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What’s books have you in your piano collection?

I buy piano books frequently obviously to play but I like a large collection too. I have Chopin Waltzes, Nocturnes, Preludes, Mazurkas, Ballades, Etudes, Beethoven Bagatelles, Sonatas Volume 1, Mozart Sonatas Volume 2, Field Nocturnes, Bach inventions, French suites, Clementi sonatinas, Scott Joplin Complete Rags.

What have you got in your piano library, ? Pics would be useful to!

I have around 25 times what you listed.

Please realize that some of us have been buying music for years, decades even! So my collection would be far too long to list!

Regards,

Same with me as well.

Some of us are old, and have lots of music. I do want all of the standard repertoire up to 1900, and quite a lot of C20 music as well. There's still quite a bit to collect.

I need three shelves. Each shelf can hold 300 books.

For some common teaching pieces, I have multiple editions of the same piece. I think I have eight different editions of Rondo alla turca--three urtext editions and five anthologies of various quality. Minute Waltz, Fantasie-Impromptu, and a bunch of sonatinas suffer the same fate.

I started building my collection of piano books in 1955 (age 8). Primarily method books (Thompson, Schaum, Bilbro, etc) and some easy stuff my grandmother had in her piano bench. But the following year a casual family acquaintance gave me a collection of classical music she had purchased while studying piano in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia in the late 1920s/early 1930s...all the Mozart and Beethoven Sonatas, Chopin Mazurkas, the late piano works of Brahms, assorted works by Liszt, etudes by Kohler and Heller, etc. The Brahms and Beethoven volumes were in poor shape when I received them and eventually fell apart over the decades. Everything else is still in fair to good condition given its age. The books certainly provided inspiration for an aspiring pianist - and I find it hard to believe that I've been carrying them around for almost 65 years !! I just noticed that the name of the bookshop where the Liszt volume was purchased in 1930 is imprinted on the back of the book - BARVIC & NOVOTNY, in Brno, Czechoslovakia - founded in 1883 and still in business today. Amazing.

I have between 25 and 30 feet of shelf space devoted to sheet music, stored vertically.

I thought this was going to be about a collection of pianos...

The same is true for me. My list of scores takes up 524 rows in an Excel document which includes multiple editions by different publishers.

I expanded my collection of scores quite economically by shopping in used book stores.

I have 2 of those in my house, plus another that I have lent to a chorus.

Ditto all the above.

I've been buying scores for 50 years, so like others I have a lot. I like having multiple editions for comparison purposes. I usually work from urtext editions, which may or may not include fingerings, so I like to see what other editors do. Also, I love to read all the urtext commentary, which of course varies from urtext to urtext.

Even the heavily and idiosyncratically edited Schirmer editions have interesting fingerings and occasionally interesting editorial dynamic markings. When I was first learning, all we had was Schirmer (that dates me!) I had no idea back then that Schirmer gave free reign to their editors (almost always famous pianists) to doctor up the score to reflect their individual performance practice.

I think that makes Schirmer editions interesting. Once I have a good edition, I love looking through the more heavily edited ones. Fingerings can be fascinating in some editions as well.

Hmmm I am a beginner w private weekly lessons . My teacher in nearly two years has not given me any books!
He gave me two sheets of paper that was the entire Hanon Book one. Everything else is given to me and he doesn’t want me to buy any books w/o his approval. I did sneak out and bought a boogie Woogie. book. Big mistake as it is way above my level.
He also teaches like Mr Miyagi. I have no clue why he gives me certain things until months later. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks.
I trust him as he is an accomplished jazz pianist, still studies classical w a teacher older than he is. My teacher is 78 grouchy w little bedside manners.
However, I have learned how to extract knowledge from some of the most challenging teachers. I am nearly 74 and have some empathy.
I read on the forums about Alfred and other books. Sometime I do wonder if I’m missing out on anything?

There's a big world out there! My formal lessons stopped when I was 14. I did not enjoy the formality and restricted repertoire I was given. From then until now at 72, I collect and play sheet and book music of all genre. I suggest you play music that you have heard and like. Your teacher has no authority to prevent you doing this. Take care when buying books not to buy "big note easy play" ones, or ones marked "Intermediate" or "Advanced" level.

Ian

Interesting question! I have:
Complete Brahms urtext box set
Complete Haydn urtext box set
Beethoven sonatas utext box set
Bach preludes and fugues
Debussy preludes and images
Rachmaninov preludes
Albaniz Iberia and espana
Schubert impromptus
Random collections of Chopin, Liszt, moskowski and Rachmaninov
Grieg concerto, saint saens 2nd concerto, rhapsody in blue, Brahms concertos

Very much a reflection of pieces I learned over the years - I would try to buy a volume rather than individual pieces where possible. And some things were just aspirational purchases 😀