First Showtunes

First published in 1954 John Thompson’s Easiest Piano Course is one of the most-loved and best-selling piano methods in the world. John Thompson’s timeless approach to teaching has been trusted by generations of teachers to start millions of students on their musical journey. This book includes 15 repertoire pieces to complement the Easiest Piano Course helping to reinforce basic technique develop musicality and increase the enjoyment of learning. These simplified arrangements are also ideal sight-reading practice for more advanced pupils. With a great selection of showtunes including Can You Feel The Love Tonight Chitty ChittyBang Bang A Whole New World and many more there’s something in First Showtunes for every beginner pianist to enjoy!

If you've heard jazz guitarists like Joe Pass play chord melody you may think that the style requires an encyclopedic knowledge of music theory musical super-powers or making a deal with the devil. But fear not! This bookwill show you how to create your own satisfying chord melody arrangements on the Mandolin...and will do so in a practical applicable way.'Aaron Weinstein has many musical accomplishments. I am very proud to have playeda small part with some of them. When he was only 12 he made his first recordings and asked me to play Mandolin on them. I was knocked out to encounter someone that young that was conversant in both old-time or contest fiddling andJoe Venuti style jazz. Not long after that Aaron became interested in the Mandolin and chords and he came by every so often to play and discuss voicings improvisation and the like. I showed him some of the Jethro Burns chordmelody arrangements that Jethro showed me. I've been teaching those for decades in hopes of one day playing them smoothly myself!Fast forward a few more years and Aaron has a Berklee degree traveled the worldplaying hot Violin music and is hobnobbing with the greatest NYC jazz stars. And oh yeah one other thing: he took the art of chord-melody Mandolin style to an entirely new level! The rich harmonies of the standard jazz and showtune repertoire the swinging bass lines and connecting chords and independent voice movements (doing more than one thing at a time) are all present in Aaron's style thanks to his great ear open mind and gift at locating thingson the fretboard. And now Aaron has documented explained and shared his discoveries and approach with all of us in this book. Thank you Aaron!This is truly a step-by-step method that you will enjoy. You'll findyourself saying 'oh of course!' as the author gets you playing and understanding things that sound very detailed and complex. The first section I would call the mandolinistic stuff: the how-to on getting things moving and