Saxophone music composed for Director Amonn AL-Mahrouq2 Romantic Pieces for Soprano Saxophone and Piano The first is a slow dissonant modern piece written to exploit the darker side of the Soprano Saxophone. The second is a bold, rhythmic rhapsodic piece in the modern idiom. Both pieces are about grade 7/8. Price : £6.95 30 Duets for 2 Equal Wood Wind Instruments. 30 contrasting pieces suitable for lower grades (up to grade 5) the parts being equal between the players. Price : £7.95 Reviews of Saxophone music composed for director Amonn AL-Mahrouq2 Romantic Pieces by Bryan kelly To the player with knowledge of the sounds of contemporary harmony, these pieces would be readily approachable. .......Personally, I found the pieces easier to work with in association with the accompaniment. This enabled the harmonic style to come through........ Nick Downs, Music Teacher Magazine, May 2004 Bryan Kelly’s 30 Duets These are described as being for 2 equal wind instruments, which, since the lowest note is C, means that they can be played by instruments other than clarinets. They are pitches fairly high, some reaching EII, so they are around grade 3-5 level. They are all short, varied, and tuneful pieces. All the duets are very agreeable. Gordon Egerton, November 2003 "Music Teacher Magazine" These pieces were originally conceived for 2 of the same saxophone. Recommended for advanced middle school or High School players - good for college level sightreading as well. These teaching pieces were composed by British composer Bryan Kelly for the students of his Saxophone colleague, Amonn AL-Mahrouq, who is the piece's publisher. This composition publishing team has created a strong teaching tool. Each if these one or two-page duets get to the point by focusing clearly on one musical or technical idea. The opening Prelude works on contrapuntal interplay and rhythmic clarity, whith the two parts answering one another whilst eight note dotted quater rhythms around the circle of fifths. Autumn lets one player play lyrical eight note lines against the others sustained notes, great for intonation since many of the opening intervals are fourths and fifths. Can Can features quick arpeggios, mostly in the upper register against an Alberti baseline. Canon flows into and out of the upper register in C Minor. Other highlights are Gemini, which lets each player perform unaccompanied, then switches the parts and combines the two melodies. A number of the duets are great tools for stylistic learning. There are various characteristic dance or rhythmically orientated movements, including Polonaise, March, Minuetto, Hornpipe, Hop Schotch, Calypso, Ragtime, Sarabande, Tango, Tarantella and Valse. Each explores that style in witty, brief exchanges between the two saxes. A four deut sequence portrays the four seasons, helping young students thing about the image of the music and get past the dots on the page. The level is not difficult overall, but the technical level does purposely vary. Even intermediate students will find some of duets are sight readable, whilst others may challenge more advanced young players. The range lays well on the instrument, but there are a number of duets that do test the students upper register technique with flowing melodies or sixteenth not figures. There is no altissimo. Teacher will find these pieces to be very useful, and students will enjoy the gamesmanship involved with learning them. The music is interesting enough to make younger players want to practice. What more can anyone ask of a student composition? David Demsey, Saxophone Journal, October 2006, Volume 32, Number 1 in the New Saxophone Publications Section. |