Early Advanced

Walkin' and Swingin'. Mary Lou Williams.

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 03:12:49 +0000

Walkin' and Swingin'. Mary Lou Williams. Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 01/21/2024 - 20:12

Alice Hyoung

“Walkin’ and Swingin’,” composed originally for a jazz band by Mary Lou Williams, gives the solo pianist an original taste of Williams’s expertise in the style of jazz and blues of the 1930s. Opening with a laid-back swing introduction, the piece unfolds into a more lively swung melody, colored by improvisational gestures. Williams takes the melody through multiple key signatures, alternating between thin and thick textures, until it returns to its original key. What makes the piece especially fun are the rhythmic accents, triplets, embellishments, and the occasional harmonic dissonances.

Though the original composition is quite fast-paced, the wide leaps and tenth intervals in the left hand suggest that the tempo may be slower. A pianist with smaller hands may opt to roll the tenths, while maintaining a tasteful and upbeat rhythm. Note that Williams includes sparse finger suggestions, some of which may be changed as the pianist sees fit, and no dynamic indications. Perhaps this encourages performers to explore their own colors of this style, including the various use of pedaling techniques.

The abundance of records, arrangements, and compositions merely scratch the surface of Mary Lou Williams’ artistic expertise in the 1900s. Described as the only one “to have played in every stylistic period of jazz,” Williams was a true pioneer for musicians to follow. Furthermore, Williams embraced a life of charity and spirituality, which expanded throughout the later years of her life. Out of her battles with depression and the journey of soul-searching came a beautiful way to merge the world of spirituality and jazz, something unprecedented. She frequently performed benefit concerts and organized fundraisers, including the Bel Canto Foundation in 1958 to specifically help the numerous musicians who suffered from alcohol and drug addiction. Even so, her exceptional accomplishments have been overshadowed by jazz icons such as Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk, though her arrangements were highly sought after by them and other highly respected jazz musicians.Though Mary Lou Williams excelled in the language of jazz, it was her relentless pursuit to merge social justice, charity, and music that substantially set her apart from others.Walkin’ and Swingin’ only represents a small fraction of her contribution to the world.

Sources

Photo: Mary Lou Williams: A Centennial Celebration. NPR
Witkowski, Deanna. 2021. Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul. Liturgical Press.
Kernodle, Tammy L. 2020. Soul on Soul : The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Walkin' and Swingin'. Mary Lou Williams. Performed by Alice Hyoung.

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Dance of the Cotton Blossoms (1938), by Florence Price

Anonymous — Sat, 13 May 2023 15:10:05 +0000

Dance of the Cotton Blossoms (1938), by Florence Price Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 05/13/2023 - 09:10

Max Warnock

Dance of the Cotton Blossoms is an early advanced piece written by Florence Price in 1938. This piece is not to be confused with another piece by Price which shares the same title, but was written in 1931. She also wrote a piece called “Cotton Dance (Presto)” ca. 1940. Price’s southern and African American heritage is reflected in the titles and musical content of these pieces.

The dance features an energetic and lyrical melody that floats above the thick texture underneath, similar to cotton blossoms floating through the air on a breezy summer day. Strong syncopated rhythms throughout the piece add excitement, suspense, and drive to the music. The lush harmonies are reminiscent of jazz while providing a uniquely rich sound quality. Additionally, the A-B-A structure gives opportunities for the performer to explore different moods between the sections.

Although the piece is only two pages long, there are several challenges. Large, fast, and thickly textured leaps are found in both hands and are especially difficult to play accurately. Depending on the hand size of the performer, some left hand chords will need to be broken, and these should be rolled quickly to maintain rhythmic integrity. The top voice in the right hand should sing clearly above the texture underneath while the performer may choose to bring out some of the lowest bass notes in the left hand. Observing the rests is important for emphasizing the syncopations and for building excitement and suspense. The pedal should be used lightly to support a sense of line and enhance the melody and harmonies while maintaining clarity. Dynamic pacing is important–especially during the piu mosso ending to create a dramatic effect. While the piece involves difficult technical challenges, it needs to sound easy, carefree, and lively.

