Ramadan by Nancy Steward

 Landscape with Stars
 by Henri-Edmond Delacroix, ca. 1905–1908 

 

Ramadan Lantern

by Anwer Ghani, Jul 2019

When you touch me, I do not stand near the faint window, but I open all the bright doors, the doors of a very strong and very shapeless breeze. O Ramadan; the rain of touches that reach every story in my weak body and every region in my soul. Your touch is a soft candle, yes your touch is a new white flower. When you smile at me, I do not wait behind the absent window, but I see the true doors, the doors of endless time and unlimited place. Oh Ramadan, you can imagine my very intense and very shapeless happiness. When your soft whispers flow deep in me, I will never be near the salty window, but I will be immersed in warm doors , the doors of swimming in a stunning river, disappearing in a very strong and very shapeless sea. O Ramadan, let your lantern to touch my cheeks and draw a beautiful spring on my eyes. Let fasting immortalizes my body out of the water that will gone, and the food that will perish. Let my body know its true existence, and let me see my real body without food or drink. O Ramadan, allow your lantern to shine in my depth and to color my soul with unforgettable chants.

If you like to discover more about the Ramadan Latern and Ramadan in general register for our Ramadan Minecraft Game and learn the song Ramadan.

Ramadan Song

by Nancy Stewart, 2021

This lovely song was composed by Nancy Stewart.

It is an educative children song that tells mainly non-Muslime kids what Ramadan is about.

I added an accompagnement in the style of a Vivaldi Concerto. Let me know, what you think! 

Ramadan – Nancy Stewart Ramadaon - Nancy Stewart by tabea8piano

Ramadan Activities

by Internet4Classroom

You may find related activities here.

Marche a huit Instrumens à vent by Nannette Streicher

What would have been of Beethoven without Nannette Streicher (1769-1833)? Besides being an excellent pianist whose talent was praised by Mozart and Haydn, Augsburg born Nanette Streicher was one of the most respected instrument makers of her time.

Wheras the memory of Antonio Stradivari has survived the centuries thanks to his incomparable violins, still shrouded in mystery and Henry E. Steinway is still remembered for the pianos that bear his signature, almost nobody has heard of Nannette Streicher. Little has remained of the memory of one of the greatest piano makers of her day and who was  the trustee of Beethoven's household from 1817 until the time of her death. 

 

The British publisher Vincent Novello wrote in the margin of a handwritten sketch of Beethoven's sonata "Hammerklavier" that she was "one of Beethoven's oldest and most sincere friends".

It was not only Mozarts ingenious that lead to great compositions, but also his grappling with Steinway's pianos. And just alike, Beethoven would most probably not have composed in the way he did, was it not for the Streicher pianos.

Learn more about the Nannette Streicher pianos at this   .

And check out the interconnection between piano building and playing in the following video: 

I made a solo piano arrangement for the occasion of the International Women's Day.

You can find the scores at Musescore for :   and

Marche à huit instruments

  And at    you can learn to play it with my piano solo arrangement:

Skip To My Lou

This song is part of a typical partner-stealing dance, a ludic dance performance game. If you want to learn the basics of it read more here at the Dance Place.

It became popular in the 1040s in the United States. It may have its origins in the Creole folksong "Lolotte Pov'piti Lolotte", as S. Frederick Starr suggests. 

 The popular dance as featured in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis directec by Vincente Minnelli

 By the way, the word "lou" is of Scottish origin. "Loo" means "love" in Scottish, thus making the title "Skip for my love" or in other words: "Exchange your darling/yourself with mine".

You and I by Claribel

Charlotte Alington Pye Barnard (23 December 1830 in Louth, Lincolnshire – 30 January 1869 in Dover) was an English composer who wrote often under the pseudonym Claribel (More about here on Wikipedia).

Best known for her traditional Irish song Come Back to Erin (1866) she composed this emotive film music which Kathryn Grayson and Carl Esmond sung in the film Seven Sweethearts (1942) directed by Frank Borzage for the screenplay of  Walter Reisch(original screenplay), Leo Townsend (original screenplay) and Ferenc Herczeg(play).

It is one of the best known female compositions of a Waltz in 4/4.

