I spent most of my early career as a musician as a piano teacher, and I loved teaching my students the fundamentals of piano, and setting them up well for whatever their musical life might look like. It was an absolute honor for me to contribute these new pieces to the 2024 edition of Piano Time, the piano method books from Oxford University Press — I started so many students on books like these, and the thought that piano students around the world will be learning the piano with these pieces truly means everything to me.
Thank you to everyone on the OUP team, and especially my editor Robyn Elton, who has found so many incredible pathways for my music to reach young people at the beginning of their musical journey.
You can purchase the entire set here (Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3).
Book 1: Evening Melody
This little melody evokes a Hindustani raag called Bihag, which is often performed in the evening. Indian melody is linked to a specific time of day, and you will hear one of the classic ‘catch phrases’ that identifies Bihag in this piece.
Book 1: Dream With Me
I grew up playing four-hand music (it was sometimes the only way beginning pianists could have the experience of playing chamber music!) so it was a joy to write this tune for two students at one piano. Dream With Me is in Raag Yaman.
Book 2: Dark and Light
This piece is in a raga called Jog (rhymes with rogue). I love this raga because to our Western ears, it sometimes sounds major, and other times sounds minor – hence the title Dark and Light.
Book 2: Happy Endings
This piece explores the Hindustani concept of the ‘tihai’, a rhythmic pattern of three phrases that indicates the end of a phrase, section or piece. In this case, you will hear the same pattern repeated many times (so that it becomes familiar), instead of just once, at the end, where it would normally appear in Hindustani music. It will sound like 1-2-3-4-5 (rest) 1-2-3-4-5 (rest) 1-2-3-4-5” (where the last “5” is on the strong beat of the following measure. The idea is similar to the concept of a hemiola in Western music – a way to alter the perception of meter.
If you’re a student playing this, don’t worry about the paragraph above! Just enjoy the groovy rhythm!
Book 2: Tiptoes
I love the melancholy sounds of Raag Bhimpalas – this piece is based in that raag, but unlike the yearning that I normally feel in the Hindustani setting, this version is a little lighter and more like a secret kept between friends.
Book 3: Dark Clouds
This is the most ‘experimental’ piece of this series. If you’re looking at the score, the notation is about exploring the natural resonance of the piano — it’s a little hard to hear on the recording, but it’s fun to make the piano create beautiful resonant ‘clouds’ of sound when you play the piece live. This piece is in Raag Megh — “megh” means “cloud” in Hindi, and it is a raag that evokes a distant but approaching storm.
Book 3: Dancing Flame
If you’re in a band at school, you might recognize this piece. It is the same melody as the first movement of my band piece Chamak. The title Dancing Flame comes from one of my favorite couplets by the saint-poet Kabir. Originally in Hindi, it translates in English to:
“Just as a seed holds oil
And a spark holds fire
Your own spirit is inside of you
If you can awaken it, you must.”
— Kabir
