News!June 2011
CFMTA CALL FOR COMPOSITIONS WINNER!
‘Arctic Voices’ has won the CFMTA 2011 Call for Compositions in the Grade 3/4 category! The music will be made available up until Canada Music Week in November to all teachers across Canada from the CFMTA website at http://www.cfmta.org/student_competitions/CallforCompositionsWinners2011.php. You can download the file here and listen to the sound sample. This piece is part of a Collection called ‘Little Arctic Suite’ that has not been published as yet.
ReviewMay 2011
‘Soundplay‘ was reviewed by ORMTA Notes Magazine.
“Soundplay by Susan Griesdale, is a set of eight short, one page character pieces for solo violin. Each piece features a double stop from the unison to the octave and each is based on a different scale or mode – whole tone, chromatic, blues, octatonic, Dorian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Pentatonic. For easy reference, as set of scale samples is found at the back of the book.
The result is a charming collection of works for violin students in the RCM Grade 5 to 8 range, offering contemporary yet tonal compositions that convey many musical moods.
The pieces are very accessible, mostly in the 1st and 3rd positions, but including spots in the 2nd and 4th positions, and ‘Water Sprites’ reaches the 5th position. The pieces have bowing and fingering suggestions, but there is ample room for students and teachers to add their own choices. The ‘Highland Fanfare’ with its catchy Scottish flavor offers an unusual challenge using fifths: ‘Banter’ features a good workout in octaves, tempo changes and dialogue; ‘I Remember’ and ‘As I Wander’ are more contemplative in nature. ‘Will You?’ requires nimble fingers; ‘Stomp’ is energetic and colorful giving good practice switching between 5/8, 4/8 and 3/8 time signatures; the ‘Jolly Rondo’ with its spirited rhythm is especially suited to the violin and will quickly become a favorite!”
AdjudicatingApril 2011
I spent many hours reviewing and evaluating about 60 compositions from students of ORMTA teachers as I adjudicated the submissions for the Province. There was a wonderful variety of music, all of it well presented. It was very difficult to decide the winners! Congratulations to all the up-and-coming composers! It’s great to see our students are so engaged in such a rewarding activity.
AdjudicatingApril 2011
The first weekend in April was spent adjudicating for the Newmarket ORMTA Branch this year. A wonderful group of students and the standard was impressive!
New Book Release!March 2011
‘Soundplay‘ is a collection of eight solos for violin. You can see score samples and hear sound samples on the Composition Solo Instrumental page.
PerformanceMarch 2011
The Artists-in-Concert at The Music Gallery in Toronto saw a performance of five of my violin pieces from the ‘Soundplay‘ collection for solo violin performed by Violinist Susan Spier.
ReviewFebruary 2011
This month reviews of my ‘Let’s Pretend‘ music book and my ‘Rhythm Practice‘ book were written up in the LaDona blog. Take a look!
http://ladonasmusicstudio.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/rhythm-practice/
http://ladonasmusicstudio.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/lets-pretend/
ReviewNovember 2010
I found this review of ‘Little Hands, Big Pieces‘ from one of the appreciative audience members at our Stoufville Red Leaf Presentation!
http://ankiepianomusic.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html
ReviewWinter Issue 2010
My ‘Let’s Pretend‘ book was reviewed by the New Brunswick RMTA Quarter Note publication in their fall issue as part of their review of Red Leaf Pianoworks. http://www.nbrmta.com/
“‘Let’s Pretend‘ – Susan Griesdale (Grades 1-4) Great pieces for those students with big imaginations.
‘I am the King!!‘(2) includes the fanfare trumpets and fun dotted rhythms;
‘I’m Invisible’ (1/2) is very original and sure to please many. The first 2 lines start with the same music and the music gradually disappears, one beat at a time, until the end.”
On the RoadSept 2010
Kingston Fall Music Fair – Red Leaf Pianoworks was at the public library in Kingston Ontario for a presentation of a selection of repertoire at their one-day Music Fair.
I performed selections of my ‘Piano Poems‘, and assorted pieces from ‘Piano Mime‘, ‘Let’s Pretend‘ and ‘Little Hands, Big Pieces‘. What fun it is to play some of these little character ‘sound bites’!
On the RoadSept 2010
My colleague, Martha Hill Duncan and I had a fun time in Red Deer Alberta at the APTA (Alberta Piano Teachers Association) Convention.
Here we are at the trade show and also the airport where Martha took a picture of us waiting to board. This picture was initially upside down (must have held the iphone the wrong way!). That was a sign of our few days to come as we experienced first, a lost credit card, then, a lost cheque, and finally lost car keys! 
But the convention was simply wonderful and the people of APTA were very gracious
and welcoming. We would love to go back!
PerformanceAugust 2010
Two Piano works from my ‘Out of the Box‘ Collection ‘Shhhhh’ and ‘Bounce, Rattle’n Squeak’ were performed by Joseph Ferretti and Elaine Lau at the Music Monday series held at the Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto. The Concert was featuring the junctQin keyboard collective http://junctqin.com/- a trio that specialize in Toy pianos and acoustic tables! It was simply amazing!