New Age Piano (late intermediate/early advanced) part 1

I was classically trained as a pianist but every once in a while I just want to play something fun and light and more in the "New Age" style.  Some of my favorites are David Lanz, William Joseph, Jon Schmidt, and Jason Lyle Black (a former piano student of mine).

I first heard William Joseph a year or two ago and thought he had some fun songs and some beautiful, relaxing ones to sit down and play and get lost in thought.  (A good stress relief for me during my otherwise hectic day).  I own two of his books, Beyond, and Within.  There are plenty of other songs I'd like to learn as well, and I found that you can order them individually if you don't want the entire book.

I purchased the Within book before I realized that you could just get it as a sing sheet music, and that's the only one I really love in that book, so unless you love the others, you could go that route instead.  Here's a sample of William Joseph playing Within.  It's slightly different than the written-out version (a pet-peeve of mine).

William Joseph playing "Within"

available for purchase here or here

In the Beyond book, my favorites are Standing the Storm, Sweet Remembrance of You, A Mother's Heart, and Return with Honor.  

Standing the Storm

Sweet Remembrance of You

A Mother's Heart

Return with Honor

music available for purchase here or here

Next is David Lanz.  I heard my older brother play some of his pieces back when I was a kid, especially Cristofori's Dream and couldn't wait until I could learn them myself.  These are intermediate level and pretty relaxing to play (my piano teacher at the time disliked "New Age" music and said it was the kind of stuff you listened to on the massage table--I'm not thoroughly convinced that is a bad thing.  :)  )   Definitely fluff compared to Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, but you've got to have some dessert every now in then to keep going, in my humble opinion.

David Lanz- Cristofori's Dream

music available for purchase here or here

I'll be back with part 2 of the New Age pieces soon.  And then I'll return to Classical music, I promise.  ;) Do you have any favorite New Age composers/pieces?

Christmas Music

I know it's a little late for Christmas music, but while I'm thinking about it (and putting it away) I thought I'd share some of my favorites that I've collected the last few years.  It helps having a mom who is also a piano teacher because we can share ideas on fun music we've learned.  

The first book of pieces is The Holly And the Ivory, with piano arrangements by various people.  My favorites in the book are The Holly and the Ivy, In the Bleak Midwinter, Once In Royal David's City, and Bring a Toch, Jeanette, Isabella.  There are fun rhythms and they are just great pieces to learn pretty quickly if you're already an advanced pianist.  I love that I can just pull the book out in November or early December and play through a couple of times and be performance ready for the month of December.

For a sample of the music, click here.

To purchase music from Amazon, go here

Next up is Christmas Celebration arranged by Tom Roed.  This book has a good variety of pieces from old classic Christmas carols to movie themes and more lighter carols.  My favorites are Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Jingle Bells and Silent Night.

To see a sample of the music, click here.

Another book i have enjoyed is Dan Coates The Best in Christmas Music Complete.  This one also has a great selection of different types of Christmas music.  My favorites are Deck the Halls (in the style of Mozart), We Three Kings of Orient Are, and Angels We Have Heard on High.

To see a sample of the music, click here.

To purchase music from Amazon, go here

I saved my favorite book for last.  This one is called Christmas Treasures by Jim Lucas.  There are some lovely lullaby-like ones, and yet others are jazzy and make you want to get up and dance.  Very fun to play and they sound impressive as well.  My favorites are Away in a Manger, Deck the Halls (in 12/8 time), God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, Joy to the World, and Silent Night.

To purchase music, go here

And for a bonus today, some great duet music:  The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky arranged for piano, four-hands by Langer-Sternberg.  My mom and I play these duets together every year at Christmastime and have a blast.  Whether it's trying to stay together at the end of the Russian Dance (Trepak) that gets faster and faster to the end, or the arpeggios in Dance of the Candy Fairy-- we just have fun with our annual tradition.  This is technically "intermediate level" but if you only play it once a year, it's good that it's not any more difficult.  :)

To see inside the music, go here.

  To purchase on Amazon, go here

Do you have any favorite Christmas music you enjoy playing?  Please share! Thanks for stopping by!

Advanced Piano Pieces Part 3

Hello again,

I'm back today with part three of the series of Advanced piano pieces.  For part one of the series, go here and for part two, go here.  I seem to like pieces with a darker/meloncholy mood, and the first one today fits that description as well as being beautiful and having luscious harmonies.  It is the Etude Op. 2 No.1 by Scriabin:

Scriabin/Skryabin Etude Op. 2 No. 1

music available here to purchase

The next piece I thought I'd share today is also by Scriabin, from the set of 8 Etudes, Op. 42, No. 5.  I listened to a recording of this a number of years ago and fell in love with it so I learned it as soon as I could.  It is what I would call "feisty" and fast but also has beautiful lyric sections and tugs at your heart.

