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Songbook Review: Piano Sheet Music Collection
Chad Lawson
Cover image of the songbook Piano Sheet Music Collection by Chad Lawson
Piano Sheet Music Collection
Chad Lawson
2022 / Hal Leonard
63 pages / 12 songs
Review by Kathy Parsons
Chad Lawson's Piano Sheet Music Collection isn't his first solo piano sheet music book, but it's the first one published by Hal Leonard, the largest sheet music publishing house in the world! The songbook contains twelve pieces from six of Chad's albums and three singles. There are three pieces from You Finally Knew (2020), which was awarded the Whisperings "Album of the Year" for that year; there are two from The Piano (2011), and one each from The Space Between (2013), The Chopin Variations (2014), Bach Reinterpreted (2016), and Dark Conclusions: The Lore Variations (2016). These are all piano solos except "Islands" from The Lore Variations, which is for piano, violin, viola and cello. The singles that are featured are "The Broad Sun" (2017), "The Waning Moon" (2018) and Chad's arrangement of "When the Party's Over" (2020). it's a really nice collection, and none of the pieces are difficult. One thing to note is that most (if not all) of this music was recorded on a felted piano where a piece of soft cloth is placed between the hammers and strings of the piano to soften the percussive effect of the hammers hitting the strings. Playing the music on an unfelted piano will sound different, but the pieces are still great, expressive and fun to play. I've played the whole book several times and really enjoyed it.

The titles of the pieces, the key(s) they are in and the number of pages are:

The Broad Sun - Key of F Minor (4 flats) - 4 pages
I Wish I Knew - Key of E (4 sharps) - 4 pages
I Wrote You a Song - Key of Eb (3 flats) - 3 pages
Islands (piano and strings quartet) - Key of F Minor (4 flats) - 7 pages
Nocturne in A Minor (0 sharps or flats) - 7 pages
Nocturne in F Minor (Chopin - Op. 55, No. 1 - arranged by Chad Lawson) - Key of F Minor (4 flats) - 9 pages
Prelude in D Major - Key of D (2 sharps) - 3 pages
The Waning Moon - Key of Eb Minor (6 flats) - 3 pages
St. John Passion (JS Bach, arr. by Chad Lawson) - Key of A Minor (o sharps or flats) - 8 pages
Stay - Key of C Minor (3 flats) - 4 pages
Swan Lake - Key of Bb (2 flats) - 4 pages
When The Party's Over (Finneas O'Connell/ arr. by Chad Lawson) - Key of # (4 sharps) - 4 pages
June 12, 2022