Very entertaining music:- Tango Fox-Trot Waltz and Charleston with naughty musical 'quotes' throughout: The Mendelssohn Wedding March 'Swanee River' and Bizet's Carmen etc.... No contra required.Grade: 4 - 5

Grade 3-This collection of pieces was written for the Trinity Guildhall Examination Board syllabus. It is aimed principally at students of grades 1 to 5 and intended to combine technical challenges with that most vital musical ingredient: fun.Four pieces for bassoon and piano by Graham Sheen.Drunken Sailor - the sequelThis needs a plaintive tone especially in the upper register where the dynamics are particularly important. To capture the mood of the piece those slurs in bars 35 and 36 for example might even be close to a glissando. Use your imagination to recreate the sailor's state of health!The Vulgar BoatmanNot only more 'hidden' melodies but moreappalling puns! (Volga Boatman for those not versed in Russian folksongs). This is like a waltz: it is written in 3/4 time but played so as to give the impression of one beat in bar. The melodies need to be well sustained so that we hear four eight or even more bars as a single phrase. Clues for the musical detective:- in addition to the Volga Boatman you might spot just a hint of 'Sailing down the River on a Sunday Afternoon' 'We Sail the Ocean Blue' (H.M.S. Pinafore) The Eton Boat Song and even Wagner's Flying Dutchman.Last Tango in HarrisEveryone must surely know these thinly disguised Scottish tunes but can you make them sound like a tango? Bear in mind that tangos are not jazz: the rhythm is quite strict but the tango character is in the tone and the phrasing. Notice how expressive the occasional shorter note value can be as in bars 4 and 5 in the bassoon part.Rheumanian StretchesOr was that Rumanian Sketches? This is a chance to play the main melody in two registers of the bassoon. Try to make a good even sound in both octaves. This piece requires careful counting since the phrases in the bassoon part don't always begin where you might expect. Think of this piece as a song.

Music through the Ages in Two Volumes-Time Pieces is an exciting series of repertoire which explores the wealth of music written from the sixteenth century to the present day. The pieces are presented chronologically within each volume and all include the year in which they were written too. This series allows the pupil to get a real feel for the different styles of music through time providing performance confidence and experience at the earliest stages. The book will prove an invaluable varied source of further study and recital repertoire.