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Dorothy H., Australia

Here in Sydney, myself and Rosalie Clarke have begun to use a book called “The Afternoon Pianist”, arranged by Kenneth Baker as a supplement to the Accompaniment program. It consists of 46 well-known pop songs and comes with a play-along CD. Songs are by the Beatles, the Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel – (to mention a few) and the book progresses from very simple C-F-G songs to more complex arrangements. These are instrumental versions of the songs, but the lyrics are provided too, making it easy to sing along.

There are many possibilities when it comes to “jazzing up” accompaniments, such as adding an extra LH note (as in Amazing Grace), or breaking the RH chord up into a see-saw pattern (top 2 notes alternating with bottom note) for slower songs (as in the Honey Dew and Amazing Grace arrangements).

I think that students who decide to buy this book will get many months of practise (and fun!) out of it. Once they can manage the more difficult songs at the end of the book, they could start playing the chords in the LH as a ‘stride’ arrangement – as in Fur Elise arrangement 2, and if they have completed the reading program, they could add the melody in the RH.

Here is a list of the songs contained in “The Afternoon Pianist”:

Eight Days A Week, One More Night, Massachusetts, Release Me, La Bamba, The Sound of Silence, Top of the World, Wonderful Tonight, Super Trouper, Scarborough Fair, Sailing, The Lady in Red, Guantanamera, There Goes My Everything, Anniversary Song, Green Green Grass of Home, One Moment in Time, Imagine, By the time I get to Phoenix, Everything I do.., Your cheatin Heart, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, Rock around the clock, Mull of Kintyre, Every Breath You take, Mamma mia, The Entertainer, Let it Be, Feelin’ Groovy, All I ask of you, Falling in love again, Have I told you Lately, Copacabana, Just an old fashioned girl, On this night of a thousand stars, Perfidia, House of the Rising Sun, Sunrise Sunset, Feelings, I left my heart in San Francisco, Georgia on my mind, Raindrops keep falling on my head, Hit the road Jack, Could it be Magic, Don’t blame me, I Got Rhythm.

The 1st 27 songs use basic major and minor chords. Then from “Let it Be” onwards there are many 7th chords (all three types). After about 8 more songs, there are also 6th, sus, and split chords.

Hilary in Perth has emailed me to say she uses fake books which come in a series of about 15, called “101 Songs for Buskers”. She says they contain Beatles songs, No. 1 hits, Film/TV Themes and Jazz/Blues favourites. There is also one for children with nursery rhymes or Christmas carols. (There is no play-along CD for these.)

Elizabeth here in Sydney has recommended “The All Aussie Songbook”, and “101 Children’s Songs for Buskers”. The latter must be from the same series that Hilary is using.

Hilary C., Western Australia

Further to Dorothy’s email, the publisher of the Busker’s series is Wise Publications – London/New York/Sydney. There is a little note on the frontispiece stating that ‘this edition is not authorised for sale in the US or Canada’. Perhaps it is available in a different format – it would be worth contacting the relevant office. The ISBN changes with each book of the series – last count there were 15 – so I haven’t bothered with the code numbers.

Vonnie L., Oregon

Some of your younger students might be interested in the Disney Fake Book by Hal Leonard. It has over 200 songs from Disney movies. Some of the chords are pretty advanced, though, so you would have to teach them how to substitute simpler chords.

Several of my older students have bought Hal Leonard’s “The Best Fake Book Ever,” which is has over 1000 songs spanning many generations. There’s something in it for everyone. One of my favorites is a funny 50s song “Beep Beep,” which consists mostly of two chords, Fm and C7. If you’re old enough, you may remember that it starts out slow and gets faster and faster–a great way to practice chords! I seem to remember that the original version goes higher and higher as it gets faster, so you could actually practice the chords in a number of keys. I actually went through that book and marked with sticky notes the songs that used only chords learned in the Level 1 accompaniment book. There were quite a few.

Hal Leonard produces quite a few fake books, including Christian, Gospel, classical, jazz, country, etc.

Gordon Harvey., Australia

For Aussie teachers, I recommend the Sing Book for younger students. If you don’t know it, the Sing program is a resource that’s been used in Australian schools for 40 years or so. Each year they produce a book of varied songs, based around topical themes, along with CD’s of the songs. Because teachers use the materials in class, students always know at least a few of the songs, and there’s usually something current in there. For instance, the 2002 edition included I’m a Believer because it was sung in the movie Shrek. The chords they used were considerably better than the single sheet version, and the whole book was only a dollar more expensive!