HAND IN HAND
Ben Crosland
Timeline
Ben Crosland (b.1968)
- Born in England. Ben Crosland started playing piano at age 5
- 1987 began teaching and now runs his own music school in Worcester
Ben started by writing music for his own piano students and has now written seven volumes of easy to intermediate works for piano, several of which have been used in Trinity College London syllabuses.
Ben is also a sound designer working with various instruments and plays in a Jazz group called the Ben Crosland Quintet. Click on the picture to listen to some of his other work on Soundcloud:
Style
Ben Crosland is a CONTEMPORARY composer writing mostly in jazz and pop styles. His aim is to create music which students will find both inspiring and achievable, while still being gently challenging and technically beneficial. Hand in Hand is in a gentle Blues style and based on the 12 bar blues pattern in C major:
Interpretation
- You might be tempted to swing the quavers here – but better not as it is not what the composer wants! So keep them steady and ‘straight’:
- The Allegro tempo might feel a little rushed to capture the blues style so you can play it a shade slower – but not too much – like in the example above.
- To capture something of the blues style but extra weight on the first note of each phrase – especially when they are on an off-beat:
- Make a big rallentando and diminuendo at the end so it sounds like you are winding down for the finish:
