A great new collection of original jazz studies and study pieces, spanning a host of jazz idioms from blues, big band, gospel, ballad and traditional styles. These carefully composed studies show a broad range of techniques including left and right hand chord shapes, larger hand stretches, more complex rhythms, blue notes, ornaments and chromatic phrasing. Book 1 introduces swing rhythms, anticipation and syncopation. Book 2 introduces repeated harmonic patterns combined with heavy melodic and rhythmic improvisation.

Basic Library
Because Hanon's studies are so important, editors Allan Small and Morton Manus have compiled this crucial edition with early intermediate-level students in mind: the exercises are cut in half, hands are placed two octaves apart and eighth notes are substituted for the original sixteenths. Junior Hanon includes the complete Book 1 and excerpts from Books 2 and 3 of C. L. Hanon's famous studies, The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, arranged in a simplified and condensed format. Alfred's Junior Hanon now makes Hanon's work accessible to most students.

Basic Library
After acquiring basic reading skills, students at the late elementary level are ready to begin this innovative series designed to emphasize artistry in the early stages of piano study. The series introduces basic technical skills and expands the student's knowledge of style, form and artistic ideas. The Technique books give students a verbal vocabulary by describing 12 basic technical skills and accompaniment patterns needed to play music artistically and with technical assurance. They also explain these skills in detail (i.e. elastic wrist, two-note slurs, finger independence) and offer exercises to master them. Most of the technical skills in Level 1 involve the use of arm weight. The twelve basic technical skills covered in Level 2 are elastic wrist, strong fingers, wrist rotation, two-note slurs, balancing torso and forearm, finger independence, slurs, forearm staccato, push-off staccato, rolling wrist, arm-to-arm independence and damper pedal technique. Most of the skills in Level 2 involve pivoting the arm. Among other things, Level 3 covers distribution of arm weight and opening/closing the hand in Hanon exercises, arpeggios, and scales. The Repertoire books provide original music by Catherine Rollin, and employ the technical skills taught in the Technique books.

Discovering your own musical creativity can be tough. This series is your answer! Students of all ages and levels will find Pattern Play an exciting way to develop their improvisational skills. The five volumes in the series provide an organized collection of patterns from which music can be created. By playing within these patterns, students will quickly learn to improvise in a wide variety of styles. In the first book, scales, modes, intervals and chords are introduced. The next four levels build on the foundation introduced in the first book. Theory is also emphasized in this series, making it a wonderful supplement to any piano method and teaching curriculum.

Basic Library
Simply place this CD Sheet Music CD-ROM into your Windows or Macintosh computer and instantly, you have a comprehensive collection of exercises and etudes at your fingertips, from easy to virtuosic, by a variety of composers including Hanon, Czerny, Cramer, Gurlitt, Pischna, and more. Great works from publishers such as Breitkopf and Haertel, Peters, G. Schirmer, Ricordi and others are available to browse or print at your leisure. All of the scores are public domain and come with a letter stating that you need no special permission to use them, so you can print as many copies as you'd like. It's a tremendous value.

Aloys Schmitt is best remembered for his Op. 16 exercises. The collection is divided into three sections. The first aids students in developing finger independence through a variety of single and double-note patterns within the range of a fifth. The second section emphasizes passing the thumb under fingers to prepare for scales and arpeggios. The final section provides traditional scales and arpeggios in a notated format with fingering.

This one collection contains the complete Op. 299 (Books 1 & 2) of Carl Czerny. They're the more advanced of Czerny's best-known exercises and emphasize the development of rapid passage work for both hands. Includes historical and performance notes, easy-to-read new music engraving and a brilliant CD demonstrating possible tempos to which students may aspire. A new book in the Schirmer Performance Editions series.

Sportacular Warmups combines sports and music into progressive finger "workouts." Each book contains material designed to strengthen the fingers, increase flexibility, and help the student master the many technical skills needed to perform. Students can relate the musical exercise to a similar activity in the five sport areas: basketball (i.e. fouls and overtime), baseball (i.e. slow curve), track and field (i.e. hurdles), extreme adventure sports (i.e. skateboarding), and soccer (i.e. charging and head ball). Each section ends with a solo made up of exercises from that section, making for an excellent review. The series progresses from the early elementary level (Book 1) to the intermediate level (Book 4).

Every intermediate through advanced-level student should have a copy of this 96-page volume! It combines the best technical exercises and etudes from a variety of composers including Hanon, Schmitt, Liszt, Cramer, Moszkowski, Pischna, Brahms, Wieck, Philipp, Bertini and Rachmaninoff. Editors Valerie Cisler and Maurice Hinson have arranged the book into eleven parts in progressive order: scales; chords; arpeggios; speed, agility and finger independence; even tone between the hands; double notes; trills; repeated notes; rotation; alternating hands and chromatic patterns. Each part is packed with a wide variety of exercises and etudes. Advancing pianists who work from beginning to end of the volume will surely acquire a solid technical base.

Pianist and pedagogue Dr. Matthew Edwards has edited this new volume in the Schirmer Performance Library. Czerny's studies in opus 849 provide a convenient bridge between the Practical Method for Beginners, Op. 599 and The School of Velocity, Op. 299. The studies are presented as legitimate literature, emphasizing their musical potential, in conjunction with their technical benefit. Included is a complete CD with all the works in the collection, performed by Dr. Edwards.