Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1371932 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. Classical,Contemporary,Ragtime,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #956123. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1371932).

Piano Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1276116 By Michael Swedberg. By Johann Pachelbel. Arranged by Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Classical,New Age,Pop. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #867876. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1276116). One of the earliest CDs I bought was a CBS Great Performances disc entitled “Pachelbel’s Canon: Baroque Favorites.� I can recall listening to it over and over. Among my favorites were Handel’s “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba,� Mouret’s “Rondeau,� Albinoni’s “Adagio for Strings and Organ in G minor (which I later discovered was actually written by Remo Giazotto in 1958), and, of course, Pachelbel’s Canon in D.The Canon has been a source of musical inspiration to a great number of artists over the years including Maroon 5’s “Memories� in 2019 and George Winston’s “Variations on the Kanon by Johann Pachelebel� from his 1982 album December.My arrangement is a series of variations starting with a simple statement of the chord progression and gradually making use of the themes as the piece progresses. In this respect, it is more of a chaconne than a true canon. (A chaconne being a type of musical composition which uses a repeated short harmonic progression as a vehicle for variations and melodic invention). It eventually works its way to a section of forte chords based on the rhythm of the second theme before gradually returning to a simpler use of the chords and bass line from the opening.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1378678 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #963340. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1378678).

Guitar,Piano,Vocal,Voice - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1373238 By Michael Swedberg. By Johann Sebastian Bach. Arranged by Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Baroque,Classical,New Age. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #957583. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1373238). This has long been one of my favorite pieces by J.S. Bach, so it came as no great surprise that I would come up with my own arrangement of the work. There is an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility (and a hint of melancholy) to the original movement from his Orchestral Suite No. 3 which explains its popularity over the years. It has become more well-known in August Wilhelmj's arrangement as the Air on the G String, but in writing my own version I went back to the score and to the original key of D major.

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1125814 By Michael Swedberg. By Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn. Arranged by Terrence Niska. Christmas,Contemporary,Holiday. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #726554. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1125814). Once again the influence of George Winston and Mannheim Steamroller can be heard as this prelude begins with a burst of joy and energy that does not subside, but only grows with each verse. The changing meters make this piece a challenge to play and requires a strong technique to handle some of the scale passages. This arrangement is a far cry from the original music of Mendelssohn, but the lyrics inspired me to create something full of vibrancy and passion to match the glorious news that the angels came to deliver! The first verse establishes the 5/4 meter heard throughout the prelude and is filled with the pealing of church bells in the right hand as they send forth the melody in octaves! Meanwhile, the left hand continues the broken chord pattern established in the opening. In the next verse, the left hand is now rising and falling, while the right is still playing the melody in octaves. Only now it is filling the spaces with eighth notes to match the left hand…essentially combining the two hands of the previous verse. For the final verse, the left hand takes on the orchestral role of brass and percussion with thunderous chords punctuating the rhythm of the melody in the right hand. There are moments of fireworks as the hands break free of the 5/4 meter for some wonderful, albeit brief, scales which increase the growing excitement. The piece concludes with a return of the rhythmic material from the opening as the hands work their way down the piano in arpeggiated fashion only to race back up the keyboard for a final flourish before a resounding Amen: Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Glory to the new-born King!

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1378686 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #963347. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1378686).

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1048636 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #653045. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1048636). There is a playful, whimsical quality to this prelude. The music goes back and forth between phrases which have a more floating quality and those that create a feeling of sudden shifts in direction, much like the dragonflies of the title. As the piece draws to a close, the sun slowly falls below the horizon and the dragonflies take shelter for the night...awaiting another day.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1077068 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #681210. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1077068). We begin this stroll through the forest with our hearts filled with joy and delight, enjoying the rustling of the leaves and the sunlight-dappled earth beneath our feet. There is a shift in mood as the trees become thicker and the light from above is diminished lending a more disquieting feel to the surroundings. It is not dangerous, nor evil, like the woods of some fabled land with witches and goblins, but there is a sense of unease rising within us. Our pace quickens with the beating of our hearts, but the path is clearly marked and we continue on to eventually find our way back to the sunlit world where birds can once again be heard and our momentary concerns are forgotten. We are at peace.

Piano Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.950935 By Michael Swedberg. By Lelia N. Morris. Arranged by Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Contemporary,Sacred. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #6615429. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.950935). I don’t recall when I first heard this hymn, but it has long been one of my favorites. One of my most powerful memories is singing it graveside when my Uncle John passed away from cancer at a fairly young age. My brother, Kurt, his wife, Lorie, and I sang an arrangement I had written for the service. It came as no surprise to me that it was one of the first hymns that I chose to arrange for piano solo. The melody moves from a fairly straightforward statement in the left hand for the first verse to the right hand in the second verse where it is adorned by a swirling pattern of sixteenth notes. The melody returns to the left hand for the last verse where it takes on a slightly different feel before the prelude returns to the opening material to finish with the same serenity with which it began.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1414518 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #996293. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1414518).

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1077072 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #681214. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1077072). The sun is setting and the swallows are enjoying one last dance before retiring for the evening. They take to the skies and wheel about with effortless grace and an intricacy of movement that would make the most professional dancers blush with envy. It would seem that they have rehearsed for uncounted hours as they swoop and glide about on an invisible dance floor. One moment rising to great heights, the next plummeting toward the earth, all the while maintaining a strict sense of control that does not lack for beauty. Slowly they begin to depart the stage, one by one, until they have all returned to their nests for the night. The sun sets and the curtain falls.

By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Lee Niska. 20th Century, Classical, Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #643490. Published by Niska Music Publishing

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1073972 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #678238. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1073972). Fire is one of nature’s deadliest forces: a simple spark can ignite a blaze that devours everything in its path with an all-consuming hunger. In this scene, the blaze has passed and we are witness to the devastation left behind. There is a powerful sense of loss in the music as the melody rises and falls amidst the rich chords of harmony…the distant memory of what was once a vibrant wood teeming with with life. Now all that is left is ash and smoldering ember. As the piece comes to a close, one can hear the mournful cry of a bird in the right hand as the smoke rises from the barren landscape.

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1125770 By Michael Swedberg. By Traditional French Carol. Arranged by Terrence Niska. Christmas,Contemporary,Holiday. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #726510. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1125770). This song has a long history with me. I first wrote a five-part vocal to be sung by the group Five By Design (of which I was a member) back in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Unfortunately, it never found its way in to our repertoire. It sat on my computer for quite a few years before I revised it to be sung as a trio with my brother, Kurt, and his wife, Lorie. I had written a vocal arrangement of the carol for us to sing at some Christmas concerts and a few years later, when putting this album together, I returned to the first chart and adapted it for piano solo. The meter of the song moves back and forth between 3/4 and 2/4 and conveys the joy and hopefulness of the opening lyrics: “He is born, the Divine Child, Play the oboe, resound the bagpipes. He is born, the Divine Child, Let us all sing of his arrival.� It is this combination of instruments that I tried to emulate in the introduction, with the bagpipes in the left hand and the oboes in the right. When the tune proper begins, there is a definite rhythmic vitality that is maintained throughout the prelude as it celebrates the long-awaited birth of Jesus as foretold by the prophets over 4,000 years ago. From start to finish, the influence of both George Winston and Mannheim Steamroller can be heard in the music.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1376865 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #961431. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1376865).