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.

The Group Singing Songbook. By Various. Vocal. Size 9.5x12 inches. 281 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.

Edited by Patrick Sky. For fiddle. All styles. Level: Multiple Levels. Book. Songbook. Size 8.75x11.75. 176 pages. Published by Mel Bay Pub., Inc.

(Over 850 Classical Themes and Melodies in the Original Keys) For C instrument. Format: fakebook (spiral bound). With vocal melody (excerpts) and chord names. Lassical. Series: Hal Leonard Fake Books. 646 pages. 9x12 inches. Published by Hal Leonard.

Composed by Various. For Piano/Keyboard. Hal Leonard Fake Books. Classical. Difficulty: medium to medium-difficult. Fakebook. Melody line, chord names and lyrics (on some songs). 413 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

C Edition. Composed by Various. Fake Book. Broadway, Country, Jazz, Pop, Standards. Softcover. 802 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

300 Songs. Composed by Various. Mandolin. Softcover. 456 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

by Stacy Phillips. For fiddle. All styles, fiddle tunes. Level: Multiple Levels. Book. Solos. Size 8.75x11.75. 268 pages. Published by Mel Bay Pub., Inc.

Collection for solo piano(all C instruments), . 159 pages. Published by Santorella Publications.

By Various. For Piano/Vocal/Guitar. Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook. Softcover. 304 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

Chamber Music violin, piano

SKU: PR.144407660

Composed by Elena Ruehr. Set of Score and Parts. 40 pages. Duration 12 minutes. Merion Music #144-40766. Published by Merion Music (PR.144407660).

UPC: 680160692835.

Judith Tick (biographer of Ruth Crawford Seeger) asked me to write a piece in honor of Adrienne Fried Block (1921-2009), who was Amy Beach’s first great biographer. Judith pointed me to this passage from Amy Beach’s letters:“One of the sweetest of my recollections…was when I was ten… I met Edgar Rowland Sill, the poet. When he heard that I was the lucky possessor of absolute pitch, he asked me to go out with him in the spring mornings, and steal from the birds! Professor Sill, whose ear was true, had been collecting bird melodies. I shall always remember that first spring morning. The poet and I sat down behind a stone wall. It is a sweet memory of the kindlypoet, of California, of the spring flowers, of the unconscious birds…”Adrienne and Amy, the natural world they lived in, the professor, the artist, the historian they became, the tended garden of their lives. These are the ideas I have tried to explore in this piece. Some of the musical material is directly taken from Amy Beach’s famous piano piece A Hermit Thrush at Morn.