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Every piano teacher knows this student. They don’t want to play anything that sounds classical, but we want to give them something with more substance than just another thin pop song arrangement.
They want something that feels modern, and we still want it to be good music, something that teaches, something that actually fits the piano, music that has a little more to say.
This week’s episode features a composer who is one of a growing number of composers who fills this niche quite nicely. I’m talking about Angeline Bell, and today I’m playing six miniatures from her collection, My Quirky Notebook.
These are short, intermediate level pieces full of imagination, and you might even say some quirkiness.
If you’re looking for modern sounding pieces that have broad appeal and that you’ll enjoy teaching, you’ll find it coming up next on the Piano Pedagogy Playlist. Greetings and welcome. I hope your day’s going well.
My name is Luke Bartolomeo. I’m a pianist, a teacher, and also the developer of apps for music education, including Flash Note Derby.
Each Monday, we explore some of my current favorites from the contemporary repertoire of piano music written for students, all by living composers.
This week, I’m playing music by the Malaysian-born composer Angeline Bell from her collection, My Quirky Notebook. Ms.
Bell is now living in the UK, and I have to say the size and quality of her creative output is truly remarkable, especially considering she only began having her music published in 2022.
Like many of us, I suppose she had some time on her hands during the COVID lockdowns, and it looks like she really put that time to good use. In this short time, she has written a whole series of collections on this notebook theme.
We’ll listen to six short pieces today, and to get this musical journey started, we’re headed to the airport. Now under the best of circumstances, airports can be a bit of a stressful place.
And with things being the way they are right now here in the US, I hear that the airport is not somewhere you want to be unless absolutely necessary.
Airport Blues is our first piece today, and it captures that feeling of being stuck at the airport, waiting in line, waiting at the gate, waiting for the announcement that you’re not sure you really want to hear.
And speaking of announcement, listen closely at the very end of this piece. There’s a slow, four note arpeggio that I thought was just a jazzy ending, tacked on for effect.
But it’s actually meant to depict those chimes you hear right before an important announcement. It’s so clever, I think. Here’s Airport Blues.
I’m so grateful that in the fingerings given by the composer, we’re actually encouraged to use the left thumb to slide down from a black key to a white key.
Not something that classical technique would encourage, but it’s exactly what makes the most sense here.
Well, it looks like our flight eventually took off, and we’ve now landed in the southwest of England, and we’re headed to the fairy tale land of Tintagel.
Tintagel is a real place, it’s in Cornwall, and it’s traditionally attributed as being the birthplace of King Arthur. And if you’ve ever been there, you know it really does feel magical.
Dramatic cliffs, ruins, it feels like stepping into a storybook legend. The open fifths in this piece help to evoke medieval times, and the energy and rhythmic drive suggest some type of pageantry or tournament. This is Tintagel by Angeline Bell.
I’m going to group the next two pieces together as they both show one of the major strengths of this collection, in my opinion. And that’s the composer’s sense of humor and her understanding of how to get students to respond to a piece of music.
The first selection is called Toucan Tango. And yes, the title is a pun. Toucan Tango, as in to are able to tango.
But in this case, it’s Toucan Tango. Think the blue bird with the big nose who wants to sell you Froot Loops. But the title isn’t just a joke.
When children feel like they’re portraying something, even something as silly and yet sublime as this piece is, they’re much more likely to care about articulation and rhythm and character. They feel they have a duty to tell the story properly.
After Toucan Tango, I’ll launch right into another alliterative animal anthem, Squeezy the Squirrel.
Apparently, the composer has a hazelnut tree in her garden, and this piece is inspired by the resident squirrel that buries nuts in the most unexpected places. Have fun with two short selections, Toucan Tango and Squeezy the Squirrel.
There’s a video on YouTube of one of the composer’s adult piano students, in his 50s, I’d guess. In the background, he’s got a stack of amplifiers, a couple of electric guitars, and he is completely jamming out on Squeezy the Squirrel.
I absolutely love it. When I say these pieces have broad appeal, I’m not kidding. We’re down to our final two pieces, which I’ll also play in a group, as they demonstrate so much stylistic contrast.
First, we have Car Chase in LA. It’s built on the 12-bar blues, and it has this groove that feels authentically funky. Not piano teacher trying to sound funky funky, just funky.
You’ll hear one fast show-off lick in the piece that fits under the hand so nicely. You can tell it was written by someone who had students in mind.
And I’ll end with a gorgeous piece of music that, similar to Toucan Tango, takes a fanciful, silly title and combines it with music that actually makes it make sense. The composer says to imagine a sloth wearing a tutu and dancing very slowly.
That says it all. Here are Car Chase in LA followed by Sloth Ballet. That piece is so lovely.
I almost wish that there were more of it. But I think it’s exactly the length it’s supposed to be.
Since 2022, Angeline Bell’s music has been published by Editions Musica Ferrum, and if you haven’t checked out all the interesting publications they have for pianists, professionals and students alike, you really owe it to yourself to pay them a
visit. Today, we heard six pieces from Angeline Bell’s collection, My Quirky Notebook, for intermediate-level piano students. These are pieces inspired by what today’s students need and enjoy.
And for students who want something that doesn’t feel so classical, but still needs it to be meaningful and well-written, this kind of repertoire is gold.
As always, links to the music I played today are in the episode description, or you can visit us at pianopedagogyplaylist.com. And just like that, we have to close the lid on today’s episode of the Piano Pedagogy Playlist.
In a busy teaching week, it’s always a gift to find music that is both useful and genuinely fun to play. Angeline Bell’s pieces offer exactly that balance.
I’ll look forward to seeing you again next Monday, when I’ll share more of my current favorites from the Contemporary Piano Teacher’s Repertoire. Until then, keep nurturing the music, and have a great week!