Seasons Change is a collection of four intermediate piano solos by Lynette Sawatsky. As you might expect, the titles of the pieces are “Springtime,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter,” but what you might not expect is the beauty and very high quality of each of these pieces. “Springtime” and “Summer” are two pages each and the other two pieces are three pages each. Melodic with a contemporary/ “new agey" style and sound, each piece has some excellent teaching points like phrasing, timing (there are some interesting rhythms that can teach the importance of counting), playing with expression, fingering, reading ledger lines, playing sixteenth notes, basic key signatures, etc. The pay-off of learning these pieces is that they sound quite sophisticated for their playing level and don’t feel childish. I would not hesitate to teach these pieces to my adult students as well as the kids (of any age).

Lynette Sawatsky is a long-time Canadian piano teacher herself who loves to compose and I think she expresses that love and joy exceptionally well. This is the third collection of her music that I’ve reviewed, and I’m very impressed. Her sheet music and books are available from www.lynettesawatsky.com and www.debrawanless.com as printed materials or downloads. Very highly recommended!