ELEMENTARY

A Day for Ducklings

This elementary piano solo offers a precocious first-year or average second-year student an opportunity to play tone clusters and vacillate from staccato to legato touch. The music includes some words which paint a picture of the mood of the piece and act as a rhythmic aid. It allows the student to play many staccato notes but also includes a few legato passages. Two-note clusters give the feeling of ducks quacking. Words are also included. A seven-year-old easily performed this piece. (33 measures)

A Day for Ducklings is suitable for syllabus level 1.

Below are two samples from the first half of A Day for Ducklings. Click on either sample to see an enlarged version.

Measures 1-5

Measures 9-16

This character piece musically tells the story of "Humpty Dumpty." The first section (4/4) is stately ("The King's Parade"); the second (6/8) is "Wobbly" ("The Egg is losing its balance"); the third (6/8) portrays the egg falling through the use of descending three-note repeated patterns that are played hand over hand; and the fourth (4/4) is a funeral march. Harmonic intervals are not larger than sixths and the shortest notes are eighths. This composition was successfully performed by a 5 1/2-year-old student. (27 measures)

Including words to evoke a picture of lightning bugs, this composition uses quarter, half, and dotted half notes. A variety of touches are featured: staccato, legato, and two-note slurs. Most of the composition allows the student's hands to play together (either one left hand note per measure or in contrary motion), but occasionally the hands take turns. (37 measures).

Seven Elementary Piano Solos, Levels II-III

This ensemble for flute, B-flat clarinet and piano trio (6 hands at one piano) is lively and fun for elementary level students to play. Five students have an opportunity to learn some basics of ensemble playing while studying this tonal composition which contains some contemporary idioms such as two note clusters and alternation between harmonic fourths and fifths in the piano part.

Basset Hound Blues

INTERMEDIATE

Bay Breezes

LATE INTERMEDIATE

Carnival of Chords

Carnival of Chords is a collection of six intermediate piano solos featuring the sounds of of chromatically altered twentieth-century chords. It was written to honor the pedagogical principle of allowing the student to experience a new concept before completely understanding it. Although a few of the chords featured, such as the major and minor seventh, may be found in beginning instrumental literature, most of the chords do not appear until students are playing more advanced music. Students who are exposed to the variety of sounds in this collection will find that their enjoyment of performing and listening to all genres of music will be enhanced.

Each piece contains notes about the type of chord used and details places in the score which contain the featured concept.

Carnival of Chords is suitable for syllabus levels 5-7.

Bells This piece features secondary dominants. Especially note the series of chords which move around the circle of fourths by a V7/IV - IV progression (mm. 45-58).
Measures 1-4	Measures 45-48
Parade Parallelism is the feature of this composition. Many triads move up and down the scale in parallel motion. See mm. 4-6 for obvious examples.	Measures 1-6
Hanging Baskets The Neopolitan sixth, or triad in first inversion built on the flat second scale degree (see measure 5), is found in this piece. Also, there is a key change from E Minor to F Major (measure 17) which displays a Neopolitan relationship.
Measures 1-8	Measures 17-20
Street Dance Chromatic mediants, altered mediant and submediant chords are the basis of this piece. Look for these chords at the key changes.	Measures 1-4
Measures 10-14	Measures 18-19
Dusk Alexander Scriabin's Mystic Chord is the building block of this composition. The chord is formed by stacked fourths: augmented - diminished - autmented - perfect - perfect. Notice the notes used in the first two measures: C-natural, F-sharp, B-flat, A-natural, and D-natural are the notes of a Mystic Chord.	Measures 1-8

This is a collection of eight Intermediate piano solos, each of which combines a musical concept with something found in the country. Individual titles include Pony Pizzicato, Dissonant Ducks, and Strawberry Patch Scherzo. A dictionary at the beginning of the book gives definitions of the musical terms. Although diatonic, the music is mildly contemporary in sound, and some 20th century idioms such as tone clusters, changing meters, and the lydian mode are used.

Country Cappriccio is suitable for syllabus level 5.

Below are samples from Country Cappriccio that illustrate the various styles. Click on any image to see an enlarged version of it.

Waltz of the Wildflowers	Strawberry Patch Scherzo
Mouse Trap Minuet

This intermediate piece, in ternary form, paints a picture of daffodils swaying in the breeze. Major seventh chords built from harmonic intervals are featured in the A sections while the motion becomes faster and more linear in the B section. This music will eventually become part of a collection but at present is available individually.

In the spring of 2000, Daffodils was performed by Carole Arnold, who says,

I am an adult student with previous experience on the violin. I started as a beginning piano student--unable to read bass clef. I loved "Daffodils." I loved the contrast between the A & B sections, the contrast in the dynamics, and the tempo. Although there were some challenges, the piece sounded much more difficult than it was. People couldn't believe I had only studied 2 1/2 years.

Daffodils is suitable for syllabus level 5.

Below are some samples from Daffodils. Click on any image to see an enlarged version.

Measures 1-4

Measures 17-20

Drifting

Fabric and Frills (Boston Music 1994)

Seven Intermediate Piano Solos

Three Intermediate Piano Solos

Another collection of late intemediate piano solos, the water theme of this book is seen in such titles as Ice Sculptures, Icicles, and Glacier Glass. A variety of moods is found within this collection, from the delicate flow of Ripples on a Tranquil Lake to the energetic rhythm of Hailstorm.

Water Wonders is suitable for syllabus level 6.

Below are samples from Water Wonders that illustrate the various styles. Click on any image to see an enlarged version of it.

Ice Sculptures	Ripples on a Tranquil Lake
Glacier Glass	Icicles
Hailstorm

ADVANCED

An early advanced piano composition, Eclipse of the Moon is a lyrical pice that appeals to many teen-aged students. An arpeggiated bass under flowing melodic lines help the student prepare for Romantic pieces such as those written by Chopin. Although Eclipse is written in the key of F-Major, temporary key changes (using a variety of accidentals) challenge the performer. In performace, this piece was used as part of one student's syllabus evaluation in 1999. Eclipse was also presented in 2000 at an OMTA syllabus honors recital by an upper division student of colleague Susan M. Foust, NCTM (National Certified Teacher of Music), who says,

My first experience with Eclipse of the Moon was successful in every way. It immediately captured my student's imagination. She came to love it so much that she chose it for Syllabus and it became the selection for her Honor Recital performance. It's always such a pleasure to teach music that the student enjoys learning.

Eclipse of the Moon is suitable for syllabus level 8.

Below is a sample from the opening of Eclipse. To see an enlarged version, click on the image.

This piece, for advanced students, is a piano arrangement of the hymns, Come, Ye Thankful People, Come and We Plow the Fields and Scatter. These are the composer's favorite Thanksgiving hymns, and the piece was composed when she couldn't find published copies of them! It features a variety of bass figures and contains distinct sections in the keys of F, C, and E Major.

CONCERT

Sonata 2000

This sonata was inspired by the 1998 tragedy at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. The first movement, "Innocence," is meant to depict a typical happy high school before the fateful day. The second movement, "Tribute," is a tribute to the victims and survivors of the tragedy. "Reconstruction," the final movement, with its drive and force, is my observation of the emotional rebuilding of the school and community and my belief that God, in all His power, triumphs over even the most horrific disasters.