This week marks the publication of two new books in my series for piano ensembles, or two and three pianists playing together. Snapchats Duets & Trios is published by 80 Days Publishing, a relatively new publishing house owned and founded by composer Christopher Norton and Andrew Jones. Snapchats Book 1 was originally a small collection…
Tag: Christopher Norton
Chord Playing and Improvising: Christopher Norton
Today’s post continues renowned composer Christopher Norton’s series here on my blog. Christopher suggests helpful practice tips and advice for one of his pieces, which can be downloaded for free; In The Spirit comes from the highly successful series, Connections For Piano. You can read more articles in this series, here. Connections for Piano has…
Lucky Charms For Piano and Harp
Lucky Charms is a collection of 21 elementary piano pieces. Published just last week by 80 Days Publishing, the collection consists of works from preparatory (or pre-Grade 1) to approximately Grade 2 standard of the British exam board syllabus levels. Many of the pieces were previously written for Pianist Magazine, for whom I write an…
Chord Playing and Improvising: Christopher Norton
Christopher Norton’s Connections for Piano has been very popular since its launch in 2007. It is a major part of the new Royal Conservatory syllabus in Canada, as well as being a feature of many other syllabuses, festival programmes and competitions around the world. Here’s a recent quote from a teacher: Connections: this series is…
Chord Playing and Improvising: Christopher Norton
This is the fourth article in renowned composer Christopher Norton’s series for my blog. In this post, he offers tips and suggestions for practising chords and improvisation, and the article includes a free download of Positively Swinging, a piece which hails from the fourth volume of Chris’ ever-popular piano series, Connections. You can read more…
Chord Playing and Improvising 3: Christopher Norton
Today I welcome back world-renowned composer Christopher Norton to my blog. Chris is contributing a series of guest articles, each one offering a free download of one of his piano pieces, as well as plenty of practice tips, suggestions and advice. A Gentle Touch, an early intermediate level piece, is number three in the series…
Chord Playing and Improvising 2: Christopher Norton
Today’s post is the second in a series of five by renowned composer Christopher Norton. In each post, he is offering a free copy of one of his piano pieces, each one hailing from his popular series, Connections. Open Window can be found in Book 4 of Connections, and, in this article, Chris imparts a…
Chord Playing and Improvising: Christopher Norton
This is the first of five articles written especially for this blog by renowned composer and educator Christopher Norton. These posts are intended to encourage classical players (and teachers) to explore jazz and pop styles. Deep in Thought is the first featured piece, and you can download it here for free. Chris also offers some…
Snapchats Duets & Trios: New recordings by Christopher Norton
Snapchats was originally a collection of short piano duets which was published a few years ago. The volume was republished and updated in 2019, with the inclusion of extra duets and piano trios. This new version has proved popular with both children and adult students, and I always enjoy using them in my own sight-reading…
MicroJazz Refreshed: the winners
Many thanks to all those who took part in my weekend competition. The prize is one of two books from composer Christopher Norton’s newly reissued MicroJazz series. The two winners are: Sinden Collier and Martin Bakaert Congratulations! Please send your address via the contact page on this blog, and your books will be on their…
Melanie Spanswick 