Character Piece

Schirmer Performance Editions are designed for piano students and their teachers as well as for professional pianists. Pedagogical in nature, these editions offer insightful interpretive suggestions, pertinent fingering, and historical and stylistic commentary. Prepared by renowned artists/teachers, these publications provide an accurate, well-informed score resource for pianists. Gurlitt's collection of accessible, charming works for the intermediate pianist provides an excellent introduction to Romantic repertoire of the mid-19th century, and highlights that period's signature solo piano form, the character piece. Gurlitt's miniatures show the influence of Robert Schumann, yet these solos nonetheless display an individuality and freshness all their own. Editor & recording artist: Margaret Otwell

This masterful collection of mildly contemporary solos for young students explores clusters, pedal effects, and whole-tone patterns in an evocative, imaginative way. Each piece beautifully describes its title with inviting sounds and colors. Great recital material! Features mainly 5-finger position, easily-learned solos; eighth notes; whole-tone patterns; damper and sostenuto pedal; hands-together passages; some register shifts; simple meters. 7 Solos: Angelfish Arabesque • Ghosts Of A Sunken Pirate Ship • Invaders Of The Reef • The Jellyfish • The Lonesome Hermit Crab • The Sea Anemone • Starfish Serenade.

Can any of us resist smiling when we revisit the nursery rhymes of our childhood? Perhaps our love of music began with the musical quality of those words we learned as very young children.
This collection of solo Piano pieces for the intermediate pianist is based on the Mother Goose poem that begins, Monday's child is fair of face.... The rhyme has been lovingly recreated as seven short character pieces, written in a charming lyrical style, that depict the various moods of each day of the week's child.
Early-intermediate level Piano solos in a variety of simple keys with scale passages, 16th-note passages, syncopation and a lyrical, Romantic style.

Lista utworów:
Monday's Child (Orignal Poem) (Brady Deborah)
Monday's Child (Brady Deborah)
Tuesday's Child (Brady Deborah)
Wednesday's Child (Brady Deborah)
Thursday's Child (Brady Deborah)
Friday's Child (Brady Deborah)
Saturday's Child (Brady Deborah)
Sunday's Child (Brady Deborah)

Alicia Jonas has written a series of charming character pieces for the piano. They are filled with lovely sonorities and imaginative harmonies and textures. Displaying a variety of moods and motives, they are also clever and fun. Young pianists and pianists new to the world of contemporary music will enjoy her exploation of 20th century styles. One finds chromaticism, quartal harmony, modal scales, jazz chords, secundal harmony and cluster hords, in addition to traditional tonal musical ideas in this colorful collection. The rhythms in her music can be lively and energetic, or gentle and dreamlike. The melodies can be lyrical or motivic. All of this variety leads to a set of pieces which are most effective, playful and attractive.

Lista utworów:
Canzona (Jonas Alicja)
Aria (Jonas Alicja)
Kanarek jedzie pociągiem na koncert (Jonas Alicja)
Hipopotam tańczy na jednej nodze (Jonas Alicja)
Kołysanka (Jonas Alicja)
Spotkanie z zimą (Jonas Alicja)
Happy Birthday - swingująca wariacja (Jonas Alicja)

Alicia Jonas has written a series of charming character pieces for the piano. They are filled with lovely sonorities and imaginative harmonies and textures. Sonatina (2000) is a three movement work containing a first movement which is exciting, building a great deal of momentum, a second movement which is haunting and mysterious, and a third movement which allows the pianist to skip around the keyboard in a joyful manner.

Lista utworów:
Sonatina (2000) (Jonas Alicja)