Vignettes - 5 Late-Intermediate Impressionist Piano Pieces that Prepare for Maurice Ravel Piano Method - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1490673

Vignettes is a set of 5 short (2 or 3-page) late-intermediate piano pieces that introduce unique aspects of Maurice Ravel's piano writing that students tend to find challenging. Given that Ravel himself wrote very little at the intermediate level for solo piano (except the recently rediscovered Prelude in A minor), I saw a great need for appropriate Ravel-preparatory repertoire.

Notes on the Pieces in Vignettes

1. Réminiscences d’Espagne

This work is an homage to Maurice Ravel's Habañera-styled pieces. It introduces techniques that Ravel frequently uses but that less-than-advanced students rarely encounter in repertoire at their level: numerous hand and arm crossings, 3-against-4 polyrhythms as evident in the habañera, very high registers, dissonances like German 7th chords and diminished thirds, and Spanish-flavored modal writing, to name a few. This piece also recalls my time as a cruise ship duo pianist aboard the ms Maasdam, which visited five ports in Spain.

2. Le jardin des papillons (The Butterfly Garden)

Le jardin des papillons is an homage to Maurice Ravel's piano writing as shown in pieces including the Sonatine, Le tombeau de Couperin, and others. It introduces techniques that Ravel frequently uses but that less-than-advanced students rarely encounter in repertoire at their level: sometimes-awkward hand and arm crossings, extended tertian chords (9th/11th/13th voicings), whole tone sonorities, and some modal writing, to name a few, while still maintaining a clarity of voicing that students will find in Ravel's own music.

3. Le jardin englouti (The Sunken Garden)

Le jardin englouti is an homage to Maurice Ravel's minuets (like the middle movement of the Sonatine and the minuet from Le tombeau de Couperin). This piece was inspired by the Sunken Garden, a former landmark on the Indiana University campus that sat across the street from the practice building in which I taught dozens of piano students, coached numerous singers, and learned piles of solo and collaborative repertoire before moving away in 2019. The Biology Building greenhouse now sits on the former Sunken Garden site.

4. Point Pelée

Point Pelée is an homage to Maurice Ravel's "toccata-style" movements, like the finale of the Sonatine or the toccata from Le tombeau de Couperin. This piece can be programmed with "Le jardin des papillons" and "Le jardin englouti" to form a three-movement suite that roughly corresponds to the Sonatine. This movement was inspired by Point Pelée National Park, in Ontario, Canada, a frequent roosting spot for monarch butterflies making the long migration from Canada to southern Mexico. In this piece I tried to capture the flutters of the roosting monarchs' wings as they'd settle into the trees at night and venture out across Lake Erie after resting. You can find more information on the park here: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee/nature/faune-wildlife/monarque-monarch

5. À la manière d'une Pavane

À la manière d'une Pavane is an homage to Maurice Ravel's piano writing as shown in his Pavane pour une infante défunte and the Pavane from the Mother Goose suite. It combines Baroque-reminiscent polyphony with the clarity and delicacy of articulation required more widely in the Ravel repertoire.