What's New!

BEST FOREIGN COMPOSITION

Firestorm Symphony (III) 'All the Trees are Growing' won the BEST FOREIGN COMPOSITION AWARD at the ARTEMIS FILM AWARDS in Los Angeles April 25-28 2019 Margaret Brandman travelled to LA, California, to receive the award.

SPIRIT VISIONS for ORCHESTRA

SPIRIT VISIONS for ORCHESTRA is now available

Click Here

Prelude – Havana Parade

'Prelude – Havana Parade' – First movement of 'Warm Winds in Havana' Suite for Saxophone Quartet as recorded in Cuba for ABRAZO (ar0001) by the Javier Zalba quartet.

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Chamber music arrangements

Chamber music arrangements of three of the Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac songs are now available, scored for (a) Two Flutes and Piano, or (b) Flute, Alto Flute and Piano.

Click here for more information.

COSMIC WHEEL OF THE ZODIAC – Song Cycle.

One song for each of the twelve signs of the Zodiac with lyrics by Benita Rainer.

Read the inside story for Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac - song cycle.

The complete book of music and lyrics is now available. View details on the Zodiac page.

The Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac album is now available.

'Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac' song cycle was performed by the Prague Mixed Chamber Choir under the direction of Jiří Petrdlik and soloists Barbora Polâšková - Mezzo Soprano and Matej Chadima – Baritone in the concert hall of the Czech Music Museum on the 14th of September 2017. The choir also recorded the cycle for the forthcoming PARMA recordings CD. Check out the performance page for video clips of the performance.

Margaret's piano solo 'Jucaro Rumba' has been included in the AMEB's Series 4, Grade 6 Piano for Leisure album. This piece along with many other pieces exploring Latin American dance rhythms is also available in book 2B of Margaret's 'Contemporary Piano Method'.

FEBRUARY 2017 Margaret's violin and piano piece "The Eastern Spinebill..." , from her SENSATIONS CD
is included on this month's ' Making Waves ' playlist of Australian compositions. Please enjoy and share.

https://makingwavesnewmusic.com/2017/02/01/spotify-waves-february-2017

2016 saw the release of many of Margaret's new songs for Baritone or Mezzo Soprano voice and piano.

The SHEET MUSIC and You-tube clips for these new songs is now available.

Scroll to the Songs section on the Jump List for the list of songs and links to each one.

In October 2015 Parma Recordings featured Margaret as composer of the month.

Please click here to read the blog, view the photos and videos here and read more about the performances and recordings here.

Rhapsodies to Rhumbas

Margaret has just presented her 2014 Rhapsodies to Rhumbas concert. View details on the Performance page.

New works for violin and piano

Duo Deconet, Australia's premier violin and piano duo specialising in contemporary classical Latin-American have commissioned Margaret to arrange three of her original works for violin and piano. Two of these works, Jucaro Rhumba D'Amor, The Eastern Spinebill and the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos Herald a Blue Mountains Bushfire were first performed at their Music Without Borders Concert on August 10, 2013 and at the Rhapsodies to Rhumbas concert on November 9, 2013 they performed these works plus the world premiere of performance Binna Burra Dreaming for Violin and Piano.

These works will available shortly from the Australian Music Centre.

Autumn Rhapsody

Autumn Rhapsody for solo piano (fue 10108) has been published by Furore Music in Germany.

The audio is available in MP3 Format.

Margaret performed this work at the Rhapsodies to Rhumbas concert on November 9, 2013

Click here for details.

Margaret is pleased to announce the publication of her new work-

The Geometry of the Piano and the Symmetry of the Hands

This lively and intriguing DVD was prepared for presentation for the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia (June 2011)  

Topics in the DVD:

a) The concepts presented in Margaret's Music Mind Map and Interval Tree 
b) Margaret's approach to teaching keyboard patterns for Major and Minor scales, Modes, Chords,   Arpeggios and Transposition which simplifies the learning process for her students
c) Margaret's 'gestalt' approach to fingering based on the symmetry of the hands which speeds up the learning process
c) Sections of Margaret's original compositions for piano, orchestra, and woodwinds 

These are heard throughout the DVD as incidental music plus a medley of her larger scale works occurs toward the end of the DVD.  

An added bonus is the vision of Australian landscape artist Ivan Goodacre's paintings which appear while Margaret's music is being played. www.ivangoodacre.com.au
Available for purchase here

Contemporary Organ Method

By popular request, the Contemporary Organ Method is now back in print.

With Janet Baker's technical expertise and Margaret Brandman's simplified interval reading system and easy approach to learning rhythm and chords, this straight forward teaching system allows students to learn holistically-combining aural, tactile and reading skills, making learning easy and enjoyable.

Firestorm Symphony

This three movement work is dedicated to the victims
of the 1993-4, 2001 and 2009 bushfires in NSW and Victoria.

First Movement - Firestorm threatening
Second Movement- Now the tears are flowing
Third Movement- All the trees are growing

This work is scored for Woodwind, Percussion, Harp and Strings

An A4 study score and recording is now available from your local music store or from this website..
A3 Conductor's Score and parts hire available from
the Australian Music Centre. www.amcoz.com.au

Spirit Visions

This expansive melody with lush chords was originally inspired by the tone colours of the Sydney Town Hall organ and was composed after a professional meeting in 2002 between the composer, Margaret Brandman and Sydney organist and clairvoyant Robert Goode.

Click here for more information

Binna Burra Dreaming

Binna Burra Dreaming for 'cello and piano is a contemporary, yet listenable work.

The title of the work is taken from the aboriginal name for 'where the beech tree grows'.

The work is in one movement and through-composed in several sections in various modal minor tonalities and varying time signatures.

Click here for more information

Please visit the Firestorm Symphony page for more details and to hear sample tracks

Harmony Comes Together

Seriously Good Fun

Lyric Fantasy

A contemporary yet listenable work for Piano and Orchestra

JUNIOR TRAX

This book replaces the earlier edition entitled 'Favourite Songs from Kidz TV'

Featuring:

• Early grade pieces arranged for both hands simultaneously
• Easy reading with the interval approach
• An interesting new skill in each tune
• Gently graded material
• Included single-line duets.

Imaginative arrangements of young children's favourite songs from Australian early childhood programs. Designed to follow on from the Junior Primer, the pieces in this book present extra two-handed practice taking the skills gained in the Junior Primer to the next level.

Click here for more info..

Daily Dexter-Flexers

Technical exercises for beginning keyboard students using the simplified interval approach combined with scale topography. The fun way to gain finger dexterity and speed reading skills.

Newly revised!

This recently composed cycle of six songs is available on CD with performances by lyricist and mezzo soprano Désirée Regina and the composer Margaret Brandman on piano. The recording of the music is available either singly or as part of a CD and sheet music pack.

Désirée Regina has been called by Le Figaro "Sparkling and genuinely breathtaking"

At the age of 12, Désirée won a major European prize for her poem 'The Old Oak'. She has since gone on to writing many lyrics for songs and musical shows.

She is one of the infamous Duelling Sopranos and has performed worldwide with various award winning shows from The Phantom of the Opera in Europe to Ephimera in the Sydney Opera House.

Désirée is a Mezzo Soprano with a Bachelor of Music, a Master is Singing Performance and a PostGrad in Opera.

more details...