Before you read the post in its entirety, do know that there are giveaways for PianoBookClub’ers and non-PianoBookClub’ers alike 🙂
If you’re a member of PianoBookClub, then you already know that Trevor and I release a new piano book to our members every single month.
Which means that, just last year, we released 12 different piano books for kids and teens, for a total of 80+ piano pieces!
Now, as is the case with our children, Trevor and I love all of our PianoBookClub books equally. But we often wonder… what are your favorites? Or, if you’re not already a member, which ones would most likely be your favourites?
So we figured… we might as well ask!
And since it’s the season of award shows we decided to ask you to vote for your favorite PianoBookClub books from 2015 in a series of “Award” categories.
Why this is much more than an “Awards” Post…
As you probably guessed, this post isn’t so much about the awards as it is about getting your feedback and using it to guide the direction of PianoBookClub through 2016 and beyond.
And when we say beyond, we mean waaaaay beyond. The coming years of PianoBookClub will see the release of some of our most inventive titles to date (our “brainstorm book” currently has 173 potential titles just waiting to be brought to life!)
But right now… let’s get on with the voting!
Below we have included the title page images of each of the 12 books that we released in 2015. In the comments section at the very bottom of this post, we would like you to tell us these three things:
- Which book from 2015 was your favorite?
- Which book from 2015 was your students’ favorite?
- Which book from 2015 was most useful to your piano students’ development?
And hey! If you’re not already a PianoBookClub member you can still participate! In the comments section below tell us…
- Which book would get the most use in your studio?
From all of the people who comment, five current PianoBookClub’ers and three not-yet-PianoBookClub’ers will be selected at random to receive their choice of three PianoBookClub books published within the last two years (and if you already have them all… we’ll find three different Teach Piano Today products for you!) 🙂
And the Nominees Are:
Note: The books below were released in 2015 and are now retired. However, every month (in addition to a new release) we bring one book out of retirement and make it available for purchase by current PianoBookClub members only.
I am bridging your two categories, having only just become a pianobookclub member – literally only one book so far! So, my feedback is that I found ‘the pop waltz prophecy’ wonderful – it totally appeals to my teenagers who yearn after anything in the same vein as ‘river flows in you’. It also provides a fantastic way to expand on left hand chording.
I would like to have more duets for elementary level kids to play together (loved ‘bluesy kids’) and I would love to have joined in time to have accessed the one you released for student and ‘not so musical mate’ (sorry, I can’t remember the title).
I also loved your recent Christmas ones – they were my inspiration to join.
Thank you, as always.. Elaine
I am a not-yet pianobookclub member, but am planning to upgrade this year! I want to get Intervalactic for some of my boys students – kids love space age stuff!
Thanks
Sully
I just showed some of my boy students Intervalactic along with Fearless Fortissimo… they couldn’t believe that I had found this music that was all in comic book and video game style. There was some real excitement over them.
Thanks so much as always for really inspiring repertoire – I have been a subscriber since the beginning of the piano book club and dip into your repertoire literally every day! My students’ favourite this year was Arranmore, my teenage girls went mad for it! My favourite was the Beatbox Manifesto to get my students really working on keeping to a steady beat! I can’t wait to see some more of those potential titles come to life over the coming months. You really are an inspiration for my lessons. Josie
For my younger kids it’s Nuts about Note Reading and for my older ones the Pop Waltz Prophecy – hands down!
I received 7 of the books, so this isn’t for the full year, and I only have beginning students, BUT I loved all the books, especially Silverscreen Playbook, my students loved Nuts about Notereading, and I think they are all really great teaching tools, especially Intervalactic and Vamp Battles. Like Elaine says, duets for beginners would be great! Thank you so much for everything you do! I am always so excited to get my book each month!
Dear Andrea & Trevor – I have to say it again – I love your ideas! I would long since have become a member, BUT I´m working in Germany – & SO many of your ideas are either not really possible to translate in a lively way – or the ideas themselves wouldn´t go over too well here. I´m not saying the Germans don´t have a sense of humour! But the cheeky humour of “My Teacher thinks I´m practising” just wouldn´t go over – ESPECIALLY not in translated form…I COVET your teen books, though! (Guardians & Popwaltz). I have to vote for 3 Ships – the all-time favourite of my students – interestingly enough, not ONE of them was familiar with the original song.
