Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.972646 Composed by James Siddons. Arranged by James Siddons Music and Writings. 20th Century,Concert,Folk,Gospel,Jazz. Score. 17 pages. James Siddons Music and Writings #4350577. Published by James Siddons Music and Writings (A0.972646). About the Sonata Hymnica Series Program Note Composer James Siddons draws on the ethos of American rural hymns and spirituals to create evocations of the deeper, larger meaning of familiar church melodies. These sonatas for piano solo explore these deeper meanings in a variety of contemporary musical influences, while keeping in mind the acoustics of small rural churches of the late nineteenth century, with wooden floors and walls, high ceilings, and dimensions determined by local builders who knew how to shape a room for excellent acoustics in an age of no electricity and no microphones. These sonatas are but partly about the specific melodies and words, and mostly about their meaning in spiritual contemplation . . . and the piano, resonating, reverberant, sometimes whispering---as a sacred harp.             Although these sonatas have no specific titles, the first sonata may be thought of as the Prayer Sonata, the second as the Travel Sonata, as in a spiritual journey, and the third sonata is about our greatest fear, that of being alone and without God. Performance Note The pianist must keep in mind that these sonatas are about playing the piano as much as playing a composition. Musical effects characteristic of the piano and descriptive of the memory in American culture are the substances of these piano solos. Touch is important: in many places, several dynamics are called for on the same beat. All three pedals on an American piano (damper, sostenuto, and sustain) are needed. The orchestral and cinematic structure of this music requires extensive use of three staffs, which may consist of two treble and one bass staff, or one treble and two bass staffs. In basic grand-staff passages, the two staffs may both be treble or both bass. The musical influences in these sonatas include religious song in rural America, the chromaticism and Expressionism of Arnold Schoenberg and his followers, and the tone colors of the music of Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. Durations Sonata Hymnica No. 1 --- 15 minutes.Sonata Hymnica No. 2 --- 11 minutes. Sonata Hymnica No. 3 --- 9 minutes. About the Composer Composer, musicologist, and pianist James Siddons studied composition with Dika Newlin, a protégé of Arnold Schoenberg, and electronic music with Merrill Ellis, founder of the electronic music program at the University of North Texas, where he also earned a PhD in musicology. After a year at the University of London, where he studied musical analysis at King’s College and electronic music at Goldsmiths’ College, Siddons spent two years in Japan as a research scholar at Tokyo University of Arts, participating in the Ethnomusicology Seminar of Fumio Koizumi. Siddons has also studied theology and liturgy at the Duke University Divinity School. In addition to books and articles on contemporary music and music in Japan, Siddons was written compositions in many genres. Recordings of his piano performances are available at online streaming services. His website is www.JamesSiddons.com His performing rights organization is ASCAP.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.972645 Composed by James Siddons. Arranged by James Siddons Music and Writings. 20th Century,Concert,Folk,Gospel,Jazz. Score. 19 pages. James Siddons Music and Writings #4350561. Published by James Siddons Music and Writings (A0.972645). About the Sonata Hymnica Series Program Note Composer James Siddons draws on the ethos of American rural hymns and spirituals to create evocations of the deeper, larger meaning of familiar church melodies. These sonatas for piano solo explore these deeper meanings in a variety of contemporary musical influences, while keeping in mind the acoustics of small rural churches of the late nineteenth century, with wooden floors and walls, high ceilings, and dimensions determined by local builders who knew how to shape a room for excellent acoustics in an age of no electricity and no microphones. These sonatas are but partly about the specific melodies and words, and mostly about their meaning in spiritual contemplation . . . and the piano, resonating, reverberant, sometimes whispering---as a sacred harp.             Although these sonatas have no specific titles, the first sonata may be thought of as the Prayer Sonata, the second as the Travel Sonata, as in a spiritual journey, and the third sonata is about our greatest fear, that of being alone and without God. Performance Note The pianist must keep in mind that these sonatas are about playing the piano as much as playing a composition. Musical effects characteristic of the piano and descriptive of the memory in American culture are the substances of these piano solos. Touch is important: in many places, several dynamics are called for on the same beat. All three pedals on an American piano (damper, sostenuto, and sustain) are needed. The orchestral and cinematic structure of this music requires extensive use of three staffs, which may consist of two treble and one bass staff, or one treble and two bass staffs. In basic grand-staff passages, the two staffs may both be treble or both bass. The musical influences in these sonatas include religious song in rural America, the chromaticism and Expressionism of Arnold Schoenberg and his followers, and the tone colors of the music of Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.DurationsSonata Hymnica No. 1 --- 15 minutes.Sonata Hymnica No. 2 ---  11 minutes.  Sonata Hymnica No. 3 ---  9 minutes. About the Composer Composer, musicologist, and pianist James Siddons studied composition with Dika Newlin, a protégé of Arnold Schoenberg, and electronic music with Merrill Ellis, founder of the electronic music program at the University of North Texas, where he also earned a PhD in musicology. After a year at the University of London, where he studied musical analysis at King’s College and electronic music at Goldsmiths’ College, Siddons spent two years in Japan as a research scholar at Tokyo University of Arts, participating in the Ethnomusicology Seminar of Fumio Koizumi. Siddons has also studied theology and liturgy at the Duke University Divinity School. In addition to books and articles on contemporary music and music in Japan, Siddons was written compositions in many genres. Recordings of his piano performances are available at online streaming services. His website is www.JamesSiddons.com His performing rights organization is ASCAP.

