The unique set of 50 Etudes was written for the students of the music school that Donald Waxman and his wife co-directed for many years in Nyack, New York. Rather than relying on such 19th century etude writers as Czerny and Concone to advance the technical skills of the school’s piano students, he began a project to compose etudes for each of the many individual techniques that in sum define a student’s technical proficiency. These included all the traditional “mechanisms,” as the French call them, of scales, arpeggios, chords, legato double notes, octaves, wrist staccato, finger staccato, chromatic passages, trills, grace notes, etc., as well as more recent non-traditional techniques as glissandos, tone clusters and interior piano techniques. The Fifty Etudes are written in a contemporary tonal idiom that greatly expands the narrow harmonic range of the 19th century etude writers as well as illustrates such rhythmic devices as uneven time signatures, change meters and cross rhythms. The Waxman etudes are not only technique builders; many of them are, as well, colorful and descriptive pieces that are ideal as recital repertoire. Thus, each etude has two titles: a technical title and a descriptive one. The listings of all 50 etudes is shown below on the back covers of each of the four books: Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Lower Advanced and Advanced. Note that the titles with asterisks are etudes that can be purchased separately.