Mary Watkins

Mirrors. Mary Watkins.

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,...

Philippa Schuyler

Wanchai Road, by Philippa Schuyler

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...

Montague Ring

T'Chaka: African Suite, by Montague Ring

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...

Florence Price

“Song Without Words (Pleading)”, by Florence Price

“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...

Wild flowers cover

Wild Flowers, by Ida M. Larkins.

“Wild Flowers” is a late intermediate piano piece by composer Ida M. Larkins, and was first published in 1905 by the Pioneer Music Publishing Company in Chicago. It is a waltz with quite a bit of repeated material throughout, written in the typical style of parlor sheet music. The melody...

Florence Price

Little Melody in E-flat, from Seven Miniatures, by Florence Price

"Little Melody in E-flat major" is the fifth of the Seven Miniatures. These Miniatures comprise seven standalone pieces, published in An Album of Piano Pieces and Second Album of Piano Pieces , each of which revealing different facets of Price’s creative personality. "Little Melody," written in a Romantic and tonal...

Zenobia Powell Perry

"Blaize," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry

Blaize is a short, two-minute piece written by Zenobia Powell Perry in 1985. A rhythmic and muscular piece, it sounds very chromatic, and almost never lands on a cadence until the very last measure. It is built mostly on parallel triads in the right hand. There are some interesting transpositions...

Mable Bailey

"Prankster" by Mable Bailey

"Prankster" by Mable Bailey is a short and lively atonal composition. Its duration is around one minute and forty-five seconds. The title of the composition describes its characters very well; it is odd, eccentric, and "naughty" like a prankster. The composition follows no conventional harmonic progression; it relies on the...

Reginal Harris Baiocchi

"Azuretta" by Regina Harris Baiocchi

"Azuretta" by Regina Baiocchi is a rather sentimental and romantic piece in its outer sections, with a contrasting, harsh and dissonant middle section. The composition is notated "rubato" and "dolce". It's tempo is quarter note = 60 in 3/4 meter. "Azuretta" is both "bluesy" and "jazzy"; though the composition is...

Powell Pery

“Flight,” from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry

“Flight” was written by Perry in the 70s. This is a 4 page late intermediate piece that should be played in a fast tempo (presto). It explores the range of the piano from E1 to F#7. It involves lots of chromatic pitches and dissonant harmonies. The piece also has a...

Pages