Articles

Rumpelstiltsken (1955) was inspired from a character in Grimm's Fairy Tales . In the story, a miller brags to the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king thus locks her in a room, orders her to spin straw into gold, and threatens to execute her if...

Mirrors, by Mary D. Watkins, is a dreamlike and meditative piece for solo piano. The left hand plays a repeated triplet eighth note figure for the entire piece, endlessly cascading like gentle waves upon a shore. The right hand plays a peaceful and elongated melody which, like the left hand,...

“Walkin’ and Swingin’,” composed originally for a jazz band by Mary Lou Williams, gives the solo pianist an original taste of Williams’s expertise in the style of jazz and blues of the 1930s. Opening with a laid-back swing introduction, the piece unfolds into a more lively swung melody, colored by...

Dance of the Cotton Blossoms is an early advanced piece written by Florence Price in 1938. This piece is not to be confused with another piece by Price which shares the same title, but was written in 1931. She also wrote a piece called “Cotton Dance (Presto)” ca. 1940. Price’s...

Schuyler’s “Wanchai Road” is mysterious, spontaneous, and chaotic, reflecting the actual Wanchai Road in Hong Kong. It is reminiscent of beeping cars and tramways with a relentlessly consistent left hand rhythm, while the right hand has a syncopated, meandering melody. Although texturally thin, Wanchai Road requires dexterity and technical proficiency...

Rocking Chair, by Florence Price, is a gentle and nostalgic solo piano piece spanning approximately three pages. It effectively captures the sensation of lounging in a rocking chair on a lazy afternoon, while its steady rhythm and simple, lilting melody lend a soothing quality to the composition. With a 6/8...

Rabbit Foot is a playful early intermediate piece by Florence Price. In a repetitive A-B-A I form, Rabbit Foot offers opportunities for discussion about keeping repeats musically interesting through dynamics and shaping. All three sections have tricky articulations that call for a significant level of control, plus ornamentation that is...

The T’Chaka Suite is a set of three dances published in 1927, named after the Zulu king Shaka, who ruled parts of modern-day South Africa from 1816-1828. All three dances contain a strong rhythmic drive and use of open fifths under melodic ideas. The second movement, Monarah, is a gentle...

“Song Without Words (Pleading)”, by Florence Price, is the sixth in a set of “Seven Miniatures” for piano. Reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s own "Songs without Words," this piece opens with a few measures of solo introduction, setting the stage for the “singer” - a lovely, cantabile melody. As the “A” section...

“Memory Mist” is an early advanced piano piece by Florence Price, and was compiled as part of a set titled “Seven Miniatures.” The three-page piece is expressive and romantic in feeling, with the 20th century harmonic language that defines Price’s style. The A section is andante cantabile, with a tempo...