intermediate

I’ve personally witnessed the desire of some teen students to learn “Spanish” pieces (“Spanish” in their lingo meaning from Spain OR Latin America), or pieces that sound exotic. While there are many “authentic” pieces by Latin American composers that may be appropriate, I believe, however, that those of us who teach in the US shouldn’t neglect compositions by so-called “pedagogical” composers from the US. After all, these composers teach American kids, and they know what they like! The three volumes of Rollin’s Dancing on the Keys contain pieces from early to late intermediate that utilize dance rhythms from different cultural traditions, including some pieces that resemble tangos, sambas, rhumbas and cha-chas.

Wynn-Anne Rossi is an experienced pedagogical composer with a large catalog of well-written, colorful teaching pieces. In 2012 Alfred printed her 3-volume anthology “Música Latina,” each of them containing about 8 original pieces with different Latin flavors, at different levels.

I bet you don’t know this piece by this major Latin American composer. Milonga is an arrangement, made by Ginstera himself, of his song Canción al Arbol del Olvido (Song to the Tree of Forgetfulness). Ginastera wrote this original song, with verses of Silva Valdes, in 1938, as his Opus 3. I’m not sure when he arranged it for piano solo – but we pianists are surely thankful that he did! It is a delicate, enchanting short piece based on the slow Milonga genre, a type of song attributed to the gaucho (Argentine cowboy), who used to sing it while accompanying himself on the guitar. The original song became a quick hit in Argentina, and several folk singers adopted it – see for instance this version by the Chilean activist/singer Victor Jara.

I met Mr. Gonzalez in person in 2004 when I was hired to teach piano and pedagogy at CU Boulder. We had much in common – expatriates born in the same region of Argentina, educated in the same music school there, and a passion for everything Argentine. I had heard about his illustrious career when I was in Ohio at my previous teaching job. So it was a pleasure to finally meet him. For my first recital at CU, I asked Luis Jorge if he had any music that I could include in the program. I visited him at home, and he had me listen to his recently composed Midnight Lights suite, a set of 3 nocturnes. I was immediately struck by the huge range of emotions and drama of these works, and the unmistakable tango flavor. I premiered the suite in March 2005. Since then I have performed his music in several venues, and have premiered several other works for piano solo and piano trio.

Luis Gianneo is one of the “best kept secrets” of Argentine music. His piano music is original and solid, and the overall quality of his creations is high. He wrote well for the piano – his pieces are comfortable for the most part and fun to play. He published mostly at the defunct Editorial Argentina de Musica. Some of his works have been republished by Peer Music International.

For the last four or five years, I’ve been doing presentations on music by Latin American classical composers in several venues in the US. The audience for these presentations has usually been teachers interested in teaching Latin American music in their private studios, or pianists who want to explore it. This blog is, in fact, a product of my presentations.

You are hanging around, sitting outside a Cuban cafe in Havana in the 1930s, sipping a cold mint tea sweetened with sugar cane juice, enjoying the lethargic hours of the tropical evening. Suddenly you hear a faint drum, beating a hypnotic pattern. It’s slowly getting closer to you. You know there will be consequences. This sensuous Afro-Cuban music is hard to ignore. It takes over your body.

Ernesto Nazareth was a Brazilian pianist and composer born in Rio de Janeiro in 1863. He died in 1934. Described as the “true incarnation of the Brazilian musical soul” by his compatriot Heitor Villa-Lobos, Nazareth composed and published more than 200 short piano compositions with strong popular flavor. Of these, 88 are tangos, many of which are still popular in Brazil and the rest of the world.