It’s not fully developed yet, but you will definitely want to bookmark this new Beginner Piano Repertoire Search Engine that is a work in progress. The site has the capability to search for repertoire based on a variety of criteria. It’s similar to Kathy Rabago’s 20th Century Intermediate Piano Repertoire Database. I am really excited about the prospect of having such a fabulous teaching tool for locating good beginner repertoire and hope to check back periodically for additions to the site!
Category Archives: Repertoire Suggestions
Review and Giveaway of Compositions by Lisa Donovan Lukas
Close your eyes, sit back in a comfy chair, and imagine a beautiful interlacing of impressionistic and contemporary harmonies drifting from piano music that might provide the soundtrack for your favorite tear-inducing drama. Now you can skip the imagination part and let this video fill in the music for you:
Goodnight, Sweet Dreams is one of six compositions by Lisa Donovan Lukas.
To Raise The Wind Horse is an imaginative duet that was premiered at the Daniel Pearl World Music Days concert in California. You can read a little about the inspiration and history of the composition on the Daniel Pearl Music Days website. I can think of several horse-loving students that would love to learn this duet!
Each piece presents fairly advanced rhythmic challenges, but the end results are well worth it! The most accessible of Lisa’s six works is A Song From the Garden. It has a lovely singing melody, and could be handled by a motivated intermediate student.
I think Summer Dance would be an engaging selection for a student looking for a fresh contemporary piece to use for a festival or contest. Waiting is a rich, gorgeous piece that I’m adding to my collection of wedding and prelude music. And A Passing Cloud is a great mood piece if you or a student are looking for something to sink your hands into and let your expressiveness take you away. 
I love that you can download samples and listen to full recordings of each piece on the Alberti Publishing website! But I love even more that Lisa has offered to giveaway a copy of each of her compositions to Music Matters Blog readers! Six winners will be given one of her pieces and you can enjoy it yourself and/or use it with a student in your studio. Just leave a comment below and six winners will be chosen using a random number generator at noon (CST) on Thursday, February 9, 2012.
Watch Our 2011 Christmas Recital
Even though we weren’t able to live stream our Christmas Recital (like we did in 2010), a friend of mine video recorded the event and we’ve uploaded it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure!
I didn’t realize until after it was posted that the credits at the end rolled through at the speed of light! So, here is a list of pieces included in this year’s program for those who are interested (all of which should be available through Sheet Music Plus):
O Come, Little Children
Arr. Phillip Keveren
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Arr. Catherine Rollin
‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
Arr. Joseph Martin
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Arr. Lyn Freeman Olson
Mary, Did You Know?
Mark Lowry
Arr. The Band
We Three Kings
Arr. Nancy Faber
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Arr. Catherine Rollin
Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow with Go Tell It on the Mountain
Arr. Melody Bober
There is a Redeemer
Arr. Ellen Banks Elwell
Joy to the World
Arr. Lloyd Larson
The Little Drummer Boy
Arr. Nancy Faber
Away in a Manger
Arr. Nancy Faber
A Cradle Prayer
by Rebecca St. James
Silent Night
Arr. Melody Bober
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Arr. Nancy Faber
What Child is This?
Arr. Melody Bober
The First Noel
Arr. Melody Bober
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Arr. Mona Rejino
Sing Hallelujah
Arr. Mark Hayes
Sing We Now of Christmas
Arr. Martha Mier
Panis Angelicus
Cesar Franck
Amazing Grace
Arr. Wendy Stevens
And Can it Be?
Arr. Marilynn Ham
Pat-a-Pan
Arr. Carol Klose
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Arr. Melody Bober
Angel Medley
Arr. Melody Bober
Carol of the Bells
Arr. Kevin Olson
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Arr. Lenny Seidel
My Savior, My God
Aaron Shust
Arr. The Band
Collection of 12 Free Piano Pieces
Looking for a great collection of intermediate level piano pieces for some of your advancing students? Charles Wu has put together a very nice set of 12 pieces that will introduce students to a variety of composers and styles. The compilation includes:
Georg Frederic Handel – March in G HWV 419/3
Henry Purcell – Air in D Minor ZT 676
Domenico Scarlatti – Sonata in C Major K. 73B
Franz Joseph Haydn – German Dance Hob. IX/22 No. 3
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Minuet in F K.2
Daniel Gottlob Türk – ‘Horn With Echo’ from 49 Pieces for Beginners at the Piano
Robert Schumann – ‘Soldier’s March’ from Album for The Young Op. 68
Theodore Oesten – ‘Echo’ from Mayflowers Op. 61
Robert Fuchs – ‘Sad at Heart’ from Album for the Young Op. 47
Cornelius Gurlitt – ‘The Rope Dancer’ from Little Studies Op. 130
Stephen Heller – ‘Scabieuse’ from Album for the Young Op. 138
Friedrich Burgmüller – ‘L’Arabesque’ from 25 Progressive Studies Op. 100
The entire book can be downloaded as a pdf file for free! At the end of the book are a couple pages with teaching notes for each piece. And as an added bonus, students can visit his YouTube channel to listen to recordings of each piece. What a great resource!
HT: Repertoire Reviews (be sure to check out the weekly podcast of contemporary piano pieces for intermediate to early-advanced level students!)
My Favorite New Christmas Piano Book!
Several weeks ago, I posted about my afternoon of playing through Christmas music trying to find just the right piece for each student for the Christmas recital. As I confessed, I wasn’t that thrilled about spending a sunny Saturday afternoon in the basement at the piano, but when I started to play through these contemporary arrangements by James Koerts in his book, Wondrous Christmas, my whole mood changed! I recognized his name from when I discovered some free Christian piano arrangements on his website, so I decided to pick the book up when I was at the music store and give it a try. Now it’s my new favorite for this season!
