Big Time Piano , Level 4 - Popular - Brief Article - Book Review

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2004 by Rebecca Grooms Johnson

by Nancy and Randall Faber. The FJH Music Company, Inc. (2525 Davie Rd., Ste. 360, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33317-7424), 2003. 40pp. $6.95. Intermediate.

The Fabers have added a new Popular book to their Big Time series of supplementary literature. This book is in the intermediate, level-four difficulty range. The tunes cover a wide spectrum of styles and origins, including an arrangement of the Pachelbel Canon (transposed to C major), two Beatles songs, the 12th Street Rag, "Send in the Clowns," the main themes from Stars Wars and Superman, and additional songs from The Lion King and The Lord of the Rings. The pages are clean, easy to read, contain pedaling suggestions and have an appropriate use of finger numbers. The difficulty level is a good range, with some songs more difficult than others, but all within a level-four expectation. Chord symbols are given above the score throughout the book.

Using supplementary books such as this can be a great pupil saver for intermediate students experiencing the increasing demands of school work and extracurricular activities on their practice time. These songs also serve a pedagogical purpose with rhythms that are much more complex and syncopated than most of the classical literature at this level. These types of books can be problematic, however, if the student only wishes to play the songs they know. Just this semester, I was astonished when the majority of my college piano class of music majors did not know "Michelle" by the Beatles. I would be surprised if the majority of youthful intermediate students are familiar with "Lean on Me," "Music Box Dancer" or several other songs in this book. However, if the student is willing to learn them as a new song, I think he or she would find them attractive and fun to play.

Rebecca Grooms Johnson, Columbus, Ohio.