This week marks the publication of my third Schott Student Edition volume. Written and compiled with instrumental tuition in mind, each book in this series is edited in collaboration with experienced instrumental teachers, providing information about the selected composers and works as well as useful teaching or practice notes with plenty of practice ideas and interpretation suggestions.

These publications aim to offer motivating teaching literature; from early elementary pieces through to demanding repertoire for more advanced students. Featuring music for all instruments, they contain original works as well as arrangements of favourite tunes. Apart from standard repertoire, also included is lesser-known music which is where my work fits the bill: I’m working towards completing a whole collection of these study aids for Schott, all of which focus on highlighting the work of female composers.

We have already published two volumes: Children’s Album and Children’s Carnival by American composer Amy Beach and Elementary Piano Pieces by the Spanish composer Narcisa Freixas. These books have proved popular and earlier in the year were shortlisted for the ‘Best Classical Piano Repertoire Series’ award at The Art of Piano Education Awards 2024. Find out more about them here.

Volume three also spotlights the work of the Spanish composer Narcisa Freixas; this collection of dances and character pieces are approximately Grade 3 – Grade 7 of the ABRSM piano exam standard, or late elementary to early intermediate level. The first book of Freixas’ works feature simple, early elementary melodies suitable for younger players. Dances and Character Pieces are more advanced. The dances, of which there are eight, are suitable for late elementary to early intermediate level, and the four character pieces would be considered intermediate to early advanced level. They are all imbued with charming melodies, a fresh harmonic language, and typically Spanish nuances and inflections.

Books in this series contain a fairly detailed composer biography as well as practice notes for every piece of between 300-400 words, encouraging a well-rounded, organic approach to music study and the scores have also been carefully annotated with suggested metronome markings, fingerings, and pedalling. Teaching/practice notes are printed in English and German.

You can buy the score from all good online shops and websites including musicroom.com, prestomusic.com, and Amazon. Alternatively, purchase the score from Schott Music’s website via the link below:

Reviews

‘Attractively presented, let’s hope for plenty more publications in this series’

Pianist Magazine

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‘Melanie Spanswick provides in-depth biographical information about Freixas as well as insightful teaching notes for each piece, both of which are written in English and German. These thoroughly written additions to the collection not only provide historical context but also inform the teacher of technical difficulties and numerous strategies to create an effective, successful performance.’

American Music Teacher Magazine

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‘Special kudos must go to Melanie Spanswick for her notable and continuing contribution to the rediscovery of forgotten music by women composers, along with gratitude to Schott Music for supporting this worthwhile venture.’

PianoDao

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Hear three of the selected pieces by clicking on the links below:

Watch out for further books in this series which will be published soon.

Schott Music