A new Leaving Certificate music course book has been published.

Soundscapes, the first in a series of course books dealing with the prescribed works and other aspects of the Leaving Certificate music syllabus, has just been published by Waltons of Dublin.

This first volume covers Gerald Barry’s Piano Quartet No. 1 as one among four works in Group A of the syllabus. Author Arthur Sealy discusses Barry’s work while providing a thorough 20th-century contextualization and a biography of the composer.

References are made to reviews, articles and interviews with the composer, and the ‘Beyond the Exam’ section includes a recommended bibliography. Arthur Sealy sees this as a means ‘to encourage students to explore the world of contemporary music, if not now, then at some point in the future’.

Volume II of Soundscapes, which deals with Raymond Deane’s work, Seachanges (with Danse Macabre), is scheduled to appear in Spring 2006.

Soundscapes Volume 1 will be launched as part of an open evening for teachers in the Contemporary Music Centre on 6 October. The book retails at 14.95 in all good book and music shops.

Posted: 9 September 2005