Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Darragh Gilleece is an Irish pianist, composer, and educator. His distinguished career includes serving as an examiner for the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM). His original music appears in their grade syllabus, bespoke method books, and now in two collections published by Forsyth Music.
The first book includes 16 original pieces suitable for students from around (UK) Initial to Grade 2, while the second ranges from around Grades 2-5.
Gilleece’s music in these collections is traditional with a modern twist. Pieces are highly appealing in their tone, packed with valuable learning content, imaginative, and well-crafted. My review below includes the composer’s recordings of a couple to give a flavour.
First Impressions
The Forsyth Music Store in Manchester was opened in 1857, and since 1873 has housed its music publishing company. Over the years, they have built a catalogue of some 450 titles, including the beloved piano music of the world famous children’s composer Walter Carroll, and an extensive range of contemporary recorder music.
Most piano teachers in the UK will be aware of the Walter Carroll publications, and like them, the First Steps Piano books are fairly standard music books, sporting attractive covers and clear music engraving (printed on off-white paper). Unlike many titles aimed at beginners however, there are no illustrations within.
Each of the books begins with its title and copyright pages, an extended composer biography, introduction, and contents page. These are followed by scores themselves, which are spaciously and nicely presented. To the rear, Gilleece has provided extended and very helpful teaching tips for each piece, which in both collections extend to three pages.
Audio tracks are not included, but would I think be a welcome addition, both as a promotional tool to support teachers who are interested in evaluating this material, and as an encouraging model for learners.
Overall (and bearing in mind each book costs less than a tenner at the time of review), I would say the publications offer very good value, and should appeal to learners of all ages despite the lack of illustrations or digital frills.
First Steps, Book 1
Introducing the first collection, Gilleece writes:
“The book presents a wide range of styles, tempi and characters, designed to support the student’s musical and technical progress, while also fostering enjoyment in piano playing. The pieces are arranged in incremental order and crafted with various techniques in mind. For example, pedalling is first introduced as detached pedalling in Mystic Melody, before progressing to more sophisticated use…”
The 16 titles included give some flavour of the imaginative and musical range:
- The Metro Gnome’s March
- Melancholy Mel
- Peek a Boo!
- D Major Ditty
- Folk Dance
- The Whirling Waltz
- Bells of Doom
- It Takes Two Tango
- Mystic Melody
- The See-Saw Sequence
- At the Fair
- Carousel at the Carnival (duet)
- A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi
- A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi (duet)
- Mission Possible?
- Fearless and Feisty
Here’s the composer’s recording of Folk Dance.
The piece is written in 2/4 time, in the key of E minor, includes useful legato and staccato detail, and ventures a little beyond a single five-note shape in each hand. As such it would suit players at Initial Grade in the UK, although I am told that ABRSM only allow semiquavers from Grade 2 which means that, oddly, this very simple delight would be excluded from their syllabus.
It is certainly a feature of Gilleece’s writing that he consciously but carefully supports the learner’s technical development, literacy and musical understanding. But these pieces are never dry: that they are so musically engaging, stylistically varied, and offer such contrasting moods confirms the high quality of this material.
And finally, the inclusion of two excellent duets in the collection is the icing on the cake!
First Steps, Book 2
For the second volume in the series, Gilleece has chosen to cater for players all the way from Grade 2 to Grade 5 level. The 14 pieces are again organised in progressive order to facilitate selection and underpin progress:
- The Fairy’s Lament
- Candy Calypso
- The Tale of Rumpelstiltskin
- Send out the Clowns
- Resignation
- Wacky Waltzer
- Stride of Pride
- Pulcinella’s Tarantella
- Carefree Holiday
- Spooky Wooky Boogie
- All Aboard the Music Express Rag
- Tick Tock Tango
- Nostalgie du printemps
- Winter Waltz
While he has again sought to deliver pieces in a wide range of styles, Gilleece’s melodic sense and subtle sense of humour remain an infectious element, and his ability to write idiomatic music for the instrument further elevates his music.
I particularly enjoyed playing the impish The Tale of Rumpelstiltskin and the blues-infused Stride of Pride, while I anticipate that the yearningly expressive Resignation and enjoyably ghoulish Spooky Wooky Boogie will prove firm favourites with students.
Here’s the composer’s performance of Winter Waltz, which concludes the collection, and is thus deemed to be its most challenging piece:
Closing Thoughts
From breezy calypsos and toe-tapping tangos to wacky waltzes and cool jazz grooves, the two books which make up the First Steps Piano series certainly take elementary to intermediate players on an enjoyable musical journey.
As Andrew Higgins notes in a commendation which appears on the book covers, it requires particular skill to compose easy piano music that effectively combines challenge, playability, and educational value. And I agree with his conclusion that Gilleece delivers all this and more.
It can be challenging for composers and publishers to establish new music for piano players at this level, with so much great material available already, but these fresh collections are definitely well worth investigating, and can be highly recommended!
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