Composers and Authors

Grades Intermediate (5th) to Advanced (Dip.)

15 piano works by Wirripang-published, Australian Women Composers 2020.  

Again, especially written and selected for this volume as edited by Katie Zhukov and it includes a CD of each work recorded by Katie Zhukov.  

This third volume of new piano repertoire by Australian women composers is a companion to the Australian Women Composers’ Piano Anthology (2015)  and Volume II (2017) published earlier by Wirripang.

Commissioning new work from established and emerging composers provides an opportunity for women’s voices to be heard in the Australian classical music arena that tends to be dominated by live and recorded performances of music by male composers. Introducing new generations of piano students to music by women composers helps drive the grassroots campaign for gender equality in Australian classical music.
The pieces vary in style from Romantic to contemporary, neo-classical, and jazz-influenced idioms.
Each work is accompanied by the composer’s biography, composer comments and pedagogical advice. The grading will assist teachers is choosing repertoire of appropriate difficulty for study and as extra lists for examinations.

Sheet music samples and links to the complete works on YouTube

Australian Women Composers' Piano Anthology - sheet music

• Augmented Reality – Jane Hammond (Grade 5) c.1:13
       https://youtu.be/mNUyMkZyT_w
  
• When I Think of Bach – Tania Owens (Grade 5) c.2:05
       https://youtu.be/Anc94fjEKek
  
• Red Sky at Night – Joanne Burrows (Grade 6) c.1:49
       https://youtu.be/meuMxCVu2tQ
  
• A Conversation – Betty Beath (Grade 6) c.2:22
       https://youtu.be/C4E7yjq4mog
  
• Quiet Music I & II – Diana Blom (Grade 6) c.4:17
       https://youtu.be/4s_Py5j4HcI
  
• Violet is a State of Mind – Louise Denson (Grade 7) c.2:10
       https://youtu.be/gxfOP4I9Urs
  
• The Loping Grimmolow – Gina Ismene Chitty (Grade 7) c.3:38
       https://youtu.be/xNEW_S3iYK0
  
• River Red Gum – Ann Carr-Boyd  (Grade 7) c.4:15
       https://youtu.be/HtiXsnj_XkA
  
• Wildfire – Jocelyn E Kotchie (Grade 8) c.3:50
       https://youtu.be/94M7xxJiL60
  
• La Via della Vita – Sonia Sozio (Grade 8) c.2:49
       https://youtu.be/43vBCccYPlk
  
• Io Spinning – Annie Burbank (Grade 8) c.4:11
       https://youtu.be/Nb4rOaHmAiE
  
• In a Rusted Mirror – Amanda Handel (Certificate) c.4:42
       https://youtu.be/e4jNKvSHagg
  
• Siesta – May Howlett (Certificate) c.5:23
       https://youtu.be/DX_8KbMnPPQ
  
• Blue Ocean – Carolyn Morris (Diploma) c.5:08.  Certificate of Performance, Level 2, AMEB Piano for Leisure Syllabus
       https://youtu.be/mxsIjRctHa0
  
• Rhapsodic Episodes – Learne Faint (Diploma) c.5:30. Certificate of Performance, Level 2, AMEB Piano for Leisure Syllabus
        https://youtu.be/J_oX0O2n5so
  

ISMN 9790720231624

$40.00 for instant PDF download 

For two marimbas and classical guitar, c.3'20

The Baroque Bear is a character from the Grunewald forest in Berlin of the early 1700s. On his morning walk, he encounters an exotic Middle Eastern princess who has time-travelled all the way down from the twenty first century to the early 1700s.

He is gruffly captivated by her initial assertions, her smoothly undulating movements, her gestures, her regal bearing. The two strains of music merge, the Middle Eastern and the Baroque, and the original differing strains suddenly become somewhat indistinguishable from each other.

Composed 2019

Download samples

• The BaroQ Bear and the Middle Eastern Princess- sheet music
• audio

ISMN 9790720227832
$40.00 for instant PDF download score and parts 

For marimba, classical guitar, sleigh bells and cow bells, c.7'00

The Baroque Bear is a character from the Grunewald forest in Berlin of the early 1700s. He time travels to be a guest at a twenty first century Arabian wedding party.

The Classical guitar, representative of the Baroque Bear, reflects on his musings and gradual  acceptance of the florid Arabian traditions, similar and yet dissimilar to his own musical and Bärenfamilie traditions.

 At the onset he is confused by the rich and diverse Arabian music and culture, the dance rhythms, the wild abandon and the prevailing joie de vivre that seems a little removed from his own culture and music.  But he quickly strikes a rapport with the beautiful bride and the groom, plodding on and cheerfully asserting his own ornamentation of decorative flourishes, trills and little arpeggiated riffs, to match the exotic dance melodies and rhythms of the lovely couple.

Composed 2020.  

Download samples

• The Baroque Bear at the Arabian Wedding Party- sheet music
• audio

ISMN 9790720227801
$40.00 for instant PDF download score and parts 

For marimba, drum set and piano, c.2'00

This piece captures the easy and relaxed mindset of a young adolescent who is happy to experience the unexpected bonus of a longer school holiday during the Covid lockdown.

The spaces within the harmonies of the marimba and piano, and the higher sonorities reflect a ‘lightness of being’, the lightness of being released from the bondage of assignments, assessments and other school tasks.

 A heady feeling, to be young, unencumbered, and thrust into vacation from the rigidities of school examinations.

Download samples

• Chillin' in Lockdown - sheet music
• audio

ISMN 9790720227825
$10.00 for instant PDF download score and parts 

For piano,  c.2'30.  Advanced level of difficulty

This piece is a celebration of the Christmas Elves’ joyous encounter with the first snowfall of the season. At the onset, a fairly advanced technical skill is required to maintain the momentum of the light, fleet and nimbly repetitive notes that reflect the movement and rhythm of the fall of snowflakes. But, as the piece progresses there is plenty of opportunity for an interpretive rubato.