Practice strategies:

Play the right hand melody (top voice) by itself to understand the voicing.
Practice the most difficult measures such as mm. 11-13 slowly in small chunks to develop comfort and technical fluency over the large leaps.
Practice slowly with the metronome without pedal to develop a strong understanding of the syncopation

Florence Beatrice Price (1887-1953) is perhaps the best known African American female composer in the US. She was active in the Chicago area, and was the first African-American woman to have a composition played by a major orchestra. For a full biography and information about her works, visit the Florence Price website.

Sources

Dance of the Cotton Blossoms, by Florence Price. Performed by Max Warnock.

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Memory Mist, from Seven Miniatures. Florence Price

Anonymous — Tue, 10 May 2022 19:43:18 +0000

Memory Mist, from Seven Miniatures. Florence Price Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/10/2022 - 13:43

Lizzie French

“Memory Mist” is an early advanced piano piece by Florence Price, and was compiled as part of a set titled “Seven Miniatures.” The three-page piece is expressive and romantic in feeling, with the 20th century harmonic language that defines Price’s style. The A section is andante cantabile, with a tempo marking of quarter note=76. The contrasting B section is a quicker allegretto, with a return to the first tempo and some repeated material on the final page of the piece. The score is highly detailed, and provides lots of opportunity for expression and rubato. There are many chords spanning an octave or more, sometimes in quick succession, so a performer would need to make decisions about how to distribute notes between hands, as well as sometimes breaking chords in order to play all the notes. The first page contains a swell to an orchestral-sounding repetition of the first theme (mm. 7-12), which has left hand arpeggios in triplets and the melody in octaves in the right hand. The combination of the polyrhythm and technically challenging parts in both hands makes this one of the more difficult passages in the piece. The return to the A section on the final page could also be tricky, as the left hand must move quickly from the grace notes in the bass to the higher chords that accompany the final iteration of the main theme.

Sources

Memory Mist, from Seven Miniatures. Performed by Lizzie French.

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Rhapsody, by Zenobia Powell Perry

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 18:07:04 +0000

Rhapsody, by Zenobia Powell Perry Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/21/2022 - 12:07

Arjun Novotny-Shandas

Rhapsody by Zenobia Powell Perry is an expansive piece with six distinct sections of varying characters, tempos, and lengths. Sometimes the sections build off of each other, and other times they have sudden, abrupt transitions. The first three sections have a heavy focus on the melody, which soars above an increasingly difficult harmonic left hand part. There can also be significant flexibility in the timing of these sections, allowing one to better shape the contours of the melodic line. The fourth section is choppy, rhythmic, and dissonant. It stands out stylistically as the most divergent section and is difficult make sense of. The fifth section is a return to the original mood, while carrying over some of the drama of the fourth section. The sixth, final section is regal and mostly consonant. It is the only section Powell Perry added dynamics to, giving it climactic power.

The most difficult part of Rhapsody is the constant ascending and descending left hand in the second and third sections. Preventing them from feeling out of control, especially when it becomes frenzied triplets, is important in maintaining the phrase structure. The fast fourth section is not easy to make consistent either.

Overall, Rhapsody is a beautiful piece that offers a sampling of Powell Perry’s compositional style and helps one better understand how to design phrases that make sense (she has no phrase markings).

Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-2004) was an African American composer, professor and civil rights activist. She taught in historically black colleges and universities. Her musical style is described as “music with clear, classic melodies.” She studied piano and violin in her childhood. Her most powerful musical experience was hearing Hazel Harrison (African-American pianist) in a concert.

Sources

Zenobia Powell Perry
Image source: Zenobia Powell Perry - Drizzle Lyrics

Rhapsody, by Zenobia Powell Perry. Performed by Arjun Novotny-Shandas.

