Melanie Spanswick

Mélanie Bonis • Children’s Albums

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The superb Schott Student Edition series has recently grown to include two very welcome volumes of music for children by the Late Romantic French composer Mélanie Bonis.

The Album pout les tout-petits Op.103 includes 20 pieces suitable for elementary players (around UK Grades 1-3), while the eight pieces that make up Scènes enfantines Op.92 will suit intermediate players (UK Grades 4-6).

Both books are edited by the indomitable Melanie Spanswick, who has also written an excellent introduction which includes a composer biography, and several pages of in-depth teaching notes.

These excellent volumes are an important addition to the pedagogy repertoire, and in this review I will consider each of the two sets after first briefly introducing the composer…

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?

Narcisa Freixas • Elementary Piano Pieces

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Previous titles in Schott Music’s Student Edition series have impressed, so with the arrival of the latest title, Elementary Pieces by the Spanish painter, sculptor and composer Narcisa Freixas (1859-1926), hopes for another worthwhile addition to the repertoire ride high.

In common with the recent Schott Student Edition of Amy Beach’s Children’s Music (reviewed here), and following on from her three graded anthologies of music by Women Composers (reviewed here), this new edition has been put together by British pedagogue Melanie Spanswick, who would seem to have made it her crusade to revive forgotten works by women.

So who was Narcisa Freixas, and what are her pieces like? Let’s find out…

Amy Beach • Children’s Music

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Back in 2019 I reviewed an excellent edition of Türk’s Pieces for Beginners, which launched the new Schott Student Edition. It has been a while, but now Schott have launched a couple more titles in the series, the first of which features two collections by the popular American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944), her Children’s Album Op.36 and Children’s Carnival Op.25, together in one elegant volume.

Individual pieces from these collections may be known to readers from their appearance in graded collections and anthologies of music by women composers. How wonderful, though, to have complete versions brought together in this publication, which also includes in-depth background and teaching notes on each piece by editor (and well-known teacher) Melanie Spanswick.

Women Composers: A Graded Anthology

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Hot on the heels of Karen Marshall’s lovingly curated HerStory from Faber Music, which I recently reviewed here, Schott Music bring us three brilliantly compiled and vividly presented collections of music by neglected female composers past and present.

Melanie Spanswick’s Women Composers: A Graded Anthology is equally as groundbreaking, and being a larger series these books offer space to a wider and more diverse range of repertoire, particularly in their inclusion of playful jazz and 20th century piano works.

It is interesting to note that of the 30 works in Marshall’s book and the 52 more here, not only are there no actual duplicates, but few of the composers themselves appear twice, an extraordinary confirmation (were it needed) that the pool of neglected music by female composers is a deep one indeed.

So let’s cast an eye over Spanswick’s series…

Play it Again: Piano

Educational Resources

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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One of the first questions I ask myself whenever looking at a new sheet music product is, “who is this aimed at?”

Popular author, teacher and composer Melanie Spanswick makes her target crystal clear from the outset, with a subtitle, ‘The perfect way to rediscover the piano’, and with a back cover description that reads:

“Aimed at ‘returning’ players who have spent some time away from the keyboard, Play it Again: Piano gives you the confidence to revisit this fulfilling pastime and go beyond what you previously thought you could achieve. Each piece in the course is accompanied by constructive and easy-to-understand practice tips to help get your fingers speeding comfortably across the keys once again! The Piano Technique and Theory sections will help secure a fuller understanding of music and technique.
If you often find yourself saying ‘I used to play the piano…’ but wish you still did, then Play it Again: Piano is the resource for you!”

The first two volumes between them cover the full range of the eight grades offered by leading UK exam boards, meaning that the returning player can either recap from the start, developing good new habits while revising well-loved music and encountering new pieces, or else jump straight in at the level that suits them.

Meanwhile, the newly available third book covers post-Grade 8 and Associate Diploma level, making it ideal for those working towards professional qualifications, as well as those who are simply intent on taking their personal piano journey to the next level.

Faber Music Piano Anthology

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Faber Music launched their deluxe Faber Music Piano Anthology with impeccable timing, just a few weeks before Christmas – but it makes a wonderful gift book for enthusiastic pianists, all the year around!