Exploring Piano Classics Repertoire, Level 3: Piano Book & CD

Bachus has curated this collection with direct knowledge of what early intermediate pianists need: repertoire that sounds accomplished while remaining technically accessible, paired with historically grounded context that deepens musical understanding. The included CD recordings from an internationally recognized performer provide immediate models for interpretation and style, eliminating the guesswork many young pianists face when encountering pieces outside their teacher's specialty. Programming this book means your students have access to authentic period styles, competition-tested selections, and built-in correlation with technique work that makes every practice session purposeful.

A tour through centuries of piano music, each piece selected for its musical substance and technical appropriateness. The collection balances the refined restraint of Baroque dances with the lyrical charm of Classical miniatures and the expressive warmth of early Romantic character pieces, inviting pianists to discover how composers across eras approached similar musical problems.

Early intermediate pianists ready to move beyond simplified pieces into authentic repertoire from multiple style periods. Teachers seeking a structured, historically informed approach that builds both performance skills and musical literacy through carefully graded masterworks. Students preparing for festivals, competitions, or examinations who benefit from selections already vetted against major performance lists.

• Study the style period notes before learning each piece; understanding whether you're playing Baroque dance forms or Classical Romantic character pieces shapes your approach to ornamentation, tempo, and phrasing from the start.
• Use the Nancy Bachus recordings to hear how tempo and articulation serve the style of each era; listen without the score first, then listen again while following the printed music to internalize the conventions of each period.
• Correlate the repertoire pieces with the corresponding Technique book exercises to address specific technical challenges in context; if a Baroque gavotte requires clean finger work, the technique studies prepare exactly those patterns in isolation.

Build a student recital around pieces from different style periods represented in this collection, allowing your pianist to demonstrate breadth of repertoire and stylistic understanding in a single performance. Use the repertoire book as the foundation of a year-long curriculum where each piece is preceded by study of its historical context and paired with focused technique work, creating a cohesive learning arc that extends far beyond note-learning.

• Recognizing and performing stylistic conventions of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertoire
• Interpreting ornamentation and articulation appropriate to each style period
• Building technical facility through graded repertoire with correlated technique studies
• Reading historical and analytical context as a tool for musical decision-making
• Developing interpretation skills by comparing personal performance choices to recorded models