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"Three African Dances," by Montague Ring

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:24:53 +0000

"Three African Dances," by Montague Ring Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 09/11/2021 - 12:24

Bryan Chuan

Montague Ring wrote Three African Dances as a suite intended for amateur pianists and middle class families. The dances all use melodies with West African origins and folk harmonies like open fifths and flat second scale degrees. The dances are suitable for intermediate pianists, and the cyclic form of the piece can inspire creative storytelling. The first movement, Call To the Feast features an ostinato in the left hand accompanying a slow chant-like melody in the minor mode. The second movement, Luleta's Dance uses a steady waltz pattern and an ornamented melody with quintuplets. The final movement, Dance of the Warriors, integrates the main themes from the first two movements, C into a vigorous rondo that concludes with a thrilling accelerando. Students need to be familiar with a stride style accompaniment to master the fast LH skips and octaves present throughout this movement.

British composer Amanda Ira Aldridge (1866-1956) composed piano music under the pseudonym Montague Ring, and she came from a remarkable artistic family who broke racial barriers in the arts. Her father, Ira Aldridge, was a notorious Shakesperian actor and the only African-American actor honored at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater, and her sister Luranah sang to great acclaim throughout Europe as one of the first black opera singers. Amanda Aldridge worked as a concert singer, accompanist, and voice teacher after studying at the Royal College of Music in London, and her notable students include Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson. After her singing career was cut short by laryngitis, she turned to composing songs and piano music for middle-class families. The Walker-Hill collection contains several dozen of these works, which were widely published in the early 20th century but now are difficult to find and access.

Sources

Amanda Aldrige (Wikipedia)
Photo from a Boulanger Initiative tweet

Performed by Bryan Chuan.

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"The Rio Grande Waltzes," by Rosina Corrothers Tucker

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 16:22:20 +0000

"The Rio Grande Waltzes," by Rosina Corrothers Tucker Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/18/2021 - 10:22

Reina Krumvieda

The Rio Grande Waltzes are five pages long and were published by E.F. Droop and Sons in 1902 (925 Penna Avenue, ��Ĺ��ý D.C). The style of this piece resembles the Viennese waltz, divided into sections with an introduction, three waltzes, and a coda. These three waltzes are reminiscent of romantic era music, such as the last new phrase in waltz one (starting at the grazioso,) which is similar to the style of easier Chopin waltzes. During the 1900s, the Black community was striving to show more European sophistication in their art, which resulted in pulling influences from more 'retro' styles such as the Waltz. This is why Rosina choose to compose this piece as a Waltz as opposed to a more mainstream style of the time, where the rest of standard piano repertoire was beginning to move away from the Waltz.

Throughout this piece the melody and accompaniment can be seen in the same hand (usually right), with the left providing additional harmonies and rhythms. The third waltz and coda are the most difficult sections of this piece, which includes more difficult note reading, with full chords or faster rhythmic octaves at opposite ends of the keyboard. Towards the end of the third Waltz, the left and right hand occasionally overlap, where the performer will have to adjust accordingly in order to maintain the proper harmonies and melodies. As there are many repeats throughout the piece the performer should take care to bring out different harmonies/melodies every time the same section returns.

Rosina Budd Harvey Corrothers Tucker (1881-1987) was born on November 4, 1881 in ��Ĺ��ý D.C. Rosina’s parents, Lee Roy and Henrietta Harvey, were former slaves in Virginia who moved to ��Ĺ��ý D.C. after being emancipated. Due to this, Rosina’s parents ensured that their children would have the opportunities they did not, and received access to proper nutrition and education. While in high school Rosina taught Sunday school at the Colored Baptist Church in 1897. She married James Corrothers, a poet and writer of short stories on black humor and folklore, in 1899. Rosina continued her musical work as the organist for Liberty Baptist Church and played classical music at the First Baptist Church in Lexington, where her husband James was the pastor. Following James Corrothers death in 1917 Rosina moved back to ��Ĺ��ý D.C. as a government file clerk until she married B.J. Tucker, a Pullman porter in 1918. Following this Rosina helped organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first African-American trade union. Rosina spent the rest of her life working for civil rights and her union, organizing events like the March on ��Ĺ��ý, giving lectures, testifying before the Senate, and narrating the 1982 documentary Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle.

Sources:

Rosina Tucker (Wikipedia.org)
Rosina Tucker (Encyclopedia.com)
Photo from Rosina Tucker

Performed by Reina Krumvieda.