I’ve only been a member for the last three books, which are all great! This is how I would categorise them:
1. Vamp Battles was my favourite
2. Intervalactic was my students favourite
3. Pop Waltz Prophecy is definitely the most useful for development, with all those lovely left hand accompaniment patterns!
I, too, bridge both groups, since I was a subscriber and have since quit. Of the books I received (Beatbox Manifesto-Tinker) Mutterwump Masterpiece was the best. My students mostly don’t read music well enough to play the other books, and the ones that do read music that well already have more music than they know what to do with.
I use the early elementary level of Fearless Fortissimo a lot and would appreciate more music like that and the Mutterwump Masterpiece- pieces I can use to bridge the gap between Ode to Joy and the easy part of Fur Elise. More duets would also be awesome!
“Vamp Battles” was AMAZING!! My last recital featured 4 of the duets!! Thank you!! Also, “Three Ships” was an instant hit in my studio. I would LOVE to have more books geared toward the teen level—late intermediate to advanced. Thanks !!!
The silver screen book and ninja. I missed Aranmore and beatbox and they looks very intersting too.
I loves the Guardians of Arranmore for my older students. I love how they sound harder than they are. I get continued use of them. The singleton “in the woods” was wonderful as well. The book that gets the most use might actually be from 2014 but I have to mention ” me and my not so musical mates”! I use this book with beginner students as duets and I get lots of use with bring a friend to lessons week and parent participation week! My students also enjoyed the mutterwump masterpiece! Thanks for these resources!
We’ve all gone nuts over “Nuts About Note Reading” at my piano. The kids love it and so do I! This one book happens to cover all 3 categories.
But just for fun…2nd place is “The Guardians of Arranmore” ( for 1 and 2)
3- “My Piano Teacher Thinks She’s a Ninja” ( We love Ted Tales over here as well, and are ready for more! My students never let me forget Ted Tales.)
“
Vamp Battles is the coolest idea ever! My teens really get into it. That’s my pick, but you can’t really go wrong with any of them!
1. Vamp Battles is probably my favorite. I would love to see more creative duet ideas like this! My younger kids would love it too 🙂
2. My little kids love Nuts About Note Reading. I have a little 6-year-old autistic boy who is whip smart and has the most adorable voice. He read the Sheldon part of the book to me and it was so adorable! He’ll be switching to Dudley Dormouse this week 🙂
3. I’m going to have to go with Intervalactic for this one because it helped save my 12-year-old beginner who is obsessed with video games. I spend a LOT of time reinforcing intervals with students so this was a great book! I would love to have more Game Club games that focus on reading intervals too. 🙂
Although I am not a member, I have students (Middle School age boys) who I KNOW would eat up “The Guardians of Aaranmore” just from the title and the artwork alone. And if it contains parallel 5ths in the left hand, they would be rendered speechless.
Which book from 2015 was your favorite?
Which book from 2015 was your students’ favorite?
Which book from 2015 was most useful to your piano students’ development?
1. I became a member in October so I only have the last three. It’s hard to choose one favorite but my choice would be Pop Waltz Prophecy because it teaches various common LH accompaniments.
2. Students’ favorite is Intervalactic
3. Most useful is Intervalactic as I use it all the time for sight reading, interval.
I wish I have the Nuts About Reading. I know I would be using it a lot.
I didn’t get all the books from 2015, but of the ones I purchased, my favorite is “Silver Screen Playbook”. My students really love that book too. “Vamp Battles” and “Pop Waltz Prophecy” are also amazing. I am very impressed with the quality of your intermediate repertoire. You are very gifted composers. (As far as the beginning level materials, I would like to see more songs at the beginning level that are not based on “C Position”.) Thanks!
I’m not yet a PianoBookClub member, but your books for teen boys do look awsome, since it’s a challenge to find pieces to suit their energy.
Greetings from Greece!
My favorite is Nuts About Notereading. My student’s favorite would be Intervalactic or Mutterwump Masterpiece. Intervalactic was the most useful, because there can never be too much emphasis on intervals, and I have a lot of elementary students. My most pressing request is for elementary music where the RH thumb is NOT on middle c! Personally, I love all the books, but I can’t actually use the intermediate stuff. Thank you so much for inspiring my teaching!
