Advanced

Troubled Water, from Spiritual Suite. Margaret Bonds

Anonymous — Wed, 01 May 2024 17:42:59 +0000

Troubled Water, from Spiritual Suite. Margaret Bonds Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/01/2024 - 11:42

Alice Hyoung

Margaret Bonds arranged over fifty African-American spirituals for various instruments, one of which is the five-minute piano work Troubled Water, based on the spiritual Wade in the Water.The context of the spiritual is associated with Songs of the Underground Railroad, work songs used by slaves in the nineteenth century to share coded information for escape.

Troubled Wateris composed in the key of E minor. Bonds opens the piece with a energetic, syncopated rhythm in the left hand that leads into the recognizable theme in the spiritual. As the piece develops, the texture of the melody thickens, and Bonds weaves in jazz-inspired sonorities in between the voices. This could create challenges for pianists when memorizing and coming up with fingerings that feel comfortable.

Pianists must also practice smooth transitions between the different characters and sections of the piece as they happen quite fast. Despite its repetitive nature, the theme transforms through many distinct characters, including a brief, lyrical key change to E major. Specific notations in the music like scherzando, dolce, marcato, leggiero, con fuoco call for the pianist to balance sensitivity and lyricism with flair and virtuosity. It may also be helpful for the pianist to identify the climaxes of the piece so as to maintain a cohesive musical narrative without making the piece too loud.

Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) started her musical journey in her hometown Chicago, learning piano from her mother who was a charter member of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM). She developed meaningful relationships with many African American artists including Florence Price, who she took lessons from as well. She deeply admired the works of Langston Hughes which eventually led to their lifelong friendship and collaboration. One of her numerous achievements includes being the first African-American woman to solo with a major American orchestra. Despite facing ongoing racism in her career and her studies, she dedicated her life to civil rights activism and raising awareness for African-American art. Bonds’ contributions played a major role in re-establishing the presence of African-American sound and culture within American identity.

Sources

Head, Fanny Po Sim. "Discover Margaret Bonds: A Composer’s Take." Interlude. April 3, 2021. https://interlude.hk/discover-margaret-bonds/.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Troubled Water, from Spiritual Suite. Margaret Bonds. Performed by Alice Hyoung.

Traditional

White

Rumpelstiltsken. Philippa Duke Schuyler.

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 17:40:14 +0000

Rumpelstiltsken. Philippa Duke Schuyler. Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 04/20/2024 - 11:40

Er-Hsuan Li

Rumpelstiltsken (1955) was inspired from a character in Grimm's Fairy Tales. In the story, a miller brags to the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king thus locks her in a room, orders her to spin straw into gold, and threatens to execute her if she doesn't do it by the next morning. When she falls into despair, an imp appears and offers to spin gold for her, as long as she returns the favor by giving him her first child. When her child is born, however, she refuses to give the child away. The imp agrees to release her from the favor only if she guesses his name within three days. On the last night, she wanders into the woods, looking for the imp, and finds him celebrating and singing “Rumpelstiltsken,” his own name. The next day, she guesses the name correctly. The imp gets so angry that he stomps a big hole in the floor, falls in, and disappears forever. In this piece, the perpetual motion of the theme can be heard over and over, imitating the sound of spinning gold. In the middle section, a trumpet call and the arpeggiated left-hand broken chords escort the listener into the woods. Finally, towards the end, two angry, climactic glissandi contrast with a disappearing, sudden end.

In this advanced piece, the pianist is challenged to play many fast passages in different articulations. Though the two hands are mostly in parallel motion, the fast tempo still requires the pianist to execute the technique cleanly. For the passages with long legato phrases, it is easy to sound “choppy” due to its chordal writing. Therefore, showcasing the melodic shape with smooth attacks is critical to create effective and contrasting ideas from the staccato sections. Moreover, the dramatic change and large range of dynamics suggest the pianist to explore the potential of the instrument. Rumpelstiltsken is a wonderful and effective piece to program in any concert.

From the age of four, Philippa Duke Schuyler (1931-1967) spent her youth competing and touring both nationally and internationally as a pianist. Of mixed heritage, Schuyler faced racism and discrimination. At age 30, she began exclusively performing outside of the US, and also simultaneously began a journalism career. Over the next few years, she wrote articles and musical compositions based on her travels. At age 35, she unfortunately died on a volunteer mission to rescue orphans from a war zone.

