Forbidden Forest:
- Level: Early Elementary
- Pages: 4 pages, 2 pages of music, cover included!
- Style: Mysterious, almost scary
- Bonus and Features: mp3 performance track; Black key; Hand positions pictured
- Format: PDF instant download
Sunset Voyage:
- Level: Early Elementary
- Pages: 5 pages, 3 pages of music, cover included!
- Style: Grand and epic
- Bonus and Features: mp3 performance track; Black key; Hand positions pictured
- Format: PDF instant download
Fragrant Stroll:
- Level: Early Elementary
- Pages: 4 pages, 2 pages of music, cover included!
- Style: Bright and sunny
- Bonus and Features: mp3 performance track; Black key; Hand positions pictured
- Format: PDF instant download
Bittersweet Creek:
- Level: Early Elementary
- Pages: 4 pages, 2 pages of music, cover included!
- Style: Melancholy and highly emotive
- Bonus and Features: mp3 performance track; Black key; Hand positions pictured
- Format: PDF instant download
Mature students just beginning piano don’t want to sound like they are playing kiddy pieces. The Finding Beautiful Places 2 (this set) and Finding Beautiful Places 1 set of music helps ensure that these students are motivated by mature sounding and deeply nuanced music.
The Finding Beautiful Places 2 Bundle Includes:
Forbidden Forest – Early elementary
Sunset Voyage – Early elementary
Fragrant Stroll – Early elementary
Bittersweet Creek – Early elementary
What is the Studio License?
The studio license for each of the pieces in this Finding Beautiful Places 2 Bundle licenses you to use this for yourself and any student you directly teach, for your entire lifetime of teaching! It’s like getting an unlimited supply of this music since you can print and use it over and over again. Plus there is no shipping since it is digital delivery. You get the PDF and bonus mp3 in your email within minutes of your purchase.
Bonus recording included!
When you purchase the Finding Beautiful Places 2 Bundle, you receive bonus mp3 recordings for each piece performed by Wendy Stevens. You are permitted to send this example performance track to your students to help them learn the piece.
More About the Finding Beautiful Places Series:
The Finding Beautiful Places series is especially easy and helpful as hand positions are pictured, finger numbers are indicated on each note, and the hands are mostly on the black keys so finding the correct notes are easy.
The Entering Beautiful Places series always includes note names the first time a note is used. This is helpful for students just learning to read or needing to become more fluent in reading music on the staff. However, those “helps” are taken away and students then process these helps in a way that assists the in learning the notes on staff.
Both of these series is made especially for teens and adults as is part of our Music Adults Love™ and Music Teens Love™ collection – beautiful, mature sounding music that doesn’t sound like it comes from a child’s method book.
Other pieces and other collections in this series include:
- Finding Beautiful Places 1 – EE (Early Elementary) Music on the black keys; For those with no prior piano experience
- Finding Beautiful Places 2 – EE (Early Elementary) That’s THIS collection!
- Entering Beautiful Places 1 – E (Elementary) Music for those who are transitioning to the white keys or who need to review their white key note names
- Entering Beautiful Places 2 – E (Elementary) More music for those transitioning from black to white keys.
- In Beautiful Places – E (Elementary) Music for mid elementary students containing some across the bar line syncopation, but music that is still quite achievable and beautiful at this level
- Exploring Beautiful Places – LE (Late Elementary) Music for the late elementary pianist that contains eighth notes that are easy to feel and play.
Valerie –
Your second collections of Finding Beautiful Places and Entering Beautiful Places are just lovely! Perfect for my students of many levels—it allows more advanced readers to focus on expression (similar to the Nutcracker cups, where we could work on expression as a main focus since reading the notes was not a factor). It gives my struggling readers something big and beautiful to play. Thank you for making more in the series at this level!
Amy –
I was just thinking the other day how I hoped you would write more of the “Beautiful” series pieces. You must have read my mind. I think these pieces will keep many studios in business because they let early students play something big sounding. The kids will keep coming back for more. I started using Piano Safari for just this reason. Then I found your pieces and have been using them for the last few years. They never disappoint. Thank you for such fun music.
