'Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach' before you purchase it. Not that it's a bad purchase for a beginner, but I dislike publishers who lie to make a sale. Wikipedia has a good explanation of 'Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach', what it truly was and insight into the Bach family.