Book launch at Winston Music Adelaide
Celebrating the launch of their new books, Australian composers Adam Pinto, Barry Cockcroft & Sam Seabrook took part in a 2-day series of presentations at Winston Music in Adelaide.
On Thursday 24th January 2008, Adam Pinto gave an fascinating presentation talking about the release of his 3 new books - My Favourite Piano Tutor Books 1, 2 & 3. Adam talked at length about the development process of these books. Adam recently returned from 3 months at the Banff Centre for the Arts where much of the creative process took place. He also gave a compelling performance of selected works from 'Fragments of Gratification', a collection of 20 Australian miniatures for solo piano.
Sam Seabrook, Australian composer talked with great enthusiasm about her new band method, Band Class 1. This new 3-year method is written specifically for Australian school programs and is ideal for use in the classroom. One of the most innovative features is the way that the notes are introduced. Flutes start on A, Bb & C and will no longer have to struggle with the awkward D, Eb & F that many teachers will be familiar with. Other instruments are kept to manageable ranges, such as trumpet that plays a 1-octave range from C to C.
Barry Cockcroft spoke about the prevalence of Australian composers now writing for younger players. Leading composers, who may have previously written only more advanced music are now using their talents to create skillful works for school aged players. With Adam Pinto, rompduo performed some new pieces by John Barrett, Taran Carter and one of Barry's own compositions.