This post is part of my Quick Takes series - short, focused reviews that highlight key publications for teachers and players.

Introduction

Beautiful Piano Moments, a new publication from The Willis Music Company, brings together nine ‘uplifting works’ for solo piano aimed at pianists of around Grades 1-3 level. Offered as a ‘diverse, humorous, and touching’ response to ‘life’s beautiful moments’, the book, and indeed, the music, seeks to ‘delight and inspire’.

Front cover of Beautiful Piano Moments, a piano sheet music collection.

With the names Nancy Litten, Nikki Iles and Alan Bullard attached, the book, which contains seven original pieces and two arrangements, comes with high expectations.

Key Impressions

The pieces, all of which are 1-2 pages in length seem to align well with their intended grading - three works for each of Grades 1-3. With such eminent composer names attached, the music is diverse, both in style and genre - from folk to jazz, and much in-between too.

Extract from Cloudland by Nancy Litten, featured in the Beautiful Piano Moments piano sheet music collection.

I particularly enjoyed Nancy Litten’s ‘Cloudland’ and Alan Bullard’s arrangement of ‘My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose’ in the Grade 2 selection, and also Nancy Litten’s arrangement of Saint-Saëns’ ‘Softly Awakes My Heart’ in the Grade 3 selection. There are very useful and informative composer notes for each piece; these also offer practice tips which will be useful for both student and teacher.

Verdict

Overall, whilst there are some lovely pieces here, I wasn’t convinced how well the collection hung together as a whole. The title, Beautiful Piano Moments, had conjured up an idea in my mind of the sort of music I might expect to find, and - not because the music isn’t beautiful - the collection as a whole didn’t quite live up to that.

Back cover of Beautiful Piano Moments, listing the piano pieces included in the collection.

I was left wondering therefore, who this book might appeal to - a question I find myself struggling to answer. As standalone individual pieces, they all did what they said on the tin, and I’m sure some of these will appear on exam syllabuses in due course - but as a collection of nine pieces, I wasn’t entirely convinced.

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Beautiful Piano Moments was published in 2026 by The Willis Music Company, ISBN 9798350181920, RRP £9.99.

I was sent a review copy of this book free of charge; however, this review is my honest opinion as a teacher. You can find my Reviews Policy here.

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Star ratings reflect my personal opinion based on usefulness, creativity, presentation, and appeal for teachers and players. I only review publications I can genuinely recommend (3 stars and above):

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Worth exploring - A solid and dependable publication with moments of interest.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Recommended - Thoughtful and well-presented; many teachers and players will enjoy using it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Highly recommended - Beautifully written, inspiring, and one I’ll return to often.