At the age of nine, Clara Wieck gave her first public performance as a concert pianist. She played beautifully. When the concert was over, she felt as if she were dancing on a cloud. As she grew older, Clara's concerts took her all over Europe. Audiences adored her, and she became friends with other famous musicians—including her father's student, Robert Schumann. Robert and Clara fell in love and eventually married. Robert took some of Clara's melodies and shaped them into compositions, and Clara performed his pieces, introducing them to new audiences. Throughout her life, Clara Schumann's performances set the standard for piano music. The greatest composers of her time—impressed with the power and beauty of her playing—wrote music for her. Clara was a pianist, composer, and mentor, as well as an inspiration to the romantic movement that was her life. She made the piano sing.

Carolrhoda's best-selling Creative Minds Biographies series appeals to a wide range of readers. Written in story format, these biographies also include inviting black-and-white illustrations. Praise for Her Piano Sang:

A Pulitzer Prize–winning critic’s “lyrical and haunting” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) reflection on the meaning and emotional impact of a Bach masterwork. As his mother was dying, Philip Kennicott began to listen to the music of Bach obsessively. It was the only music that didn’t seem trivial or irrelevant, and it enabled him to both experience her death and remove himself from it. For him, Bach’s music held the elements of both joy and despair, life and its inevitable end. He spent the next five years trying to learn one of the composer’s greatest keyboard masterpieces, the Goldberg Variations. In Counterpoint, he recounts his efforts to rise to the challenge, and to fight through his grief by coming to terms with his memories of a difficult, complicated childhood. He describes the joys of mastering some of the piano pieces, the frustrations that plague his understanding of others, the technical challenges they pose, and the surpassing beauty of the melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint that distinguish them. While exploring Bach’s compositions he sketches a cultural history of playing the piano in the twentieth century. And he raises two questions that become increasingly interrelated, not unlike a contrapuntal passage in one of the variations itself: What does it mean to know a piece of music? What does it mean to know another human being?

Check out Little Voice on Apple TV+! Little Voice is inspired by a lost song from Sara Bareilles’s first studio album. This updated New York Times bestselling collection of essays by seven-time Grammy nominated singer songwriter Sara Bareilles “resonates with authentic and hard-won truths” (Publishers Weekly)—and features new material on the hit Broadway musical, Waitress. Sara Bareilles “pours her heart and soul into these essays” (Associated Press), sharing the joys and the struggles that come with creating great work, all while staying true to yourself. Imbued with humor and marked by Sara’s confessional writing style, this essay collection tells the inside story behind some of her most popular songs. Well known for her chart-topper “Brave,” Sara first broke through in 2007 with her multi-platinum single “Love Song.” She has since released seven albums that have sold millions of copies and spawned several hits. “A breezy, upbeat, and honest reflection of this multitalented artist” (Kirkus Reviews), Sounds Like Me reveals Sara Bareilles, the artist—and the woman—on songwriting, soul searching, and what’s discovered along the way.

This benchmark text includes hundreds of exercises by great composers including Hanon, Czerny, Brahms, Chopin, Wieck, Phillip, and many others. Gail Smith has composed the ultimate palindrome finger exercise containing all the 120 known patterns for your five fingers! Give your fingers the best workout ever. Pieces range from easy to very difficult.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1881, Anna Pavlova grew up dreaming of becoming a prima ballerina. Throughout her lifetime, Anna inspired and encouraged people around the world with her exceptionally graceful and expressive dance. Believing that expressing beauty is essential to the human spirit, Anna strove to help audiences discover the soaring beauty that could uplift their spirits.

A 14 year old girl with extreme musical talent is dying of cancer. Her father (a special government agent), a strange visitor from another planet simply calling himself the Music Man and four powerful beings who accompany him converge on Earth to thwart a pending attack in our future. But can they do it in time? Who can be trusted? Will the young girl realize her destiny in time before she dies? What will happen to Earth if she fails? Why is all this related to only music? What did a fifth airplane on 9/11 have to do with the young girl? The Music Man has been sent to Earth by four special beings. But why was he sent here and what does he know about Earth? How can a 14-year-old girl save our planet? A genius inventor, a radical doctor and a NASA video surveillance specialist all become part of the now complex countdown. And we just have a little over 677 years to become prepared for the inevitable.