Find the sheet music here.

Learn to play this song with the Piano Marvel Method here.

Incorporating Piano Marvel into Middle School - with Darrell Crowther

Incorporating Piano Marvel into Middle School - with Darrell Crowther 

Composition Tutorial Happy Birthday

Bartók I. por Büky Béla - 1957 - Rippl-Rónai Municipal Museum with County Scope - Kaposvár, Hungary - CC BY.

https://www.europeana.eu/item/2048128/254521

Have you ever wondered what complexity in music composition means?

Inspired by a YouTube tutorial for complexity in musical compositions by Nahre Sol, I followed all the steps described, composing a piece that would gradually become complexer.

First, have a look at the tutorial:

Nahre Sol is not only a great composer, but also an excellent instructor.

Learn more about Sol at her  .

I made my own interpretations of these steps and created sheet music, so that you migh use it for your own training:   and at    here and learn to play it!

The final synthesis of all the levels might look something like this:

 null Happy Birthday To You by tabea8piano

Ungdomssang (Song of Youth) by Agathe Backer Grøndahl

Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agathe_Backer_Gr%C3%B8ndahl.jpg

Ungdomssang means Song of Youth and was composed by the Norwegian Agathe Backer Grøndahl.

This song was quite interesting to transcribe, since I did not really get the feel of youth when listening to it. It has a melancholic melody and a somehow sluggish, lethargic move. For this reason, I selected the painting Midsummer's Eve in Norway by Christian Skredsvig in the National Gallery of Denmark. There are people on a boat, apparently dressed for dancing and accompagnied by a accordeon player. But they look rather afraid of falling out of the boat. Also the landscape is quite dark. Compared to these colours, even midsummer in Spain (which is shorter than in Norway) has more light at any time of the night.

Midsummer's Eve in Norway by Christian Skredsvig - National Gallery of Denmark, Denmark - CC0. 

https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2020903/KMS1309

In any case, it is a sweet song, and it is suggested to be an easy piece, somehow a level 1. Well, this depends on how you define Level 1. According to Piano Marvel, I'd suggest that it is a Level 4-6.

Agathe Ursula Backer was born in Holmestrand in 1847, in a wealthy and art-loving home, as the second youngest of four sisters, all gifted in drawing and music. In 1857 she moved with her family to Christiania, where she studied with Otto Winther-Hjelm, Halfdan Kjerulf and Ludvig Mathias Lindeman. Between 1865 and 1867 she became a pupil of Theodor Kullak and studied composition under Richard Wuerst at the Akademie der Tonkunst in Berlin, where she lived together with her sister Harriet Backer. She won fame there with her interpretation of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto.

After her arrival to Norway in 1868, she debuted with Edvard Grieg, then 26 years old, as conductor of the Philharmonic Society. A recommendation from Ole Bull led to further studies with Hans von Bülow in Florence in 1871. Later the same year she played at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, becoming a pupil of Franz Liszt in Weimar in 1873. In 1874 she married the conductor and singing teacher Olaus Andreas Grøndahl, and was generally known thereafter as Agathe Backer Grøndahl. During the second half of the 1870s she built up an outstanding pianist career with a series of concerts in the Nordic countries, also playing with very great success in London and Paris. (Wikipedia)

Since I didn't find any digitalized version, I made my own transcription based on the scores published in IMSLP.

As you can see, I arranged the notes along upper and lower part of the great stave, since it is played always with both hands, even though, this is not as it appears in the original sheet music.

Feel free to comment on  Musescore or Youtube, if you have suggestions for improvement.

This piece was arranged and digitalized for Musescore and Piano Marvel by Tabea Hirzel (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Find the piece Ungsomssang:   and at   here and learn to play it!

Gottschalk Waltz by Teresa Carreño

National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teresa_Carre%C3%B1o_(cropped).jpg

In 1862, Teresa Carreno moved with her family to New York City from their native home of Venezuela. The Federal War, a somewhat obscure Venezuelan civil war, was in it's 4th year and had already caused enough death and disease that Teresa's father decided to find a better place for her to live. At the time Teresa was only 9 years old, but had been extensively trained by her father, a pianist. Soon after their arrival she began performing at public and private concerts, doing so well that she soon caught the attention of the one and only Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Gottschalk didn't take students and was skeptical of prodigies, but upon hearing her play decided to take her as one anyway. His schedule was busy and he could only give her a few lessons, but she enjoyed them so much that she wrote this waltz for him while just 10 years old.