Sources:

Photo: Philippa Schuyler. Wikimedia Commons.

Rumpelstiltsken, by Philippa Duke Schuyler. Performed by Er-Hsuan Li.

Traditional

White

"Great Day" Ode, by Jacqueline Hairston

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 20:01:16 +0000

"Great Day" Ode, by Jacqueline Hairston Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/25/2021 - 14:01

Er-Hsuan Li and Alejandro Cremaschi

“Great Day” Ode, composed in 1991, is a joyful and effective piece that weaves three African-American Spirituals together: “Great Day,” “Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley,” and “Every Time I Feel the Spirit.” Starting with an introduction in multiple key areas, it begins with a rhythmic and more upbeat spiritual. After exploring some tonal areas with tempo fluctuation and a brief Chopin-like flourish, the second spiritual enters with a slower and freer tempo. Then, the melody of this Spiritual is restated in the tenor voice played by LH with brilliant RH arpeggios decorating the texture. The third Spiritual that follows offers a more rhythmic and forward-moving drive that finally leads to the climax of the work, featuring continuous octaves and dense chords in opposing registers. The most virtuosic passages presented include rapid, parallel octaves, glissandi, and arpeggios. These virtuosic passages conclude the entire piece in an extremely satisfying fff with broadened register.

With plenty of octaves, jumps and quick arpeggios, the piece can be categorized as "advanced" in terms of level of pianistic difficulty. It sounds quintessentially American, and is a great example of very effective and imaginative writing anchored in the American sprituals tradition that can result attractive to a wide range of tastes.

Dr. Jacquline Hairston was born in 1932 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a prolific composer who mastered various genres from spirituals to contemporary art songs. She has earned two “Living Legend Awards” and “Howard Thurman Award”, and holds degrees from the Juilliard School, Howard University in ��Ĺ��ý, D.C., and Columbia University. As a pianist and vocal coach herself, her works often display lyric vocal virtuosity, and weave spirituals that flow smoothly into one another. She has dedicated her life to preserving American spirituals.

Sources

We, Too, Sing America | Episode 8: Jacqueline Hairston
Photo: Hairston to perform at all-music church service. Davis Enterprise. December 4, 2014.

Performed by Er-Hsuan Li.

Traditional

White

"Air," from Piano Sonata Op. 19, by Jeraldine S. Herbison

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:33:13 +0000

"Air," from Piano Sonata Op. 19, by Jeraldine S. Herbison Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 09/11/2021 - 12:33

Bryan Chuan

Herbison’s Piano Sonata Op. 19 is a technically demanding work featuring idiomatic writing inspired by the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras. The sonata contains four movements, Prelude, Rondo, Scherzo, and Air. The Prelude and Air are written in a lean neoclassical style, while the denser and lengthier Rondo and Scherzo contain brilliant, virtuosic passagework. Pianists need to be familiar playing music from all eras to effectively interpret the complete sonata, with particular emphasis on a strong LH technique to master Herbison’s frequent use of LH scales written in 32nd notes. Listen for the deft and charming counterpoint that evokes the character of a Baroque suite and the aforementioned LH scales in this performance of Air, the final movement of the Sonata.

Jeraldine Saunders Herbison (b. 1941) is a violinist and retired orchestra teacher who taught in Virginia and Maryland. She studied at Virginia State College and the University of Michigan at Interlochen, and her teachers include Undine Smith Moore. Her compositions include many vocal works, orchestral works, and chamber works, especially works for her cellist husband Dr. James Herbison, several of which can be found in the Walker-Hill collection.

Sources

Jeraldine Saunders Herbison. The African American Arts Song Alliance.
Photo from Walker-Hill, Helen. (2002). From Spirituals to Symphonies. University of Illinois Press

Performed by Bryan Chuan.

Traditional

White

Homage, from Piano Potpourri. By Zenobia Powell Perry

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 03:53:43 +0000

Homage, from Piano Potpourri. By Zenobia Powell Perry Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/18/2021 - 21:53

Elizabeth Smith

Homage is a movement in the set Piano Potpourri. Composed in 1990, it employs a wide variety of different textures and techniques, including octaves, dense chords, and chromaticism. Homage is dedicated to black composer William Dawson, and is based on the spiritual “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned”, which is played unaccompanied at the beginning of the piece. It would be a good fit for a student at the advanced level due to the jumps in the left hand and complex pedaling, and the student would have to be a strong reader to notice the subtle changes between similar motives.

