Alison Mathews

Doodles 1

Alison Mathews' new work is comprised of 128 short works, each only a system in length and divided into 4 themes: moods, sweets, weather and underwater.

Each theme contains 8 different works, untitled except with an illustration and each work comes in 4 different difficulty levels. The students can browse through the book and choose their favourite theme, advancing through the levels as and when they feel more confident in their reading. Advice for improvisation or expanding of the pieces is included in the score. The pieces start with a simple 5 finger hand position, using single notes and include the use of different techniques and articulation, which increase with thedifficulty, for example: legato, staccato, dynamics, tremolandi and glissandi.

Doodles is highly recommended for all piano students up to Grade 3 (ABRSM), as these pieces can be used for sight reading, weekly independent reading, as a basis for improvisation, and above all to spark the imagination.