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Info on composing and creating the score: This set of 21 short piano pieces was composed in a matter of days, in early July. The (mechanical then) recordings were taken by artist Piero Pierini, who also got the drafts of the scores and he created 21 illustrations corresponding to each piece. I must admit that he did a fabulous job, considering that the titles were somewhat weird to begin with... A dear friend and wonderful piano teacher added fingering (since I was unable to do so, not only due to extremely heavy workload, but also because of my belief that I would do a poor job putting MY fingerings (with my big hands and all) on MY works).

Technical info: These short works all range from very easy and very short (Quicky is only 10 secs and 8 bars long) to intermediate difficulty and medium length with a few being a bit more difficult than others. Each one offers a glimpse to a different harmonic idea and musicality, but the form and rhythmic material is always clear.

Following is a recording made by me of 3/21 of the pieces; VI, VII, VIII titled Ditsotred romance, The pride of the moron and Ooooooobsessions bbbbbbbsessions sessions. The recording was created with the use of computer samples, but no editing took place after the live recording of the performance of these works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTFz-6G-SY

The Editions Musica Ferrum page has two more pages as previews of the score. You can also buy the score from that page, by clicking to 'add to cart' and then proceeding to the checkout, etc...

Regards,

Nikolas Sideris

PS. The initial image is taken from Cirque du Rien in the score.

I saw these the other day, they look really cool and I've already ordered my copy!

Very fine, Nikolas.

Potentially this would fit in with exactly the kind of ear training I have been working on, moving from the most dissonant intervals to the most consonant ones.

The second one seems especially practical for students who are not too advanced.

Cool illustrations...

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Nicholas, this quote came to mind as I looked over the links you shared. Yours is a unique book that doesn't look anything like the type of music books I see in local stores. I like that you have paired an intriguing illustration with each piece.

Hi Nikolas,

Will Ed. Musicum Ferrum have a display at Musikmesse this year? If you catch my drift.

John

Hey all,

I'll start from bottom to top.

John: The EMF will not have a display this year, but perhaps next yeat (if all goes well). We do have hopes to exhibit in other shows as well (WOMEX comes in mind right now...). Now... me getting to frankfurt is much more probable though. But as I've told you, I've still got plenty of time to book the flying tickets and all that. Promise to keep you updated though.

Ann:

This set came as a complete surpise for me. A student was complaining with me putting some Beyer in front, so I gave her a short work of 8 bars (called 'quicky' in the book). She loved it and I thought that I could perhaps carry on like that. On 3 days I had done 20/21 of the short works...

Then came the titles. Initially I was looking for a story teller to add a story, but that came too difficult to come, thus I turned into looking for an illustrator and adding my own completely bizare titles! The results can be seen in the book!

Gary: Thanks. There are more, easier works than the ones in youtube (the website has a preview of the first one called 'Chinese jungle' which you can check out. VERY easy to play). Ear training. 'Pride of the moron' is one of my favorites from the set, and it's actually rather 12-tone-ish... The main melody does contain all 12 pitches, so even with the right hand playing and very peristent patterns, my students had some trouble learning that (though they did love it).

Kreisler: Thank you, and thanks for ordering. You are the first US customer btw! I'm looking forward in hearing your impressions!

______________________

Everyone.

Something important that came to my attention:

1. The prices in $ are approximate 16$ for the book and 5$ for shipping fees (more or less anyhow).
2. Our website IS secure. You can check that in the checkout and cart pages the address changes to http[s] (not the normal http, and in Chrome it should be green, which means that all is ok). The whole website holds an SSL certificate which encrypts all information to 256-bit code... Very difficult to crack!
3. That said, keep in mind that in our website you do not give credit card details, but just your name and address. The payment takes place in paypal.com which is as secure as it gets!

I'm hoping that this will calm any worries you may have, but if not I'm here to reply to any questions...

Nikolas, I'm cash-strapped right now but I will definitely order when I can! I love new music and promoting living composers.

Best of luck with this collection, Nikolas - looks like like it should be a lot of fun, and the presentation is enviable, to say the least

I hope do Ben! When I decided to hit the publisher I had very specific ideas about the works I wanted to promote/publish and the way to present them! I find notating to be an art and as such scores are ... art items on their own! With that in mind I wanted this score to be beautiful in its own way and I found Piero who stood up to the challenge and did a brilliant work!

very very cool.. I'll order one. (I'm leaving for vacay but will do so when i return.. I also liked Perniciosus

I just ordered a copy. It looks interesting. I'm always on the lookout for new pieces for my students. The problem of boredom and apathy is constant in my experience. Thanks for your contribution to the literature!

apple*: Thank you for your post and for enjoying this set!

Tavner: Thanks. I agree (not on the 'looks interesting' part. That would be weird on my behalf! :D) that boredom and apathy are two problems that could be solved with new repertoire!

I was hoping that I would be able to produce another youtube video with 3 more pieces from the set, but illness has kept me inside sadly! Hope to be able and pull myself together the next week!

i hope you bump this again in a couple weeks.. i am worried about shipping while we are gone. i love love the illustrations and novelty of the music i was able to listen to.

Hope you feel better!

A bump to showcase three more pieces from the set. Same situation as before (me playing, samples but not edited (after all they are easy pieces) and illustrations by Piero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tMBOVFIMx8

I hope to make more videos with more of these once I find some time...

I enjoyed the youtube previews and I love the presentation -- what great illustrations! I'm ordering a copy now.

I'm glad you bumped this thread or I probably would have missed it. Maybe you should also post it in the Adult Beginners' Forum; I think people there might be interested in something like this.

Thanks...

I'm not too sure on how much I can stretch the 'rules' of the forums. I know that cross posting is not exactly looking nice on the mods, but perhaps they won't mind?

Kreisler? Someone else?

Nikolas, considering the many useful and helpful posts you've made over the past 5 years, I doubt folks would be upset learning about your new music.

I would think it would be OK (but I'm new here...). I was looking around last week for some intermediate level arrangements of modern music, so I'm really happy to have found this. I think there are people who don't really venture out of ABF too much but might also like your work.

I'm only involved with the Pianists' Corner, but personally, I don't see a problem with it.

I listened to a few of the pieces, and just ordered a copy!