Folk-Ways U.S.A.

Siegmeister wrote this collection of piano pieces with his own children in mind, thinking about what they would enjoy playing on the piano. He based the series on American folk songs due to "the beauty of the music: beacuase of its strong appeal to the Americna imagination: because it presents certain technical and musical features of great interest to the modern mind(i.e. modal scales, changing meters, syncopation, etc.): and because it is a means of introducgint the child to the point of view of the American composer." Volume 1 is meant for beginning players and includes tunes based on songs such as "Down in the Valley," "The Mocking Bird" and "One, Two, Three O'Leary."