HerStory: The Piano Collection

**Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Resource Category for the 2023 Music & Drama Education Awards**HerStory: The Piano Collection presents invaluable repertoire by remarkable female composers across the ages. This important collection is progressively graded, suitable for intermediate to advanced level players (approximately Grade 4 to Grade 8) and also features a piano duet and an ensemble piece for piano, clarinet, viola and cello.Written and compiled by award-winning author and piano pedagogue Karen Marshall, each piece is accompanied by a fascinating ‘snapshot’ of the 29 composers, providing invaluable insights into how they lived and composed, alongside quotes from them or about them. In addition there are suggestions of other pieces to try, personal observations from Karen Marshall and pedagogical activities and ideas.“This vibrant collection of wonderful music from literally every musical period promises to enrich the musical lives of everyone. Female composers have suffered shocking neglect over the centuries, but society is now beginning to make amends. Karen Marshall’s extraordinary anthology brings neglected jewels out of obscurity and into the limelight, where they will be loved and cherished.”Kathryn Page, pianist, adjudicator, teacher and co-founder of Chetham’s International Piano Summer School‘Marshall's book is much more than a practical text – it is a library of forgotten treasures that we should bring back to life on pianos across the world. This is proof that the uniting force of music can transcend patriarchal barriers and has the power to inspire the next generation to start a new cycle of creativity.’Hattie Fisk, Music Teacher Online, 1st May 2022HerStory is more than the sum of its parts, a singular and significant achievement, lifting the lid on a terrific range of superb music that is long-overdue its day in the sun. Not only so, but Karen Marshall has also done a huge service in further elevating the music with such a wealth of historical research, personal detail, and pedagogic insight, all delivered with her wonderfully personable expertise and infectious enthusiasm. As a fresh and varied collection of 30 intermediate to advanced pieces, the book offers rich pickings for concerts, piano clubs, festivals and examination syllabi alike, and will surely come to be regarded as a significant sourcebook of musical inspiration. These are winsome, highly likeable works which audiences will surely warm to, and which students and players of all ages will undoubtedly find deeply rewarding to play.Andrew Eales, pianodao.com, March 2022Over the past few months, I’ve enjoyed exploring HerStory. It is a unique collection, and one which should be seen as an iconic milestone in music publishing. It is rare for me to say it, but I enjoyed every piece, and it’s a collection I shall enjoy playing from as much as I enjoy teaching.David Barton, davidbartonmusic.co.uk, May 2022