Original Piano Duets Band 1

SKU: BT.DHP-1115211-400

9x12 inches. French-Spanish-Italian.

Musical Challenges works alongside the third volume of the violin method Play the Violin!, but it can also be used by intermediate students along with any other method. The pieces are in jazz, pop, world music and classical styles and contain musical as well as technical challenges with some being accompanied by a relevant technical exercise. Many of the pieces have chord symbols or piano accompaniment whilst others are duets. The CD contains all accompaniments and many demo tracks.

Musical Challenges sluit aan op het derde deel van Speel Viool!, maar kan ook los van deze methode worden gebruikt. De stukken in de stijlen jazz, pop en klassiek bevatten zowel technische als muzikale uitdagingen, enkeletitels worden voorafgegaan door een technische oefening. Een aantal werken kan als duet worden uitgevoerd en andere stukken zijn voorzien van akkoordsymbolen of pianobegeleiding. Daarnaast kan met de cd, die ook talrijke demo'sbevat, worden meegespeeld.

Mu sical Challenges schlie�t an den dritten Band der Schule Spiel Violine! an, kann aber von allen fortgeschrittenen Geigenschülern verwendet werden. Die Stücke in den Stilen Jazz, Pop, Weltmusik und Klassik enthalten sowohl musikalische als auch technische Herausforderungen; teilweise sind sind sie mit Akkordsymbolen oder Klavierstimmen versehen oder als Duett ausnotiert. Au�erdem kann zu den beiden CDs gespielt werden, die sämtliche Begleitungen und zahlreiche Demoversionen enthalten.

Musi cal Challenges peut être considéré comme lâ??épilogue du deuxième volume de la méthode Je joue du violon! Mais ce recueil peut également être utilisé par les violonistes ayant suivi une méthode dâ??apprentissage différente. Les pièces contenues offrent une grande variété de style et abordent des exercices techniques divers. Certains morceaux présentent une notation dâ??accord ou un accompagnement de piano, dâ??autres sont écrits sous forme de duos. Le compact disc contient tous les accompagnements et de nombreuses versions intégrales.

Musical Challenges rappresenta valido materiale complementare da usare assieme (ma anche individualmente) al secondo volume del metodo Suona il Violino! I brani proposti sono in stile jazz, pop, folk e classico (musica originale e non) e contengono sfide musicali e tecniche. Alcuni brani propongono un breve esercizio tecnico, mentre altri contengono i simboli degli accordi o le parti del piano. Sono previsti anche alcuni duetti. E per chi non ha un altro musicista con cui suonare, il CD propone gli accompagnamenti e un grande numero di tracce demo.

SKU: PR.11641861SP

UPC: 680160685202.

What? ! - my composer colleagues said - A concerto for the piano? It's a 19th century instrument! Admittedly we are in an age when originally created timbres and/or musico-technological formulations are often the modus operandi of a piece. Actually, this Concerto began about two years ago when, during one of my creative jogs, the sound of the uppermost register of the piano mingled with wind chimes penetrated my inner ear. The challenge and fascination of exploring and developing this idea into an orchestral situation determined that some day soon I would be writing a work for piano and orchestra. So it was a very happy coincidence when Mona Golabek phoned to tell me she would like discuss the Ford Foundation commission. After covering areas of aesthetics and compositional styles, we found that we had a good working rapport, and she asked if I would accept the commission. The answer was obvious. Then began the intensive thought process on the stylistic essence and organization of the work. Along with this went a renewed study of idiomatic writing for the piano, of the kind Stravinsky undertook with the violin when he began his Violin Concerto. By a stroke of great fortune, the day in February 1972 that I received official notice from the Ford Foundation of the commission, I also received a letter from the Guggenheim Foundation informing me I had been awarded my second fellowship. With the good graces of Zubin Mehta and Ernest Fleischmann, masters of my destiny as a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I was relieved of my orchestral duties during the Hollywood Bowl season. Thus I was able to go to Europe to work and to view the latest trends in music concentrating in London (the current musical melting pot and showcase par excellence), Oslo, Norway, for the Festival of Scandinavian Music called Nordic Days, and Warsaw, Poland, for its prestigious Autumn Festival. Over half the Concerto was completed in that summer and most of the rest during the 72-73 season with the final touches put on during a month as Resident Scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy. So much for the external and environmental influences, except perhaps to mention the birds of Sussex in the first movement, the bells of Arhus (Denmark) in the second movement and the bells of Bellagio at the end of the Concerto. Primary in the conception was the personality of Miss Golabek: she is a wonderfully vital and dynamic person and a real virtuoso. Therefore, the soloist in the Concerto is truly the protagonist; it is she (for once we can do away with the generic he) who unfolds the character and intent of the piece. The first section is constructed in the manner of a recitative - completely unmeasured - with letters and numbers by which the conductor signals the orchestra for its participation. This allows the soloist the freedom to interpret the patterns and control the flow and development of the music. The Concerto is actually in one continuous movement but with three large divisions of sufficiently contrasting character to be called movements in themselves. The first 'movement' is based on a few timbral elements: 1) a cluster of very low pitches which at the beginning are practically inaudibly depressed, and sustained silently by the sostenuto pedal, which causes sympathetic vibrating pitches to ring when strong notes are struck; 2) a single powerful note indicated by a black note-head with a line through it indicating the strongest possible sforzando; 3) short figures of various colors sometimes ominous, sometimes as splashes of light or as elements of transition; 4) trills and tremolos which are the actual controlling organic thread starting as single axial tremolos and gradually expanding to trills of increasingly larger and more powerful scope. The 'movement' begins in quiescent repose but unceasingly grows in energy and tension as the stretching of a string or rubber band. When it can no longer be restrained, it bursts into the next section. The second 'movement,' propelled by the released tension, is a brilliant virtuosic display, which begins with a long solo of wispy percussion, later joined in duet with the piano. Not to be ignored, the orchestra takes over shooting the material throughout all its sections like a small agile bird deftly maneuvering through nothing but air, while the piano counterposes moments of lyricism. The orchestra reaches a climax, thrusting us into the third 'movement' which begins with a cadenza-like section for the piano. This moves gently into an expressive section (expressive is not a negative term to me) in which duets are formed with various instruments. There are fleeting glimpses of remembrances past, as a fragmented recapitulation. One glimpse is hazily expressed by strings and percussion in a moment of simultaneous contrasting levels of activity, a technique of which I have been fond and have utilized in various fixed-free relationships, particularly in my Percussion Concerto, Contextures and Games: Collage No. 1. The second half of the third 'movement; is a large coda - akin to those in Beethoven - which brings about another display of virtuosity, this time gutsy and driving, raising the Concerto to a final climax, the soloist completing the fragmented recapitulation concept as well as the work with the single-note sforzando and low cluster from the very opening of the first movement.

