Piano Solo - Easy-Intermediate

SKU: FP.FBS03

Composed by Sarah Baker. Sheet Music and Books. Nine pieces on a day time theme for solo piano, by Sarah Baker. Suggested grade 4-5. Classical. Collection. Forsyths Publications #FBS03. Published by Forsyths Publications (FP.FBS03).

ISBN 9790570500192.

Sarah Baker is Vocal Composer in Residence at Education Music Services, an ABRSM examiner and a well known composer of songs and musicals for primary schools and massed-choral events.

All this experience has come together in the creation of this album of piano pieces, inspired by growing up in the Chiltern Hills. Suitable for players of around grade 4-5 standard, her evocative sound pieces describe a crash-landing hot air balloon, garden invading cows and a even a snake in a pond!

Air Balloon!: One vivid memory I have as a child is of the day that a hot air balloon passed over our house and made an emergency landing on the road in front! The sound of the gas being blown into the balloon to try to keep it high enough to pass the house sounded so loud and intimidating, and then there was the bustle of the neighbours as we all went out into the street to watch. It was both terrifying and exhilarating to watch the balloon float past and then land so near by.

Buzzards Circling: There is something so calming and restful about watching birds of prey circling in the thermal currents of a summer sky. Growing up in the Chilterns gave me plenty of opportunity to watch buzzards and red kites. This piano solo captures the beauty of their flight as they glide so effortlessly through the air.

There’s A Cow In The Garden Eating The Flowers: Inspired by the memory of seeing an unexpected cow in the garden! This surreal image is captured in a quirky waltz, as I portray both the absurdity of the moment and the sense of wonder I felt as a child, looking out of the window and seeing the cow walking round and eating the flowers. The final phrase articulates my longing: ‘I wish it would come again’.

Watching The World Go By: A short, reflective piece, remembering what it was like to have time to just sit and watch the world go by from my bedroom window.

Autumn Skies: A miniature about the beauty of Autumn skies and the poignant sense of loss for a summer gone. Friends I was fortunate to have several children of my own age living close by. We seemed to be forever making dens, playing out in the street and generally enjoying each other’s company. This piece reflects that sense of well-being.

Snake In The Pond: One hot summer I was astonished and scared to see a grass snake cooling off in our garden pond! I watched, both horrified and fascinated, as it rose up from the depths and then disappeared again. Here I portray the sense of the hazy summer afternoon as I peacefully watched the tiny movements of fish in the pond, contrasted with the fear and excitement of seeing the snake appear.

Morning Commute: I recollect many mornings stuck in traffic as my Dad took me to school on his way to work. There is one main road out of the village where I grew up, and that got more and more congested the closer we got to the town. We may not have chatted a lot, but it was always good to be together with my Dad, lost in our own thoughts.

The Witch’s Cottage: My siblings and I had a fascination with a small cottage nearby. It was set back from the road in a dark part of the woods and we called it 'the witch's cottage’. Every time we passed, I imagined I heard the distant cackle of the witch and wished I could catch a glimpse of her.

These pieces are written to complement my other collection, Night Time Impressions, which also draw on childhood recollections, particularly of the woods behind the house where I grew up. - Sarah Baker 2023.

By Jason Eckardt (1971-). For Piano Solo. Performance score. Standard notation. Published by Carl Fischer

Berners The Triumph of Neptune Suite arranged for Piano. Described as 'A pantomime in twelve scenes', this was composed in 1926 for Diaghilev's Russian Ballet. With a book by Sacheverell Sitwell and choreography by George Balanchine, it was inspired by a series of Victorian drawings which Diaghilev had bought Pollock and Webb's theatrical bookshop in Hoxton. It depicts the fortunes of Tom Tug, a sailor who has left his wife after her infidelity and follows his adventures which end triumphantly with his transformation into a Fairy Prince and marriage to Neptune's daughter

Piano

SKU: PR.701175060

Arranged by Edison Quintana. Peermusic Classical #70117-506. Published by Peermusic Classical (PR.701175060).

UPC: 888680101268.