Scriabin/Skryabin Etude Op. 42, No. 5

music available for purchase here

Next up is Brahms.  He wrote so many great pieces that it's hard to narrow it down to just a few.  My all-time favorite Intermezzo is Op. 118 No. 2 in A Major.  I love in the repeated section that the first time you can bring out the right hand and then on the repeat you can bring out the melody notes more in the left hand.  What can I say, it's just a beautiful piece.  I also made the part with chords less complicated by writing it out so the hands don't overlap, if that makes sense.  

Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2 (A Major)

music available for purchase here

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Movement 2 is next on the list.  I know I said solo pieces, but I happened to learn the 2nd movement starting at the key change to Db Major and if you go through  until the key change to A Major (Poco piu mosso) it works pretty well as a solo piece.  That was the part of the movement I liked the best anyway, so I made it work.  :)  It's fun to voice the melody at Tempo come prima and all the similar places going in between the hands and fingers to hear the rising scale.  

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Opus 30 2nd movement

music available for purchase here

Thanks for stopping by.  That's it for today.  Who is your favorite composer and why?  Check back soon for part 4 of the series.

Advanced Piano Pieces Part 2

Hello again, 
I'm back today with some more of my favorite piano pieces.  For part one of the series, go here.  A little disclaimer- I love the Romantic period, so while I'll try to share pieces from each of the musical periods, you will find many, many more from the Romantic period just because that I what I prefer to spend my time and energy practicing.  With that said,  I will start this list off with something from the Baroque period just so you know I can keep an open mind.  Although I do have to say this Bach Prelude is somewhat "Romantic" in nature.  I learned it at a time when my teacher was really working with me on shaping the melody and nuances, so that's why he chose this particular Prelude & Fugue.

Bach Prelude & Fugue in Bb minor, book 1 Well-Tempered Clavier

music available for purchase here

Now, back to the Romantics.  :)  I first heard this Elegie by Rachmaninoff by the 5 Browns a few years back and wanted to learn it.  It is from Five Pieces, Op. 3.  

Rachmaninoff - Elegie- Five Pieces, Op. 3 No. 1

available for purchase here

And one more for today... Ravel's Le Tombeau De Couperin.  My favorite movements were the Prelude, Rigaudon, Menuet and Toccata.  I was happy to see a recording of this by Angela Hewitt.  I was familiar with her recordings of Bach but hadn't heard her playing Ravel before looking on Youtube.

Ravel -  Le Tombeau De Couperin (for the piano)

music available for purchase here

Do you have any favorite pieces you'd like to share?  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year! | Advanced piano pieces part 1

The other day I was working on my New Year's Resolutions goals for 2016 and one of them is to learn some new piano pieces.  I used to teach piano full time but quit a few years back to raise a family.  I thought I'd look up "advanced piano solos" on Pinterest and see if there were any great things to learn there.  Pinterest doesn't usually fail me, but I came up pretty short.  And although I have tons of music on my shelves I just am at a loss to work on next.  So in case anyone else is in the same boat, I thought I'd share a few of the pieces I've learned (and enjoyed) over the years.  Some are ones I learned solely for the purpose of learning them, and others with a specific goal in mind- a studio recital (I used to always perform for my students at the end of the recital), a talent show, an audition for college, etc.  This list will likely cover multiple posts since I'm not likely to remember the pieces I enjoy all at once... :)  
So without further ado...

My favorite composer is Chopin, so of course I have to include some of his works.  My favorite Scherzo is Op. 54, in E Major.  I just love the "middle section" ( at about 3:30 in the video)  with it's haunting melody.  Sometimes when I pull it back out to "re-learn", I just play that part for fun.  :) It is a bit lengthy but totally worth the effort.

Chopin Scherzo Op. 54, E Major

available for purchase here

Next is Schumann's Dedication (Widmung) transcribed by Franz Liszt.  A fun "show-off" piece but also beautiful.  I have to say I like Lang Lang's performance tempo in this video rather than some of the other versions on Youtube that were quite a bit faster.  

Schumann Dedication (Widmung) transcribed by Franz Liszt

available for purchase here

Grieg is another composer who I enjoy and would like to learn more pieces by.  At a Music Teacher's convention a few years back I heard a Master Class teacher perform Grieg's Holberg Suite (which I hadn't heard before) and loved it.  So I learned it a few years later when I was out of college and could choose my own music.  :)  The first movement (Prelude) is a fun, lively piece and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE mvmt 4 (Air- Andante religioso).  

Grieg Holberg Suite



available for purchase here

That's it for today, but I'll be back to share some more soon.  Do you have any favorite pieces you've learned?