Student favourite would be either the mutterwumps or silver screen playbook (I’m waiting for arranmore to show up in rerelease as I’m sure it will be a hit) depending on the age group. Ruby wrigglesworth was great for a subset of students who were ready for new challenging rhythm but maybe not much tougher pieces, and intervalactic was awesome for reinforcing directional reading.
Not a single book has disappointed this year. They will be thrilling students for years to come!!!
I signed up last March and only missed one since then, so here goes:
Which book from 2015 was your favorite?
Definitely the Silver Screen Playbook!
Which book from 2015 was your students’ favorite?
This is hard; I have a wide range of ages (from 3 to 74!) so no one book covers everybody… can I say Nuts About Note Reading for the up-to-10 ones and Mutterwump Masterpiece for the others?
Which book from 2015 was most useful to your piano students’ development?
This is another trick question! 😉 There’s ‘playing’ development and ‘know-how’ development! For playing, I like the Rhythmic Haunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth because everyone seems to stumble on proper rhythm at first. For knowing-what’s-behind-the-curtain stuff, Tinker (and Muttzart!) are my go-tos. They get students to realize that *they* could write this music stuff too, not just someone famous somewhere far away/long ago; it really brings it home. 🙂
Glad to hear that you guys have plans to keep PBCing for the rest of eternity! I look forward to seeing what you come up with every month. BTW, this month’s book is an excellent sequel to Sheldon and is going to be just as great a hit with my younger crowd, I’m sure! 🙂
My favourite from 2015 has been THE SILVER SCREEN PLAYBOOK. With that one (it was the first one I received after joining up) Andrea Dow became an overnight sensation, and many of my teens’ favourite composer. But in a close second place would have to be one of the re-released past repertoire selections, BAG OF HALLOWEEN TRICKS, which was a huge hit in my studio with my younger kids. Thank you so much for the great music – keep ’em coming! 🙂
I only know part of the titles, but Aranmore and In the Woods are the most popular and mostly used in my studio. Silver screen too. Great stuff for teenagers who want to sound cool even if they aren’t at an advanced level. Thanks for creating this and thanks for sharing your great ideas in the blog!
How do I go about ordering these different books?
Hi Renee! You can start your membership with PianoBookClub at http://www.pianobookclub.com. The books you see here were the ones released on 2015 but we’re well on our way to another year of great titles! 🙂
I am new to piano club but really like Pop Waltz. Also loved Three Ships.
I have to say that Silver Screen Playbook is my new favorite. Before that it was Guardians of Aaranmore. My students love both books! I just started Vamp Battles this week with two brothers- 16 and 14 and I think it will be the next favorite. I haven’t used Pop Waltz yet. I also just started My Piano Teacher Thinks She’s a Ninja. One student thought it was great and started making up song words for the first tune.
I am not currently getting your books- but the cover of Beatbox Manifesto looks interesting. My studunts always need note recognition books , so i would be interested in trying those books with them
Which book from 2015 was your favorite?
The Silver Screen Playbook.
Which book from 2015 was your students’ favorite?
The Mutterwump Masterpiece.
Which book from 2015 was most useful to your piano students’ development?
The Mutterwump Masterpiece
I haven’t been a member for too long but from what I can see I wish I’d joined earlier! The intervalactic is most usable in my studio at the moment but can’t wait until I can introduce Pop Waltz. It will really improve left hand accompaniment and will be easy for them to muster all sorts of musicality with the wonderful right hand! They all look great and i’m gutted to have just missed out on vamp battles. My 16 year old is very musical but a beginner pianist. Finding teen friendly beginner material is tricky! He will eventually love Arranmore and all the teen books. Also shout out to the artists – brilliant for bringing smiles, intrigue and wonder to the pages before a note has even been played! … Thanks to everyone’s hard work, I’m loving everything!
I have only been a member 6 months counting this month (I just received my book for this month while typing this and can hardly wait to see it!). My favorite so far was “Bag O’ Halloween Tricks”. It had something for all my students. The “Trick or Treat” duet was fantastic and so much fun to play. One of my students has a parent who plays and they had lots of fun with it. My students are at a variety of levels, so pairing them up for recital duets is not so easy. I would like to see a book with secondos level 2 and primos level 1/beginner and also levels 3 and 2 combined. My students range from beginner to late elementary. It would be neat to have a book tell a story in a variety of levels and worthy of recital. Thank you so much for what you do.
