Federation Trios

Teachers keep coming back to Melody Bober's Grand Trios for Piano series across all five books, from Book 1 (Early Elementary) through Book 5 (Intermediate). Beyond Bober's prolific output, Robert D. Vandall's Triple Dip and Joyce Grill's Three's a Crowd Rag offer contrasting styles. Dennis Alexander's A Christmas Tree-O! and Mary Elizabeth Clark's arrangement of the March from The Nutcracker Suite round out the popular choices for recitals and festivals.

Melody Bober earned her music education degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and went on to earn a master's in piano performance from Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Her teaching experience shaped her compositional voice; she writes deliberately motivational pieces that help students develop genuine musicianship alongside technical skill. Her Grand Trios series demonstrates this pedagogical philosophy at every level.

Joyce Grill brings decades of university teaching to her work as a composer. A retired emeritus faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, she holds the MTNA Master Teacher Certificate and has led workshops across the country. Her practical understanding of what works in the studio and the classroom informs her compositions, including Three's a Crowd Rag.

Dennis Alexander began publishing with Alfred Music in 1986 and has since created over 400 educational compositions and arrangements. He spent 24 years teaching piano pedagogy at the University of Montana before establishing a private teaching practice. His prolific catalog has made him one of the most widely adopted composers of educational piano music for students at all levels.