Elementary Repertoire – Page 2

Ben Crosland’s Jazz Beans!

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Ben Crosland’s Magic Beans for elementary players was one of the very first (and remains one of the best) music books to be reviewed on Pianodao, and in that review (which you can read here) I mentioned other Beans books in the series, Cool Beans and Easy Beans, concluding:

“To summarise, the ‘Beans’ publications establish Ben Crosland as a major voice in educational composing. The whole series is outstanding, and ‘Magic Beans’ easily lives up to the very high standards set by its predecessors.”

Crosland has subsequently concentrated on developing his career composing reflective contemporary pieces in the style popularised by Ludovico Einaudi and others.

Returning with new educational publications, Crosland’s Jazz Beans! series marks a welcome reappearance of three books which were previously published as Get Set Jazz, freshly baked for the Beans series. Suitable for Easy (Grades 0-2), Intermediate (2-4), and Advanced (4-7) players respectively, let’s find out how they taste…

Willis Student Recital Collection

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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My latest piano collection for Willis Music Company is a bumper anthology which builds on the success of the Graded Gillock series and Naoko Ikeda Graded Collection, and features 40 pieces written by composers from across the leading publisher’s best-selling catalogue.

This collection focuses on performance pieces, suitable for studio recitals, school concerts, and local music events. With that in mind, I have particularly sought out music which is both inspiring for the learner to play, and enjoyable for audiences.

The pieces appear in progressive order, Elementary to Late Intermediate, UK Grades 1-6. The full list appears below, and to give you a taste of the superb music in this bumper anthology, I have recorded a playlist of 15 out of the 40 pieces:

The Gradebusters Mixtape

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Hal Leonard’s Gradebusters series has been one of the highlights of recent years, and the publications have proven popular with learners and players of all ages.

Reviewing the series, I described the five graded books of pop song arrangements for solo piano as offering,

“A hugely inviting and immediate mix of famous songs… this is top stuff!”

Offering “25 Awesome Solos from Taylor Swift to Einaudi”, the Gradebusters Piano Mixtape is the latest addition to the series, delivering a compendium of highlights from the five graded books, with six exclusive new pieces thrown in as an added bonus.

For those who want to dip into these quality arrangements without necessarily wanting to take the deep dive offered by the whole set of books, the Piano Mixtape collection represents great value, so let’s take a quick look…

Ghostly Piano Tales

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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In addition to her superb Play it Again Piano series for adults returning to the piano (reviewed here ) and ground-breaking Women Composers: Graded Anthology series (reviewed here), Melanie Spanswick is a busy composer with a growing catalogue of titles to her name, including several from Schott Music.

For her latest, Spanswick delivers 24 Imaginative Piano Pieces for elementary to early intermediate players which dive headlong into the world of the macabre. Is there suddenly a chill in the air?

David Önaç • Spirituals

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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When Elena Cobb invited me to be an occasional consultant for her EVC Music publishing venture, the project she foremost had in mind was a collection of Spirituals arranged by David Önaç. Already aware of Önaç‘s brilliant work, and excited by this new concept, it was a pleasure to advise in the early stages of the project’s development.

Spirituals has now arrived, and as my early enthusiasm anticipated, I believe it to be a publication of some significance. I anticipate that piano teachers will warmly appreciate this material, and that it will prove popular with learners across the elementary and intermediate range, from Initial to Grade 5.

Rooted in universally beloved melodies, nourished by the distinctive harmonies of the Gospel tradition, and expertly crafted to suit elementary to intermediate piano players of all ages, David Önaç has delivered a gem of a collection that is sure to be treasured by pianists throughout the early years of their playing.

Here is why I think this book deserves a place on the shelves of elementary to intermediate piano players everywhere…

Pooches at the Piano

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The slower pace of the summer break is a great time to catch up with music that has been waiting patiently in my review backlog, and this week I have been enjoying the elementary to intermediate pieces in the latest book from Anna Robinson, the fabulously named Pooches at the Piano.

You may remember Anna Robinson from my previous reviews of her intermediate collection Notes from a Neighbourhood (read the review) and easier Cats on the Keys (reviewed here). The new Pooches at the Piano offers a progressive selection of compositions that are suitable from Grades 0 – 3.

A British-born pianist and teacher now based in Melbourne, Australia, her pieces are inspired by the legacy of the great Walter Carroll, and as he did a century or so ago, she writes imaginative tunes that are as rich in pedagogic content as they are inspiring to play.

Pooches at the Piano can be seen as a companion volume to Cats on the Keys, and as with that collection it is inspired in part by her own pet pooch, Lily, who is featured in the photograph above, admiring the book.

For me, one of the highlights of Notes on a Neighbourhood was the opening piece Dizzy Dog, which was dedicated to Lily, “who loves to roly-poly to chromatic scales”. It’s great to have a whole collection with a canine theme, so let’s find out more…

Kerstin Strecke • Little Moods

Pianodao Music Library

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….

The Gradebusters Series

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Grade exams getting you down?
Who are you going to call?… GRADEBUSTERS!!

Gradebusters is a cheekily-titled series from Hal Leonard, which launched in 2019 with Grade 1 books for piano, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, alto and tenor sax.

The series now encompasses five solo piano books, respectively for Grades 1 to 5, each delivering “15 awesome solos”, and together serving up a rich feast of 75 universally popular and neatly arranged songs that piano players everywhere will be keen to play.