Links to purchase Venturing Beyond, Vignettes, and My Other Pedagogical Collections
I self-publish my concert and pedagogical compositions on both SheetMusicPlus and MusicaNeo.
(If you're a publisher with a good piano pedagogy presence and would like to bring me onto your roster, let's talk!)
Each online purchase and instant download will come with a watermark bearing the purchaser's name, so these PDFs are suitable for adjudicated festivals that require proof of score purchase. Please contact me if you'd like to arrange to purchase a blanket studio license rather than ask each student to buy their own copy.
(If you're a publisher with a good piano pedagogy presence and would like to bring me onto your roster, let's talk!)
Each online purchase and instant download will come with a watermark bearing the purchaser's name, so these PDFs are suitable for adjudicated festivals that require proof of score purchase. Please contact me if you'd like to arrange to purchase a blanket studio license rather than ask each student to buy their own copy.
- Venturing Beyond - 20 Pieces in Unusual Keys (3 or more sharps/flats) for Early to Mid-Intermediate Pianists in Common-Practice Styles. These pieces feature every key from A major to A-sharp minor and cover a variety of 18th and 19th-century genres, including the fughetta, sarabande, liebeslied, gondoliera (boat song), and others. Because they were written with my quick-reading but technically-early-stage adult students in mind, and they wanted something that sounds adult, they don't sound like something out of a teaching music volume. Several of these pieces have been played and enjoyed at wedding ceremonies, church services, and other events at which no one had any idea these were pedagogical pieces. None require anything wider than a blocked major 6th (sometimes written as a dim. 7), so younger students who need the reading challenge can also enjoy these.
The Sarabande in F minor was featured in a presentation I gave for the Online PianoCon in June 2019.- Purchase on SheetMusicPlus ($19.99)
- Purchase on MusicaNeo ($19.99) (individual pieces from the book are also available on MusicaNeo for $1.99 each; click here to browse them. You do effectively get half off the individual price by purchasing the entire book, though.)
- Listen on YouTube
- Vignettes - Intermediate to Late Intermediate Miniatures that Prepare Pianists for Maurice Ravel (and Impressionism more generally). These pieces mainly aim to acquaint students with Ravel's tonal language as a whole, so they do not always correspond one-to-one with a particular Ravel piece's technical challenges, but I have tried to match most of the pieces with the Ravel repertoire that students are likely to learn first. None ask for more than a blocked 7th reach, although having an octave will make things more comfortable. All are temporarily only $2.49 each but will increase in price when the entire book is ready and available.
- Browse the collection (in progress) on MusicaNeo
- Listen on YouTube (currently with Sibelius audio; I'm working on getting some acoustic takes!). They are the first pieces in the playlist.
- Finger 3-Only Rote Pieces for the First Day of Lessons. These are compatible with the Tales of a Musical Journey approach in which students begin by using only finger 3 so they develop a natural sense of alignment. Because I focus on working with somewhat older beginners, I soon saw a need for finger 3-only pieces with sophisticated, more adult-sounding accompaniments. I also involve both hands because it immediately engages the "hands together motor area" of the brain, something I find particularly valuable for adult beginners. Even for young beginners, such pieces will develop their stylistic sense and ears as well as get them "hooked" on piano from the very first lesson.
- Symmetrical Hands-Together Arrangements of Common Practice Pieces in Floating Proto-Notation. This is a bit of a "niche" set, but for certain teen/adult beginners, I've found it helpful to introduce hands-together playing by keeping it strictly symmetrical at first: each hand has the same finger playing at the same time. Our brains prefer symmetry, and I've found this to ease the transition to two-handed playing for former string players and beginners in their "golden years," in particular. I also have the hands placed on and around the 3-black-key groups for more natural positioning. As always, the pieces sound adult-like because they are "adult" (common-practice pieces by the masters), so they'll go over well in recitals. If floating proto-notation is unsuitable or confusing for a particular student, and that student has good auditory recall, these can also be taught by rote.
- Mozart - Piano Trio in G, K564, iii (Theme) - Listen on YouTube - Purchase on SMP
- Anon. (maybe Haydn?) - Chorale St. Antoni - Listen on YouTube - Purchase on SMP
- Miscellaneous Pieces. This "catch all" category includes pieces I wrote as a child/teen that have accidentally become successful teaching pieces for my students, as well as pieces I've written to address challenges for individual students. I hope they benefit your studio too.
Links to Purchase Outside Materials Frequently Used at Studio DiPaolo
- For adult beginners, Hal Leonard's Adult Piano Method, book 1
- Irina Gorin's Tales of a Musical Journey series (link takes you to the English-language books, but Spanish is also available)
- The Piano Safari series website (your best bet for purchasing the American English books; for some reason Amazon has been sending out British editions with slightly different and kid-confusing terminology)
Does Studio DiPaolo seem like a good fit for you or someone you know? If so, CLICK HERE to start your music-making journey!
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Home | About | Tuition/Info | FAQ | Piano | Theory | Partimento | Composition | Accompanying | Consulting for Teachers | Media | Shop | Contact/Enroll