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Songbook Review: All The Days Of My Life
Vicente Avella
Cover image of the songbook All The Days Of My Life by Vicente Avella
All The Days Of My Life
Vicente Avella
2013 / Pandora's Boombox
50 pages / 11 songs
Review by Kathy Parsons
All The Days Of My Life is the companion sheet music book to the 2013 CD by the same name. The book includes all eleven pieces from the album, composed and arranged by Vicente Avella to fill a need to update some of the traditional classical wedding music into a more contemporary musical language. The music is presented in a new age/contemporary-classical style that is dignified without being stilted, with gentle, flowing melodies that are beautiful and accessible. Four of the songs are Avella-originals and the other seven are his arrangements of classics - some more recognizable than others. (For my review of the music itself, please see my CD review).

The sheet music is not overly difficult to play, and pianists of an early-advanced playing ability should be able to master it without months of practice. The book is available for download and is very attractive with crisp, roomy notation. As much as I like this book, I do need to caution that while some of these pieces cover most of the piano keyboard, the use of 8va and 8vb is rarely used, making too many of the notes very hard to read. I consider myself to be an exceptional sight-reader, but I had to keep stopping to figure out what a lot of the notes are. A quick remedy to this would be to play through the book with a pencil or pen handy and mark the names of the notes you don’t immediately recognize - especially in the event of being nervous about playing for a wedding and going blank at a bad time! That said, these arrangements and original pieces are a welcome addition to wedding music repertoire! The book and individual pieces are available from www.vicenteavella.com. Recommended!

The songs, the keys they are in, and the number of pages are listed below:

JESU, JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING (after JS Bach)
- Key of G (1 sharp) - 4 1/2 pages
DRESSED IN WHITE (Avella) - Key of C (0 sharps or
flats) - 4 pages
ROMANZE (CANON IN D) (after Pachelbel) - Key of D
(2 sharps) - 3 pages
BRIDAL MARCH (after Richard Wagner) - Key of Bb
(2 flats) - 4 pages
ODE TO JOY (after Beethoven) - Key of G (1 sharp)
- 7 pages
ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE (Avella) - Key of Ab
(4 flats) - 4 1/2 pages
ROMANZE (REPRISE) (Avella) - Key of Db (5 flats)
- 1 page
THE ONE I LOVE (Avella) - Key of Db (5 flats) &
C# minor (4 sharps) - 4 pages
AVE MARIA (after Schubert) - Key of Bb (2 flats) - 3 pages
SPRING (after Vivaldi) - Key of E (4 sharps) - 7 1/2 pages
WEDDING MARCH (after Mendelssohn) - Key of C
- 4 pages
May 13, 2013
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