I just finished A Witch’s Cat, a piece I didn’t expect to like. (I liked it.)
There were quite a few pieces in this slim volume that I didn’t expect to like. Giving Gillock his due, however — playing the phrases with his micro-managed notations — produced a better impression than I’ve ever had of Gillock’s writing, which is saying quite a bit. Husband Bob was extremely impressed with New Orleans Nightfall, asking once if it was Gershwin (whoa!); and Tony Caramia, a composer of jazz idioms for students, once called William Gillock the high priest of composers for students.
What impresses me about every one of these pieces is that, when played as directed by Gillock, the artistry approaches what might be easy Chopin, or easy Burgmüller, depending on how much or little of a sharp character the individual piece paints. I am beginning to think that this volume could work wonders for young students needing to develop artistic phrasing (and who doesn’t need to do that?).
I’m curious what everyone’s favorite piece was — I’ll have to give this some thought to list my own.
Cheers and love,
Helen
ZAHRAA 1/24: Hi Ms. Helen, Thanks for adding me to all of these updates! I had to move back to school on the 15th, so I was only able to play through a couple, but I did really enjoy it and loved that it brought some joy and music to quarantine. Looking forward to the next time I’m home when I can try out some of the ones I missed! Hope you’re enjoying finishing up the book. See you soon! Zahraa
HELEN 1/24: So great to have you respond, and that you enjoyed some of them, Zahraa!
CELIA 1/27: I really enjoyed playing through the Gillock pieces this month. Sometimes I find pieces with designated themes to be trite, but I didn’t feel that way about these pieces. Most of them were quite evocative of their titles/themes in a way that was authentic and made me smile. It was also gratifying to play them because it was easier to get them to sound the way they were supposed to than it is when sight reading, say, a Bach fugue. I played many of these a few times because I liked them so much!
A few of my favorites were 1. Forest Murmurs, 3. October Morning, 8. Summer Storm, 12. Autumn Sketch, 14. Winter Scene, 18 Phantom Rider, and 24. A Witch’s Cat.
HELEN: Celia, thank you for this thoughtful response. So glad you played through them all!