Do Re Mi Fa So, Vol. 1
20 Five-note Melodies for Beginners
1. Beginning
2. The Dream
3. Before Dawn
4. Balloon Ride
5. Happy Years
6. Paperboat Dance
7. Chopin
8. Polish Dance
9. Farewell Hug
10. Hourglass
11. Let’s go dancing!
12. Butterfly Meadow
13. Happy Reunion
14. Melancholic afternoon
15. Start of the Holidays
16. Ladybug Flight
17. Foggy Day
18. Victory
19. Coronation
20. Old Rocking Horse
In March 2024, the recorder teacher Elisabeth Neuser from Ulm asked me for simple pieces for her students. I referred her to my collections Karungi and Jangu Wano. “No, much simpler!” she replied. She was thinking of pieces with a melody consisting of only five notes: g - a - b - c - d or g - a - bflat - c - d. In other words, pieces for real beginners.
The idea inspired me, and over the next three weeks I devoted myself solely to this project and wrote a total of 70 pieces of this kind. My “African” inspired pieces only use the white keys of the piano, i.e. seven notes. Now the aim was to compose the most interesting melodies possible with only five notes. Stylistically, I composed my way through music history, writing in the style of Chopin and Debussy, African and Polish, Spanish and medieval, pop, swing and Viennese waltzes. I also tried to keep the piano accompaniments as playable as possible. I had in mind how a seven-year-old beginner recorder player would be accompanied by her ten-year-old sister.
These are the first twenty pieces! I thank Lucia Guckler, Martina Komínková and Tomoko Otsuki for their wonderful title suggestions, and I thank Yun-Jung Hsiao from Hsinchu, who recorded 27 of the first 40 pieces with me on 25.4.24, she on the recorder, me on the piano, in Meng-Heng Chen's studio, in just three hours. I will publish them one by one on YouTube.
In its June issue, WINDKANAL magazine wrote about the two booklets:
At the suggestion of Elisabeth Neuser, who wanted “really simple” pieces in the five-tone range (G1 - D2) for her beginner recorder students, Sören Sieg composed a total of 70 pieces for soprano recorder and piano, 40 of which he published in two collections. What makes these imaginative character pieces so special is their stylistic diversity, which provides a welcome contrast to the often somewhat monotonous and musically unchallenging literature for beginners. In addition to echoes of Chopin and Débussy, there are Polish, Spanish, and (of course) African pieces, some swing, pop, and Viennese waltzes—an “ear opener” far removed from clichés and without being limited to the same old children's songs and pop sounds that so often dominate and shape playing and listening habits in early instrumental lessons due to a lack of interesting literary alternatives. The piano accompaniments also play an important role here, as they are varied yet easy to play. Rhythmically, some compositions are a little more complex, but most focus on a rhythmic pattern that is easy to remember and can be applied to the whole piece. The pieces can be used as motivating exercises for tone production and rhythmic confidence for more advanced students who are venturing their first attempts at playing the tenor recorder. Highly recommended as a supplement and enrichment for beginner lessons!"
Kirsten Christmann
In light of the great reviews, I am repeating my offer: You can get both editions together, i.e. Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, a total of 40 pieces, for only 32.90€!
Here are three YouTube videos with pieces from the collection:
https://youtu.be/NDY-OqMMYeM?si=hXydsYT7k-egOUdh
