Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
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The Joy of Graded Piano is a set of five new repertoire books from Yorktown Music Press, and heralds the return of one of the most iconic piano series.
The five books cover Grades 1-5, and aim to offer an enjoyable and well-rounded introduction to the riches of the piano repertoire.
24 Pieces for the Grade 2 Pianist
These pieces offer a broad range of music that will consolidate, challenge, and inspire developing players at this level.
For reference, the pieces shown in bold have all been set by one of the five accredited UK boards as exam syllabus pieces at this grade level.
- Johann Wilhelm Hässler: Ecossaise in G Major
- Anon: Musette in D Major
- Christian Petzold: Menuet in G minor
- Franz Joseph Haydn: Allegro
(from Divertimento in G Major) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Allegro in B flat Major
- Friedrich Burgmüller: Arabesque
- Samuil Maykapar: Quiet Morning
- Cornelius Gurlitt: Night Escape
- Simone Plé: Le chant du pâtre
- Dmitry Kabalevsky: Hopping
- Béla Bartók: Sorrow
- Norman Dello Joio: Little Sister
- Krystyna Gowik: Brave Matthew
- Christopher Norton: Cloudy Day
- Alison Mathews: Flaming Sapphire
- Nikki Iles: Caterpillar Blue
- Anna Blonsky: The Flying Dancer
- Yoshinao Nakada: A Short Story
- Karen Tanaka: Blue Planet
- Mona Rejino: Clowns on Unicycles
- Ming Wang: The Day the Snow Fell
- Jason Sifford: Highway 56
- Alexis Ffrench: Together at Last
- African American Spiritual, arr. Artina McCain: I’m a Soldier, Let Me Ride
From core classics to contemporary favourites and recent discoveries, The Joy of Graded Piano showcases the strength and diversity of repertoire available for the world’s favourite instrument.
My sincere thanks go to the editorial and marketing team at Hal Leonard Europe, Yorktown’s distributors, for sharing my vision and commitment to the creation of this landmark series. We have carefully considered how we might deliver an outstanding set of physical music books, and to that end each of the publications have:
- colourful covers which build on the continuing appeal of the series
- clear, spacious engraving with a generous music font to help learners develop good reading ability
- luxury cream paper, supporting clarity (and especially important for neurodivergent players)
- carefully researched and engaging background notes for every piece
- practice tips to support effective learning and musical performance
- considered fingering suggestions throughout: the composer’s where available or else my own
- suggested realisations for ornamentation wherever needed
- ranging from 40 to 80 pages, the books have staple binding
Discover other grades in the series:
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