— Transcript —

00:00
Year Reflection and Anticipation
According to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, a cadence is defined as a harmonic or melodic formula that occurs at the end of a phrase, conveying the impression of a momentary or a permanent conclusion.
As musicians, we spend a lot of time thinking about cadences, often subconsciously. Where they land, how they resolve, and what kind of emotional weight they carry. Some cadences feel final and decisive.
Others feel suspended or uncomfortably unfinished. As we move into the final weeks of the year, it’s hard not to notice these cadential feelings outside of music as well.
That sense of repose that comes with bringing a long year to a close, mixed with the quiet anticipation of whatever comes next. This will be the last regular episode of the Piano Pedagogy Playlist for 2025.
Next week, I have a small early Christmas gift planned for you all, and then I’ll take a short break between Christmas and New Year’s before we begin anew in 2026. So, today’s episode is shaped around that idea of the year’s cadence.
Reflecting, remembering, reminiscing, and finally, looking ahead. Musical and non-musical resolutions abound on this episode of the Piano Pedagogy Playlist. Greetings and welcome.
I hope your day is going well. My name is Luke Bartolomeo. I’m a pianist, a teacher, and a developer of music education apps, including Flashnote Derby.
Every Monday on the Piano Pedagogy Playlist, I play for you some of my current favorites from the contemporary repertoire of piano music written for students by living composers. I’m glad you’re here with me.
Today, I’ll be sharing four pieces by four different composers, all at the late elementary to early intermediate end of the spectrum. Our first three pieces all start with the letter R, Reflections, Remembrance, and Reminiscence.
Before we turn our gaze toward the future in the fourth selection, A New Beginning. Our journey begins with a piece called Reflections by Dennis Alexander.
2:36
Reflections: Dennis Alexander
Originally published in a collection titled Especially for Adults. Now, there may be an added layer of depth that adults are able to draw out of this piece, but all ages will enjoy the lovely melody and thoughtful chord progressions.
And speaking of chord progressions, we’ve got cadences to talk about. Right away in the first phrase, we have a minor plagal cadence. That’s the subdominant resolving to the tonic.
But it’s a minor subdominant, a minor IV chord, and that doesn’t normally occur in a major key like we have here. That unexpected color intensifies the sense of wistfulness and longing.
It’s a harmonic device that composers have been employing since the Romantic era.
Later, at the end of the middle section, we get a gentle half cadence, landing squarely on a fermata over a dominant seventh, with no resolution, at least not immediately, before we return to the opening material.
It’s a moment of suspension that invites us to take one last look back before pushing on. Here’s Reflections by Dennis Alexander.
5:34
Remembrance: Maria Mifsud
We continue on this journey of Reflection with a piece called Remembrance by Maria Mifsud. Ms.
Mifsud is a composer from Malta who began her piano studies at a very young age and earned her associate degree from Trinity College London by the age of 18.
That same institution went on to include this piece, written by her, in their 2021 piano syllabus for students at the grade 4 level. It’s a brief one-page piece that carries a nostalgic mood, but with a sentimentality that shouldn’t be exaggerated.
There’s dignified restraint in the writing here that expresses a respect for all of the people and events that have been part of our lives for the past 12 months.
And let’s not forget that even our young students possess meaningful memories and are capable of feelings of nostalgia.
It always brings a smile to my face when I hear a child that’s, I don’t know, all of nine or ten years old, tell me a story that starts out, now this one time back when I was a little kid.
At a young age, children have already begun to appreciate the passage of time. All that it gives us and what it takes away. Remembrance by Maria Mifsud.
Notice anything about the ending there? This time, our piece actually ends with a half cadence, or at least something that very much functions like a half cadence.
We have a very strong sense of what is coming for the final harmony, and then it just doesn’t. There’s no sense of tension or urgency, just the feeling that something meaningful has been acknowledged, even if it hasn’t been fully resolved.
8:45
Reminiscence: Edwin McLean
So we began today with Reflections, then came Remembrance. Our third piece is Reminiscence by Edwin McLean from his collection Vignettes Book 1. Like the first piece I played today, Reflections, this work uses the minor plagal cadence.
Again, that’s the minor subdominant or the minor IV chord resolving to the tonic. But McLean goes a step further by alternating between both the major and minor forms of the subdominant chord.
The result, it’s a gentle wavering between optimism and doubt. That’s a piece that, depending on my state of mind when I’m playing it, that it could fill me with such tremendous warmth and reassurance or bring me to tears.
Reminiscence is currently in the level one syllabus of the Royal Conservatory Toronto. Level one, that’s not a difficult piece.
But you know, sometimes there’s such a push to get our students playing more and more technically advanced music as soon as possible. But their musical sensitivities and deep listening skills get left behind.
Frankly, I would much prefer to hear a student be able to play something like this and understand exactly how every note fits into every phrase. Of course, when I was 8 or 9, I just wanted to play loud and fast, so I don’t know.
Maybe I’m just maturing finally.
12:02
A New Beginning: Kevin Costley
And now we arrive at the end of the end. We’ve heard three pieces that look back to what’s been, and now we look forward to what is to come. A New Beginning by Kevin Costley brings us full circle.
Structurally, it shares some similarities with our opening piece, a traditional formal design with a middle section that moves to the relative minor, and we have another pronounced half cadence on a lingering dominant 7th chord before returning to
the opening material. But the ending tells a different story. Unlike the earlier pieces, there are no borrowed minor subdominants here to tug at our heartstrings.
It concludes with a simple yet confident authentic cadence, dominant to tonic, 5 to 1, resolute, grounded and forward-looking.
15:25
Year-End Farewell
That was A New Beginning by Kevin Costley. Today’s program has taken us on a journey, from reflection to remembrance to reminiscence, and finally to A New Beginning.
Together, these pieces mirror the way many of us experience the close of a year, taking stock of what’s past, holding on to what mattered, and opening ourselves to what lies ahead.
Reflections, Remembrance, and A New Beginning are all available as individual digital downloads.
Reminiscence can be found in the collection Vignettes Book 1, and you’ll find links to it all in the episode description or by visiting my website, pianopedagogyplaylist.com. And just like that, it’s about time to close the lid on 2025.
Thank you for spending part of this year with me here on the Piano Pedagogy Playlist. It truly means a lot to know that these episodes are finding their way into your busy schedules.
The work you do guiding, encouraging, showing up for young musicians, it matters more than you’re probably given credit for. Never forget how important and valuable the gift of good music is in today’s world. I wish you all the best in the new year.
I’d also like to say Chag Hanukkah Sameach to all those celebrating. And I’ll try to be back next Monday with just one small Christmas piece to share with you. And then we’ll catch up again in January.
Until then, keep nurturing the music and have a great rest of the year.