This piece is scored for Soprano and Piano. A Penny for a Song was written in Autumn 1981 for Penny Price Jones and Philip Martin who commissioned it with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It consists of ten songs prefaced by a piano piece which acts as a refrain heard again between Nos. 6 and 7 and before the last song.All the texts are miniatures; some are haiku a Japanese Zen poetic form and they all have in common a number of Haiku characteristics such as vivid imagery seasonal or natural and allusive brevity. The poems are small but they have a resonance extending far beyond themselves. Zen artists love to play with space: through afew brush strokes they conjure up a world of detail; they suggest infinitely expanding space through the implications of a few lines on a nearly empty background. This has been my approach in the music of A Penny for a Song. The songs are fleeting momentary; they are echoes of a world that is always there if we stop to listen for it.

This series includes songs by composers who may be little known outside specialist circles but who have achieved something distinctive in this field. Many of these songs and some by well-known composers have long been out of print. Although several publishers now offer an authorized photocopy service the problem is often knowing of the existence of a song rather than of obtaining a copy of it. To keep costs to minimum use has in many cases been made of the original engraving (corrected where necessary) even where this may lead to a somewhat uneven result visually. The intention is to get these volumes into the hands of performers of all ages at an economic price.There is above all a simple missionary purpose: to enthuse encourage and (in the best sense) educate.