Yesterday, I shared a little bit about the Galaxy of Composers group class that we held in the studio last week. In preparation for this each student selected (or was given) a composition by a composer of interest to them. I tried to keep the duplicate composers to a minimum, but of course we did still end up with several of the more famous names!

I used to be opposed to using simplified arrangements of classics, but now I love them! I’m still not a huge fan of simplified arrangements of piano repertoire, but I love using themes from other instrumental and symphonic works to help familiarize the students with music they might otherwise never hear. I’ve compiled a list below of the pieces that were prepared for the Galaxy of Composers group class, along with links to the books in which they are located (these represent some of my favorite collections for both piano and simplified classical arrangements!). Hope it’s helpful!

Prelude – Isaac Albeniz

Kind im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep) – Robert Schumann

The Village Prophet – Jean Jacques Rousseau

Theme from New World Symphony – Antonin Dvorak

Theme from Trepak – Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin

Rondo Alla Turca – Frederic Burgmuller

Solfeggieto – C.P.E. Bach

Fur Elise – Ludwig Van Beethoven

No Fear – Luke Wisner (original composition by the brother of a student)

Theme from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Pop! Goes the Weasel – Benjamin Schweitzer

Theme from Symphony in C Minor – Ludwig Van Beethoven

Wedding March – Felix Mendelssohn

Caprice No. 24 – Niccolo Paganini

The Magic Fountain – Szidor Bator

Firefly – Nancy and Randall Faber

In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg

Night of the Tarantella – Nancy Faber

Country Dance – Ludwig Van Beethoven

Theme from Fantasy-Impromptu – Frederic Chopin

German Dance and Allemande – Michael Praetorius

Stars and Stripes Forever – John Philip Sousa

Romance – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Taps – Daniel Butterfield

Theme from Spring – Antonio Vivaldi

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and if you enjoy hearing holiday-themed music in your studio you’ll want to grab a copy of Wendy Stevens’ latest sheet music: Irish Celebration. The melody is fun and catchy – one that any early elementary student will love learning and playing over and over…and over and over.

Set in a simple 5-finger position, Irish Celebration is very accessible while still managing to sound great sans duet. The accompanying duet, however, would be perfect for an older sibling or other early intermediate student. It adds a great sense of energy and excitement without detracting from the melody. Lots of fun!

Other favorite Irish Music selections in my studio include:

From the Emerald Isle by Melody Bober
Highland Jig by Mary Leaf (one of the selections in this In Recital book)

I’d love to have some other suggestions of favorite Irish repertoire. What pieces do your students really like playing?

At what point do you discontinue using method books with more advanced students? What does their curriculum consist of (i.e. what do you do for repertoire, technique, etc)?

Wow! Like my Introducing Baroque Music post, I’m afraid this will reveal my lack of structured lesson planning when it comes to the higher levels! Just don’t report me to the pedagogy police, ok?

If a particular student really thrives on sequence and structure, then I’ll keep them in the method books (Lesson and Technique and Artistry) through all the levels, but otherwise, usually after the second or third level of the Faber series, we transition into early classics and other supplemental music. I’ve used a whole variety of early level Classical repertoire books over the years. Usually when a student gets to that point, I spend some time at the music store pouring over the new releases and looking back through the previous series’ I’ve used, trying to pick the books that I think will be just right for that student.

I look for books that have representative repertoire from each of the time periods so that I can incorporate stylistic techniques and tidbits of music history along with the learning of the pieces. The Exploring Piano Classics series is my newest favorite! I’m not very good at remembering book titles, but here are a few others I really like that come to mind:

Essential Keyboard Repertoire edited by Lynn Freeman Olson

Masterwork Classics by Jane Magrath

Beautiful Etudes by Victoria McArthur

Expressive Etudes by Suzanne Guy

Succeeding with the Masters Festival Collection by Helen Marlais

I’m sure there are other great ones as well, so hopefully some others will chime in! What are your favorite repertoire and technique books for advancing students who are moving out of method books? Also, at what point do your students move out of the method books?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Yes, I know it’s not Monday, but I have a backlog of questions, so I thought I would take a week to try to catch up a bit!

What do you think about jazz music and popular music? Do you use it in your studio?

Honestly, it depends a lot on the student. I don’t make a special point to include jazz or pop music in lessons, but if a student requests it, I will try to help them find something appropriate for their level of playing. Also, tend to evaluate or determine what I teach based on the individual piece rather than the genre. If I like a piece, I will eagerly recommend it to a student and help them work on it. Same goes for if they bring in their own piece that they are interested in learning. But if I don’t like a piece of music, I figure that I won’t be very effective or encouraging in helping the student work on it.

