Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
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If you are familiar with Breitkopf & Hāretel’s Pädagogik series you will likely have come across the name Kerstin Strecke, composer of their delightful and inventive series of childrens’ books featuring Tio, the Little Keyboard Man.
Strecke’s latest is a collection of 15 original pieces, Little Moods, about which we are told,
“Little Moods aims to be a building block for versatile piano lessons with children, teenagers and adults. The 15 self-contained, round-sounding miniatures are musically easy to grasp and therefore easy to learn. They are suitable for sight-reading and are especially good for practising the use of the right pedal. If the one or the other piece is then transposed into other keys in a courageous and experimental way or taken as a starting point for one’s own improvisations, the purpose of the collection is more than fulfilled.”
When the review copy arrived a few weeks back, it got buried somewhere in the pile on my piano. Happily it has resurfaced: I am genuinely excited by this beautifully presented and keenly priced collection, and think it could prove to be a real winner….
15 Easy Pieces
Little Moods is, essentially, a new collection of fifteen easy pieces that can be used as supplementary material at early elementary level, around UK Initial to Grade 1. As you probably guessed from the blurb quoted above, they have a strong pedagogic foundation; what really seals the deal for me is that they are also brilliantly musical.
Predominantly pattern-based, the pieces paint vivid moods and scenes in music, expressing a range of subjects conveyed in their titles:
- Enjoy!
- Bus Stop
- Friendly Tune
- Lonely Afternoon
- Weird Thing
- Summer Clouds
- Don’t Mind
- Cartoon
- Foggy Day
- Little Troubles
- Pinwheels
- Street Art
- A Tender Message
- Flowing Time
- Rainbow
Reading and playing through these short pieces, I found them to be uniformly engaging, and the addition of pedalling further brought the more expressive numbers to life.
Without doubt, players at this level will warm to this music, with its range of contemporary-sounding harmonies that nod towards popular music, lyrical melody lines, and evocative textures that offer post-Einaudi minimalism in a super-easy but musically convincing and rewarding context.
As a teacher, I love that in addition to introducing use of the sustain pedal at an elementary level, the pieces are rich in articulation and dynamic detail to enhance their imaginative qualities. Time signatures include compound time, 3/8 and 5/4. A useful amount of fingering is added to support technical development and musical phrasing.
Going further, I tried out the publisher’s suggestions of transposing pieces and improvising variations, which proved enjoyable to say the least.
I also think that the more imaginative, but less experienced player will be similarly able to use these pieces as a creative launchpad, and that Strecke’s music offers an ideal playground for nurturing a musically engaged, forward looking and inspiring approach.
A ‘Pur-fect’ Publication?
Moving beyond the musical and educational value, what about the quality of the publication itself? Those familiar with Breitkopf & Hārtel’s Pädagogik series will hardly need to ask this question.
Within, the book is as expected printed on 24 lush cream pages. There is the usual contents listing, a useful preface, and to the rear of the book a page of notes about each piece. These offer suggested tips and creative suggestions to help players and their teachers explore the music fully. All of the written content appears in German, English and Chinese.
The music engraving is spacious and has exemplary clarity, as is always the case from this prestige publishing house.
Closing Thoughts
Strecke suggests in her stimulating and encouraging Preface,
“‘Flow’ is the term we use to describe a state in which we immerse ourselves in an activity in a gratifying way and become absorbed in it. This state is not something we can strive for directly, but it can happen, given that we neither overexert ourselves nor become bored. Devotion is of the essence. The fifteen small compositions in this book are meant to awaken this devotion in us.”
These sentiments of course perfectly correspond to my mission of Putting the PLAY Back into Playing the Piano, and without doubt Little Moods is a happy discovery, an easy, remarkable fit for my own teaching practice.
If you are teacher, I very highly recommend finding a place for it, too! Kirsten Strecke has delivered a stunning collection of pieces here, which offer a brilliant springboard for a creative piano education…
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