Three Miniatures
Piano teachers are always looking for music for their students to learn. I included three short piano pieces I wrote for intermediate piano students in my Grand Creations collection. They are approximately equivalent to Mikrokosmos, Volume 3 in difficulty. Each is less than a minute in length.
"Jericho Josh" is loosely based on the spiritual, “Joshua Fought the Battle at Jericho.” It is in the unusual 5 meter, which presents some challenges for students. A famous example of this meter is the wildly popular TV theme music from 1966, Lalo Schifrin’s Mission Impossible. Another is Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.”
"What Wondrous Love Is This?" is based on the hymn of the same name. It, like the hymn, is in Dorian and, unlike the hymn, alludes to mirrored harmony, at an intermediate level of playing. The beautiful lyrics to this unusual hymn can be found here.
"Twenty Second Sound Bite" is based loosely on the Villa Lobos composition, “Le Polichenelle (Punch).” We are accustomed to sound bites (in ads and political slogans, for example) that are about 20-seconds long. The music in my piece, like the Villa Lobos piece, features polytonality: the left hand plays mostly on the black keys and the right plays on white keys.
These three little pieces are intended for teaching and learning about the art of piano performance. If you would like a copy of the printed scores, please send me an email requesting them. OK to duplicate the scores for teaching purposes.
