SKU: HL.49045690
For decades, pupils (aged 6+) have been learning the basics of piano playing with plenty of imagination and creativity by using the popular three-volume piano method Piano Kids by Hans-Gunter Heumann. In 2014 the method was revised and has since been published in a revised and expanded new edition: New songs and illustrations breathe new life into the standard work and adjust it to the realityof life of today's first-time piano players. The educational concept of Piano Kids, resulting from the combination of textbooks, additional activity books as well as the large number of themed tune books, is now completed by tune books that are companions to the textbooks.These new tune books contain a wide range of very easy pieces for beginners which are in line with the progress of the textbooks andprovide the young pianists with age-appropriate playing literature from the very first piano lesson. Well-known folklore melodies, upbeat compositions in the style of pop, rock and jazz music as well as the first little masterpieces by Mozart, Beethoven & Co. motivate and stimulate the pupils and add variety to the music lessons. Volume 1 starts with several pieces for piano duet which will easily motivate beginners without demanding too much. All pieces are limited to the five-note range while nevertheless covering the whole spectrum of styles: from folk melodies via classical pieces by composers such as Gurlitt, Turk or Bartok to modern compositions from the areas of pop, rock and jazz music. Alongside Vol. 2 of the piano method, Volume 2 extends the pitch range and heightens the rhythmic demands. Apart from the wide rangeof songs from the areas of folk, rock and pop music, the young musicians get to know the first easy piano pieces by Mozart, Beethoven & Co. Many little 'treats' will have a lasting motivating effect on the pianists, like e.g. the Baby Elephant Walk by Henri Mancini or The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. These pieces have been arranged by Hans-Gunter Heumann in such a way that they do not demand too much of the children but motivate them when playing these famous melodies.
SKU: HL.49016219
ISBN 9790001146449. UPC: 884088202538. 9.0x12.0x0.195 inches.
The chiaroscuro-technique developed by painters of the Italian renaissance served to intensify contrasts and effects of optical depth. In Klar/Obskur, I tried to transfer the general idea of this technique on the rather unusual instrumentation of two double-reed woodwinds and piano. On the one hand, a clear, well articulated playing is characteristic for these instruments, on the other hand, they have an often underestimated potential of 'twilight': air-sounds and fragile, shady colours have a especially attractive when being produced by double-reed instruments (which are often, and superficially regarded as being less capable of differentiated sounds than flute or clarinet). The piano, too, has a broad bandwidth of possibilities between percussive and delicate playing to complement the woodwinds which, in return, can absorb and continue the fading piano sounds.The beginning introduces the two contrasting elements that form the basic material for the piece: a clear, sharp chord, followed by fragile, dim sounds. The changes between these elements as well as their combination and amalgamation produce an enormous spectrum of colours and gesture. After this 'motto-like' opening follow four quite clearly separated short sections, each of them being characterised by a well-defined texture: a partly almost imperceptible air-sound passage, a short sequence of microintervallic notes, a burst of virtuosity and a recourse to the fragile sounds of the beginning.The second, longer main part consists of three sections merging subtly into each other: a short unisono-passage, marked elastic [federnd], is being dissolved into its basic elements; from these remainders, a confrontation of low, 'arcane' bassoon and piano sounds and a strongly ornamented melodic line of the oboe emerges, leading to a short but powerful climax. The piece is concluded by an extended, relaxed epilogue, containing a short piano solo and a duet of oboe and bassoon and, finally, a quotation of the 'elastic' character of the middle section.Benjamin Schweitzer.
