Andrea Dow’s The Sebastian Sessions [SHEET MUSIC REVIEW]

Last Updated on September 12, 2021 by Rebecca

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Curious about buying Andrea Dow's The Sebastian Sessions? What are the pieces like? How difficult are they? Are they fun to play?

Keep reading to find out more about what The Sebastian Sessions has to offer!

The Sebastian Sessions is one of several books of piano music composed by Andrea Dow in a series that has become known by piano teachers as “The Sessions Books.” They are books full of beautiful piano compositions meant as “classical pop piano solos” inspired by well-known bits of famous classical pieces by famous classical musicians.

As you may have guessed from it's title, The Sebastian Sessions is a book inspired by the pieces of Johann Sebastian Bach. (Other books in the series are inspired by the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and there's an entire book dedicated to female composers.)

The dedication inside the book reads:

The Sebastian Sessions is a pop-infused tribute to the music of Bach. Whether you use the repertoire to ignite a passion for piano or as a jumping-off point for exploring the classics, The Sebastian Sessions will inspire the next generation of piano students.

– Andrea and Trevor Dow

And I have to say, they hit the mark! The pieces in this book will certainly make you feel passionate about piano, curious about the classics, and inspired in your piano learning!

And although they're intended for teens, they are perfect for adults as well! I absolutely love playing the pieces from the sessions books!

They're beautiful, flowing, expressive, rich, musical… and oh-so-relatable to the modern/contemporary ear. These are pieces that have (on more than one occasion) stopped my “non-musical” boyfriend on his way past my piano room and prompted him to come in, sit down, and enjoy listening. “Now that's some piano music!” he says to me.

So what exactly is in store for you in The Sebastian Sessions?

List of Pieces in The Sebastian Sessions

The Sebastian Sessions includes 7 contemporary piano pieces, composed by Andrea Dow and inspired by the works of J. S. Bach.

Here are the names of the 7 pieces, and the corresponding Bach pieces that inspired them:

• The Prelude Session (Inspired by Prelude in C Major, BWV 846)
• The Musette Session (Inspired by Musette in D Major, BWV ANH. 126)
• The Notebook Session (Inspired by Minuet in D Minor, BWV ANH. 132)
• The Cantata Session (Inspired by Cantata No. 147: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring)
• The Air Session (Inspired by Orchestral Suite III in D Major, BWV 1068 “Air”)
• The Minuet Session (Inspired by Minuet in G Minor, BWV ANH. 115)
• The Toccata Session (Inspired by Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565)

On the title page of each piece in the book, you'll find a colourful graphic (presumably meant to catch the eager teen pianist's eye) and a one-line excerpt from the original Bach piece, to give you a teaser of what inspired Andrea's contemporary composition.

My personal favourites from this book are “The Prelude Session” and “The Musette Session” (perhaps because both are inspired by Bach pieces that I've actually played before).

But how do these pieces sound?

Sample Piece: The Musette Session

Like what you hear? You can find The Sebastian Sessions on Amazon and start learning to play these pieces yourself!

Difficulty Level of The Sebastian Sessions

The books in the sessions series are of various difficulty levels, and The Sebastian Sessions is one of the most difficult (so far). So this is one you'll enjoy if you're an intermediate piano player who already has a fair bit of skill.

(For those of you who love the music in this book, but aren't yet ready for the challenge, The Amadeus Anthems is the easiest book in the series currently available on Amazon so far, so that might be a good starting point for you.)

In their WunderKeys catalogue, Andrea and Trevor Dow have The Sebastian Sessions labelled as a “Level 4+” book.

Being from Canada, I like to use the RCM levels as a benchmark when assessing the difficulty of pieces. In my opinion, I would say that, overall, The Sebastian Sessions is roughly around the difficulty of RCM Level 4 or 5.

Are You Ready for The Sebastian Sessions?

To help you determine whether you're ready to attempt the pieces from The Sebastian Sessions, here's a list of some challenges you'll encounter in the pieces (teachers can also use this list to determine which skills this book will help their students work on!):

• 3-4 page pieces
• 16th notes
• multiple voices
• pedaling
• harmonic intervals up to octaves (in both left-hand harmony and right-hand melody)
• triads in various inversions
• dotted rhythms
• tied notes
• syncopated rhythms
• leaps of an octave
• clef changes
• repeats
• flowing left-hand patterns that span more than an octave
• time signatures: 3/4, 4/4, 6/8
• key signatures: sharp keys up to 2 sharps; flat keys up to 3 flats

Where to Buy the Sessions Books

You can find each of the sessions books on Amazon by clicking the images below:

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