I recently received the Student Recital Collection book, published by The Willis Music Company, and I wanted to share my impressions of this compilation with you. This book features 40 highly pedagogical pieces that work wonderfully as recital repertoire and, most importantly, students love them.
What makes this publication special is the carefully curated selection of pieces by some of the most important contemporary composers in the Willis catalog, such as William Gillock, Glenda Austin, and Carolyn Miller. These pieces were selected by Andrew Eales from Pianodao, who also edited the book.
Another aspect I highly value is the organization of the material into three levels of difficulty, ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 6 (from elementary to early advanced level). Each section is accompanied by a short introduction that provides context for the pieces included and highlights their key pedagogical features for both teachers and students.
Next, I’ll talk about some of my favorite pieces from each level.
Elementary Level
This first section consists of 16 pieces: the first 8 pieces are Grade 1, and the remaining 8 pieces are Grade 2. The scores in all sections are carefully edited, making sheet music reading easier for younger students.
For Grade 1, Morning Dew by Carolyn Miller is a gentle melody accompanied by intervals in the left hand and a central section featuring chords in the right hand in root position.
In Little Flower Girl of Paris by William Gillock, the melody is presented in the left hand during section A, while in section B it moves to the right hand. This alternation allows the student to specifically work on developing the melodic voice in both hands, learning to bring it out while the other hand takes care of the accompaniment.
Some pieces introduce students to other rhythms, such as swing, in pieces like Jivin’ Around by Glenda Austin for Grade 1 (if you click the link, you can see the composer herself performing the piece), and Suspicious by Jason Sifford for Grade 2.
From the Grade 2 pieces, I’d like to highlight The Goldfish Pool by Carolyn Miller. As you can see, it makes use of a wide range of registers on the piano. This is one of the things I like most about this book, its pieces explore the full keyboard right from the earliest levels.
Also from the Grade 2 section is Cloud Paintings by Lynn Freeman Olson, in which the left hand plays the melody, bringing it out over the right hand’s accompaniment. In the following video, you can see me performing this piece.
Intermediate Level
This level is aimed at students in Grades 3 and 4. At this intermediate stage, students begin to explore a wider variety of major and minor keys, as well as different chord positions and a great diversity of textures and pianistic writing. In addition, the pieces in this section explore less conventional rhythms such as Latin or swing.
This book also introduced me to composers I hadn’t encountered before, like Randall Hartsell. His pieces Riders in the Night and Etude Dramatique are fast-paced works that take the student across the full range of the keyboard. The latter is an arpeggio study in closed position with hand crossings throughout the piano, a piece your students will truly enjoy.
I’d also like to highlight Spacetime by Jason Sifford, a piece that can be especially useful for working on time signature changes, as in fewer than 40 bars it features 5/8, 3/4, 2/4, and 4/4 meters. It’s also a very rhythmic piece, with some more melodic sections as well.
Late Intermediate Level
The pieces in the third section are at a significantly more advanced level and explore a wide range of technical and expressive tools, making them perfect for this stage.
I particularly enjoyed the lyrical and poetic character of the two pieces by Naoko Ikeda: The Glacial Mermaid and Shooting Stars in Summer.
Waltz Etude by William Gillock is probably my favorite piece by this composer, and those of you who follow my blog already know how much I like him. It’s a brilliant etude with a more virtuosic and lively first section in G major, and a more expressive and lyrical second section in E-flat major.
I also enjoyed playing Disenchanted Etude by Randall Hartsell. I haven’t found any videos of this beautiful etude, so I encourage you to play this piece and, if you want, upload your own performance.
This book is a perfect opportunity to explore pieces of various levels and to discover new contemporary composers. In addition to the authors I’ve mentioned, it also includes works by Carolyn C. Setliff, Edna Mae Burnam, John Thompson, Eric Baumgartner, and Melody Bober. It offers a wide range of works by composers I truly love, making it ideal for expanding your students’ recital repertoire.
It is an ideal book for your students to have because it can accompany them throughout various stages of their training.
What about you, were you familiar with this book? Did you know any of these composers or their pieces? And if you already knew the book, which of the pieces are your favorite? I’d love to read your comments about this collection. I hope you enjoyed it!
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