An excellent introduction to piano playing and sight-reading at the same time. ( )

How to Play the Piano by James Rhodes takes the task of learning to play the piano and both breaks it down and offers an achievable reward. The hope, of course, is that the reward will encourage the reader/student to continue learning and progressing.

First, the act of playing the piano is broken down into easy-to-digest chunks that have as their goal the ability to play a specific piece of music. The foundations here are the same ones needed for further study but some basic elements are mentioned but set aside because they aren't needed for this piece. I find this a wonderful pedagogical strategy. Limit overload while keeping focus. Rely on the reward, playing a beautiful piece of music, to get students to want to learn more.

Second, the use of a relatively simple piece as the goal makes this something that almost every student will be able to do if they have any interest at all in playing the piano. Being able to see, well, hear the result in a relatively short period of time likely will make many hesitant students decide the future rewards will be worth the future efforts. Rhodes never makes it sound like you are learning everything you need. He mentions what he is glossing over and that, should you choose to learn more, you'll learn that. As the piece builds so too does the student's confidence.

I would recommend this to anyone who has ever considered learning a musical instrument and in particular the piano. I would also suggest this as something a parent might want to get for a child who is on the fence about playing. This is something that can be used as a short term challenge with the idea that the child can decide after completing it whether they want to continue. Some will no doubt say no but those who say yes will be continuing based on their own decision and not that of the parents.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )