Long-Legged Spinners is a whimsically macabre solo composed by Stacy Fahrion. This solo is ideal for intermediates of all ages and is part of the Lullabies for Arachnophobes songbook.
Itsy Bitsy Tarantula is a slightly more disturbing version of Itsy Bitsy Spider composed by Stacy Fahrion. This piece is ideal for intermediates.
The Lovelorn Lobster is a song from 1897 with words by Joseph W. Herbert. Stacy Fahrion wrote her own original whimsically macabre music to the poignant lyrics about love between a lobster and a piscatorial maiden going terribly awry. A timeless, classic theme for Valentine’s Day, or any occasion!
A Wise Old Owl is inspired by a nursery rhyme of the same title and set here as a whimsically macabre solo for intermediates by Stacy Fahrion. If you’re playing on a grand piano, before beginning the piece you can silently depress the low F octave and sustain it throughout with the sostenuto pedal for an added mysterious effect. This is an optional effect, and the piece still works well without it. The damper pedal is often left down for extended periods of time as well for a swirling effect.
Wayward Blackbird interweaves Chopin-esque basslines with familiar nursery rhymes This Old Man and Sing a Song of Sixpence in this whimsically macabre showcase solo by Stacy Fahrion.
Composer Stacy Fahrion transforms Three Blind Mice, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and a snippet of Rain, Rain, Go Away into a mystical minor showpiece.
Composer Stacy Fahrion interweaves Hickory Dickory Dock and snippets of For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow into this whimsically macabre solo that will delight late intermediates of all ages.
A hair-raising, haunting tarantella by Stacy Fahrion with an abundance of crunchy minor 2nds and a slower, nostalgic middle section.
Waltz for a Six-Legged Octopus by Stacy Fahrion begins whirling gently in 6/8 time, but the real hexapus waltzing starts when the piece shifts to 9/8. This waltz, ideal for intermediates, is for anyone who has ever felt like they’re missing something that everyone else has.
Diabolical Dance is a wild ride through 10/8 time with a relentless 3+2+2+3 groove. This dramatic piece by Stacy Fahrion will give advanced students a chance to highlight their rhythmic skills. Featuring contrapuntal lines culminating in tone clusters, this piece will be a delight when featured in Halloween recitals, or any time your students are looking for a flashy minor-key piece with fun asymmetrical rhythms.
Tarantella is a virtuosic, spellbinding piece for advanced pianists composed by Stacy Fahrion. The time signature is 6/8, although one of the recurring left hand patterns is in 7/8. In the recording, the piano is deliberately detuned, intensifying the dissonances of the double harmonic major scale by lowering the minor 2nd and minor 6th slightly, and raising the major 3rd and major 7th slightly. The percussion sounds are created by placing a tambourine on the bass strings of the piano. Detuning your piano and tossing a tambourine in it is entirely optional, although the composer encourages it.
The Book of Spells by Stacy Fahrion is designed to ease intermediate pianists of all ages into improvising in different imaginative ways, using different time signatures, modes, pentatonic scales, odd meters, and occasional 2:3 polyrhythms. Each spell has at least one section where pianists have the opportunity to create their own melodies, using a suggested rhythm to help them get started. Most of the pieces feature an ostinato of some kind in the left hand. Several of these pieces are inspired by the composer’s studies of North Indian ragas. This book is ideal for intermediate pianists who would like to learn to improvise and compose their own music, and is also a source of fresh ideas for students who are already improvising and composing.
This book presents strategies for learning to play polyrhythms, from the most common ones, such as two against three, up through four against five. It contains rhythm exercises, improvisation suggestions, and thirteen pieces based on polyrhythms. Once you’ve worked with the book, you might develop intense cravings for more polyrhythms, and may even be inspired to compose polyrhythmic pieces of your own.
Stacy Fahrion wrote Nice Tardigrade so that beginner pianists can enjoy playing polyrhythms and playing in Dorian mode. “Nice tardigrade” is a mnemonic phrase like “hot cup of tea” or “not difficult” that may help pianists remember the sound of a three against two polyrhythm. Tardigrades are resilient microscopic creatures that look like tiny bears. They have existed on Earth for about 600 million years.
This gentle, ambient piece will help ease pianists into playing in 5/4 time signature. It features broken fifths in the left hand that only happen on black keys, with a repeating chord progression of I-vi-ii-V in Gb major. The right hand stays in the same hand position throughout, other than leaping up or down by an octave.
Distant Bells is an elegant polyrhythmic etude for early intermediates composed by Stacy Fahrion. This piece serves as an excellent introduction to playing two against three between the hands.
A Spell for Focus, composed by Stacy Fahrion, is in 7/4, and is inspired by Raag Jog from Indian classical music. Pianists can count “1 2 3 4 1 2 3” throughout to help them stay focused. In bars 5-8 and 13-16, pianists are encouraged to improvise using the suggested rhythm and the notes C, E, F, G, and B-flat.
A Spell to Find Balance, composed by Stacy Fahrion, is an intermediate piece in A minor designed to ease pianists into improvising. The left-hand part is a two-bar ostinato, and keeping with the theme of balance, all of the right-hand rhythms are palindromic, the same forwards as they are backwards over two bars. The structure of the piece is also mirror-like.
A meditative ambient solo and improvisation exercise for early intermediates by Stacy Fahrion that will set a relaxed and creative tone before, during, or after lessons.
Stars in the Sky invites pianists on a shimmering journey through a magical winter landscape, where each note glimmers like starlight on a cold, clear night. This piece in A minor features a delicate three-against-two rhythm, perfect for developing rhythmic independence while creating an ethereal soundscape. Ideal for winter-themed recitals or any occasion where you want to capture the beauty of the night sky, this piece by Stacy Fahrion invites intermediate pianists to explore rhythm and expression in a way that feels as timeless as the stars themselves. The title is a mnemonic phrase for the composite three against two rhythm.
Mountain Rainstorm depicts a storm that rushes in quickly and then gracefully recedes into the mountainscape as swiftly as it arrived, something that happens frequently in the afternoons in the Rocky Mountains. This lively post-minimal piece features broken octaves in the left hand that only happen on black keys. It begins in E-flat Dorian and ends in G-flat major. The time signature regularly alternates between two measures of 6/8 with two measures of 7/8, but the composite rhythm between the hands is simply steady eighth notes.
This mysterious-sounding intermediate-level etude by Stacy Fahrion is ideal for introducing quarter-note triplets to students, and also is a wonderful recital piece. It eases students into playing 2 against 3 and 3 against 2 polyrhythms, and through playing it, students will learn how eighth-note triplets and quarter-note triplets relate. It begins in G Dorian and ends in D minor. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the sun, but isn’t visible to the eye alone.
Tweedledum & Tweedledee, composed by Stacy Fahrion, is a whimsically macabre bluesy solo for intermediates. This piece is part of the Once Upon a Time songbook.
Isolation was written in early 2020 by Stacy Fahrion. This expressive intermediate piece begins and ends in 5/4, and features palindromic rhythms (rhythms that are the same backwards and forwards) and a gentle two against three polyrhythm in the middle section.