Homage is published in the anthology Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893-1990) edited by Helen Walker Hill and published by Hildegard Publishing.

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

Homage, from Piano Potpourri. By Zenobia Powell Perry. Performed by Elizabeth Smith.

Traditional

White

Two Piano Etudes. By Regina Harris Baiocchi

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 16:37:09 +0000

Two Piano Etudes. By Regina Harris Baiocchi Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/18/2021 - 10:37

Fuweiyu Li

These two piano etudes are both intellectually challenging and technically demanding. Both compositions are atonal. With a five-notes cluster in the left hand that reaches the lowest key and another five note-cluster in the right that reaches the highest key on of the piano, the intro of the first etude is rather bold. This etude has a relatively thick overall texture and features at least three voices most of the time. There are often polyrhythms in both hands, though not as challenging as the second etude's. The etude is also heavily syncopated.

These compositions are not listed in the composer's website.

"Regina is a poet, author, and composer whose music has been performed by Detroit and Chicago Symphony orchestras, US Army Band, and internationally-acclaimed artists. Performances include concerts in Paris, Rome, and Bari, Italy, as part of Festival Incontri Musicali di Musica Sacra, and in Turkey and Unna, Germany at the Women Composers’ Library. Regina has written music for symphony orchestra; a libretto and one-act opera; hand drum concerto; marimba concerto; ballet; chamber music; liturgical and secular music; and vocal and instrumental, including for pipe organ." (3arts.org)

Sources:

Traditional

White

"Times Seven," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 16:36:13 +0000

"Times Seven," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/16/2020 - 09:36

Boheng Wang

Times Seven is a 6-minute, 7-page piece composed by Zenobia Powell Perry in 1985. The title "Times Seven" may be based on a passage from Matthew 18:21-22 from the Christian New Testament, but there is no source to conclusevely prove that. This piece has many dissonant harmonies. It starts with an Adagio section with two voices that move in parallel fifths. This material is developed quite a bit throughout this piece. There are 6 different tempo markings. The character each section is very different from one another - some are lyrical, some are dramatic. The opening material can be heard in every section, it is sometimes in the chords, in the top voice, or in the bass.

This piece is in the advanced level. It requires the pianist to play on a wide range on the keyboard using many different articulations. Technique to voice the melody in the chords is important to make the opening theme stand out.

Traditional

White

Farewell Alma Mater, by Mable E. Harding

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 04:37:33 +0000

Farewell Alma Mater, by Mable E. Harding Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 21:37

Anastasiia Pavlenko

“Farewell Alma Mater”, published in 1907 by A. Ross and R. G. Jackson, is a piano piece that won first prize at the Inter-State Literary Society of Kansas and the West, held at St. Joseph, Missouri, in December, 1906. The piece is written in С minor and structured in a ternary form with coda. It presents an enchanting waltz with melancholic feeling. The song-like melodies amaze with their lyricism. This piece requires a possession of great rubato skills as there are a lot of expressive markings left by a composer. There are also numerous technical challenges, such as chords (sometimes quite dense or rolled), octaves, layering, hand crossing, usage of a full range of keys, changing clefs, and very acrobatic two-sixteenth-note grace notes.

Unfortunately, there is barely any information about this composer on the public database. However, it’s known that Mable E. Harding was a member of the Harmony Class and Choral Society at Western University, Quindaro, Kansas, and was under the direction of Professor Robert G. Jackson in 1906. The cover of her piano piece available to the public, “Farewell Alma Mater,” contains photographs of Mable E. Harding as well as pictures of Ward Hall, Trades' Hall, and Stanley Hall of the Western University. Western University is considered one of the earliest African American schools established west of the Mississippi River. During the 1900s through 1920s, it was also recognized as the best black musical training center in the Midwest.

