Today, I’m pleased to share with you a piece of music called Grace that I composed some years ago, as an undergraduate student.
My first two years of college studies were spent as a piano performance major at Grand Rapids Community College, near my hometown in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have such good memories of my time there. It was a time of great growth for me, both personally and as a musician. I was meeting and making friends with people wonderfully different from those in the “bubble” I had grown up in up to that point. I adored my piano professor. And I felt like my musical senses were becoming more alive every day, thanks to the Aural Comprehension and Music Theory classes I was taking. I was experiencing immersion in a vibrant, diverse, and musical environment.
One semester, I started composing a few pieces and then analyzing the chord progressions to see how the sounds I was hearing related to what I was learning in class. I showed the pieces to my professor, who suggested I might enjoy taking composition lessons. I liked that idea, so I added it to my schedule for the following semester. I continued taking composition lessons off-and-on throughout my undergraduate years.
This piece, Grace, was composed during my time at GRCC. For me, this piece will forever evoke memories of that very happy period of my college studies.
Over the years, I’ve played Grace for various events, like church services, dinners, and weddings. I’ve also given it to my students to learn. It’s a two-page, late-intermediate piece with an expressive melody and flowing left hand accompaniment.
I invite you to take a listen. Here’s the video on YouTube.
You’ll find the PDF sheet music and MP3 recording for Grace available for purchase HERE in my shop. I hope you or your students will find this piece a pleasure to play. There is a Studio License available — so you can use the piece as much as desired with your own students.
The blogiversary sale is still going on now — which means, if you enter the code 11YEARS during checkout between now and May 1st, 2020, you will receive 20% off your entire purchase.
I hope you enjoy hearing, playing, and teaching Grace!
I work at GRCC and have done so for many years. Our Communications department searches sites for references to GRCC and shares them via e-mail to our employees under the title of GRCC Today. Today, they posted a link to your blog. I clicked on the link and listened to your piece. Thank you for your kind words about our institution. Your piece of composition is beautiful. Something we need to hear among a COVID-19 crisis. Thank you for making me and probably others here smile. GRCC is a great place to learn and work!
Wow, how cool is that! I’m tickled pink. Thanks so much for letting me know, Mary Jo!! I agree, GRCC is a special place.
I read on Facebook that you have ideas for studio organization — specifically, sheetmusic. But I can’t find it on your blog. Could you please direct me to this discussion? (P.S. I attended GRCC, too — graduated in 1996.)
Hello Susan! Yes, here is the post about organizing your music library: https://colorinmypiano.flywheelsites.com/2015/10/13/how-to-organize-your-music-library/ Enjoy! How great that you attended GRCC as well — small world! 😀