PerformanceDecember 2011
‘en garde!‘ for Toy Pianos, music box, acoustic table and cymbal monkey is going to be performed on Dec 11th at the Hart House Sunday Concerts at the University of Toronto. A program entitled ‘Bach to Glasses’ is presented and performed by the junctQin keyboard collective.
News!November 2011
“Antique Lace” has been chosen as required repertoire for the Halifax Kiwanis Festival. You can hear an excerpt and see the score of Antique Lace on the Compositions Piano Solo page or as part of the Piano Poems Collection on the Compositions Piano Collections page.
ReviewNovember 2011
The NBRMTA Quarter Note publication recently reviewed the Piano Poems collection.
“Susan has given us a fine product in Piano Poems which teaches challenging musical concepts with an established artistic flair. The pieces are delicate, thoughtful works for the romantic in us all! These intermediate level pieces are excellent for teens/adults for Canadian Music Week recitals, quick study or Canadian own choice selections in music festivals. They are beautifully written at level 5 – 7 with dreamy titles some of wich include: “Lavender Dreams“, which is a study in even flowing continuous phrasing from LH to RH; “Dreamcatcher” has a calm, even, meandering melody; “Walk with Me“, a gently rocking song which explores much freedom and use of rubato throughout; “Remembering You” is charming though has a repetitive open fifth idiom; there is much opportunity for improvisation with “After the Rain” and “Antique Lace” is a great challenge with its sometimes tricky treatment of ledger lines; “Soliloquy” gives an interesting development of the simple opening theme when it returns; my favourite is “Sail Away“, for this soft easy melody at an andante tempo has a very calming effect. For me, it reaches to the heart!”. Review by Catherine Fitch Bartlett
World Premier Performance!Sept 2011
en garde!
en garde! is written for two toy pianos, music box, table top drum, cymbal monkey, wooden mallet and acoustic grand piano. It will have it’s World Premier on Monday September 26th at the Colors of Music Festival in Barrie Ontario. The performance is at noon at Central United Church, 54 Ross St, Barrie Ontario.
A second performance will take place in Toronto at 7:00 PM on Friday September 30th at the North York Public Library’s Sounds of Adventure program as part of Culture Days, Canada.
The amazing junctQin keyboard collective will be performing. Not to be missed!
ReviewSept 2011
ORMTA Notes publication ran a review of Voices from the Earth for solo flute.
excerpt from the review….”Voices from the Earth is a collection of seven unaccompanied studies for flute. The collection ranges between intermediate and advanced flute playing levels and all are new, fresh, somewhat atonal and interesting. All of these studies are voices that create definite moods and pictures. This collection is a good addition to Canadian flute music, although intended to be used as studies, each piece could be used as a recital solo. Enjoy!”
New Book Release!July 2011
‘Piano Poems‘– a collection of dreamy, heartfelt piano pieces, all with beautiful melodies, designed to fall easily into the hands. Perfect for teens and adults, in the Romantic style. For Intermediate level. See sample scores and listen to sound samples on the Compositions Collections page.
Syllabi and PublishingJuly 2011
The piano solo ‘Toques and Parkas’ has been published in the CNCM Northern Lights Collection, Level 7B. A performance was given at the New Canadian Music Gala Evening Concert at Summer Sizzle in Mount Forest.
On the RoadJuly 2011
A busy summer of conventions, with CFMTA in Regina and the Summer Sizzle CNCM in Mount Forest Ontario. Here is a picture of us at our booth at the trade show. Six of the Red Leaf Composers were in attendance – Teresa Richert, Martha Hill Duncan, Janet Gieck, myself, Beverly Porter, and Joanne Bender and we presented a session on ‘Turning over a New Leaf’ – a presentation on our new Red Leaf Pianoworks venture.
News!June 2011
CFMTA CALL FOR COMPOSITIONS WINNER!
‘Arctic Voices’ has won the CFMTA 2011 Call for Compositions in the Grade 3/4 category! The music will be made available up until Canada Music Week in November to all teachers across Canada from the CFMTA website at http://www.cfmta.org/student_competitions/CallforCompositionsWinners2011.php. You can download the file here and listen to the sound sample. This piece is part of a Collection called ‘Little Arctic Suite’ that has not been published as yet.
ReviewMay 2011
‘Soundplay‘ was reviewed by ORMTA Notes Magazine.
“Soundplay by Susan Griesdale, is a set of eight short, one page character pieces for solo violin. Each piece features a double stop from the unison to the octave and each is based on a different scale or mode – whole tone, chromatic, blues, octatonic, Dorian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Pentatonic. For easy reference, as set of scale samples is found at the back of the book.
The result is a charming collection of works for violin students in the RCM Grade 5 to 8 range, offering contemporary yet tonal compositions that convey many musical moods.
The pieces are very accessible, mostly in the 1st and 3rd positions, but including spots in the 2nd and 4th positions, and ‘Water Sprites’ reaches the 5th position. The pieces have bowing and fingering suggestions, but there is ample room for students and teachers to add their own choices. The ‘Highland Fanfare’ with its catchy Scottish flavor offers an unusual challenge using fifths: ‘Banter’ features a good workout in octaves, tempo changes and dialogue; ‘I Remember’ and ‘As I Wander’ are more contemplative in nature. ‘Will You?’ requires nimble fingers; ‘Stomp’ is energetic and colorful giving good practice switching between 5/8, 4/8 and 3/8 time signatures; the ‘Jolly Rondo’ with its spirited rhythm is especially suited to the violin and will quickly become a favorite!”
AdjudicatingApril 2011
I spent many hours reviewing and evaluating about 60 compositions from students of ORMTA teachers as I adjudicated the submissions for the Province. There was a wonderful variety of music, all of it well presented. It was very difficult to decide the winners! Congratulations to all the up-and-coming composers! It’s great to see our students are so engaged in such a rewarding activity.
AdjudicatingApril 2011
The first weekend in April was spent adjudicating for the Newmarket ORMTA Branch this year. A wonderful group of students and the standard was impressive!