WB Popular Movie Hits Piano Library (w/MIDI and CD), Level Five.(Sound Recording Review)

WB Popular Movie Hits Piano Library (w/MIDI and CD), Level Five, arranged by Gail Lew, Eugenie Rocherolle and Tom Roed. Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp./Warner Bros. Publications (15800 N. W. 48th Ave, Miami, FL 33014), 2004. 45 pp., $13.95. Late intermediate.

In the attitude of fairness, I must confess, I was a teenager who liked to play popular music. I am a great fan of American standards. I play "cocktail" piano with some frequency; I include Gershwin and ragtime on programs of more "serious" piano music; and I have played more musical theater than I care to admit.

But in an equal measure of honesty, I must say I am not a teacher who likes to teach popular music. However, I do find myself on occasion teaching such music to unruly teenagers who seem unwilling to learn anything else. This collection is not for such a student.

It became increasingly clear to me as I played through this music with the orchestrated accompaniment track CD cranked loud on my stereo (and having, I must admit, an awfully good time) that I would never actually teach this music to any student. After all, students who can handle the advanced technique and complicated rhythms presented here should be practicing Beethoven sonatas and the like, not movie themes. However, for the highly motivated advanced student--the kind that practices religiously, plays for choirs at school and is thinking about majoring in music--playing as many different kinds of music as possible ...