Sources:

Farewell, Alma Mater. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.kshs.org/index.php?url=km/items/view/221055
Walker-Hill, H. (2006). Western University at Quindaro, Kansas (1865-1943) and Its Legacy of Pioneering Musical Women. Black Music Research Journal, 26(1), 7-37. Retrieved April 21, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/25433761

Traditional

White

Dream and Variations, by Dorothy Rudd Moore

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:33:22 +0000

Dream and Variations, by Dorothy Rudd Moore Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:33

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Dream and Variations is a substantial work for solo piano written by D. Moore in September 1974. Twenty-one pages long, the piece is graded as advanced level. It consists of an introduction, a theme, and six variations. Unlike Moore’s “Dream Variation” from the song cycle From the Dark Tower, the piece has nothing to do with Langston Hughe’s poem “Dream Variation.” According to the separate program notes provided by the composer, this piece brings a darker, even nightmarish interpretation to the dream idea. Extremely atonal in nature, the variations are built on two characters: dreamy and mischievous. Full of octaves and dense chords, this piece requires a pianist who has good stamina, well-mastered pianistic skills, big hands, and ability to produce big sound. Some other difficulties are jumps, changing key signatures, chromaticism, and changing tempo markings within each variation. Additionally, it requires a performer to have an exceptional interpretative vision to highlight thematic connection between variations, which is not easily distinguished.

Dorothy Rudd Moore (b. 1940) is an African-American composer and educator. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Moore began her musical path with studying piano and clarinet, singing in a school choir, and aspiring to be a composer. Her parents fully supported such aspiration, and so Moore ended up studying Composition at Howard University with Mark Flex, in France with Nadia Boulanger, and in New York with Chou Wen Chung. She wrote numerous works which include symphonic works, chamber music, song cycles, one opera, and some piano pieces. Her works are available through the American Composers Alliance. In 1968 she became a co-founder of the Society of Black Composers in New York City. Moore is considered to be one of the leading composers of color that began their musical career in the XX century.

The score is available for purchase at the American Composers Alliance website.

Sources

“Dorothy Rudd Moore.” American Composers Alliance, August 17, 2019.

“Dorothy Rudd Moore.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, October 29, 2019.

Lain, Latoya Andriel. “An Examination of the Compositional Style of Dorothy Rudd Moore and Its Relationship to the Literary Influence of Langston Hughes.” Digital Scholarship@UNLV. Accessed December 12, 2019.

Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.

Photo from Dorothy Rudd Moore. American Composers Alliance.

Traditional

White

Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:31:52 +0000

Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:31

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Many Thousand Gone is a four-page piano piece written in 1986 by Undine Moore. The piece is appropriate for an advanced student. As the title page of the piece says, it’s based on the slave song: “No more auction block for me. No more, no more. No more auction block for me. Many thousand gone.” Written in B flat major, the piece presents a cheerful tune in 4/4, arranged in a thick chordal texture with embellishments like broken arpeggios, chromatic runs, and grace notes. Additionally, there is some contrapuntal writing in the middle section. Romantic in nature, the composition style is tonal and even a little jazzy. A student must have large hands in order to play this piece.

Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989) was an accomplished African-American composer, teacher, and arranger. Often referred to as the “Dean of Black Women Composers”, Moore left a legacy of more than 100 compositions in a variety of forms. She was best known for her choral works and arrangements of spirituals. Born in Jarratt, Virginia, Moore obtained her musical education at Fisk University and Columbia University. After finishing her graduate degree at Columbia University, Moore joined the music faculty at Virginia State College, where she taught piano, organ, and music theory until her retirement in 1972. Moore’s musical and teaching career was so diverse and renowned that she received honorary doctorates from Indiana University and Virginia State College. Probably Moore’s most ambitious work, a cantata written in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Scenes From the Life of a Martyr,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Moore felt strongly about the inclusion of African-American music in high school and college programs but wanted to avoid stereotypes around it. She once said, “Black music is a house of many mansions. Blacks have many musics and some of them relate in an extremely universal way to the human condition.” She believed that the term “black music” should only mean music written by a black person.

Sources

Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC

Performed by Anastasiia Pavlenko.

Traditional

White

Advanced

Troubled Water, from Spiritual Suite. Margaret Bonds

Sources

Related Articles

Rumpelstiltsken. Philippa Duke Schuyler.

Sources:

Related Articles

"Great Day" Ode, by Jacqueline Hairston

Sources

Related Articles

"Air," from Piano Sonata Op. 19, by Jeraldine S. Herbison

Sources

Related Articles

Homage, from Piano Potpourri. By Zenobia Powell Perry

Sources

Related Articles

Two Piano Etudes. By Regina Harris Baiocchi

Sources:

Related Articles

"Times Seven," from Piano Potpourri, by Zenobia Powell Perry

Related Articles

Farewell Alma Mater, by Mable E. Harding

Sources:

Related Articles

Dream and Variations, by Dorothy Rudd Moore

Sources

Related Articles

Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore

Sources

Related Articles