SKU: P2.PZA90187

Concert Duets is a collection of 14 arrangements of works by prominent 18th-century composers, mostly taken from Trio Sonatas. Duet 11 is a Jim Self original work in the Rococo style; and Duets 12, 13 and 14 are arrangements of the three-movements of the Bach Concerto for Two Violins. Included with this edition are play-along recorded tracks by tubist Zach Collins, who also served as editor of the current edition.

I created these duets as Christmas gifts for my tuba playing friends, with the first duet being arranged in 1976. All 14 of the duets are challenging and fun to play and are especially effective as concert pieces.

As a young musician I had the privilege of playing duets with many of the world’s finest tubists including Harvey Phillips, John Fletcher, Bob Pallansch, Chester, Schmitz, Dan Perantoni, Toby Hanks, Ron Bishop, Winston Morris and Tommy Johnson. I learned more about playing music in these duo sessions than from any other musical activity I have ever experienced. Duets are powerful teaching tools for learning and mastering rhythm, phrasing and intonation and for developing overall musicianship.

Jim Self:

Self (b. 1943) is a Los Angeles free-lance musician, a veteran of thousands of Hollywood motion pictures, television shows and records, and tuba soloist on many prominent movies. His tuba was the “Voice of the Mothership” in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is Principal Tuba/Cimbasso with the Pacific and Pasadena Symphonies and the Los Angeles Opera and Hollywood Bowl Orchestras. Formerly he was in The U.S. Army Band and tuba / euphonium professor at the University of Tennessee. He holds a DMA from the USC Thornton School of Music where he is Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Chamber Music. His compositions and arrangements include works for solo tuba, brass quintet, other brass, string and woodwind chamber music, wind band and orchestra. Jim has produced many solo jazz and classical recordings. His music and recordings are available from Potenza Music and www.jimself.com. Jim Self is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Zach Collins, editor:

Zach Collins is professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, he released his first solo album, Chronicle. It was recognized with the 2021 ITEA Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording for the best Solo Tuba Album.

His interpretation of William Kraft’s Encounters II for Solo Tuba was released on Cambria Master Recordings. Zach performs with Eastern Standard, a horn, tuba, piano trio he formed with Heidi Lucas and Jacob Ertl. The ensemble has released two commercial albums, Eastern Standard and Wanderlust.

Zach regularly performs with the Keystone Chamber Winds, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras. His compositions and arrangements for brass and for tuba and euphonium can be purchased from Cimarron Music and Eighth Note Publications. Zach earned degrees from Texas Christian University and the University of Southern California. His primary teachers have been Richard Murrow, Jim Self, Tommy Johnson, and Norm Pearson. Zach Collins is a Miraphone artist.