Instrumental Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.818321 By Stephen R Dalrymple. By Alexander Scriabin. Arranged by Edited by Stephen R Dalrymple. Romantic Period. Individual part. 5 pages. Stephen R Dalrymple #5997057. Published by Stephen R Dalrymple (A0.818321). Prélude for Left Hand Alone (Classical Music for Tablet Series) by Alexander Scriàbin (piano solo) Opus 9 Number 1 - (Classical Music for Tablet Series) ♫ Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin [1871 – 1915] was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed in a relatively tonal, late Romantic idiom. Later, and independently of his influential contemporary, Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed a much more dissonant musical language that had transcended usual tonality but was not atonal. He composed almost exclusively for solo piano and for orchestra. [condensed from Wikipedia October 2022] ♫ Prélude for Left Hand Alone belongs to the earlier period of his work. ♫ Edited for 10 inch tablet by Stephen R Dalrymple ♫ Performed by the Editor. ♫ I was introduced to this piece by my piano teacher, Jenny Wong, after injuring my right arm and needing to rest it. Compositions for left hand alone are valuable in developing and testing phrasing in the left hand. The most beautiful tone quality will be elusive if the left hand is weak in technique or phrasing. ♫ The Classical Music for Tablet Series offers piano masterworks by classical composers formatted to be read on 10 inch tablets. I use an Amazon Kindle with Mobile Sheets Pro and an Air Turn blue tooth foot pedal to practice and perform piano music. Similar products available to provide other tablets the same functionality. ♫ The pieces in this series have not been arranged, but most have been edited slightly, and have been formatted to fit screen size. For example, in the tablet versions, first and second endings are often removed and the repeated measures and endings written into the music so the performer can avoid having to go back to previous pages. These kinds of section repeats were invented to spare the composer’s time and the cost of extra paper and ink. But with a tablet the cost of paper and ink is irrelevant. ♫ Although there are a lot more page turns with a 10 inch screen compared with letter size pages, the readability of the music (due to the backlighting on the tablet) and the portability of the music (travelling with a small tablet instead of oversized books or portfolios of sheet music) easily makes up for the extra page turns. ♫ Your purchase provides one .pdf file that contains both the tablet edition and the letter size page (printable) version. There are several programs available online that will allow you to separate this .pdf file into 2 .pdf files to make it more useful.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.972647 Composed by James Siddons. Arranged by James Siddons Music and Writings. 20th Century,Blues,Concert,Jazz,Spiritual. Score. 12 pages. James Siddons Music and Writings #4350581. Published by James Siddons Music and Writings (A0.972647). About the Sonata Hymnica Series Program Note Composer James Siddons draws on the ethos of American rural hymns and spirituals to create evocations of the deeper, larger meaning of familiar church melodies. These sonatas for piano solo explore these deeper meanings in a variety of contemporary musical influences, while keeping in mind the acoustics of small rural churches of the late nineteenth century, with wooden floors and walls, high ceilings, and dimensions determined by local builders who knew how to shape a room for excellent acoustics in an age of no electricity and no microphones. These sonatas are but partly about the specific melodies and words, and mostly about their meaning in spiritual contemplation . . . and the piano, resonating, reverberant, sometimes whispering---as a sacred harp.             Although these sonatas have no specific titles, the first sonata may be thought of as the Prayer Sonata, the second as the Travel Sonata, as in a spiritual journey, and the third sonata is about our greatest fear, that of being alone and without God. Sonata Hymnica No. 3 draws on two melodies from the African-American experience. One, Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)? was first published in 1899 in W. E. Barton’s Old Plantation Hymns but existed earlier as a folk hymn. It became the first spiritual to be included in a major hymnal, The Hymnal 1940 of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child was sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University from 1870 on, and was published in the Rev. Dr. Barton’s Old Plantation Hymns in 1899. Performance Note The pianist must keep in mind that these sonatas are about playing the piano as much as playing a composition. Musical effects characteristic of the piano and descriptive of the memory in American culture are the substances of these piano solos. Touch is important: in many places, several dynamics are called for on the same beat. Duration --- . Sonata Hymnica No. 3 --- 9 minutes. About the Composer Composer, musicologist, and pianist James Siddons studied composition with Dika Newlin, a protégé of Arnold Schoenberg, and electronic music with Merrill Ellis, founder of the electronic music program at the University of North Texas, where he also earned a PhD in musicology. After a year at the University of London, where he studied musical analysis at King’s College and electronic music at Goldsmiths’ College, Siddons spent two years in Japan as a research scholar at Tokyo University of Arts, participating in the Ethnomusicology Seminar of Fumio Koizumi. Siddons has also studied theology and liturgy at the Duke University Divinity School. In addition to books and articles on contemporary music and music in Japan, Siddons was written compositions in many genres. Recordings of his piano performances are available at online streaming services. His website is www.JamesSiddons.com His performing rights organization is ASCAP.