Early Advanced Repertoire – Page 19

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Christopher Norton is very deservedly one of the most famous and beloved educational composers alive today. Perhaps best known for his ground-breaking and million-selling ‘Microjazz’ series, Norton has added many other outstanding collections to his list of publications, with material for pianists at every level.

His piano “Preludes” series from Boosey & Hawkes has proved popular with players at an early advanced level (around UK Grades 7-8), with genre-based collections that include ‘Jazz Preludes’, ‘Rock Preludes’, ‘Latin Preludes’ and ‘Country Preludes’. To these, Norton has also added the more exotic ‘Eastern Preludes Collection’…

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Over the years ABRSM have produced a steady flow of graded piano repertoire books to supplement their exam resources. Their various series such as A Keyboard Anthology and Short Romantic Pieces have become standard items in many teachers’ music libraries.

However, one could have been forgiven for wondering whether some of these selections were made up of the most obscure pieces set in previous syllabi rather than the most widely enjoyed. So when Faber Music brought out their “Best of Grade” 1-5 books a few years ago, those looking for a one-stop collection of consistently appealing and varied pieces breathed a collective sigh of relief.

This summer ABRSM have responded with the publication of Encore, a set of four books which, based on their own data, include the most popular pieces featured in graded exams over the last decade or so.

Happily these collections include some great in-house pieces and arrangements now unavailable elsewhere. So, might these books play a central role in students learning over the next few years? Let’s take a closer look.

Category: Early Advanced Repertoire

Christopher Norton: Eastern Preludes

ABRSM’s Encore Series