A First Book of Classical Music: 29 Themes by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Other Great Composers in Easy Piano Arrangements

by Bergerac and Annabeth Albert

These fun-to-play, pedagogically sound piano arrangements include themes from Beethoven's Ode to Joy and Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze, along with such favorites as Schumann's Trumerei, Brahms'... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486410927
• ISBN13: 9780486410920
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.2" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

This is a great book for beginners to get aquainted with the classics. I teach piano lessons and I'll use this one over and over for recitals! I usually like to see the music before I buy but I took and chance on this one and it paid off. I hope to try other Bergerac books.

Love it!

This is a great book for a piano student. It allows them to enjoy true music while learning how to play fairly easy pieces. These aren't little dittys made up to teach notes. It is classical music. Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster, Traumerei by Robert Schumann and The Happy Farmer by Robert Schumann are my favorite pieces. They are a joy to learn and play! This music makes you WANT to practice. I also recommend My First Book of Christmas Carols as well.

This book makes me sound GOOD!

One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn't stick with my piano lessons when I was a child. I took for about three years, never practiced, and basically, have to struggle through most arrangements, usually with only the right hand. This book, however, makes me feel like a virtuoso! The book includes familiar sections of well-known classical pieces. Each one is done in a very simple arrangement that somehow still captures the essence of the original composition. I am able to sit down and sight-read most of the pieces without too much difficulty, and within a week or so of practicing, even my husband (a true musician) admits that I don't sound too bad. The book is easy enough that I don't get frustrated, yet challenging enough to give me a sense of accomplishment. I highly recommend it to anyone who's taken lessons for about 3 to 4 years.

Great book for a beginner and also parent-child learning

I'm re-learning piano with my 5 year old, and playing music from this book was easy and entertaining for me. It got my child really interested in the music.

Great fun for Adult Beginner!!

I am an adult beginner and I'm teaching myself. This book has fun and easy arrangements to songs that you may already know the melody to. It's good for the adult beginner that is ready for their second book after getting down the basics. You should know how to read the notes (at least figure them out) in the bass and treble clef. It's a good book because you can probably play these songs right away, and you'll feel like you're really playing something, that otherwise would take years and years to accomplish. It's much better that playing kiddie songs. It has easy, short, two-hand abbreviated arrangements of classic's such as Nocturne by Chopin; Minuet by Bach; Ode to Joy by Beethovan; Minuet in G by Beethovan; Hungarian Dance by Brahms; Rondo in C by Clementi; From The New World by Dvorak; Sarabande by Handel; Sonta in C by Haydn; Suprise Symphony by Haydn and others.