Feel free to comment on  Musescore or null, if you have suggestions for improvement.

This piece was arranged and digitalized for Musescore and Piano Marvel by Tabea Hirzel (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Find the piece Beresinalied:   and at   here and learn to play it!

Estrella de Mar by Tabea Hirzel

 

Museon, Netherlands - CC BY.

https://www.europeana.eu/es/item/2021657/resource_document_museon_58462

Estrella the Mar means starfish.

It is a song I composed some years ago for my husband and I've never really finished.

Now, it's at least something playable.

Enjoy it on Musescore or Youtube!

This piece was composed and digitalized for Musescore and Piano Marvel by Tabea Hirzel (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Find the piece Estrella de Mar:  and at  here and learn to play it!

Beresinalied by Johann Immanuel Müller

Adam, Pierre: Übergang (Flucht) über die Beresina. Illustration Seite 238 in: Kircheisen, Friedrich M.: Napoleon I. und das Zeitalter der Befreiungskriege in Bildern. München, 1914. Dresden: SLUB 95.4.19623.001 por Richter, Regine (Herstellung) (Fotograf) - Deutsche Fotothek, Germany - CC BY-SA.

https://www.europeana.eu/es/item/437/item_F5MQFXCGAQSDT43FUNHCTNAHIREVX7N6

The Beresinalied, originally known as Unser Leben gleicht der Reise (the incipit) is a Lied composed by [Johann Immanuel Müller (1774–1839)]* after the 1792 poem "Die Nachtreise" by Karl Ludwig Giesecke.

It became a symbol of the sacrifices of Swiss mercenaries in foreign service following popularization as Beresinalied by Otto von Greyerz and Gonzague de Reynold, tying it to the Battle of Berezina. The context is that Oberleutnant Thomas Legler, (1782–1835, born in Glarus) who served in the II corps of Marshal Nicolas Oudinot in Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion army in Russia in his memoirs Denkwürdigkeiten aus dem russischen Feldzug tells how his commander during the Battle on 28 November 1812 reminded him of the song and asked him to sing it.

Of the originally 8,000 men of the four Swiss regiments (division Merle), about 1,300 were left by the time the retreating army reached the Berezina River. Under General Jean Baptiste Eblé two bridges were built across the Berezina, and the second corps crossed to the western bank to beat back the Russian troops hindering the crossing. The Swiss engaged the Russian troops on 28 November 1812 on the road to Barysaŭ. The Russians pressed back the Swiss vanguard, trying to force them back into the river. Only 300 Swiss survived the day. (Wikipedia)

*The English version of Wikipedia mentions Friedrich Wilke as the composer. This is, however, incorrect. Friedrich Wilke composed a version that went lost.

Feel free to comment on  Musescore or Youtube, if you have suggestions for improvement.

This piece was arranged and digitalized for Musescore and Piano Marvel by Tabea Hirzel (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Find the piece Beresinalied:   and at   here and learn to play it!

Three Short Pieces, No. 2 by Heloise Russell-Fergusson

raretunesdotnet.files.wordpress.com

This is the second of  the Three Short Pieces by Scottish composer Heloise Russell-Fergusson (1896-1970), which she possibly self-published in 1917.

It is one of the more difficult scores I transcribed, due to the fact that none of the staves counted really 4/4 in the original, and it was not always clear where the left and right hand notes had to be played. I followed the graphical coincidence, i.e. where the notes where aligned in vertical lign I assumed that they had to be played together, even if counting out the note value would not make them align.

Feel free to comment on Musescore or Youtube, if you have suggestions for improvement.

Laern more about her life here at Raretunes. 

It was transcribed to modern notation and digitalized for Musescore and Piano Marvel by Tabea Hirzel (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Find the piece"No 2" of the Three Short Pieces at: and at  here and learn to play it!