Portraits for Piano: Intermediate Piano Book

Frankenpohl refuses the false choice between rigor and enjoyment. These pieces introduce genuine contemporary concepts (modal interchange, metric shifts, layered textures) through direct musical experience rather than abstract explanation. Students arrive at technical and harmonic sophistication without ever feeling lectured.

Playful without being dismissive, contemporary without alienating. The music sparkles with invention. Titles signal that serious musicianship and humor coexist; pieces feel designed for discovery rather than drudgery. You encounter genuine 20th century writing scaled to human hands and developing musical judgment.

Intermediate pianists ready to move beyond diatonic major and minor into the broader harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary of modern music. Students in private lessons or group piano classes who thrive on variety and real compositional techniques, not simplified approximations. Teachers seeking a single resource that covers stylistic survey and technical growth at once.

• Pay attention to the specific interval sizes notated in pieces like Flat Two, Flat Six. Hear the difference between a minor second and a major second as musical choice, not accident.
• Treat rhythmic crossovers as conversations between two hands rather than obstacles. Practice each layer separately at tempo before bringing them together.
• Let the titles anchor your interpretation. Birthday Tango should swing with character; Jamaican Folk Song needs its harmonic color respected. The musical language serves the mood.
• Use the varied meters and modes as invitations to listen freshly to each piece. The collection trains ear and hand together.

Assign one piece per week in lessons and have students perform a group recital where classmates hear the collection unfold as a whole survey. The varied moods and lengths work beautifully as a structured encore set for intermediate recitals. Use selections to anchor units on modes, rhythm, or harmonic color in your curriculum.

• Reading and performing in multiple modes and scales (pentatonic, Aeolian, chromatic variations)
• Interpreting non-traditional meters and rhythmic crossovers between hands
• Recognizing and executing chromatic contrary motion
• Understanding interval quality through direct musical context (large and small seconds, thirds, fourths)
• Performing with stylistic awareness across 20th century idioms
• Developing independent hand coordination in polyrhythmic textures