PIANO AND KEYBOARD

Margaret has written a great many of works for solo piano, a large percentage of which are scattered through the Contemporary Piano Method. Others are included in the collections shown below.

 

Cool - Catchy - Calm

Imaginative Piano Solos This collection of gently graded pieces are composed in a wide variety of appealing styles. Click here for more information.

Click here to see more details on this work.

 

 

Spirit Visions

Spirit Visions was composed after a professional meeting in 2002 between the composer, Margaret Brandman and Sydney organist and clairvoyant Robert Goode who was performing at Sydney Town Hall at the time and for whom Margaret had done a musical arrangement.

Click here to see more details on this work.

 

Twelve Timely Pieces

Twelve imaginative and tuneful pieces in time signatures from 2/4 to 7/4 in major and minor keys up to two sharps and two flats. Grades 1 - 4.

This set of pieces was written in response to many requests received over the past few years for interesting and original music for performance at concerts, eisteddfods, examinations and school musicals.

"I've endeavoured to compose catchy tunes, using such devices as the fun sound of parallel fifths, the unusual qualities of modes and modal harmonies and some intriguing rhythmic twists. Some pieces are vigorously rhythmic while others are quite ambient in nature, incorporating modern jazz oriented chord sounds such as major sevenths or chords which incorporate the extension degrees of 9th, 11th or 13th." says Margaret.

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"The tunes lie well in hand position and area changes are indicated by 'key fingering', making them not only easy to read, but also facilitating the technical aspects required to play them. The pieces provide supplementary material and consolidation of the areas covered in Books 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B of my Contemporary Piano Method."

Two of the pieces (Spider on the Mirror and Minnamurra Rainforest Dreaming) are set works for AMEB third grade examinations.

Recordings of the pieces are available on the CD IMAGES. For a detailed description of each piece go to the IMAGES page on this site.

 

Other works for solo piano include, the three concert pieces featured here, plus

  • Reflections
  • Sonorities
  • Static Ripples (piano duet)

For more information on the Contemporary Piano Method, please visit the Educational Materials page.

Christmas Favourites

  • Graded Christmas tunes with a fresh approach. From simple two-part arrangements to Rock and Jazz versions of everyone's favourite Christmas tunes. Suitable for Piano with optional Organ Pedal line/duet part. Organ registrations by Janet Baker.

 

Blues and Boogie-Woogie

  • 12 original compositions teaching the Boogie and Swing Time feel and styles of writing.

'Margaret Brandman's publication, gives students a wonderful choice of twelve original blues and boogie-woogie compositions. Also included is a brief history and analysis to give students a background of these styles...

This is an excellent publication which, I am sure, teachers and students will enjoy.'

-June Mclean, AUSTRALIAN MUSIC TEACHER Magazine, Vol 3 No 5 1994

 

 

Contemporary Modal Pieces (formerly Animodes)-
21 descriptive pieces for piano

21 Original pieces written with contemporary compositional techniques; modal, pentatonic, whole-tone and serial pieces each piece descriptive of an Australian native animal. eg. The Albino Koala, the Wombat, Squirrel Glider, The Emu.

'Each selection exploits a different mode, and several twentieth-century compositional techniques are introduced, including clusters, serial (12 tone) writing and pieces without measure lines. Novice pianists will find the rhythms challenging, but the pieces are unusual and captivating, and succeed in acquainting the ear with tonalities beyond major and minor.'

-Keyboard Magazine, U.S.A.

'...The class in Methods of Teaching that I have at the Melba Memorial Conservatorium...were most enthusiastic...In the first place they loved the Australian flavour...They were delighted with the information so plainly detailed regarding the various modes. To them it has previously been a dry-as-dust subject, and now here it came to life with some enthralling results. Some of the unusual time-signatures intrigued them and challenged their skill...This book serves a very useful purpose and should give many hours of pleasurable instruction to students both young and old.'

-Margaret Schofield, Chief Study Teacher, Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne. Review in J.A.M.M. MAGAZINE, 1982

'I have been using this publication since it was first released some years ago...and teachers who have attended some of my lectures are well aware of the high regard in which I hold this particular work. It is certainly a worthwhile addition to your teaching material.'

-Rita Crews, AUSTRALIAN MUSIC TEACHER Magazine, Vol 3 No 2 1994

Hot Trax

Hot Trax

  • Arrangements of popular and essential repertoire tunes for early grade pianists.
  • Featuring slightly larger note setting and proportional note setting for easy reading of rhythm.
  • Includes - Piano Man, Saltwater, You've Got a Friend, Unchained Melody and many more....

 

 

Dreamweaving

  • 5 original pieces for piano.
  • Each piece demonstrates the sounds of a standard four-note chord and the mode or scale which suits it -
    • Dominant 7th (Weaving)
    • Major 7th (Beaming)
    • Diminished 7th (Dreaming)
    • Major 6th and Minor 6th (Gliding)
    • Minor 7th and Half-Diminished 7th chords (Gleaming)

'Ms Brandman further excels in delightful solo collections such as DREAMWEAVING.'

-John Peace, lecturer and performer, UK EUROPEAN PIANO TEACHER'S ASSOCIATION Piano Journal October 1994

 

Six Contemporary Pieces - for Piano

  • 1 Badinarie Number 1 (1979)
  • 2 Badinarie Number 2 (1979)
  • 3 Invention (1973)
  • 4 Tango Tranquille (1972)
  • 5 Sunshowers on the River (1971)
  • 6 Mini-Suite (1978)

    Numbers 1, 3 and 6 are suitable for freebass accordian

    'These pieces are contemporary without being incomprehensible to the average student. The styles embrace polyphonic and homophonic textures, quartal and tertial harmony, partial tone-rows are prominent in some, pentatonic modes of oriental extraction occur, and the influence of progressive jazz is often apparent. They are not as difficult to play as they may appear at first sight, and a moderately advanced student should have little difficulty in coping with them. For the pianist needing contemporary works for a recital, or for examinations, these six short compositions would make an interesting addition to the repertoire.'

    -John Hemming, MUSIC TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION OF NSW Quarterly Magazine, February 1983