Quiet Classics

By Keith Snell

This book endlessly enthralls me as a player. I keep coming back to it and aim to play through it all.

I pretty much love all the pieces in this book and hold it close to my heart. Let's put it this way...if my house was on fire this would be included in the few things I would grab before I had to leave the house.

First of all, the book is spiral-bound, so that's a plus! Has a great selection of classical/Romantic pieces; some are short and others are long. I esp. liked how the editor arranged the pieces into Groups/ "sets" and there are bout 15 pieces in each set. Every...

'classic' piece someone would want to hear is in it, like "Fur Elise", Chopin Nocturnes; even a waltz I haven't heard before but is really short. Recommend for those students with a generally good reading level; also could be used with a student throughout the years, so they can grow and learn a new piece with the ones in there already by different composers. All in original form, they aren't watered down too much. Love the back pages, where it has "America the Beautiful" & "Happy Birthday" written out, in case you have to be the one to lead everyone in song! (Can transpose to different keys) Unexpected and thoughtful to add those, as usually, the pianist is asked last minute, "Can you play happy birthday?"

Keith Snell’s Quiet Classics is very close to my heart and I would never want to be without it. It’s so useful to find such a wonderful collection of gems, such as the Andante from Beethoven’s Sonata op. 79 (a movement I have always thought of as...

Beethoven’s Venetian Boat Song) as well as the charming A minor waltz op post. by Chopin (the less well-known one in this key) the haunting Notturno by Grieg and Of Foreign Lands and People by Schumann. So many of my pupils have adored this book, and I recommend it on my website. The spiral binding is a great plus, the printing is clear and the notes are a comfortable-to-read size. Like other collections edited by Keith Snell it has a very attractive cover which makes it a particularly nice present. A winner!

This book is great for playing at dinners, weddings, etc. Places where people want lovely classical music that doesn't intrude upon conversation. There are many excellent classics in here. The whole book takes about 2 hours to play through and the transition from piece to piece (if you play...

it in order) goes to closely related keys.