For example, if a student is interested in learning jazz music, I don’t just give them a book of pieces at their level, I’ll play through numerous books until I find a piece that really grabs me and then I’ll introduce that one to them. Same with pop music, although it’s a little harder to be picky with these because the options are more limited if you’re looking for a particular song!

Incidentally, I use the same approach with classical music, method book pieces, hymns, etc. I am always open to learning new music, finding out about different composers and arrangers, and looking through newly released books, but if I don’t find the song/arrangement appealing, I usually pass it up and look for something else. I tell my students the same thing, if they don’t like a piece of music (because of the sound, not because it’s too hard!), we skip it and move on to something that they do like. There’s too much music available to spend our time playing music we don’t like. That’s my philosophy, anyway.

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Those of you who are church pianists, or those who just enjoy playing sacred arrangements, should check out these free arrangements at KoertsMusic.com. So far, there are three arrangements available: For the Beauty of the Earth, Praise to the Lord, and Joy to the World. And while you’re there, you should click over to the page for the CD Wondrous Love and listen to the tracks. The CD is described as “Christian music with piano and orchestra.” Amazingly, you can listen to the whole track for each song, and you can download the entire album for $9.99! So far, I’m loving all of it and have added it to my universal wish list!

HT: The Church Pianist

When our local music teachers association dubbed our first meeting of the year a “New Music Review” I knew exactly what I wanted to play. I had recently received Wendy Stevens’ newest book, How Sweet the Sound, and fell in love with the first arrangement – Day of Arising. It’s a gorgeous setting that just makes the piano sing (of course, it helps that the teacher’s studio where I performed it is the new home to a magnificent Kawaii grand piano!).

Each of the other intermediate/late-intermediate arrangements are also enjoyable, offering the fresh, vibrant, elements that players of Wendy’s music have come to expect and love.

In How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds and Amazing Grace, I was pleasantly surprised to experience an arrangement of Amazing Grace that didn’t leave me feeling disengaged due to overuse, as often happens on those songs that have almost become too familiar.

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence exhibited a somber character with lots of open 5ths and a pretty drawn out feel, complemented nicely by the passionate, thicker-textured section toward the end.

Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said was, like a number of the hymns in this collection, unfamiliar to me. This is a fun, lively arrangement in 3/2 with a quick triplet figure and crisp staccatos leading the way into the theme. You can almost feel a bit of suspense or mystery in the sound as you play that grabs the attention and keeps the listener engaged.

There Is a Balm in Gilead was a pleasant and easy read with an overall soothing quality, set in large part in the upper register of the piano.

The collection finishes out with arrangements of Thine Is the Glory, This Is My Father’s World, ‘Tis So Sweet, and We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight. As is often the case with unfamiliar melodies, a couple run-throughs are helpful for assimilating the style and drawing out the character of each arrangement. But I found them all to be very accessible and a welcome addition to my collection of sacred piano solos. I look forward to incorporating them into my Sunday music selections and know that many other church pianists and congregations will also enjoy them!

How do you introduce baroque period music or any music with counterpoint to a student for the first time?

What a great question! However, I’m afraid my answer will reveal my total lack of structure when it comes to intermediate level students, so I’m hoping that others will share their thoughts on how to approach teaching Baroque music.

I hardly ever follow a systematic approach when working with intermediate – advanced students. I’m working on improving in this area, but at the same time I recognize that every student is different and has diverse interests and goals. I’m always on the lookout, though, for great materials that will capture students’ interest, introduce them to different styles, and help facilitate a good understanding of the various historical periods and composers. Here are a few of the books that I really love for Baroque emphasis:

Exploring Piano Classics by Nancy Bachus – This is a relatively new series and I’ve only used the first book so far with a student who is just getting into early-level Classics, but I absolutely love it! In fact, I just ordered another one for another student. The layout is clean, with wonderful illustrations and bullet points discussing historical information and brief  biographical sketches of the composers.

Spotlight on Baroque Style by Catherine Rollin – This is obviously not original Baroque music, but it is full of delightful pieces and performance notes that will introduce students to the different styles of the period.

The Baroque Spirit Books by Nancy Bachus – Chock-full of everything you could possibly want to know about the Baroque period, even discussing other cultural aspects beyond music, these books are wonderful for the student who really wants to learn more about music history!

