A collection of successfully arranged religious piano music that could have featured a little less blood.
A debut collection of spiritual piano music for children.
McGee, a composer and pianist, shares the purpose of this book of hymns and African-American spirituals in a short introduction: “I pray for a release of God’s love through these songs for the children, the teachers who teach these songs to their students, to the parents of the children, and to all who hear these sacred songs.” Her message is clear in her choice of songs that she arranged for this collection, all written by other musicians, such as “Count Your Blessings” by Edwin O. Excell with lyrics by Johnson Oatman Jr. (“When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings name them one by one”) and “Lord I’m Coming Home” by William J. Kirkpatrick (“I’ve wandered far away from God. Now I’m coming home”). The book, aimed at 5- to 8-year-old students, includes simple pieces, played one hand at a time, with mostly fixed hand placement and at least one fingering indicator per measure. In addition, there are no large leaps between keys, and most intervals are either steps or skips. In McGee’s arrangement of the Christmas carol “Angels We Have Heard on High,” for instance, she deftly moves a G up an octave to accommodate the fixed hand position. She also gives helpful instruction in her “Teachers Notes” at the book’s beginning. McGee’s talent shines through in her easy arrangements of traditional hymns, such as “I’ve Got Peace like a River,” in which the entire song is played between the same six notes on the treble clef. Unfortunately, the lyrics to many songs here, such as “There is a Fountain” by William Cowper (“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains”) and “Nothing but the Blood” by Robert Lowry (“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus….Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow”) feature imagery that may be too scary for children.
A collection of successfully arranged religious piano music that could have featured a little less blood.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4908-4704-7
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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