1. I love the Guardians of Arranmore book. I only have one student who plays at that level, but he loved it. The story was exciting, and I love minor keys!
2. The Mutterwump Masteripiece was probably the favorite of my students. They enjoyed the poem and loved talking about the different aliens in the pictures.
3. I think The Intervalactic book was most useful to my students’ development. I have a few students who really struggle with intervals (and like to guess most of the time!), and we are still working on this book.
Thanks for a great year of Piano books!
I really can’t choose a favorite book. They all have been such a wonderful addition to my students’ repertoire.
My students’ love Tinker and PopWaltz Prophecy! They seriously went bonkers when I just showed them the covers. Some of them learned the whole book on their own before their next lesson and were chomping at the bit for the next one. Needless to say they were sad when I said I wouldn’t have another one for them until next month.
Nuts About Note Reading has been by far the most helpful book. I have several beginners, some of whom have really struggled with remembering note names on the staff. This book brought it to life for all of them in a way that their method books (and I for that matter) couldn’t.
I joined halfway through 2015- so I never got Guardians of Arranmore- but I really hope to get that somehow in the future 🙂
I would have to say my studio favorite is Nuts about Note Reading- We also really enjoyed the recent releases Bag o Halloween Tricks and “In the Bright Sky”.
I’m really looking forward as always to the new music!
I would also love to see duets for beginner- elementary levels!
I’m not yet a member but have been thinking about it for some time! Maybe 2016 will be the year!! I would love to try the Silver Screen book. It looks great (as do all the other titles).
I love your site and visit frequently. I am a new member for the music but now I want the games, too!
The December book was great with the Alberti base and the story…
Pop Waltz Prophecy! My teens and tweens would love it!
Having just become a Piano Book Club member, I’ve only received one book (PopWaltz Prophecy) so far, so I guess it would have to be my favorite for 2015.
My teen students absolutely loved Three Ships – thank you, Andrea!
Is there a way to get books from previous months? I’d love to get Silverscreen Playbook and Nuts about Note Reading!
Thanks for all your hard work, Andrea & Trevor!
Having only been a member since September, I can only comment on books received since then. My favorite book so far along with my students is The Rhythmic Haunting. My students who play at that level loved the story and we are centering our Spring recital around two of your books but plan to have dramatic reading of Ruby’s story between each of the pieces, maybe some artwork too! They are very excited. My beginning students will play from Intervalactic. They have been inspired from the video game approach and work hard not to “lose any lives” as they play through the practice sheets! You and Trevor definitely know what interests young one and keeps them having fun at the piano, thank you so very much!!! As far as the book to help with my students’ development, Pop Waltz Prophecy gets a hearty vote!
I was a member for the first 7 months of the year but am not currently.
1. Guardians of Arranmore
2. Silver screen playbook
3. Tinker (I love using this to help teach composing!)
I’m not a member but my students loved “Text Me” and “In the Woods”. I gave “In the Woods” to a teenage student who had only had two lessons. It took her a while to learn it, but she loves it! Then she got “Text Me”. It was a great way to help her learn to read notes without having to think too much about the fingerings, too!
The Guardians of Aranmore and Silver Screen Playbook were the most popular with my older kids. The younger ones liked How to Babysit a Brontasaurus.
I like having a variety of levels presented throughout the year. I have 25 students that vary in ages from 5-45. So, the variety is what I love. Quickly becoming my favorite is the Vamp Battles because I get to play with them!
The most useful currently is Intervalactic because it helps my early readers recognize intervals more quickly, and therefore sight read better.
Can’t wait to see what this year will bring!
Wow, really hard to pick because they are ALL so good, but I’ll give it a go.
1. My personal favorite was Silver Screen Playbook. Totally self-indulgent, as I like playing the pieces myself and only have a couple of students who are at this level.
2. By far, the Student Favorite was Guardians of Arranmore. Whether they could play it or not the students loved the sound of these pieces and always commented when one of the other students played a piece from this collection at a recital.
