Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Phillip Keveren remains best known for his superb piano arrangements of popular, show tune, and movie themes, published as The Phillip Keveren Series by Hal Leonard worldwide.
However, Keveren has of late been composing more of his own solo piano music, written with a musical voice that combines his assimilation of popular styles with a penchant for the relaxing contemporary classical music that is so ubiquitous today, and with significant hints of Copland’s harmonic style.
2019’s superb intermediate collection Piano Calm (reviewed here) paved the way for the more pedagogically driven (but also excellent in my view) Circles (reviewed here), which comprises a “character etude” in each and every one of the 24 standard major and minor keys.
With the more recent So Far… (reviewed here) Keveren delivered compositions for more advanced players, about which I wrote:
“These pieces are a joy to play, life-affirming even, and offer a delicious contrast to much of the more serious music that developing players might be practising as they progress through the higher grades and into the concert repertoire.”
Keveren’s latest music, written for early intermediate players (around UK Grades 3-4) and titled Twelve Serenades, is a set of short evocative pieces that journey through the twelve key centres on the piano, while also serving as lullabies intended for media licensing.
In short, the music here combines the soft, melodic ambience of Piano Calm with the pedagogic intent of Circles. But let’s take a closer look…
A sequence of lullabies…
Introducing this new publication, Keveren explains in the Preface,
“Bigger Story Music produces music for media licensing. Sometimes called ‘library music’, these recordings are used in a variety of commercial settings: film, television, commercials, etc. They were interested in piano solos that could fit under the umbrella of ‘lullabies’. So, I wrote and recorded these piano solos with this target in mind. Bigger Story titled each piece in a way that serves their market best.”
At the time, Keveren had already been considering writing a set of twelve early intermediate pieces which visit each of the key centres in a chromatic sequence, and he decided to combine the two projects into one.
At the suggestion of Hal Leonard editor Charmaine Siagian, the designation of the pieces was changed from ‘lullabies’ to ‘serenades’, binding this music to a rich musical tradition. And for the purposes of the publication, they are given titles that link them to the key centres they explore.
Here is the list, showing the titles from the publication, followed by those added by Bigger Story Music:
- Serenade in C • Beautiful Baby
- Serenade in D flat • Never Too Far From You
- Serenade in D • Drifting off to Dreamland
- Serenade in E flat • Close Your Sleepy Eyes
- Serenade in E • No Greater Love
- Serenade in F • Snug as a Bug
- Serenade in G flat • For You Forever
- Serenade in G • Memories of Mommy
- Serenade in A flat • From the Very Beginning
- Serenade in A • The Greatest Gift is You
- Serenade in B flat • Our Newborn Blessing
- Serenade in B • The Day is Done
The decision to include Bigger Story Music‘s titles in the book’s Preface, but not on the scores themselves, seems to me on balance a good one. Certainly for the UK market, some of them seem a little mawkish, but it is nevertheless interesting and helpful to be able to reference them.
Intermediate Serenades
Keveren tells us that these pieces can be played separately or as a complete suite. Choosing the latter option, I sight read my way through the twelve short miniatures in under 20 minutes, and found the music highly appealing, very much in the vein of Piano Calm.
These are harmonically interesting pieces, never bland, with plenty of open and suspended chords giving the music its contemporary flavour. In most cases the Serenades remain predominantly in the major key, just occasionally flirting with the relative or tonic minors. Once in a while the music includes beguiling chromaticism or a brief, unexpected modulation away from its home key.
While all the pieces have a fairly soft dynamic and gentle hue, not all are slow. Those with a quicker pace include the Serenade in D, which is in compound time and appears with the tempo indication “softly spinning”, and the Serenade in A flat, for which “floating” is offered. The outer sections of this are pattern based, while a more lyrical middle section uses gentle syncopation and has the mood of a pop ballad.
The pedagogic intent in each piece is obvious, and teachers will soon find much value here. As an example of the composer’s ingenuity in this regard, the Serenade in G flat (hardly a key early intermediate players will be familiar with) is almost entirely pentatonic, using the black keys.
Many of the pieces use pedal, and in some cases they use it a lot. In Keveren’s Performance Notes (which appear at the start of the book and are genuinely useful), he suggests that holding down the sustain pedal for the whole of the aforementioned pentatonic Serenade in G flat will allow the sounds to “swirl around in sonic clouds. But following the dynamics carefully, the tide of tones will ebb and flow.”
The closing Serenade in B, perhaps the gentlest of them all, traces the outline of the famous melody Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but without directly stating it. This will undoubtedly provide imaginative aural stimulation for learners as they explore this final piece.
Closing Thoughts
Phillip Keveren has done it again, proving once more that he is as intelligent and interesting a composer and pedagogue as he is brilliant as an arranger. For intermediate players, this modest collection punches well above its weight, delivering outstanding opportunities for effective learning, and in the context of attractive pieces.
The publication itself is tastefully presented in the house style of The Phillip Keveren Series, and this seems certain to be a book that pianists attracted to the composer’s concept and style will cherish long after learning to play each and every piece.
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