“The idea of writing the Danzón No.2 originated in 1993 during a trip to Malinalco with the painter Andrés Fonseca and the dancer Irene Martínez, both of whom are experts in salon dances with a special passion for the danzón, which they were able to transmit to me from the beginning, and also during later trips to Veracruz and visits to the Colonia Salon in Mexico City. From these experiences onward, I started to learn the danzón’s rhythms, its form, its melodic outline, and to listen to the old recordings by Acerina and his Danzonera Orchestra. I was fascinated and I started to understand that the apparent lightness of the danzón is only like a visiting card for a type of music full of sensuality and qualitative seriousness, a genre which old Mexican people continue to dance with a touch of nostalgia and a jubilant escape towards their own emotional world; we can fortunately still see this in the embrace between music and dance that occurs in the State of Veracruz and in the dance parlors of Mexico City. The Danzón No.2 is a tribute to the environment that nourishes the genre. It endeavors to get as close as possible to the dance, to its nostalgic melodies, to its wild rhythms, and although it violates its intimacy, its form and its harmonic language, it is a very personal way of paying my respects and expressing my emotions towards truly popular music. Danzón No.2 was written on a commission by the Department of Musical Activities at Mexico’s National Autonomous University and is dedicated to my daughter Lily.” -- Arturo Marquez About the danzon genre, Lidice Valenzuela writes in Cubanow: The history of the danzon goes back to the arrival in Cuba of the European contradance. It came in three different ways: directly from Spain, the colonial metropolis; with the British, who occupied Havana in 1762; and the French colonizers and their slaves who landed in Cuba's Eastern shores after fleeing from the Haitian Revolution. From all of that trans-cultural process the Danzon was born. This new Cuban dance, naturalized by the Creoles, had much more expressive freedom: the couple danced in each other's arms, and the dancing time was extended. People began calling it Danzon and it was in Matanzas, in the 1870s that figure dancing also began to be called Danzon. Thus, Failde, an outstanding musician, named his composition with the generic name of Danzon..

Piano

SKU: PR.701185010

Arranged by Leticia Gómez-Tagle. Peermusic Classical #70118-501. Published by Peermusic Classical (PR.701185010).

UPC: 888680101275.

“The idea of writing the Danzón No.2 originated in 1993 during a trip to Malinalco with the painter Andrés Fonseca and the dancer Irene Martínez, both of whom are experts in salon dances with a special passion for the danzón, which they were able to transmit to me from the beginning, and also during later trips to Veracruz and visits to the Colonia Salon in Mexico City. From these experiences onward, I started to learn the danzón’s rhythms, its form, its melodic outline, and to listen to the old recordings by Acerina and his Danzonera Orchestra. I was fascinated and I started to understand that the apparent lightness of the danzón is only like a visiting card for a type of music full of sensuality and qualitative seriousness, a genre which old Mexican people continue to dance with a touch of nostalgia and a jubilant escape towards their own emotional world; we can fortunately still see this in the embrace between music and dance that occurs in the State of Veracruz and in the dance parlors of Mexico City. The Danzón No.2 is a tribute to the environment that nourishes the genre. It endeavors to get as close as possible to the dance, to its nostalgic melodies, to its wild rhythms, and although it violates its intimacy, its form and its harmonic language, it is a very personal way of paying my respects and expressing my emotions towards truly popular music. Danzón No.2 was written on a commission by the Department of Musical Activities at Mexico’s National Autonomous University and is dedicated to my daughter Lily.” -- Arturo Marquez About the danzon genre, Lidice Valenzuela writes in Cubanow: The history of the danzon goes back to the arrival in Cuba of the European contradance. It came in three different ways: directly from Spain, the colonial metropolis; with the British, who occupied Havana in 1762; and the French colonizers and their slaves who landed in Cuba's Eastern shores after fleeing from the Haitian Revolution. From all of that trans-cultural process the Danzon was born. This new Cuban dance, naturalized by the Creoles, had much more expressive freedom: the couple danced in each other's arms, and the dancing time was extended. People began calling it Danzon and it was in Matanzas, in the 1870s that figure dancing also began to be called Danzon. Thus, Failde, an outstanding musician, named his composition with the generic name of Danzon..

Easy Piano Songbook (Easy arrangements for piano). Size 9x12 inches. 64 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.