Description
From OPENING DOORS, the in-progress collection of late-elementary piano pieces in keys of 2+ sharp/flat key signatures, this is Musette in E major.
Notes on the composition:
"The musette de cour or baroque musette is a musical instrument of the bagpipe family" (Wikipedia). In general, musettes refer to various instruments in the bagpipe family that would have been known among Baroque-era composers, and pieces meant to imitate this instrument will feature a "drone," or steady bass note, over which the rest of the music unfolds. J. S. Bach's English Suite in G minor contains the first "Musette" that most young piano students learn, and because it's in G major, it features a low G drone that the student must learn to hold with the little finger while playing the other voices. This Musette, while in a more complex key, is much easier physically!
Notes on the collection:
The in-progress collection OPENING DOORS features mid-to-late beginner piano solos representing all key signatures with two or more sharps/flats (including enharmonics)--keys rarely seen in today's pedagogical piano literature for the early grades. This collection grew out of the high praise for my early intermediate collection of unusual-key solos, entitled VENTURING BEYOND and published in 2014, which led to some requests from teachers and adult students to write a similar collection a couple levels easier than most of Venturing Beyond's pieces.
These pieces, written in Baroque, Classical and Romantic styles, not only help acquaint students with the idea of reading "within keys," but they also introduce common musical genres of the Western Classical canon. These short, expressive compositions--each no more than two pages in a medium-sized font and requiring no more than a major sixth reach--are also ideal for adult students or college group piano students who desire to play musically satisfying repertoire that is within their technical grasp, but still suitable for public and private performance. Many of the pieces are cast in binary forms with repeats, which allows students to increase the length and substance of a piece for performance without requiring them to learn more musical material.
This volume also refrains from invoking programmatic titles or content that might suggest that it is geared toward the school-age student; thus, it is ideal for student pianists of all ages, from 5 to 105!
Fingerings are not included in this edition, given that ideal fingering choices vary widely among different hand sizes and are best decided upon by consultation with a knowledgeable teacher.