THROWBACK THURSDAY: Sonatina, "op.9" (early, unpublished in this form)

  

This is a 1980 performance of my Sonatina, op. 9 for piano solo.  It won at the state (Alabama) and Southern Division level in the 1980 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Composition Contest. The work, in this version, was written in 1979 and dedicated to my teacher Susie Francis Dempsey, who encouraged me to enter.  At the time, I had not had any formal studies in composition.

I have posted this for the benefit of friends and students.  The work has since been "suppressed"; the first two of the movements being part of what is now "Three Moods for Piano", and the last two movements scratched.

This recording is from a 1980 recital performance, given at the Jacksonville State (Alabama) University Summer Piano Academy.

After winning this competition, I had a couple of composition lessons, but really didn't write anything of consequence for ten years.  When I began teaching piano again in December 1989, my interest in composition was rekindled - this time with the idea of writing music for piano students.

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