The Best of Kevin Olson, Book 2: Early Intermediate/Intermediate Piano Book

This collection reads like Olson has spent years listening to what intermediate pianists need and what teachers want to hear from their students. The eight pieces span recognizable characters (a toccata, a blues, a café scene, a Spanish dance) without ever feeling like a greeting card version of those ideas. Each piece has enough musical substance that it rewards careful practice while remaining genuinely playable at the stated level.

These pieces evoke specific moods and places with directness and warmth. A Paris café feels unhurried and conversational; Spanish Serenade has romantic longing; Ice Dancing glides with precision. The collection never patronizes the student; each piece trusts the performer to understand its emotional landscape.

Intermediate pianists who've moved beyond single-note reading and are ready for pieces with genuine character and modest technical demands. Teachers seeking a coherent collection where every piece serves the student's musical growth, not just the teacher's filing system.

• Treat Tick-Toccatina's repeated figures as opportunities to build rhythmic precision rather than rushing through them. The piece gains clarity when patterns land cleanly.
• Let Melted Ice Cream Blues breathe with a relaxed swing feel. Anchor the left hand solidly so the right hand can play with some freedom around the beat.
• Balance the melodic voices in At a Paris Café so each line stays audible. This trains students in part independence early.
• In Spanish Serenade, shape the accompaniment pattern so it supports rather than overshadows the melody. Dynamic control matters here.

Use pieces from this book throughout the year as student recital repertoire, pairing them with technical studies for variety. Autumn Ballad and Sunset at the Beach work naturally in a late-fall or spring concert. The stylistic range means you can assign pieces based on what each student needs to explore next, whether that's rhythmic clarity, pedal work, or singing tone.

• Rhythmic precision in repeated accompaniment patterns
• Melodic phrasing and shaping at moderate tempos
• Voicing independence in pieces with distinct left and right hand lines
• Stylistic interpretation (blues idiom, dance character, impressionistic texture)
• Pedal control and timing
• Reading accidentals and moderate key signatures