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Educational Congress March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 04:54:17 +0000

Educational Congress March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 21:54

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Educational Congress March was published in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1902. The piece presents an attractive tune reminiscent of those played to accompany silent films. Only three pages in length, the march would be appropriate for an early advanced student. It is marked Con Spirito and is written in 6/8 meter, which gives a piece more dance-like, swing beat that is more prominent and exaggerated than its cut-time cousin. While the general texture of the piece isn’t too dense and there are not too many accidentals, nor there are complex rhythms, the piece still offers a great technical challenge. One of the leading challenges are constant jumps in the left hand accompaniment. The accompaniment is built on tonal harmonies, but the jumps generally occur in the range of two to three octaves, which might be quite difficult to execute due to the meter the piece is written in. Additionally, the melody in the right hand part is written in octaves and often requires it to be played on legato.

Anna Gardner Goodwin (1874 - 1959) was an African American composer of classical music, mainly known for her religious works and marches. Goodwin was born in Augusta, GA in a family of Daniel and Anna Gardner. Her father was recognized as "the March King of Augusta" for playing cornet player and running a Sunday afternoon concert series for black Augustans. It was Anna’s father who inspired her to be a musician herself. Anna Goodwin attended Paine College in Augusta, Georgia and earned a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania to study the “method and supervision of public school music.” She married a reverend and theology professor at Morehouse College, George Goodwin, and assisted him in playing and leading music at the same college. She spent the majority of her adult life teaching and writing music. Her first composition, “Adelene,” was published in 1909 and her last composition, “Freedom to All March,” was performed by the Cicero Band in 1956 to commemorate the Cicero (Illinois) race riots of 1951. Besides a career as a composer and teacher, Goodwin held the position of assistant house director of the Chicago World Young Women's Christian Association in the 1930s.

Sources:

Anna Gardner Goodwin. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 8, 2020. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Gardner_Goodwin.
Anna Gardner Goodwin, Assistant House Director at the Chicago YWCA. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8775150/anna-gardner-goodwin-assistant-h...
Anna Gardner Goodwin Papers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/bmrc/view.php?eadid=BMRC.CBMR.GOODWIN

Educational Congress March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin, performed by Anastasiia Pavlenko

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"Cuba Libre." Cuban Liberty March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 04:49:34 +0000

"Cuba Libre." Cuban Liberty March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 21:49

Anastasiia Pavlenko

"Cuba Libre" or “Cuban Liberty March” was published in Augusta, Georgia, in 1897 and was included in Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music, 1893-1990 in 1992. It is a three-page piece written in 4/4 meter without any tempo marking. The title probably refers to the Cuban War of Independence, fought between 1895 and 1898. The piece might be appropriate for an early advanced student. Despite the significant use of large scale jumps and octaves, it has a very pianistic writing where all the notes just lie down under the performer's fingers. The accompaniment is mainly homophonic. Being very sectional, the march takes a performer on a journey through various keys. The captivating and cheerful tune of the march reminds of those tunes used to accompany silent films back in the day.

Anna Gardner Goodwin (1874 - 1959) was an African American composer of classical music, mainly known for her religious works and marches. Goodwin was born in Augusta, Georgia, in a family of Daniel and Anna Gardner. Her father was recognized as "the March King of Augusta" for playing cornet and running a Sunday afternoon concert series for black Augustans. It was Anna's father who inspired her to be a musician herself. Anna Goodwin attended Paine College in Augusta, and earned a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania to study the “method and supervision of public school music.” She married a reverend and theology professor at Morehouse College, George Goodwin, and assisted him in playing and leading music at the same college. She spent the majority of her adult life teaching and writing music. Her first composition, “Adelene,” was published in 1909 and her last composition, “Freedom to All March,” was performed by the Cicero Band in 1956 to commemorate the Cicero (Illinois) race riots of 1951. Besides a career as a composer and teacher, Goodwin held the position of assistant house director of the Chicago World Young Women's Christian Association in the 1930s.

