The Ensemble Collection

The Ensemble Collection

What they say

“A delight to play, all in the easy-medium range but brimming with appeal” “This book of original compositions was a delight to play, all in the easy-medium range but brimming with appeal. A sonorous set of slower pieces in which the cello gets a good run is complemented by a cheerfully Celtic Waltz and hearty Russian Dance. There's a pleasant piano setting (Kember is a well-known jazz piano teacher) and separate instrumental parts. Short and sweet, this volume of delectable melodies”
David van Gend, 'Stringendo' the Journal of the Australian Strings Association, April 2009 (Vol.31 No. 1)

“original, assured and fun to play and listen to” “The Ensemble Collection 4 contains seven original compositions for two descants and a treble recorder with a piano accompaniment. Each piece illustrates national character, ... The composer has set out to provide music that gives each player an equal share in the melodic interest and he has succeeded admirably. The pieces are very well suited to school ensemble playing and any number could be linked to form an enjoyable concert suite. While inevitably using stereotypical national traits the writing here is original, assured and fun to play and listen to.”
Ian Abernathy, a full-time recorder teacher for 25 years in the Scottish Borders, in 'Music Teacher', August 2002.

“a wide variety of styles with a different national flavour” “These seven original works have been written for three recorders with piano accompaniment. They cover a wide variety of styles with a different national flavour of each. The recorder lines all share the melodic interest and are designed for players of similar standard, allowing students to perform without assistance - even the accompaniments could be played by a pianist of modest ability. Titles included 'Downtown Rio' and 'Spanish Nights' and the publication comes with piano score and a set of parts.”
'Sheet Music'

“a very useful addition to the junior/ intermediate ensemble repertoire” “This charming set of six pieces written in a variety of styles reminiscent of Adam Carse is a very useful addition to the junior/ intermediate ensemble repertoire. The pieces are written for students of similar standard with the third part most usefully written for either viola or cello. The piano is treated as an equal part, not merely accompaniment. ... The range for first violin is not higher than third position, second violin and viola can be played in first position throughout and the cello part goes up to fourth position.”
Vanessa Sweeney

Other collections from John Kember

American Song Book (Self)
All-new arrangements of the classic hits of the 20th century by John Kember Easy Jazz Pieces (Music Sales)
Short pieces to make this popular genre available to relative beginners, and for those at primary and intermediate levels. Easy Piano Duets (Schott)
Designed to be played by teacher and pupil, or by two players of equal ability. Jazz masterclasses (Schott)
John has worked with Jiggs Whigham, internationally acclaimed trombone virtuoso, to produce this fine in-depth guide for aspiring jazz trombonists. Jazz Piano Studies (Faber)
John Kember's love of jazz and latin styles is well illustrated by the volumes in this collection, which includes material for everyone from the beginner up to more advanced players with a wealth of pieces to help develop a true jazz style. Keyboards (Schott)
The Keyboards series provides simple but interesting arrangements of well-known pieces. On the Lighter Side (Schott)
Although the pieces in this collection are on the lighter side, they are by no means trivial and offer pianists of all levels something interesting and challenging. The series contains both piano solo and piano duet volumes, some with CD recordings of the pieces. Original Jazz Ballads (Music Sales)
Pieces for the solo player that evoke the atmosphere and styles of popular songs from the periods when melody, lyrics and harmonies reached their peak. Play Ballads (Faber)
'The joy of ballad playing is indulgence pure and simple: performing the smoothest and most expressive of melodies'. The melodies are similar in style and are attractive, providing opportunities for developing tonal quality, phrasing and legato playing. Play Ballads offers the Grade 4-6 (intermediate) instrumentalist the inspirations of some of the greatest exponents of the form. Play Broadway (Faber)
Each volume in the Play Broadway series features 10 of the best shows from across the decades. Available for six seperate instruments, each volume includes a CD with backing tracks and piano accompaniments. Sight Reading (Schott)
Sight-reading is a vital accomplishment for any musician. This series provides a new approach and includes introductory introductory and more advanced volumes for instrumentalists (the Sight-Reading volumes) and vocalists (the Sight-Singing volumes). Starting Out (Schott)
Short, tuneful pieces to help new players of all ages gradually widen their range of notes and rhythmic patterns. Although these pieces are broadly progressnve in range of notes and rhythmic figures used, they are intended as a source of material from which the teacher can select to suit the needs of individual pupils rather than needing to work from cover to cover. String Quartet Arrangements (Schott)
John Kember provides in this series a variety of pieces from classical, romantic, baroque and modern periods in score and parts for the string quartet. The Jazz Piano Player (Faber)
The books in this series are based on well-known songs from the Great American Songbook by great American songwriters such as Cole Porter, George Gerwin and Harold Arlen. The purpose of these books is to help pianists to understand chords, chord symbols and voicings. Each song is shown in two forms - firstly with melody, words, chord symbols and notation; and secondly an intermediate standard solo arrangement. The Pop Piano Player (Faber)
Designed for pianist wanting to make the transition into playing pop piano, as well as those keen to develop their own style. The Simply Series (Self)
The books in this series each take a genre of music: Latin, Jazz, Swing and provide a series of original pieces by John Kember that fir perfectly into any repertoire.