Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the many, many books by Pam Wedgwood (mainly for piano, although apparently she's written a recorder method too). When I first started teaching I quite liked her compositions, and it's true that some of them are popular with pupils (Strawberry Flip, Garage Sale are two that spring to mind). However, the more I heard the more I realised they are soooo repetitive. She seems to use the same hackneyed chord sequences over and over again and some pieces sound like they've been written by a mediocre GCSE candidate.

One of my adult pupils brought a book along to his lesson recently - I think it was 'After Hours'. I played through most of the pieces, some of which were, frankly, risible. We were in fits of laughter at how ridiculously generic some of them were.

I realise I'm being a bit sniffy, but knowing how exceedingly difficult it is to get music published I don't understand how some of this stuff doesn't end up being thrown straight in Faber's recycling bins (which would be appropriate, seeing as many of the musical ideas themselves seem to have been recycled). There's so much higher-quality music out there, such as Mike Cornick, Alan Haughton and even a lot of Chris Norton (although I think he's running out of ideas, too).

Any comments?

I had (and still have) the original Jazzin About, More Jazzin About, and Christmas Jazzin About, from when I was learning at school (back in the 90s). I really liked Jazzin About and Christmas Jazzin About but wasn't so keen on More Jazzin About. I haven't seen any of the others but can imagine they get a little repetitive. However the first book and Christmas book are ones I like to come back to and have a play through, just for fun. I know when I was learning the piano I used to really like the last couple of lessons in term as we always turned to these books for fun.

I imagine they are popular and so for the publishers and Pam Wedgwood there is a need to keep releasing more editions. They also do a range of Jazzin About books for other instruments too - clarinet, sax, flute, trumpet, violin etc.

Lucid

Crumbs, I didn't realise that! So even clarinetists / flautists aren't safe?! I think, much the same as Microjazz, the earlier stuff is probably more original and varied. I quite like the Christmas Jazzin' About for piano duet (great for, erm, Christmas), but then of course the tunes aren't actually by PW...

I used to love the Christmas duets in my book so much (Santa Claus is coming to Town, Sleigh Ride) that I would record one part on my little keyboard so I could play along with the other part. But I was a young teenager at the time.

I've not seen any of the instrumental books but if you do a search for Jazzin About on www.musicroom.com you'll see how many there are.

Any composer gets a bit repetitive after at time but whilst these series continue to sell well, I guess the publishing houses will keep pushing them out. I use them sparingly and then the student sees them as a fresh addition to their repertoire, not a constant diet.

I have to say, I've welcomed Really Easy Jazzin about for Oboe which provides some pieces for the Grade 1-2 oboist who wants something "trendy" to play to their family and friends early in their days as a player. The same with Razzmatazz for even more novice players. When I was starting oboe back in the dark ages, you played Bach, Handel, Corelli, Bach, Handel and, if you were lucky, maybe a bit of Mozart. I'd have loved some of the jazz repertoire then but, at that time, it was considered very poor form for oboists to play jazz!

Now, thankfully, young oboists engage in a wide range of musical styles, which IMHO, develops the whole musician.

So, overall, I think these jazz publications are good - but I use them as part of a very varied diet.

it doesnt take a genious to see that she uses the same same rhythms in alot of her pieces. such as in the Really easy jazzin about for piano, most of the pieces just start differently then have another piece from the book stuck in the middle. LOL

there ery similar atleast.

yes, they are a bit samey - although like Oboist I use them from time to time.

What always strikes me about them though is that the books are not specially good value for money, compared with other similar material. I haven't worked out if it 's all books from the same publisher or if it's PW in particular.

I absolutely agree with your comment about developing the whole musician - I hope it didn't sound like I have anything against jazz and other popular styles, even on the oboe and am very happy for my own pupils to explore all sorts of music. It just irritates me when I come across the same ideas again and again in JA - it seems a bit lazy.


That's exactly what I mean!! Glad it's not just me who thinks that!

I'm trying to imagine current pupil repertoire without PW's publications - well - maybe five, six years ago -but speaking for myself I have now grown away from them and rarely use them for teaching at the moment. I find some of the patterns difficult to apply suitable fingering to (pieces composed by computer perhaps?) and like others have said they got a bit samey. On the plus side they kept two teenage lads keen on piano when they ran out of steam at about AB Grade 2 -3. They are now tackling Grades 6 and 7 after PW filled a gap for them when they were younger. They no longer play PW material, although i think some of it has been committed to memory!

