Building Your Studio Library

By Kirsten Levorson, NCTM

At a summer meeting of the Piano Exam Development Committee, we had a lively discussion in response to the question: Which anthologies do you find most helpful for students taking piano exams?

We talked about how daunting the syllabus can appear at first glance – how would a new teacher begin to select repertoire? What books would you recommend as an essential part of your studio library? We talked about how different students have different needs.  A family with multiple siblings or a student who works hard and learns quickly may need a bigger book containing many pieces, while other students need the sense of accomplishment that comes from more frequently completing a smaller book with fewer pieces.

Here are some of our favorites for traditional classical literature:

Beginning Piano Solos: 132 Original Masterpieces by Paul Sheftel (Fischer) contains some pieces from our piano exam level one all the way to level seven. One of our members noted that at levels three and four, you could select all four required pieces from this one book.  Great deal at $16.

Essential Keyboard Repertoire by Lynn Freeman Olson (Alfred) with its eight volumes is a foundation of many studio libraries. We love that the books are spiral bound.

Music for Millions, four volumes edited by Denes Agay was the third universal choice among our members. Each of these three series do a great job of presenting material from beginning to advanced repertoire.

Classics for the Developing Pianist: Core Repertoire for Study and Performance is the new five volume series compiled and edited by Ingrid Jacobson Clarfield and Phyllis Alpert Leher and published by Alfred. Many of our committee members had recently purchased the complete set. 

Masterworks Classics, Melodious Masterpieces, and Masterpieces with Flair by Jane McGrath were all books that received high praise from committee members, especially for intermediate and advancing students.

There are many more fine series of anthologies available – we all spoke of using the Bastien Piano Literature series, the Festival Collection, Keith Snell’s Piano Repertoire series, and more. Some of us use a different series with different students.  

If you are wondering what books will work for your students, don’t forget to check the MMTA Resource Reference availableonline. The Resource Reference includes many anthologies, listing for each title all the syllabus pieces it contains and the piece’s syllabus level.