Lisa –
My kiddos really enjoy playing this music! I know this was intended for adults, but, everyone is really enjoying these beautiful pieces. One of my piano girls has a learning disability and feels like she is playing major pieces with the beautiful places music. I appreciate you and all the hard work you put into composing amazing pieces.
Keera –
I have all of the Beautiful Places series, now. All of my students enjoy them. Even my more advanced kids like to play through them as a relaxing warm up. I recently started offering group workshops for beginner adults, and they love that these pieces sound beautiful and elegant.
Debbie Scott –
Yes, yes, yes to ALL of Wendy’s compositions. I purchased ALL the music presented in the Weird & Wonderful – Teaching Adults webinar and my students love it. They are beautiful, creative and my students love them. The big take away with Wendy is her passion for creating music that keeps students interested. This is obvious by not only her knowledge but the level of dedication and excitement in sharing her music, which is obvious in the webinars. Run, don’t walk, to share this great music with your students (and yourself)! Thank you Wendy!
Chris –
The music you are writing is one of the best current contributions to piano pedagogy that I’ve seen (and heard!)! Thank you Wendy! We needed your music!
Kyle –
These pieces have been essential for my adult beginners that want to play something beautiful NOW! They don’t have time to wait years to play something stunning and these pieces help provide motivation alongside more traditional pieces/methods. These pieces are motivating and teach fundamental skills to set up your students for piano success.
Bonnie –
I love the ENTIRE Beautiful Places series! And I am especially grateful for the “Finding Beautiful Places” early elementary set, because it has been an absolute HIT with my beginning students of all ages! My adult beginner can’t stop saying how much the “Finding Beautiful Places” pieces make her sound “LIKE A PRO!” My teenage beginners love them, and my little beginners love them too. My seven-year-old student, who’s only been taking lessons for a few months, said “I love them because they sound like REAL music!” Kids and adults alike love to play things that sound good, and sound impressive. It’s just so wonderful for beginner students to enjoy playing truly beautiful music right from the start. Finding Beautiful Places provides that experience! I only wish there were more of them! Luckily I can tell all my beginners that there are more levels of Beautiful Places that await them!
Kathy Vollmer –
It’s been my experience after purchasing two of your BeautifulPlaces “bundles “ that these have opened doors and filled needs for my younger and older students.
My adult learners take comfort in the fact their early attempts to play actually sound Mature and using the damper pedal takes the sound to a new dimension. My younger students too have benefited from this music….they can take pride in the more contemporary sound and can find pleasure as well. I love the beautiful art work that accompanies the pieces! An added bonus!
Bernadette –
Finding Beautiful Places has been excellent for my 13 year old beginner. She loves them and felt she was actually playing ‘real music’ from the first few lessons. Thank you!
Kristy Ellis –
My students just adore all the pieces in these bundles and are always asking for more! I cannot recommend highly enough! I’ve even discovered the parents love them too and have been teaching themselves how to play these pieces at home! Success all around!
Peggy Flickinger –
Finding Beautiful Places is the perfect resource with beautiful harmonies for older beginners to reinforce finger numbers, reinforce key locations and create beautiful music at the same time. One of my adult students said “You have no idea how much I needed these songs just now in my life.” Thank you Wendy for your thoughtful compositions to speak to adult learners.
Rayme Pullen –
Although I own most of Wendy’s rote and reading series pieces, I need new music from time to time for beginners. These pieces were perfect for my students that just started lessons a few months ago. Forbidden Forest has been the overwhelming favorite, with Fragrant Stroll as a strong second. It’s so wonderful to teach beginning music that sounds sophisticated, nuanced, and mature. My students and I are grateful for the high quality materials that ComposeCreate continues to release year after year!
Jan –
Finding Beautiful Places Series 1 and 2 are marvelous for my adult beginner classes and any early elementary student that needs to develop expression. It’s easy, so they have extra bandwidth to make it sound beautiful too. No more dinky pieces, because Wendy came to the rescue with these mature- sounding ones! So, when is Finding Beautiful Places 3 coming out? 😉 I don’t think there can be enough of these!
