Solitude

(February 4, 1993)  "Solitude" was written at one sitting during a break between lessons, and first performed by Beth Cleaveland, in the spring recital of that year. Now she is Beth Cleaveland Smith, married and raising a family, and probably wishes she HAD more "solitude"! 

This piece can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

This is also one of the few pieces that I have written that included student "input". During an early lesson, Beth over-reached a broken chord and played a C natural where she should have played a B. I liked the sound of the passage and changed it.

This piece has always been a favorite in my studio (until "Arietta" in 2005 it was my most-frequently-studied piece), and has been played by pianists of all ages. I have used it as a church offertory, and played it at weddings as well. It is a simple melody with just enough supporting broken chords to keep that melody front and center, with a few surprising harmonic turns along the way.

This piece can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

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Morning Sunrise (Soleil du Matin)

(May 26, 2013)   This piece has a checkered past.  It was originally part of a longer, discarded piece. I decided to take it out of that context (a lyrical B section to an inferior more rhythmic A section) and add a coda.  This was completed on what would have been my mother's 83rd birthday and is dedicated to her memory.  That following Sunday, I played it as an offering at Franklin (Georgia) United Methodist Church.

I like this piece very much, but don't play it as often as I should.  It's a little more difficult than a casual glance would suggest, and I am guessing that it would appeal more to an adult or advanced student.

The music can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

The music can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

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Lazy Afternoon

(May 12. 2014) This piece became an immediate "hit" with my Facebook friends when I posted a "scratch video" after writing it.  It is, for all practical purposes, a figuration-driven piece, perhaps a mini-etude.  In my studio, it has been a favorite of students of all ages, and it is dedicated to an adult student of mine, Dale Allen.

The music is available at Piano Pronto through this link.

Here is a video of the "premiere performance", made in a studio recital at First Baptist Church on the Square in LaGrange, Georgia:

The music is available at Piano Pronto through this link.

You can find all of my Piano Pronto titles at this link.

Here is an mp3 recording by Minnesota pianist and teacher Chrisanne Holm.

And here is a link to her piano studio page.

Chrisanne is also a composer, and you can find her music at Sheet Music Plus.

You can also find Chrisanne's music right there with mine at Piano Pronto.

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Seaside

(March 18, 1996) This originated as a sketch for flute and piano, and has been played in that form. Tiffany Oliver Cole gave the first performance in a piano competition at Gordon College in Georgia. (The judges disqualified her; they didn't think the piece was classical, but she returned the next year and WON.  You can read our common story here.) Her first public performance of "Seaside" was as her farewell performance as Miss Troup Teen 1995.

It is a favorite of mine - a little more difficult than most of my output, and possibly unique in my output.  To this date I haven't written anything else in a similar style.

The music can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

Here it is performed by my friend Andrys Basten.  The pictures used were taken on a trip to Pawley's Island, South Carolina, in August of 2014 with my friend Van Martin.

The music can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Happy Homework Hum

My first composition.  1971.  I was eleven years old.  I played it in a recital in the spring of 1971, along with "Our School Band" by David Carr Glover.  It is unpublished.

Not sure of the year, but I'm pretty sure this is close to the time this piece was written.

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Tiny Lullaby

(May 11, 2015) This little miniature has become one of my favorite pieces.  I hope to include it in some sort of suite or collection. I have used it in church as a short offertory, It is dedicated to my student Jasmine Murray. I also suspect Jasmine won't be the only one to ask to play it.

The score can be found at Piano Pronto through this link.

This piece is now available at Piano Pronto through their Composers Community site!  I am happy to be included with this group, and encourage you to check out all of the offerings there - by publisher Jennifer Eklund and the rest of the Piano Pronto Composers Community.

The score can be found at Piano Pronto through this link.

And at last, a "first draft" video by the dedicatee, Jasmine Murray.  I think she's gonna get it.  We'll do another video on a better piano at a later date.

The score can be found at Piano Pronto through this link.

And here is a performance I did at my piano club's meeting in Atlanta in January 2016.  

The score can be found at Piano Pronto through this link.

My new music is distributed by Piano Pronto in their Composers Community!
You can find my Piano Pronto titles through this link.

My other titles are available at Sheet Music Plus, though this link or the image below.

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Crepuscule (Twilight) Transcription from Jules Massenet

(September 8, 2012) This is a transcription I made of the simple and beautiful song "Crepuscule" (Twilight) by the French composer Jules Massenet (1842-1912). This is a homage to one of my favorite sopranos of the early twentieth century, Amelita Galli-Curci (1882-1963) and to one of my favorite living pianists, Stephen Hough (who has also made a transcription of this song.)

Galli-Curci's recording was one of the first recordings of her voice that I heard and owned, and my 78 rpm copy (pictured below, with a link to a video) is still a favorite in my collection,  Back in my college days, I often listened to this, and other historic opera and piano recordings, with my classmate Susan Flick.  This transcription is dedicated to her, and this blog was originally posted on her birthday.  Happy Birthday, Susan!

The score can be found here at Sheet Music Plus

The score can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

From my collection, Victor 64807, matrix B-21972, recorded June 10, 1918.

The score can be found here at Sheet Music Plus.

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