Dances for Christmas, Bk 1


Book Description

Combining the best of Christmas melodies with the vitality of dance rhythms, this two-book series is a perfect way to celebrate the most joyous time of the year. Whether taking the form of a Waltz, a Polka, or a Cha-cha-cha, the pieces in this book will have both performers and audiences looking at Christmas tunes in a whole new light. Titles: Feliz Navidad (Tango) * The First Noel (Waltz) * Jingle Bell Rock (Rock and Roll) * Jingle Bells (Polka) * Up on the Housetop (Cha-Cha-Cha) * We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Scottish Reel)




Hollyberry's Christmas Surprise


Book Description

Hollyberry trims the Christmas tree, goes sky-skating, makes snow angels in the clouds, sings Christmas carols, and receives a special surprise when she opens her Christmas presents




Dances for Christmas, Bk 2


Book Description

Combining the best of Christmas melodies with the vitality of dance rhythms, this two-book series is a perfect way to celebrate the most joyous time of the year. Whether taking the form of a Bolero, a Waltz, or a Paso Doble, the pieces in this book will have both performers and audiences looking at familiar Christmas tunes in a whole new light. Titles: Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (Gigue) * The Little Drummer Boy (Bolero) * Silent Night (Waltz) * The Twelve Days of Christmas (Gavotte) * What Child is This (Paso Doble) * Winter Wonderland (Salsa)




The Classic Piano Course


Book Description

(Music Sales America). You can take up the piano at any age with this complete, user-friendly course by Carol Barratt. Whether you're starting from scratch, or starting again, this course has been designed to guide you gently into playing simple tunes from day one. Containing familiar favorites from the classical repertoire, themes from opera and ballet, folksongs and blues, plus music by contemporary classical composers. Including fascinating items of musical history and biography, an easy-to-follow introduction to the theory of music, and suggested listening to enhance your musical appreciation. Free dummy keyboard included for silent practice, group teaching, and theory work. Book 1: Starting to Play-You'll soon be playing more than 40 piano pieces and exercises. Book 1 introduces the keyboard, the musical alphabet, terms and signs, as well as note values and time signatures. Book 2: Building Your Skills - More than 20 piano pieces for you to play, ranging from "The Entertainer" to "The Blue Danube," plus more information on music theory, expression marks, and terms and signs. Book 3: Making Music - You will play over 20 piano pieces, including music by Verdi, Chopin, Grieg, Handel, Saint-Saens, and Tchaikovsky. More theory points are incorporated, and you'll be playing the blues!




Adult Piano Adventures Christmas - Book One


Book Description

(Faber Piano Adventures ). Through sacred carols, humorous Santa songs, and winter favorites, adult beginners and those reacquainting with the keyboard can celebrate with the best songs of the season. Adult Piano Adventures Christmas Book 1 features three sections: Beginning Christmas Songs, Christmas Songs in the Key of C major, and Christmas Songs in the key of G major. Contents include: We Wish You a Merry Christmas * Angels We Have Heard on High * Away in a Manger * Jingle Bells * We Three Kings of Orient Are * (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays * It Came Upon the Midnight Clear * O Little Town of Bethlehem * Frosty the Snowman * Jingle-Bell Rock * I'll Be Home for Christmas * Little Drummer Boy * Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas * and more. Online access to audio recordings of the piano selections is included, as well as orchestrated accompaniments for play-along fun.




Dancing in the Wings


Book Description

Sassy worries that her too-large feet, too-long legs, and even her big mouth will keep her from her dream of becoming a star ballerina. So for now she's just dancing in the wings, watching from behind the curtain, and hoping that one day it will be her turn to shimmer in the spotlight. When the director of an important dance festival comes to audition her class, Sassy's first attempts to get his attention are, well, a little wobbly. But Sassy just knows, somehow, that this is her time to step out from those wings, and make her mark on the world. Actress/choreographer Debbie Allen and Kadir Nelson collaborated on Brothers of the Knight, about which School Library Journal raved, "the strutting high-stepping brothers are full of individuality, attitude, and movement."




Jose! Born to Dance


Book Description

José was a boy with a song in his heart and a dance in his step. Born in Mexico in 1908, he came into the world kicking like a steer, and grew up to love to draw, play the piano, and dream. José's dreaming took him to faraway places. He dreamed of bullfighters and the sounds of the cancan dancers that he saw with his father. Dance lit a fire in José's soul. With his heart to guide him, José left his family and went to New York to dance. He learned to flow and float and fly through space with steps like a Mexican breeze. When José danced, his spirit soared. From New York to lands afar, José Limón became known as the man who gave the world his own kind of dance. ¡OLÉ! ¡OLÉ! ¡OLÉ! Susanna Reich's lyrical text and Raúl Colón's shimmering artwork tell the story of a boy who was determined to make a difference in the world, and did. José! Born to Dance will inspire picture book readers to follow their hearts and live their dreams.




The Trees of the Dancing Goats


Book Description

Trisha loves the eight days of Hanukkah, when her mother stays home from work, her Babushka makes delicious potato latkes, and her Grampa carves wonderful animals out of wood as gifts for Trisha and her brother. In the middle of her family's preparation for the festival of lights, Trisha visits her closest neighbors, expecting to find them decorating their house for Christmas. Instead they are all bedridden with scarlet fever. Trisha's family is one of the few who has been spared from the epidemic. It is difficult for them to enjoy their Hanukkah feast when they know that their neighbors won't be able to celebrate their holiday. Then Grampa has an inspiration: they will cut down trees, decorate them, and secretly deliver them to the neighbors, "But what can we decorate them with?" Babushka asks. Although it is a sacrifice, Trisha realizes that Grampa's carved animals are the perfect answer. Soon her living room is filled with trees -- but that is only the first miracle of many during an incredible holiday season. Based on a long cherished childhood memory, this story celebrates the miracle of true friendship.




Nutcracker Nation


Book Description

The Nutcracker is the most popular ballet in the world, adopted and adapted by hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada every Christmas season. In this entertainingly informative book, Jennifer Fisher offers new insights into the Nutcracker phenomenon, examining it as a dance scholar and critic, a former participant, an observer of popular culture, and an interviewer of those who dance, present, and watch the beloved ballet. Fisher traces The Nutcracker’s history from its St. Petersburg premiere in 1892 through its emigration to North America in the mid-twentieth century to the many productions of recent years. She notes that after it was choreographed by another Russian immigrant to the New World, George Balanchine, the ballet began to thrive and variegate: Hawaiians added hula, Canadians added hockey, Mark Morris set it in the swinging sixties, and Donald Byrd placed it in Harlem. The dance world underestimates The Nutcracker at its peril, Fisher suggests, because the ballet is one of its most powerfully resonant traditions. After starting life as a Russian ballet based on a German tale about a little girl’s imagination, The Nutcracker has become a way for Americans to tell a story about their communal values and themselves.




Winter Dance


Book Description

A fox wonders how he should prepare for the coming winter, but what other animals advise will not work for him until another fox comes to his aid.