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Joined: Nov 2010
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OP
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Hello,
What are some good books or favorite books anyone has on pianos or music?
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Joined: Nov 2009
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That covers a lot of ground.....  It could help if you narrowed it down, or mentioned some particular areas that you're interested in. Meanwhile......my #1 would be "The Great Pianists" by Harold Schonberg. Along with a few hundred others.
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On my piano, there is a small notebook and a copy of Die Kunst der Fuge, and both of those are favourites of mine. I don't always know what books are on other people's pianos. To such a general question, it's hard to give a good answer. Do you mean how to build pianos, or how to play them, how to fix them ... it could be a lot of things.
(I'm a piano teacher.)
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Is a violin close enough? I'm reading A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George at the moment (on my Kindle).
Yamaha AvantGrand N3 | Roland RD 2000 | Sennheiser HD 598 headphones
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A good general book on piano playing, pianism and anything pianistic (including the trials & tribulations of being a concert pianist) is Charles Rosen's 'Piano Notes'. He wears his authority lightly and has a very readable style.
"I don't play accurately - anyone can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life."
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That covers a lot of ground..... It could help if you narrowed it down, or mentioned some particular areas that you're interested in. Well wasnt really looking for anything specific. Just wanted to know different opinions.
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An extremely good and free piano buyer guide on pianos and determining their quality is an actual side link on this site PianoBuyer
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Eyewitness Books: Music
heck yeah.
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The discovery of Heaven, it's on my piano now.
Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heure, but not anymore!
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One of my favourites; The Big Problem of Small Organs* no longer on top of my piano due to undue attention that the title received.
Otherwise I second Mark C's vote for "The Great Pianists" by Harold Schonberg.
*I had no practical use for a technical manual on organ building although I do love old books, so I gave it to a (male) family Member.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/cloud.gif) Composers manufacture a product that is universally deemed superfluous—at least until their music enters public consciousness, at which point people begin to say that they could not live without it. Alex Ross.
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One of my favourites; The Big Problem of Small Organs* ..... uh........uh................ 
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You can find many good suggestions in this thread.
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Modern books I would suggest are - Kenneth Baker books on piano Hanon Exercises for technique Really easy piano books - you get a wide selection of categories, and have lots of popular tunes in http://www.musicroom.com/Search/Find.aspx?searchtext=pop+songs+on+piano Basic Blues for Piano
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I just finished reading "A Romance on Three Legs - Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano" by Katie Hafner.
Not a demanding book and quite entertaining.
Jose
Kawai K5 - Kawai CA61
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There are tons of phenomenal books, I can't argue with any choices on any of the threads on the subject.
The following books are not exactly intro-level, but they really capture the vibe of what it's like to be in the field, or at least to struggle with various pianistic issues.
I find Piano Pieces by Russell Sherman to be the single most inspiring and resonating book on the piano that I have read. I also found practical advice from Ralph Kirkpatrick's Interpreting Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. It might be a bit out-of date, but it describes a method that I can sometimes adapt for use while working on other composer's music.
And out of left field, someone gifted me with a copy of The Beauty of Gesture (The invisible Keyboard of Piano & T'ai Chi) by Catherine David. A book that I first dismissed as self-absorbed gobbledy-gook - and kinda hard to read due to translation - but I'm starting to appreciate the fact that any attempt to describe the ephemeral with things that are concrete as words should be applauded.
Last edited by Gerard12; 11/18/10 01:35 PM.
Piano instruction and performance
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Dieter Hildebrandt: 'Pianoforte'
Konrad Wolff: 'Masters of the keyboard'
Harvey Sachs: 'Arthur (sic) Rubinstein'
Harold Schonberg: 'The great pianists'
'Vladimir Horowitz'
Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heure, but not anymore!
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books on piano? well, I don't like put books on my grand piano...
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And out of left field, someone gifted me with a copy of The Beauty of Gesture (The invisible Keyboard of Piano & T'ai Chi) by Catherine David. A book that I first dismissed as self-absorbed gobbledy-gook - and kinda hard to read due to translation - but I'm starting to appreciate the fact that any attempt to describe the ephemeral with things that are concrete as words should be applauded. I've got that book too. It's weird and, as you say, left field but I really enjoyed it.
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