Back of the Book Whether or not you've had lessons, this book is for you if... You want to see how music is made so that you can make your own music easily without wasting time on scales and exercises.

...if You can find middle C and now the names of the lines and spaces in the treble clef.

...if You want to play popular songs, folk songs, hymns, Christmas carols, old favourites, etc.

Ward Cannel is an award-winning journalist, author and total non-musician who set out to learn why, with 30 million pianos in this country, there are so few people who know how to play them. He came back from his inquiry with a lot of the answers and consequently the ability to play the piano.

Fred Marx is a European conservatory-educated composer and arranger who came to this country as a classical pianist. Through a growing understanding of American popular music, he found himself liberated from the traditional rote learning which seldom produces lasting results or creative, satisfied students.

Together they have written what Dean Norman Lloyde calls a "subversive book" about music and how to make it.

 
I'm learning the piano again, and so far it has just been picking out tunes from my keyboard book and trying to make them sound good. I needed something a little more structured to take the place of a music teacher, and the reviews of this book seem to think it's a miracle worker. My piano playing could use a few miracles!