I think Mike Cornick material is very intersting. I recently ordered a book called 'Party Cat' which is scales and chords made fun with copycat/interaction ideas and jazzy accompaniment for the teacher to play. I like his repertoire pieces and I also intend to explore Martha Mier further.

I also enjoyed using 'After Hours' for house guests on holiday at Christmas. Well received for seven days every evening - although most of them were probably unmusical anyway and didn't really notice!

Some of her stuff is brilliant, and other stuff more mediocre - the same applies to any of her books, I think. I just pick out the best ones from each book.....it's the same across the board though - if you think of writers, they produce some brilliant books, yet others by the same writer may feel "churned out" and cliched, following the same general storylines etc etc I wonder if publisher pressure to "come up with the goods" is to blame..... . I know that when I compose, sometimes there are flashes of inspiration and a whole piece appears and fits together, and yet other times, I struggle to carry on with what I thought seemed a promising idea at the time.....

I use "really easy Jazzin about" a lot as it fills a gap with younger players who don't want to have a purely classical diet. However they are samey after a while. It would be good to use this space to compile a list of other pieces that fit the bill for similar achievement levels to give more variety.

Martha Mier's stuff is pretty good, also William Gillock's, but I realise this is slightly more advanced, although "New Orleans Nightfall" can effectively be transcribed for duet. (The Chris. Norton duet books are pretty good as well)

Also, I beg forgiveness from those who endured a whole swathe of New Orleans Nightfalls, not to mention Jackson Street Blues-es who will be shouting at their computer that "These aren't NEW ideas!!"

She may be lovely and have very laudable pedagogical intentions, but that doesn't change that fact that so much of her music is dull and cliched. She does indeed write in different styles, but as I said, it's all terribly generic.
Thanks for information on her pseudonym. I'll know to avoid music by Louise Chamberlain too.

I tend to agree with the PW books in the value for money fact (£14 just for Really Easy Jazzin and UpGrade 1-2), but I think they are good teaching pieces. I don't have all of them but of the ones I do have they do a good job of teaching what beginning players need to know. Repetitionh isn't always a bad thing in teaching! There may come a point where one gets tired of her style, but that's a very personal thing.

when you do aural in the higher grades, the examiner plays an extract, then asks various questions. One of them can be @who do you think the composer may be?'
The very fact that many of us can answer this question would suggest to me that many composers stuff is 'sameish', but that doesn't make them rubbish. Anyone can pick out Bach, Strauss, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin, merely because they have little quirks that they use in many of their compositions.

Hear hear! My 8 year old loves her "Jazzin About" pieces (for cello). "Hungarian Stomp" was her favourite grade 3 piece and she also loves "Sometime Maybe" which she's doing for her grade 4 in 2 weeks. I have heard them both many many times, but I still enjoy hearing them.

My son really loves playing Garage Sale, and played a PW piece in the early sax grades as well. What's wrong with her pieces? When I did Grade 1 piano I played "Skipping Song" by Mageleine Dring and "Where have you been, my lambkin?" by Bartok - two pieces which would have been guaranteed to put my son off playing the piano for life

It really doesn't matter if her pieces can be repetitive, as the children will only play one or two of her pieces anyway.

Maybe it's the fact that they ARE reasonably predictable style wise than makes them popular.
Don't many people have a style of music they prefer to listen to?
Familiarity can be very comforting.

Young children do tend to like to play their favourites over and over again anyway.

Surely the most important thing is that they're playing and enjoying it. I think we can be a bit too "snobbish" sometimes. After all, how many of our students are going to be professional musicians?

I tend to use a bit of everything including Pam Wedgewood.

I've had a few pupils openly laugh at "Garage Sale" though

Yes! So have I! Most notably a 14 year old who said 'it's sounds like a bass guitar piece, but they've forgotten to use a bass guitar'
Then again it could have been the way I demonstrated it!

I have a 12 year old who LOVED it. He didn't even consider the other C pieces once he'd heard Garage Sale.