Battlestar Galactica: Piano Solo Arrangements

Usually when you buy a soundtrack book you are in for very simple arrangement that just feels like a pale muzac shadow of the orchestration. Not so with this book. For an intermediate level book, the arrangements are really full of sound and pathos.

If you have not heard of Bear McCreary by name, then it's more than likely you have heard his music in shows such as Human Target (Season 1), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica (2004 version), Caprica, Trauma, The Cape, and others; perhaps, you have heard his music from Dark Void, a game for Xbox 360 and PC. In any case, the music this man produces is top-form and undeniably moving. One of the greatest things Bear does is communicate openly with fans about his projects. He offers insight into the world of professional music and its many challenges and joys. This openness has resulted in the Battlestar Galactica Piano Song Book. Fueled by popular demand, Bear went to work arranging various themes and songs from the series' four seasons and compiled them into one comprehensive book for people to perform and enjoy in their own way.With the background out of the way, I'll continue with my review. Many of the tunes included in this collection were not originally written for piano solo, which is why it blew me away at the quality of the arrangements for tunes such as "Roslin and Adama", "Violence and Variations", and "Wander My Friends". The notes make sense and are perfect for the piano's register as an instrument, and the choice of tunes is excellent in terms of variety. As a pianist, I can sight read through all of the book at a slow pace, but the difficulty is tremendous for beginners, which is why I would caution those just learning to play. Thankfully, the composer realized this, and included two simplified tunes for those individuals who may otherwise have trouble. The music selections I played through range from beautiful and enveloping melodies to dark and violent fortes. For the amount of content at this affordable price, and the quality, I would recommend this book to any pianist or someone who is interested in keyboard music, not just fans of the tv series, because some songs present clear technical challenges. I personally look forward to more releases of the same nature for the other shows that Bear has worked on. 5 stars!

If you’re looking for this piano sheet music, you already know of the beautiful existence of BSG and I certainly don’t need to tell you of the sheer awesomeness that is Bear McCreary. This is an actual review of the book, and it’s brief, because when you’re describing perfection, you don’t need many words.I purchased this because I had a physical need to learn how to play The Shape of Things to Come. I’m not kidding. It was a burning sensation from the first second I heard the music in the show. I was tired of being “close enough” when trying to do it by ear. The piano transcription is spot on. Now I’ve learned it correctly, shown it off, and moved on to Prelude To War, which I believe is the most challenging piece in the book. Go watch Bear play it on his YouTube channel if you want to see it done the way it was intended. What he plays lines up exactly with the music provided in this book. I couldn’t ask for better.

Great book

Acknowledge this is a biased review: the single piece hoping to see, the opening theme, isn't included.Believe Bear McCreary is a musical genius. However, disappointed because the ethereal opening theme with Hindu mantra & dissonant notes/chords representing the cylons is not included & nowhere to be found elsewhere to date; figuring out by ear apparently the only recourse. Was hoping the 'prelude" title might include the opening theme but not so. Acknowledge it's challenging to reproduce the full depth of McCreary's music on piano, but the repeated 'back and forth" in the bass/left hand, a major portion of many songs, is not my favorite. A music book this size is best offered as a binder, acknowledge that would increase the cost. It does appear most of the more popular themes are included.

The score that Bear McCreary came up for the reboot version of Battlestar Galactica remains one of my top ten favorite scores for any television show that I've seen. Teaching myself how to read and play these pieces just further cultivated my love for this show.

Bear frakkin' McCreary, everybody. He's done it again. The Battlestar Galactica soundtrack is one of the most beautifully composed soundtracks I've ever heard. It's so beautiful, it hurts. Sure, it brings up a lot of the fantastic memories of the show, but even by itself, it is a standalone work of pure genius. This piano book makes the music a lot more accessible and easy to recreate in your piano room. However, obviously, as it is a piano book, it doesn't come with the beautiful drums that add so much of so many of the songs, but the writing of the music to relegate as much of the song as possible to one instrument just further showcases Bear's genius. So much of the original compositions have been captured in these piano translations, it's pretty unbelievable. Ugh. Bear, why are you so incredible?The book's not really for beginners, but with enough practice and dedication (and with this kind of music, why would you not have the dedication?), it's perfectly tameable. I wish I had more hands though, but then again, I'm no musical genius. So yeah, buy this work and enjoy bringing BSG to life in your house (or wherever you play piano).

Bear McCreary's role in the television series is majorly underrated. Without his music the fight between Adama and Cain or the battles between viper and raider would be no where near as intense and thrilling. McCreary has created songs that are beautifully crafted for the scenes of Battlestar Galactica, but they are also phenomenal on their own. Even if you've no interest in Battlestar Galatica listening let alone playing these pieces is a joy. I must warn you, if you're not a proficient pianist, these pieces are not where to start. There's a wide range of techniques used and switches of time and key signatures. Of course some pieces are easier to play than others and for some of the harder pieces like "Rosalind and Adama" McCreary has also included simplified versions - fantastic if you want to play the more challenging pieces but can't. The book itself includes, what I'd call the best of the soundtrack, including the major pieces used time and time again. The book is also a good quality, although you may need to clamp down the edge of the pages whilst playing. (Yes, the title is a pun for one of the pieces "Wander my friends").

Bear Mcreary is one of the finest composers of our modern age, who outperformed himself when he wrote the score for the reimangined Battlestar Galactica TV Series. The quality of the book is superb and the sheet music is clear and concise. There are so many beautiful pieces in here, its hard to know where to start. When you get to grips with Bear's arrangements for the piano from this fantastic score, you'll realise just what a composer he really is! "Passacagalia" is truly wonderful, and so is "The Shape Of Things To Come". There are some simplified version in here too of "Roslin & Adama" & "Wander My Friends".However, unless your already an accomplished level 6 or above player. Id suggest starting on some of the less complex arrangements such as "Battlestar Sonactica" and "Elegy". I for one imagine this songbook is going to take me a good couple of years to master as I havent played piano properly since i was a teenager some 25 years ago! Nevertheless, Bear MCreary has inspired me to not only purchase his songbook and learn to play some of his wonderful music and be a part of the BSG universe, but has got me forking out £2500.00 for a new Digital Kawai CA95 Piano.If you love Sci-Fi, youll fall in love Battlestar Galactica & Bear MCreary, whos scoring throughout the entire series was almost devastating!I even bought this as a kindle version too, so i can read the sheet music on my tablet whilst in bed and learn it! lolBest money you can spend on a book!

In terms of physical quality, the book is softcover, pages and cover are both of good stock, the binding is a typical softcover binding which makes it difficult to use on a piano without the pages closing - this can be alleviated either by photocopying the relevant pages (worthwhile - some page breaks are at fairly busy parts of the piece), or breaking the glue/spine in order to get the middle pages to sit flat - your choice.I bought this book purely for the 'Shape of Things To Come/Passacaglia/Allego' trio of songs, but everything in here is excellently notated, very clear, with good notes as needed. My only nitpick (and it is a nitpick, really), is that some suggested fingerings for some of the more 'handsy' parts would have been useful, but using my own is a nice exercise, so it's not that big a worry.If you're a fan of the BSG series' music, this is an excellent buy - unlike many soundtrack books, the price is extremely reasonable for the quality; get it if you can.

Bought as a gift and he absolutely loves it. Uses it daily

A large amount of songs to play, nice with the two simplified versions to get started with. Really great work from Bear Mc....