Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1077067 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #681209. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1077067). A sense of foreboding fills the air as this piece begins. There is a darkness on the horizon and it can mean only one thing: the storm approaches. The simple chords of the intro present a feeling of calm that belies the impending torrent. The music takes a deep breath and then…it begins. In the left hand, a figure reminiscent of Chopin’s “Revolutionary� Etude begins (though not nearly as quick). The rains start to fall and the winds begin to blow as the storm builds in intensity. Measure by measure the music grows in strength until the climax is reached and the gales begin to subside with the last crashes of thunder. For all its fury, the storm is over. The clouds begin to recede across the horizon and in the end, a single ray of sunlight breaks through the gloom.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1357021 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #941648. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1357021).

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 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1048641 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #653050. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1048641). A darkness creeps through the forest that is broken only by momentary glimpses of an ethereal light from above. There is something almost sinister to this music, yet also deeply emotional…expressing a sense of overwhelming loss. From a technique standpoint, there are very thick chords that must be balanced correctly so as to hear the melody at all times. It is one of the more Impressionistic-feeling preludes in this collection.

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.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1414517 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 19th Century,21st Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #996292. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1414517).

By Michael Swedberg. By John Francis Wade. Arranged by Terrence Niska. Christmas,Contemporary,Holiday . Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #726517. Published by Niska Music Publishing

By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Lee Niska. 20th Century, Classical, Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #643512. Published by Niska Music Publishing

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: A0.1125799 By Michael Swedberg. By Jean Baptiste Calkin. Arranged by Terrence Niska. Christmas,Contemporary,Holiday. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #726539. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1125799). I must admit that I was far more familiar with the 1956 setting of this poem as sung by Bing Crosby to music by Johnny Marks than I was to the one found in many hymnals. It was on several of the Christmas albums that would be played on the phonograph in our house during the holiday season. However, I chose to arrange the carol setting for this collection as it resonated more deeply with me and seemed to better capture the essence of the poem by Longfellow. He wrote it during the Civil War, on Christmas Day of 1863, and several of the verses make reference to the war. While I did not set any of the Civil War verses, there is an almost martial quality to the opening music and one can almost hear the brass choir ringing out in the first verse. With each subsequent verse, the rhythm of the right hand becomes quicker, moving from half notes to quarter note triplets to eighth notes and finally to eighth note triplets in the final verse. For the most part, the left hand maintains the steady beat of quarter notes, with the exception of the final verse where it begins to move in eighth notes setting up a two-against-three pattern between the hands. It is the most jubilant of the verses and feels like an explosion of sound as the bells ring out across all the land proclaiming God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men..

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1073971 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 20th Century,Classical,Contemporary. Score. 4 pages. Niska Music Publishing #678237. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1073971). The influence of Erik Satie can be heard in this prelude as it brings to mind his famous “Gymnopedie.� The unusual meter of 7/8 gives the music a feeling of the vastness of time and space as it almost never seems to end, but continuously spins out from measure to measure. Judicious use of the pedal is necessary to maintain the crystal clarity of the music while still allowing the harmonies to transport the listener to a realm of unending serenity and calm.

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1414486 By Michael Swedberg. By Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #996260. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1414486).

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1125783 By Michael Swedberg. By Traditional French Melody. Arranged by Terrence Niska. Christmas,Contemporary,Holiday. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #726523. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1125783). As much as “O Come All Ye Faithful� is a lullaby, this arrangement is brimming with a sense of hushed excitement right from the opening measures as the two young girls from the title race to tell the town of the glorious events taking place. The first statement of the melody enters in the right hand with rather simple harmony, but the left hand keeps the excitement alive via a flowing stream of sixteenth notes. There is an abbreviated return of the opening material which leads to the second verse, but this time the left hand rises up to ring out with a bell-like tolling to awaken the townspeople. Meanwhile the right hand plays the melody in octaves, ringing out above to announce the news to one and all. By the third verse, the left hand is playing chords like a brass choir underpinning the melody, which now finds itself amid a flurry of triplets as the joyous tidings news spread far and wide. There is a return to the opening section, concluding with a final cascade from the top of the keyboard to the bottom and ending with a final “Amen!�.

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1125807 By Michael Swedberg. By John Henry Hopkins Jr. Arranged by Terrence Niska. Christmas,Contemporary,Holiday. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #726547. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1125807). The travels of the three wise men as they followed a star to see the newborn King was the inspiration for this arrangement. It starts with the right hand representing the twinkling of the stars in the vastness of the heavens, while the left hand provides the feeling of winds blowing across the desert sands as the magi set out on their journey. Soon the melody is heard in the right hand, though in a more stately rhythm than the traditional, more pastoral original. The left hand continues its sweeping motion unabated and drives the piece ever onward as the wise men draw ever nearer to their destination. The minor mood of the song is replaced in the chorus as the star of wonder shines down upon them, filling their souls with hope. Eventually they arrive at the stable and offer their gifts to the babe lying in a manger: gold, frankincense and myrrh. It is the last of these gifts which foreshadow the death of Christ and his burial in the stone-cold tomb. After they have spent some time praising their new-found king, the three wise men return to their homeland as the music follows them back across the desert sands to their homes in the East.

Piano Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1278318 By Michael Swedberg. By Johann Sebastian Bach. Arranged by Terrence Niska. 21st Century,Baroque,Contemporary,New Age. Score. 8 pages. Niska Music Publishing #870024. Published by Niska Music Publishing (A0.1278318). My first encounter with this beautiful work by Bach was when I performed it as a piano/organ duet at the baccalaureate service prior to my high school graduation. The piece begins with bells in the distance answered by the shepherd on his flute. There is a decidedly peaceful feel to the music when the melody begins, but it is not the pastoral feel of the original, but rather a pop-inspired treatment with more syncopation in the melody. The second theme is more straight-forward in the right hand with a flowing eighth-note figure in the left hand. Following a brief interlude the melody moves to the left hand while the right plays a figure which brings to mind the tolling of a single bell. The piece closes with the return of the opening duet between the bells and the shepherd on his flute as the sun sets and the flock rests for the night.