You can download a 4-page pdf preview of the book from the Alfred website. I like the fresh, lively style of each arrangement. And instead of assigning it to one of my students, I decided to keep the whole book all to myself. I love playing through some of the carols each day as part of my practice routine.
Check out koertsmusic.com for more information and to listen to some of James’ other music.
Some recent videos from the studio!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of making music at every lesson. There are so many things that I want to fit into our 45 minutes together each week, but if I had to pick just one thing, I would make sure that in some way or another the student gets to experience making music at their lesson. This might entail improvising, learning something by ear, playing a performance-ready piece, or enjoying an ensemble with another student. Here are some of our recent musical experiences in the studio. Enjoy!
Lucas improvises on Under a Glass Sky:
Graham plays Whirling Leaves:
Joey plays an original composition:
Hayley and Landon play Ode to Joy:
Olive plays Nocturne:
Desiree plays Carol of the Bells by ear:
Luke and Natalie play A Mysterious Adventure:
Noelle, Naomi, and Amanda play Impromptu:
And the Winners Are…
#30 – Leanne
#42 – Nancy Potoczky
These two will receive one of the historically rich Titanic: A Voyage in Piano Music books by Rebekah Maxner. Congrats! However, thanks to Rebekah’s generosity, everyone can get in on the win. She is offering a special deal: Buy 2 and get 1 for free! Here’s what she says:
Titanic: A Voyage in Piano Music Elementary (Red) Buy 2 Get 1 FREE!
Titanic: A Voyage in Piano Music Intermediate (Gold) Buy 2 get 1 FREE!
Buy two books for your students and get your own book free!
Plus FREE shipping on orders $29 and up.
Thanks to all who participated. Stay tuned for another great giveaway next Tuesday!
Review and Giveaway of Titanic: A Voyage In Piano Music by Rebekah Maxner
2012 marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most tragic, but unforgettable events in history: the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The heart-wrenching story of the demise of one the grandest ocean-liner of its time has captured the imaginations of people for decades. Many have been inspired by the valiant sacrifice of the men on board, and thousands watched in fascination when its watery grave was discovered in 1986. Now, nearly 100 years after the fateful day, Rebekah Maxner has published a collection of books to keep the memory of the Titanic alive in the minds and hearts of pianists everywhere.
Titanic: A Voyage in Piano Music is available as both an elementary level piano book with optional duets and an intermediate level piano solo book. Each volume includes nine repertoire selections that “recount the tale of the Titanic’s one and only voyage: original music that captures the mood of the day, numbers that were performed for passengers by the hired White Star Line musicians, popular music that would have been played by Third Class passengers who had their own instruments, and music that was bravely played as the ship was sinking.”
As if this weren’t enough by itself, Rebekah has also included a variety of black and white photos from the Titanic and its passengers, and a paragraph of historical notes for each repertoire selection. The books are truly beautiful and will be loved by pianists everywhere!
Now…the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Rebekah has kindly offered to giveaway two copies of these Titanic books to two Music Matters Blog reader. Just leave a comment below to be entered in a drawing to win one of these books for yourself or a special student! The giveaway will end at noon (CST) on Thursday, October 13, and the winner will be drawn using a random number generator.
24 Piano Pieces Perfect for Rote Teaching
In light of Monday’s post about teaching visual spacial students, I thought it might be nice to post a list of tried and true piano pieces you can teach students by rote. Some of these are ones that I’ve taught; some are from another teacher who sent me her list of suggestions a while ago. Most of these pieces are available at SheetMusicPlus.com. If you have any other great suggestions of rote teaching pieces that you and your students like, let me know and I’ll add them to the list!
- A Day in the Jungle by Jon George
- Bumblebee Toccata by Lynn Freeman Olson
- Buzzing Bee by Mark Nevin
- Castle Days by Kathleen Massoud
- Cross Current by Ted Cooper
- Devil’s Night Dance by Catherine Rollin
- Dragon Hunt by Nancy and Randall Faber
- Dream Echoes by Nancy and Randall Faber
- The Fly by Nancy and Randall Faber
- Wind Across the Badlands by Valerie Roth-Roubos
- Spanish Dance by Catherine Rollin
- Dreamscape by George Peter Tingley
- Guitars of Seville by Mauro Giuliani
- Hide and Seek by Linda Niamath
- Mist by Carolyn Miller
- Motion Machine by Carolyn Miller
- Nature Pieces by Katherine Beard
- Poet’s Lament by Jon George
- Prelude No. 7 in B minor by Robert Vandall
- Rainbow Fish by Catherine Rollin
- Solo Flight by Elvina Pearce
- The Rainstorm by Elizabeth Greenleaf
- The Storm and the Rainbow by Nancy Faber
- The Tempest by Faber
Two Great Sources for Free Sheet Music
When I was searching around for sheet music to use for the Piece Together Play Together activity at our September Surprise a couple weeks ago, I came across a couple of great sites:
8notes.com has done a complete overhaul of their site since the last time I visited (which was quite a while ago!). They have over 500 free piano pieces in their collection, and dozens more exclusively for members. Even if they don’t have the piece on their site, they have a nice list of links to external sites that can save you a lot of time searching on your own. This appears to be a member-driven site, so the quality of arrangements you will find varies, but it’s definitely a great go-to place for free sheet music!
Easy Sheet Music has a collection of over 70 pages of well-known Classical favorites. You can access up to three a day for free. Or you can subscribe for $15/year for unlimited access.