Betty Jo –
It appears that I will be having a Wendy Stevens recital at the end of May. My young and adult beginners are enjoying these expressive pieces that are easy enough to
put together in a short time. They are nice supplemental pieces to standard beginner method books.Even though they could be learned by rote, I appreciate that students become comfortable with keeping a steady beat, jumping octaves, putting focus on dynamics and the other expression marks that are so important in their playing, It also gives us a chance to focus on tone instead of constantly drilling notes and rhythm. This will give a nice spring mood to the recital.
Helen –
All of your Beautiful Places pieces have been wonderful for my teen and adult beginners! Sometimes they look at all those notes on the page and get very intimidated. Then I remind them that it’s from Wendy Stevens, and it will always have good patterns that will make it easy to learn!
Lisa –
My students recently presented their Spring Recital. All four of the pieces in the Finding Beautiful Places Bundle were performed by my first-year piano students. When selecting music for the recital, I played four to five different pieces of various styles and composers. Each student then chose their favorite piece to work on. This music by Wendy Stevens was a hit! The students loved the easy reading and the mature sounds created. They loved the effects of the damper pedal and the recognizable patterns that made it easy for them to memorize. These students are on the staff but not totally secure in their reading yet. The Finding Beautiful Places pieces are not on the staff, so it made each student feel very capable, which led to good practicing and a successful public performance by all of them! Following the recital, a student asked to learn another piece by Wendy Stevens. She said, “I just love Wendy.” I said, “So do I!”
Anna Fagan –
I just LOVE that you’re writing beautiful pieces that are easy for my teen and adult beginners to play! It really helps to gain confidence that they ARE actually musicians, even from the earliest stages of their development. I’m hoping that you’ll continue to add to this series!
Wendy Stevens –
That’s so sweet, Lisa (the thing your student said). Thank you for telling me that. I’m so glad she loves the music.
Wendy Stevens –
Oh yes, Anna. It’s been a particular delight to compose these. I think everyone, even beginning adults, should have music that makes them sound amazing!
Marilyn –
My student said of Forbidden Forest, “I like the music because it cuts deep into your soul. It makes me feel drama, and the music is rattling and ringing in my ears!”
Maribeth –
I and my students have been enjoying Wendy’s wonderful music for many years now. As soon as they are ready I introduce them to playing the beautiful music that is right under their fingers. The “Beautiful Places” bundles are the perfect way to start this adventure. Most students think, when they first see the music, that it’s too hard. But after they learn the first one they can’t wait to learn the next. For my Spring recitals this year I have 16 Wendy Stevens pieces being performed. I never miss a webinar when Wendy introduces new music. It’s a must have in a music studio. ❤️
Shannon –
Hah! My beginners LOVE the beautiful places music so so much! One student in particular is falling in love with piano because of the piece “Evening Rain.” He performed it on April 29 and had his parents in tears. I also sent him the mp3s that come with our purchase for “Forbidden Forest” and “Ancient Forest” and his mom text me: “My son says ‘I HAVE TO LEARN THESE ASAP!’” This is a kid who JUST started lessons and his mom told me up front “He has very limited interests … and he doesn’t really like to practice ANYTHING” … so I knew going into lessons would be a challenge. But thanks to your music, he is playing piano daily and so proud of himself!!!!!
Dixie –
These are so helpful as I get my older students through the pre-reading phase. And they have opportunity to reinforce the techniques they’ve learned, as well as explore dynamic range. My students love these pieces & enjoy playing them again & again!
Nancy –
My students are loving the latest Beautiful Places music!!
Gracie –
Finding beautiful Places is a collection that my students love. It always sounds like it is difficult but at the same time (specially pre-reading music) it is very easy for the adults and also young students.
Thank you so much for sharing your great talent with the world!
Cherie Kaushal –
This bundle has been an absolute blessing for my beginner students that are wanting something new and “beautiful” to play. All the students I have given these pieces to have absolutely loved them, they feel like they are playing “proper” music and have been a firm favourite when choosing something to play for a recital or community performance
Suzanne Micheals –
Fragrant Stroll has been a beloved piece by a beginning grade 4 student of mine who has struggled with coordination. She has been motivated to practice because of the mature harmonies. Her reading and coordination have improved so much, and she has so much joy when playing Fragrant Stroll. Thanks for creating music kids love.