Succeeding with the Masters, Baroque Era by Helen Marlais – These books don’t contain as wide a variety since they just include three key composers of the Baroque period (Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti), but they include great practice tips (both written and verbal via an accompanying CD) that will help students grasp how to learn and play the pieces with appropriate interpretation.

A few general things that I am always discussing with students in relation to Baroque music:
* Instrument history – harpsichord as the forerunner to the piano
* Dynamic leveling – more of a terraced dynamic approach
* Technique – non-legato touch, contrasting articulation between different rhythmic values of notes
* Cultural Elements – architecture, clothing, etc.
* Compositional Techniques – polyphony vs. homophony; listening for the different voices

Baroque music can be very complex, but I love it! And I do what I can to help instill a love for it in my students as well!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

In continuing yesterday’s theme of finding music, today I wanted to share some links I’ve found for free Christmas Music:

Making Music Fun – A variety of levels, simple/straight-forward melodies, rather than arranged pieces.

Music for Music Teachers – simple melodies; not very exciting musically, but good for those who just want to play familiar tunes.

Sheet Music Plus – All the new issue Christmas music from method publishers this season.

Sally DeFord Music – I downloaded all the solo piano arrangements and made a book out of them. They are really lovely!

Susan Paradis Piano Teacher Resources – Includes a variety of early level holiday sheet music, including several pre-reading arrangements (which are hard to come by!).

Jennifer Cook, The Church Pianist – Has a nice selection of free arrangements that you can download. There are only a couple Christmas posts, but perhaps more will be added in the future!

If you know of other websites with free Christmas music, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list!

You seem to have plentiful sources of repertoire at your fingertips.  I am having a hard time finding good supplemental music for my small, beginning studio.  The closest music store is about an hour away, so I rely heavily on internet searching and shopping.  However, I find it difficult to know the level of the piece I’m considering and would especially like to “see” part of the piece to judge its appropriateness and sound.  Do you have any websites that you think do a good job of making this information available and clear?  I am most immediately interested in Christmas sheet music at the elementary level.  Any suggestions?

Yes, I have managed to accumulate a large collection of printed music over the years. My first rule now when I need a new piece for a student is that I have to go “shopping” through my own books before I can go to the store. We actually have two fabulous music stores in our area, so I do have the opportunity to play through lots of music before I purchase it, but here are a few suggestions for those who don’t have easy access to music stores:

1. Subscribe to a New Release Club for music teachers to get a nice selection of new books at a discounted price. (Additionally, if you get on the list for some of these publishers, periodically throughout the year you will receive a sampler, often accompanied with a CD.)

2.Visit the publisher websites. I’ve noticed that Hal Leonard in particular has developed a very user-friendly site that allows you to view and listen to samples from many of their books.

3. Attend national conferences. I’ve attended both the Music Teachers National Association conference and the National Center for Keyboard Pedagogy conference, and in both cases came home with enough free music to more than cover the registration fee. Publisher showcases at these conferences are a great way to listen to composers discuss and play their own music.

4. Use on-line databases. If you’re looking for good Classical repertoire, the PianoWorks website is a great resource! The 20th Century Intermediate Piano Literature database may also be helpful.

5. Get together with other music teachers and have everyone play some of their (and their students!) favorite pieces. We’ve done this on a number of occasions with our local associations and I always come away with some new ideas. (Here’s a link to a Student Saver Pieces handout I put together for a workshop I did at one of our meetings.)

6. Subscribe to a music teacher magazine. I enjoy receiving the Clavier Companion (combination of the former Keyboard Companion and Clavier). I read through it, underlining and making notes and bookmarking pages for future reference – both teaching ideas and insights, and repertoire suggestions.

These are a few general ideas about finding music. Tomorrow I’ll specifically address Christmas music. If anyone has other suggestions for finding appropriate music when you don’t have access to a music store, please do share!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Rebecca W. just alerted me recently to this fabulous Musopen website! Have you seen it yet? They have an enormous selection of music (audio) and sheet music that can be accessed for free, played from the site, downloaded, and embedded into other websites. In fact, as I type this, I am enjoying listening to a recording of the Dvorak Cello Concerto, Opus 104, I Allegro performed by the Davis High School Symphony Orchestra (pretty good for a high school group!).

The people behind Musopen are also working on a public domain music theory textbook. Sounds like a great concept and an interesting project! From the comments on this post, I also found out about a free music theory course by Catherine Schmidt-Jones that looks like a great resource!