Kevin Volans

Pint-Sized Piano Pieces is the first in a series of three books featuring fun and enjoyably challenging Piano miniatures composed by South African pianist and composer Kevin Volans.   If you're tired of playing the same old exercises the same old études or boring studies this book of Pint-Sized Piano Pieces is for you. Whether you're after somethingchallenging something fun or even something funny you can be sure that you'll never have heard any pieces like this before. Composer Kevin Volans invites pianists 'of all ages and sizes' to play his innovative andinteresting take on the Piano miniature.   All of these pieces are lovely and tuneful all provide a challenge and all are exciting thrilling confusing and sometimes even baffling. Each volume istechnically progressive meaning the Pint-Sized Piano Pieces is best for the beginner to the intermediate player although the tunes vary in length and difficulty. Equally as important even though the piecesare a lot of fun they also each explore a different aspect of crucial Piano technique allowing you to enjoy learning to play and perfecting your abilities.   The inventive and imaginative miniaturesincluded in the sheet music collection Pint-Sized Piano Pieces are guaranteed to get you having fun while practising. They are a pleasure to hear and a pleasure to play so make sure you check out thesefun and practical pieces today.    

Born in South Africa but now an Irish citizen Kevin Volans? musical idiom has been shaped by an unusually diverse range of experiences including studies with Stockhausen in Cologne field trips to South Africa tostudy traditional music his own involvement with the New Simplicity movement his collection of contemporary art and African textiles friendships with composers like Morton Feldman and Gerald Barry as well as a love of virtuosopiano music which he performs broadcasts and records. While having an easily recognised unique voice Volans? music resists compartmentalisation. He is as comfortable working in conventional genres as embarking oninnovative collaborations with artists of other disciplines. String Quartet No.1 (White Man Sleeps) was written for the Kronos Quartet and was first performed by them in July 1986 London.The title?White Man Sleeps? comes from a moment in nyanga Panpipe music where the performers leave off playing their loud pipes for a few cycles and dance only to the sound of their ankle rattles to let the whitelandowner sleep for a minute or two.'In composing this piece I drew from the following sources: the first movement owes something to the style of Basotho concertina music; the second and fourth movements are drawnfrom traditional Nyungwe music played by Makina Chirenje and his Nyanga panpipe group at Nsava Tete Mozambique recorded and transcribed by Andrew Tracey (to be found in an article entitled ?The nyanga Panpipe dance? in AfricanMusic Vol.5 No.1 (1971); the third movement derives from the San bow music (recorded by Tony Traill of the University of Witwatersrand) and from Basotho lesiba music transcribed by myself; in the fifth movement I added my owninvented folklore. My approach to the original music was anything but purist it is played in Western tuning filtered slowed down by a few ?time-octaves? cast into non-African metres (like the 13-beat pattern of the first

Kevin Volans has been described as one of the more inventive composers since Stravinsky. Songlines was composed in 1988 and revised in 1993. Dedicated to Bruce Chatwin and premiered by the Kronos Quartet. Parts available:CH61336

The third in South African pianist and composer Kevin Volans's brilliant series of Piano miniatures Progressively Prickly Piano Pieces is a collection of ingenious and witty practice pieces that aredesigned to be both fun and educational. With these sheet music practice books accomplished composer Kevin Volans?has managed to craft nine pieces that are really great fun to play as wellas being thrilling and exciting in their ingenuity. Volans has put aside his own compositional tastes making the needs of the pianist the focus. This means that his series represents a departure from the other dry anddull practice books out there ensuring that while you play you'll be loving how funny confusing and sometimes downright baffling these pieces are. The great thing about ProgressivelyPrickly Piano Pieces is that this is not just a bit of fun. Volans?has created them so that each piece focuses on a fundamental aspect of Piano technique. This means that while you enjoy playing through thepieces in this book their 'prickliness' will guarantee that you are learning at the same time. Some of the tunes are challenging so this book is definitely for the intermediate to the advanced player although the great thing isif you have worked through the previous two books you'll be able to smoothly transition into this one. If you want some new and interesting practice pieces to play that aren't the same old études orexercises check out Progressively Prickly Piano Pieces?and pep up your practising today. Don't forget to check out? Pint-Sized Piano Pieces ?and? Pieces For Precocious Pianists .

In the second book of South African pianist and composer Kevin Volans's Piano miniature series progressively more challenging pieces are presented for intermediate players while still retaining the fun and excitement ofthe previous edition. This truly is a collection of Pieces For Precocious Pianists. If you are looking for the antidote to all those boring Piano exercise books out there that claim to bebeneficial but are so dull it's hard to pull your head up off the keys look no further. This book contains nine fantastically fun and playful tunes that will get you interested in and enjoying practising as much as you possiblycan. As you play your way through the book you will be laughing scratching your head and sometimes crying but never not enjoying these pieces that resist all description. Not only are thesePieces For Precocious Pianists really great fun to play they also serve an educational purpose. As an accomplished pianist and composer Kevin Volans has crafted each piece to explore a singleaspect of essential Piano technique. This means that it will focus on a particular skill that you can hone while having fun with the pieces. These pieces are more challenging than the previous book in the series making this bookmore appropriate for the intermediate pianist although it makes a great progression if you've worked through the first. For a fun and thrilling ride through some inventive and innovative Piano miniatures Pieces For Precocious Pianists by Kevin Volans is a brilliant way to perfect particular techniques while having lots and lots of musical fun. Don't forget to checkout  Pint-Sized Piano Pieces  and  Progressively Prickly Piano

Kevin Volans’ Concerto for Solo Percussion and Ensemble was commissioned by KammerensembleN Stockholm with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. The world premiere took place in Stockholm in_x0005__x0006__x0007__x0005__x0008_2013.

String Quartet No.5 by Kevin Volans.The concert version of Dancers on a Plane was commissioned for the DukeQuartet to whom it is dedicated by the National Federation of MusicSocieties with funding fromBritish Telecommunications plc.Includes a CD

For String Quartet and taped natural sounds. Dedicated to and premiered by the Duke Quartet.