All children love to show off their talent, particularly when they've recently started to learn an instrument. Here are 15 fun tunes for clarinet and piano which will do just that and which are ideal for all those party occasions. The pieces are designed to be fun to play and conjure up a variety of scenes and images, enhanced by the entertaining illustrations, to fire the young player's imagination. At the same time, they have been skilfully written for beginners, with the shapes of the tunes reinforcing basic fingering patterns and with simple technical problems gently presented. The pieces are arranged in progressive order of difficulty, and gradually extend in range from the single note of the opening piece. Many provide excellent practice in playing the basic notes of the instrument (the tenth around middle C), while the low E and throat Bb notes are carefully introduced in some of the later pieces. Simple articulations and basic slurs are used and these enhance the character of the attractive, clearly shaped tunes. The pieces range from the simplest to about an easy Grade 1 standard, and many are ideal for ABRSM's Prep Test. All in all, this album will help build children's confidence in their playing and provides many attractive pieces to celebrate their new-found ability.
