Christopher Norton Connections for Piano, Duet Book 1

Christopher Norton’s distinctive contributions to the literature for the piano successfully bridge the gap between traditional piano literature and music in contemporary popular styles. The original series, Christopher Norton Connections for Piano contains over 200 newly composed pieces, carefully selected, edited, and sequenced to span ten levels from elementary to advanced.

The pieces in Connections for Piano Duet (arranged by Stephen Doughty) cover a wide range of styles—from swing to Latin and from calypso to pop ballad. These pieces present many of the same challenges found in more traditional repertoire. Lyrical pieces demand tonal beauty, excellent balance between melody and accompaniment, naturalbreathing and phrasing, and pedalling finesse. More rhythmically oriented pieces require coordination, a deep-seated sense of pulse, and awareness of stylistic touches and accentuations. All pieces benefit from a strong connection to mood, movement, or image. Stephen Doughty’s adaptations for duet are full of invention and imagination that gives the pieces in this book a life of their own.