3. Tinker gets the prize for helping with student development. Helping students see how pieces are put together, and that they can add-to and rearrange in a piece is priceless to inspire a student’s creativity.
Thanks for all of these wonderful resources! Can’t wait to get all 173 future editions:)
I’m a new member to Piano Club, so I haven’t “played around” with all the songs yet; but I LOVE the “Guardians of Aranmore” so does one of my students (my daughter) – she loves to play “Devlin’s Theme.” One I saved and I can’t wait to use, because I think the format is fabulous, is the Pop Waltz Prophecy. As soon as things have settled a bit (kids are busy getting ready for Federated Festival) I plan to pull it out.
I have only two books so far, having joined only recently (my inspiration to join was also the Three Ships and Bright Sky – real hits with my own girls and my teenage students!), but the PopWaltz Prophecy is definitely my favourite.
I have students desperate to get their hands on the Guardians of Arranmore and the Vamp Battles, so am hoping these are rereleased soon!
I haven’t been able to try any of the books for younger students as yet (we are on holidays in Australia!), but I think the most helpful would be the ones reinforcing note reading, as I have a lot of littlies that struggle with this. I am looking forward to trying out the latest book when we start back in February too.
Thanks so much for your wonderful resources and informative website – I have learnt and been inspired so much from you both!
I am only a recent joiner, but my students have loved PopWaltz Prophecy (and I love the left hand techniques it teaches!).
Andrea – could you tell us more about how a book comes out of retirement each month? There are a few from 2015 that look like they’d get a lot of use in my studio – especially The Guardians of Arranmore, since we have been doing lots of minor keys lately!
Thanks for all that you do!
I’m not a member, but based on other comments, my guess is that I would most use Nuts about Note Reading and Vamp Battles. I’m always looking for ideas to improve note reading and music that would appeal to intermediate level boys. Thanks for all you do! I love your resources!
I became a PBC member in September and I wish I could buy some of the past books. How do I get notified when a book comes out of retirement?
My personal favorite in 2015 is Vamp Battles. I haven’t tried it with my students yet but I absolutely love the idea! We will begin it soon.
Student favorite I’m guessing would be Nuts About Notereading. Although I do not have the book, I have the game and they love it.
Intervalactic is the most useful! I love how it teaches good interval reading in such a cool way. The kids don’t feel like they are playing baby songs.
I have to add that Three Ships was one of my personal favorites at Christmas time!
Love your continued creativity and amazing ways to help students have fun playing the piano and learn music!
Can’t wait till the next book as always!
Karen
Hi Karen – there is a password at the bottom of each email that delivers your new book of the month. This gives you access to the member’s page of the PianoBookClub.com site. This is where you can view the re-released book for that month and can choose to purchase it for the same $8 with unlimited printing.
I don’t have a full year under my belt, but I do have some favorites! For a first piece after the holidays I brought out the first piece from Pop Waltz Prophecy for one of my high school students and she said “I like it!” and then practiced it. High praise. I am focusing on intervals this term, and we are using Intervalalactic as warmups and sightreading. I will be using Nuts About Notereading with students just finishing primer levels to review. The newest book gets the most attention, rightly so in the case of Pop Waltz Prophecy, but my personal favorite is My Piano Teacher Thinks She’s a Ninja. By the way, my students loved Tedd Tales – will there be a new set?
My students and I are very excited about The Guardians of Arranmore — such gorgeous music!! Music like this is very helpful to their development since my teens play it over and over and develop fluency, better note reading and rhythm, and overall musicality. I do not have Nuts about Note Reading, but I can’t help but think that would be an incredibly helpful book in my studio for my young ones. Thanks for these wonderful resources and I’m thrilled about this blog post and reading all the responses!
I joined in December, so only received the PopWaltz Prophecy, but my students love it! I have two students that are friends and are going to play two of the pieces in the recital. I also have three students who are thespians (one is actually a Muny Kid!) who can do a great reading of the story. I love the fact that it teaches left hand chords and accompaniments in a fun manner and prepares them for playing Alberti bass and even Chopin. I also teach them to play from lead sheets and improvisation, so this fits in very well with that as we can even do some improvising on them! In the future, I would love to see more on learning chords, inversions, and common tone voicing, in a fun way. Your materials are so creative! Also, is there any way to purchase past materials?