Composed 2020

Download samples

• The Christmas Elves Dance with the First Snowflakes - sheet music
  
• audio

ISMN 97907202494407
$10.00 for instant PDF download score

For piano,  c3'00.  Intermediate level, grade 5

This young Grimmolow is very playful!  The deeper sounds are represented by shorter higher pitched motives as befitting the temperament of a very young bouncy and cheerful fellow.

Composed 2024

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•  Cool Struttin' Baby Grimmolow - sheet music
  

ISMN 9790673145146
$10.00 for instant digital download 

For piano,  c4'10.  Advanced level of difficulty, Grade 8+

This piece has a reflective improvisatory feel and can be described as a ‘salon style’ synthesis of a classical and jazz style. Lyrically expressive, it taps into a somewhat romantic and not overly exuberant style, with a focus on an emotional expressionism of a gentle, reflective and tranquil character.
Composed 2023

Download samples

• The Cruising Drone - sheet music
  

ISMN 9790673143623
$10.00 for instant digital download 

For piano,  c7'05.  Advanced level of difficulty

The Dance of the Ecstatic MetalBorg is a slightly edgy blend of contemporary and traditional jazz music which fluctuates and switches abruptly from a driving relentless and hard-hitting attack of metallic rock music to a gentler form of traditional and almost meditative jazz music. The more typical jazz harmonies and well-worn blues runs are replaced by a sparkling riffage of cascading and extended solo runs in the upper register.  The mood, which switches abruptly from the aggressive thumping in the lower register to the glitter of the virtuosic passages in the upper register, moves onwards to a genial, reflective and American jazz style which, in turn, suddenly moves into a quick Brazilian rhythm of rapid sixteenth notes.

Meshed in between these transformative passages of the hard hitting rock and Brazilian dance rhythms, are the lighter, shorter and more reflective flourishes of the older and traditional jazz music.
Composed 2023

Download samples

• The Dance of the Ecstatic MetalBorg - sheet music
  
• audio

ISMN 9790673144811
$20.00 for instant digital download 

For solo piano,  c.7'05.  Advanced level of difficulty. Composed 2021

Chosen for the Preliminary Round Recital in the International Piano Competition 2023 as a new Australian work.

The Dance of the Robotic Cyborg conjures the characterisation of a futuristic creature that is a combination of a living organism and machine.

This is a constantly evolving energetic piece that draws on the rhythmic and structural inflections of jazz as well as elements of a baroque contrapuntal style. A short and recurring musical motif which winds around pianistically theatrical and improvisational embellishments holds this piece together.

The piece is technically demanding that commands a sturdy contrapuntal technique, as well  an ability to break into contemporary dance music rhythms of varying intensities.

Download sample sheet music and listen to YouTube recordings

• The Dance of the Robotic Cyborg - sheet music
  
• audio (7'05")
• https://junhoyeo.de/

The following YouTube recordings are the shorter and modified version of this piece.

• https://youtu.be/n0Fqi9TlE1A
• https://youtu.be/RiHbj5BiBTI 

ISMN 9790673141186

$15.00 for instant digital download  

For piano,  c4'32.  Advanced level of difficulty, Grade 8+

This piece for solo piano contains unrelentingly driving percussive rhythms, which only break briefly to accommodate two contrasting interludes.

Composed 2023

Download samples

• The Furious Toccata - sheet music
  

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgudjLVRZt4

Performed by Usman Anees 

ISMN 9790673143630
$10.00 for instant digital download 

For piano, harpsichord, drums and cymbals, c.4'00

The BaroQ Bear is a character from the Grunewald (Green Forest) in Berlin of the the early 1700s. He habitually composes preludes, fugues and toccatas in abundance, conjecturing what he perceives as logical, balanced tonal relationships and brilliantly opposing thematic arguments. He time-travels to the twenty-first century and has an encounter with a long-haired young man carrying an electric guitar. He is astounded by the young man’s nonchalant demeanor.

As the young man begins to play rock music on his guitar, the Bear becomes increasingly perturbed by the illogical harmonic nuances in his musical output.
  He seemed to be hammering out the same few notes and making a metallic noise which the BaroQ bear perceived as irritating and tediously wearisome. He speaks to the young man slowly and explains the logic of counterpoint, and a better way to create good music. The two of them play together, each in his own way, and finally, after a lengthy narration from the BaroQ bear, they merge and settle the score in an amicable manner.

Composed 2020

Download samples

• The Heavy Rock Metal Dancer meet the BaroQ Bear - sheet music
• audio

ISMN 9790720249445
$30.00 for instant PDF download score and parts  

For solo piano,  c.8'30  Advanced level of difficulty. Composed 2021

Chosen for the Preliminary Round Recital in the International Piano Competition 2023 as a new Australian work.

Hexagonal Etude Augmentations opens with octaves and unfolds as approximately eight and a half minutes of unbroken music. There are many motivic ideas, the first, a jagged sparse and forceful opening theme in octaves which is followed by virtuosic passages built upon figural, motivic, rhythmic and technical flourishes that typically existed in nineteenth century etudes. Only fleetingly though, as passages that play on augmented intervals and octaves appear again and again, interspersed with technical innovations of a more contemporary style. The octaves and intervals sometimes dwell around hexagonal note formations, while the climactic cascading semiquavers interspersed with the augmented intervals transform into expressive cluster chords and complex rhythmic structures.

This is a technically demanding and virtuosic piece that requires precision of touch, a driving energy and vibrance.

Download

• Hexagonal Etude Augmentations- sheet music
  
• audio

ISMN 9790673141193

$15.00 for instant digital download