Sources:

Anna Gardner Goodwin. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 8, 2020. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Gardner_Goodwin.
Anna Gardner Goodwin, Assistant House Director at the Chicago YWCA. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8775150/anna-gardner-goodwin-assistant-house/
Anna Gardner Goodwin Papers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/bmrc/view.php?eadid=BMRC.CBMR.GOODWIN

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Negro Dance Op. 25 No. 1, by Nora Holt

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 04:26:36 +0000

Negro Dance Op. 25 No. 1, by Nora Holt Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 21:26

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Negro Dance, Op. 25 No. 1 is a four page ragtime-like piano piece written in ternary form. Marked Allegro Vivace, the piece presents an array of technical challenges. Although the piece is written in a relatively easy key to read, G major, there is a significant presence of chromaticism. There are also many sequences, however hands move often in the same position. Additionally, this dance requires a performer to have strong rhythmic skills as there are a lot of syncopations and tricky rhythms. Other technical challenges are runs and figurations in thirds, long arpeggios, accents, and constant shifts between legato and staccato. Holt Publishing Co edition includes helpful fingering for the piece. The piece is marked as being published in 1921. The piece was re-published by Vivace Press (edited by Helen Walker Hill) in 2001.

Nora Douglas Holt (1885-1974) was an American singer, composer and music critic. Known as Lena Douglas before her fourth marriage, she was born in Kansas City, KS to an African Methodist Episcopal Church minister and the first matron of the girl’s building at Western University. Nora Holt studied music composition, musicology, and music criticism at Western University and earned a Master’s Degree from Chicago Musical College, becoming the first African American to receive a Master's Degree in the United States. Later she worked as the music critic for the Chicago Defender, Amsterdam News and the New York Courier. In 1919 Douglas co-founded the National Association of Negro Musicians, while also continuing to compose and perform. After marrying her fourth husband, an elderly Chicago hotel owner named George Holt, she traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia as a socialite, composer, and performer. Before leaving the United States, she placed her nearly 200 works of orchestral and chamber music in storage. Those were later stolen. Fortunately, two compositions, The Sandman (a song) and Negro Dance (piano piece), were preserved because of their publication in Music and Poetry (a magazine Nora ran at some point of her life). After returning from abroad, Nora Holt settled in Los Angeles, CA.

Sources:

Nora Douglas Holt
Nora Douglas Holt, A Musical Pioneer
Image and bio: Nora Douglas Holt: Composer, Critic, Bombshell. (2018, February 21)

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"Promenade," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 01:28:56 +0000

"Promenade," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 18:28

Boheng Wang

"Promenade" is a 3-minute piece by Zenobia Powell Perry. It has an ABA structure. The A and B sections have very different characters. Section A sounds like a joyful and upbeat march with two paired phrases. At the end of the second phrase, the transition material leads the music into section B. Section B does not have dotted rhythms as section A does. It has a straighter tempo instead. The octaves, big jumps, dynamic markings, and chromatics make it sound more mysterious and intense. Some of the chromatic phrases sound quite like Prokofiev.

This piece is categorized into early advance category because of some technical challenges in the B section, such as octaves jumps and duple vs triple rhythm. With section A, the student could learn to experiment with dynamics and character since there are not a lot of dynamic markings in this section. It is a fun piece to learn and play.

Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-2004) was an African American composer, professor and civil rights activist. She taught in some historically black colleges and universities. Her musical style is described as “music with clear, classic melodies.” She studied piano and violin in her childhood. Her most powerful musical experience was hearing Hazel Harrison (African-American pianist) in a concert.

Sources:

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Early Advanced

Walkin' and Swingin'. Mary Lou Williams.

Sources

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Dance of the Cotton Blossoms (1938), by Florence Price

Sources

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Memory Mist, from Seven Miniatures. Florence Price

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Rhapsody, by Zenobia Powell Perry

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"Three African Dances," by Montague Ring

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"The Rio Grande Waltzes," by Rosina Corrothers Tucker

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Educational Congress March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin

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"Cuba Libre." Cuban Liberty March, by Anna Gardner Goodwin

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Negro Dance Op. 25 No. 1, by Nora Holt

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"Promenade," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry

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