Yes, I can read music. But I still love playing from Hal Leonard’s E-Z Play Today* books. They have large notes with the note names written in & the melody written out with the chord symbols above (à la traditional fake books).
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I haven’t used them a whole lot in lessons (I think mostly because I don’t really like to have students buy a lot), but they can be very useful for pre-note-readers, poor eyesight, or just plain old fun. It’s also an opportunity to introduce playing from fake books.
These books could be used for piano, harp, or any C instrument (Mom & I used to have a great time with trombone & piano [just read the melody in treble clef & transpose down an octave….sounds more difficult that it is]). You could also use them for non-C instruments either without accompaniment, with the piano player transposing, or as an on-the-spot transposition exercise for the melody instrument. No piano accompaniment is written out — if you have questions on how that works, let me know in the comments.
These books have been around for many a year (most — probably all — of the ones I have are from our collection from when I was a kid), & they have a huge variety. I’ve rounded up & linked 5 that I have (I might have an older version) & 5 that look fun! And fun fact: a lot of the songs I know, I know either from playing out of this kind of book or from The Lawrence Welk Show!
These links are from Sheet Music Plus*, so the post will be chock full of affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through these links, thank you for your extra support!
5 E-Z Play Today Books That I Have
Several that I’d like to include appear to be out of print, or at least not available through SMP.
5 E-Z Play Today Books That Look Fun
- Dolly Parton* (Want to hear “Jolene” on harp?)
- The Great American Songbook – The Singers*
- The Songs of Bacharach and David* (Here’s video of “Close To You.”)
- Songs of the 1990s* (Backstreet Boys anyone?)
- 50 Worship Standards*
Uncomfortable with the idea of playing off fake books? Check out my fake books ecourse!
There are so many options! You can always browse the E-Z Play Today section* of Sheet Music Plus* too. Would you like to see more roundups like this? Maybe some more traditional fake books?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, via email, or on social media!
-Barbara
Barbara Fischer runs Fischarper, LLC and loves her job as a harpist and private music educator. She enjoys blogging about various aspects of the music field on fischarper.com/blog. For more music resources, check out the Fischarper store. Find out where you can find Barbara on the interwebs here. And you can sign up to receive Fischarper updates by joining the email list.