Contemporary idioms

Picking Daisies, composed by Travis Lohmann, is a light-hearted and jovial jazz-influenced waltz appropriate for mid-intermediate to advanced pianists, and focuses on such concepts as: cantabile legato lines, syncopated rhythms, dynamic expressivity, left and right hand leaps, triplet passage work and rolled chords. Best suited as a showcase solo, the highlight of this piece is the written-out solo over the chord changes, sure to dazzle the audience. With dexterous phrases, catchy melodic segments, and infectious rhythms, this piece is certain to brighten your day and those nearby!

Five-Speed! by Rick Robertson is an intermediate level showcase solo in a rhythmic contemporary style. It is very effective in performance, and makes an excellent repertoire choice for a developing pianist.

Argument, by Rick Robertson, is an intermediate-level showcase solo. It is the perfect aggressive piece for the angst-ridden player, with polychords and a brief volley of tone clusters.

Toccata Staccata, composed by Rick Robertson is an intermediate level showcase solo. Its staccato parallel chords with a hint of Latin flavor give the advancing performer an exciting showpiece.

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.

Three Moods for Piano, composed by Rick Robertson, is an late intermediate level triptych in a percussive twentieth-century style. The outer movements, both crisp and rhythmic (the first in constantly changing meters) flank a short, expressive middle movement. It is very effective in performance, and makes an excellent repertoire choice for a developing pianist.

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.

October is an intermediate new age piece by Sarah Reaser O’Brien, NCTM. The constantly moving triplet figures in both hands are meant to evoke the swirling motion of colorful autumn leaves blowing about in the breeze. Rather than centering on a traditional melodic line, October allows students to create a mood or effect by experimenting with dynamic inflection and rubato to vary each performance. Dynamic indications in the score are merely suggestions – performers are meant to make this free-flowing piece their own.

Open Spaces, composed by Sarah Reaser O’Brien, is a part of a series of pieces focused on contemporary idioms. This piece serves to introduce students to playing in a free meter with the absence of barlines and is suitable as a contemporary festival selection.

12-Toed Foe is a twelve-tone solo over a blues progression composed by Sarah Reaser O’Brien. This pieces serves as a great introduction to contemporary idioms and includes a glossary of terms and the twelve-tone matrix used in the piece.

A whimsical 12-tone version of Happy Birthday to play for sad birthdays. Music arranged by Stacy Fahrion.

Nebula, composed by Rick Robertson, is an intermediate level solo in a contemporary style, built entirely on the whole-tone scale on C. It gives the performer ample opportunity to explore different sonorities while working on touch and balance.