Music Expressions[TM] Grade 4: Teacher Edition

June Armstrong's songbook The Girona Suite - Eight Evocations For Piano features eight original and challenging compositions for grades five to seven standard, all inspired by the shipwreck of the Spanish galleas, the Girona.The pieces included in this songbook were all composed specifically for this collection by revered pianist and teacher June Armstrong. Her many years of experience in teaching have allowed her to craft compositions both subtle and powerful that stretch the ability of students while giving them an engaging story on which to base their expression and feeling when playing. Armstrong is an advocate of focusing learning on atmosphere and tonal awareness, which, when combined with the necessary techniques and theory, makes this songbook a learning tool that is theoretically sound and musically enticing.From the first page, the composer has shown her commitment to creating pieces specifically for students learning the Piano, as she writes of how many people, including former students, have inspired her. She then writes in detail about the historical context of the theme of the work, before giving more practical advice on the music itself and how to go about playing it. The friendly and warm approach that Armstrong brings to presenting her suite makes it more than a simple songbook, it becomes a personal journey, where the composer herself guides you through the characters and settings that the music has been composed to evoke. As well as presenting challenging and entertaining pieces, Armstrong's work serves as a fantastic introduction into how major and minor keys can be manipulated to different ends, and how motifs can be used together with a theme. Armstrong writes:?The final piece, Sarabande for the Lost Souls returns to the desolation of Eb minor, closing with a final statement of the No Tengo theme.?The songs in The Girona Suite are designed to cultivate a student's ability to play in keys containing more than three flats or sharps, as well as a number of different time signatures and with varying degrees of expression. This songbook would be ideal for a student of any age who is unafraid to experiment with evoking feeling and emotion in their playing, while also learning and practicing numerous techniques in an appealing and informative context. If you would like to listen to any of the songs that are listed below, these can be heard free of charge on the composer's website. / Piano

The Nine Glens Of Antrim - Nine Easy Pieces For Piano is a songbook featuring nine distinctly Irish-themed original compositions by renowned composer and teacher June Armstrong for grades two to four standard, designed to teach and reinforce technique and stylistic interpretation.Composer June Armstrong has taken the glens of County Antrim in Ireland as the inspiration for nine new Piano pieces that attempt to capture the atmosphere of the varied landscape. From the astonishing monuments of caves and valleys to calmer, more tranquil waterfalls and rivers, Armstrong has successfully composed pieces to help a student imagine and evoke the natural beauty of a landscape through the musical medium. The concept that Armstrong has tried to incorporate is that the expressiveness of the Piano as an instrument is something that students should be familiar with, and so this book will teach you how to create atmosphere while using the musical theory you are familiar with.One of the most impressive things about The Nine Glens Of Antrim is the hard work that the composer has put into creating these pieces as well as incorporating Irish music and the Irish landscape. At the beginning of the songbook Armstrong goes into great detail about what each piece symbolises, as well as a small amount of Irish history and legend. She intertwines this with detailed playing instructions, making learning entertaining and informative as well as inspiring. In the notes for the piece titled ?Layd Church?, the student is told that?A small stream runs along the side of the church, the sound of which, together with birdsong, is the only music you will hear there now. If you wish to play this successfully, you will need to listen to birds singing!?It is this personality and friendly tone that makes learning from The Nine Glens Of Antrim a joy.The songs themselves are subtle, pretty and precisely composed, perfect for a student who already has a good grasp of playing in a variety of keys, at different tempos and in alternative time signatures. Armstrong also leaves certain expressive elements up to the performer, so the flexibility would suit a student who is keen to bring some character and feeling to the piece. Each song represents a different challenge, and attempts to introduce a novel style and technique, so the use of the natural beauty of a landscape provides an anchor for students to connect the theory with the practice. To hear a recording of each track free of charge, just head to the composer's own website, where you can also view photographs symbolising each song to inspire you to begin your learning of The Nine Glens of Antrim today. / Piano