This is one of the newest additions to my piano library, (released Spring, 2005) and was written for the Linda Kennedy studio in Maumelle, AR----a suburb of Little Rock. Linda invited me to be her "adopted composer" last year, and over the course of the year I got to know this remarkable teacher and her many fine students through monthly correspondence via email. Each month, the students would think of questions they wanted to ask me, and Linda would compile the list into one email and send it on to me. I responded to all of their wonderful questions, and grew to look forward to additional questions each month as the year progressed! Several of her students are budding young composers and it was great fun to share my thoughts with them as well as entertain their thoughtful and diverse questions. When I decided to write the "Prelude and Toccata" I knew that I wanted to write a work that would be accessible to many students at this level and I also wanted to compose something that would be a sure "winner" for recitals and contests. The response to this work over the summer during my many workshops around the country has been most gratifying, so I thought it would be appropriate to include it in the debut of my webpage.
When I first set down to compose this piece, I experienced what so many composers experience from time to time-----writers block!! I experimented and experimented with many different motives, and sat at the piano for what seemed like hours trying to formulate through improvisation a theme that I wanted to use for the Prelude. When it became apparent to me that nothing was "springing forth", I decided to begin with the Toccata movement, and a motive happily appeared to me in D minor and consisted of broken triads on d, C, and e. This opening melodic motive on A-A-G-A ended up being the unifying motive for not only the entire Toccata, but also gave me the magic ingredients for the Prelude which had been eluding me for so long!
This is one of the newest additions to my piano library, (released Spring, 2005) and was written for the Linda Kennedy studio in Maumelle, AR----a suburb of Little Rock. Linda invited me to be her "adopted composer" last year, and over the course of the year I got to know this remarkable teacher and her many fine students through monthly correspondence via email. Each month, the students would think of questions they wanted to ask me, and Linda would compile the list into one email and send it on to me. I responded to all of their wonderful questions, and grew to look forward to additional questions each month as the year progressed! Several of her students are budding young composers and it was great fun to share my thoughts with them as well as entertain their thoughtful and diverse questions. When I decided to write the "Prelude and Toccata" I knew that I wanted to write a work that would be accessible to many students at this level and I also wanted to compose something that would be a sure "winner" for recitals and contests. The response to this work over the summer during my many workshops around the country has been most gratifying, so I thought it would be appropriate to include it in the debut of my webpage.