Joseph Akins has been one of my favorite pianist/composers for a lot of years now and new music from him is always a treat! When I reviewed his album, Dream World, a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I thought it was his best album yet and told Joseph I couldn't wait to get the sheet music. The Dream World songbook arrived a few days ago, and it is wonderful! I played it from cover to cover this morning and can't wait to do it again soon! The only difference from the album and the songbook is that the album has two versions of "A Moonlit Dance" and only one is in the book.

The songbook is available as a PDF download or a printed and spiral-bound book. The front cover is an enlarged version of the whimsical and beautiful album cover and the back cover has a couple of the graphics as well. It's a beautiful book! The paper stock allows very easy page turns, is a bright white with well-spaced and easy-to-read notation. Most solo piano sheet music doesn't include the chord symbols, but Joseph included them in this book "to help understand the harmony within each measure." He also included fingering suggestions in places to help the pianist with tricky spots. Most of the ten pieces are at an upper intermediate/early advanced playing level, and none of the music is what I would call difficult. The music is beautiful, melodic and fun to play and I highly recommend this songbook to pianists in any age group!

The Dream World songbook is available from www.JosephAkins.com.

The song titles, the keys they are in, and the number of pages are:

Dream World - Key of C minor (3 flats) - 6 pages
Peacefulness - Key of Db (5 flats) - 4 pages
Whispers in the Woods - Key of G minor (2 flats) - 5 pages
Exhilaration - Key of C (0 sharps or flats)/ D (2 sharps)/ E (4 sharps) - 6 pages
Starlight - Key of Eb minor (6 flats) - 6 pages
A Moonlit Dance - Key of D (2 sharps) - 5 pages
Who Am I? - Key of A minor (0 sharps or flats) - 5 pages
The Bird Song - Key of G (1 sharp) - 4 pages
Melancholy - Key of A minor (0 sharps or flats) - 4 pages
Night Storm - Key of D minor (1 flat) - 6 pages