Thanks to Martha Duncan for submitting the following guest post highlighting Red Leaf Piano Works:
Don’t miss your chance to win one of these exciting new piano books!
What do you get when a group of piano teachers who also double as award-winning composers get together? The answer is Red Leaf Pianoworks -an online composers’ collective designed to showcase an outrageous collection of over 300 titles from beginner to advanced covering all genres from solos to quartets. All of their music is available from their easy-to-use website http://redleafpianoworks.com where you can sort by level, genre and composer as well as see first pages of scores and listen to sound samples. Readers may remember another Red Leafer – Rebekah Maxner, composer of the timely Titanic piano books for elementary and late intermediate piano. A sampling of other Red Leaf elementary collections is highlighted below:
Creatures Great and Small – by Joanne Bender. Fresh and fun, silly and sweet, these pieces are dedicated to the early pianist with an imagination and a sense of adventure. Fairies and Gnomes, Spooky Spider and Wiggly Worms, Dancing Donkey and Crazy Monkeys are some of the attractive works playable by Introductory to Elementary students. Chromatic and octatonic scales along with swing rhythms are introduced to make this tonal music interesting and appealing - and the front cover artwork is delightful!
Dances, Daydreams & Dinosaurs – by Janet Gieck. Seventeen piano solos to capture the imagination with a variety of styles from jazzy rhythms in Sixty Four Beats and Gameboy to gentle 7th chords in the lovely Outdoor Skating Rink. Find contemporary techniques such as cluster chords in Spring Day, foot stomps in T. S. T-Rex, and aleatoric choices in Tricky Tracks. Boys will be particularly drawn to the dinosaur pieces that allow them to bring out their high energy dramatizations of prehistoric times. This book will lead students to dance, dream and
discover!
If Dogs Could Talk – by Martha Hill Duncan. If you have 5 – 9 year olds who like lyrics and coloring with their music, this set of little dramatic solos will be perfect for them. The composer’s favorites include a talking dog, a cat lurking behind the couch and a little bird who’s fallen from its nest. Great recital gems for the beginning or early reader who’s exploring legato/staccato touches and contrasting dynamics. The companion book Flying Horses, Talking Fish is only slightly more advanced in its keys and features touches of pedal, tapping and clapping effects.
Imagination – by Teresa Richert. Take a ride on a unicorn or meet a frog prince as he charms a fairy princess in this fully illustrated collection of ten solos composed especially for young students. Set sail with fierce pirates aboard a ghost ship in search of sunken treasure or march in a parade of pixies and meet a jolly elf. Imagine yourself as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, taking control of a magic wand or being really adventurous and waltz with terrible, clumsy ogres. These pieces explore a wide variety of harmonic, melodic and rhythmic resources and include dynamics, articulations, and damper pedal appropriate for students at this level.
Little Hands, Big Pieces – by Susan Griesdale. Fun and imaginative music for little ones to sound big! Fifteen pieces constructed of major triads that cover a wide variety of style and mood. Discover the delicate Faerie Dust, or the pounding drums of Tribal Dance. Join the fun with Hero’s March and Space Adventure, or the playful Sneaky and Three Cornered Hats. Cast your own spell with the eerie Magic Spell, or enjoy the sweet harmonies of Tea & Sweets and Cotton Candy. This collection works well for all ages at the elementary level – easy to learn, easy to teach, but sounds difficult. What more could a teacher ask for!!
Rags to Riches – by Beverly Porter. Bev Porter’s most famous piece Chromatic Rag (move over Fur Elise) is in this collection. One young fan writes: “Dear Ms. Porter I like your music because of the starting of Chromatic Rag. I also like the 2nd lines ending because it gets more louder in a fun place. Thats why it’s awsome.” Other infectious solos featured in this elementary collection are the jazzy Jazzmatazz and Get a Move On along with the lyrical Rainy Day Song and impressionistic Silently Falls the Snow. Great recital fare!
Each of the above five composers has generously offered to giveaway a copy of one of her books. That means there will be five books total given away! If you’d like to enter to win one of them, just leave a comment below. The drawing will be held using a random number generator at noon (CST) on Thursday, May 10.
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