The Piano Handbook: Mastering Piano

The complete guide for appreciating and mastering the piano, its history, and its music--with a unique integrated approach to playing pop, jazz, and classical piano styles.
Play, improvise, and compose in a variety of styles
Includes full-color history of the piano plus an audio CD.
Hardcover with spiral binding makes the book both durable and easy to use on the piano's music rest.
Ideal for beginners as well as established players who wish to broaden their knowledge.
Full-color photo gallery illustrates the history of the piano and its essential recordings.
The Piano Handbook is a comprehensive guide to owning, playing, and appreciating the piano and its varied repertoire. The heart of the book is a comprehensive course in playing all the major styles: classical, jazz, rock, Latin, and contemporary. The clear and easy-to-understand exercises make it suitable for beginners as well as being invaluable for established players ready to broaden their knowledge. Complementing this, a full-color photo gallery celebrates the history of the piano and its essential recordings.
The Piano Handbook provides progressive instruction in all areas of technique, including posture, fingering, pedalling, scales, and exercises. Taking an original and fresh approach to the piano, author Carl Humphries shows different genres' common ground and shared history. Performance, improvisation, and composition are explored as interrelated skills that can be learned together. Featuring a mix of repertoire and freshly composed study pieces, this book and its audio CD of selected examples and pieces will show you how learning different kinds of music at the same time can be a positive and enriching experience. You will discover how classical piano technique and musicianship can inspire creative approaches to composing and improvising across a wide variety of styles. The audio CD brings techniques and concepts to life. The Piano Handbook prepares you not just to play, but to perform -- and not just as a pianist, but also as a complete musician.