Some time back it struck me that the world could use some more original piano works that are not only relatively easy to play, but actually sound like something when performed. I've always liked the Chopin Prelude in E minor, which except for that one section in the middle is pretty easy to play, and it sounds very good. So I used the Chopin prelude as inspiration and came up with this piece.

For years it had no name, only the year I wrote it, 1986, written across the top of the manuscript. I finally found it after our last move, and it was like finding an old friend. I reached back in my mind to the time I wrote it and remember my baby girl, Megan, who was born in 1986, gurgling in her little seat while I was working on this. Megan is now old enough to play it herself, and perhaps giving it to her via the title will make this piece all the more special to her.

So listen to PIECE FOR MEGAN, written in the key of D, which can easily be handled by intermediate teen pianists (younger kids might have trouble with the octave spreads in the left hand) and adults like me who are just not as accomplished on the piano as they would like, but still get asked to play in front of folks from time to time.

MP3 sound sample: Entire piece (sytnhesizer/midi).



The downloadable PDF file contains four pages of music and the license page, a total of 1016K of data. Performance time varies with interpretation, but should be around three minutes. There's a good starting place half way through if you need something about half as long.

Composer: Tom Kirkland

Same piece arranged for string orchestra.