New book! Rāga Jogiya Kalingra “Aroma of Saffron” (Christmas 2019)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1650187777 Published Christmas 2019 The word rāga literally means ‘to colour’, and from that also ‘to induce passion’ or ‘emotion’. The musical term rāga refers to a performance, within the melodic and structural conventions of Indian classical music, that evokes a particular emotion. Rāga Jogiya Kalingra “Aroma of Saffron” evokes a mood of wonder: It…

Bollywood piano music

I am asked every so often if I have any Indian pop music for piano. I usually say no. But finally I thought I'd do one, through SMP's arrangement scheme, and it's been fun. So, here is my new piano arrangement of hit Bollywood song https://youtu.be/C7DGBbc5Hhg Kisi Se Pyar Ho Jaye - I'll add the SMP link…

Raags on demand…

After requests for some specific raags, I've done two more easy piano adaptations - Raag Malhar and Raag Chayanat - done in the format of the ‘easy’ book (“Indian Raags for Piano Made Easy”), ie: with a very simplified structure (alaap, gat, improvisation using phrases from the alaap, gat, ending gestures including tihai) to fit…

Review (July 2018) by Fiona Lau – Music Teacher Magazine

New, nice review - by Fiona Lau (in Music Teacher Magazine - available to buy from https://pocketmags.com/music-teacher-magazine/july-2018) - of my "Indian Raags for Piano Made Easy" book. "I can see this book being extremely useful to: those who teach world music and would value a keyboard approach to it; classical pianists wanting a wonderfully approachable…

Video tutorials

Here are the first seven of a series of short video tutorials on Indian classical music -  1) What is a raag/raga? What is Indian classical music? 2a) The 4 melody ingredients that combine to define each raag. 2b) The 4 melody ingredients - examples on a piano. 3) The structure of a raag -…

Piano music inspired by the Chinese pipa

New - Pipa Dreams in Imperial Garden (April 2018) for solo piano, is an attempt to capture something of the essence of the Chinese lute. The pipa is a strummed and plucked, pear-shaped instrument, with four strings (typically tuned A D E A), characteristically using frequent fast tremolo with all of the right fingers repeatedly plucking…

The creative process behind the Indian raag compositions for piano

https://serenademagazine.com/series/music-education/how-to-play-indian-sitar-raags-on-a-piano/  Published 10 April 2018 Composer John Pitts explains the creative process behind the Indian raag compositions for piano solo in his new book “How to Play Indian Sitar Raags on a Piano” So, please indulge me with this imaginary scenario:1) A sitar player in India who also happens to love European classical music. He…