How to Play the Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What music is and how to make it at home | by Waed Cannel and Fred Marx | Piano Method Book for Beginners | Easy Visual Music Theory Concepts | Pianists

by Ward Cannel (Composer), Fred Marx (Composer)

(Instructional). This method is a truly entertaining approach to learning how to play the piano. Written by Ward Cannel of the Piano Consortium, the method breaks down music theory into visual concepts which are fun and easy to grasp, so you can learn to play the music you want to play! Perfect for those piano lesson dropouts!

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

239 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Lenin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that's exactly as the title says - you're expected to have some experience on the piano, and more important, basic music theory knowledge. It's even better if you have been frustrated with the traditional approach to learning music for years and THEN read this book. It's only then that a greater appreciation of this book arises and you start thinking about the 'rebellious' ideas that this book presents in some places (scales not important?)

The writers don't undermine the importance of practice and trial and error. They don't claim to help you play and make your own music within weeks or months by just knowing the 'techniques' presented but their shared knowledge along with your execution in your own 'style' will certainly help your musical side grow in leaps and bounds!

On Amazon, along with the review of this book I found the mention of 'Effortless Mastery' book by Kenny Werner. That too is a great read and adds to the understanding that in the end, music is what YOU think is music - as long as you do it with confidence / faith.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book from a piano teaching perspective and got some practical ideas for working with those students who hate looking at the music and just want to be able to play songs they like without practicing much.

It's still difficult for me to accept the idea that practicing scales is not important, but the author made a good argument for it. It's true that most people aren't playing the piano to be concert pianists.

I gave this book four stars because as much as it broke musical myths and presented some useful perspectives that you don't hear often, I think it underestimated the utility of music theory too much. I'm more in the mindset of "once you know all the rules you can break them" when it comes to theory. You have to admit, if you know theory, you're going to learn something faster with that base than if you know nothing about music. This even leads back to the author's proposition that if you know the idea that organizes facts, you memorize them faster. I don't think theory just clutters your brain with things you never actually use. Yes, maybe there shouldn't be such an emphasis on it for certain people learning to play, but it's still a key part of the formula in learning how to make music. The author claims it's not important, but then pretty much goes on to teach it using simple terms.

Also, I wasn't a fan of the writing style. At first it was funny and conversational, but after a while it got annoying and I just wanted to cut to the chase. I realized I could've just read the "in a nutshell" sections for most of the book and gotten the information I needed.

Great book if you'd like to learn how to better improvise and play by ear. Loved the chord sections. Definitely learned some new stuff despite years of piano lessons.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need to come back to this one.

[Phil Thibodeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best instructional book for music theory I’ve read. Understandable and creatively freeing. Highly recommend.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully intriguing thesis. Instead of just teaching chord playing, this book teaches harmonic theory without ever using those words. Alas, I never got around to trying it out enough to judge whether it works in teaching a printed music reading person to be able to improvise from the melody line or not. I just didn't make enough time to try it out adequately.

[Neal Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while a book comes along that changes your life beyond anything you could have imagined. For me this is one of those books.