Forsyth's publishing company was established in 1873 to publish the piano titles edited by Charles Hallé, founder of the Hallé orchestra in Manchester. Today we have a superb catalogue of 450 titles of sheet music, old and new, including the works of world famous children’s composer Walter Carroll, and one of the finest collections of contemporary recorder music anywhere in the world.
Buying Our Music
Trade Enquiries:
We aim to offer very competitive discounts and excellent service to music shops and other sheet music outlets stocking our titles. All enquiries should be directed to [email protected], or please call 0161 834 3281 ext. 216. Orders can also be faxed to 0161 834 0630
Public Enquiries:
All our publications can be purchased from our online shop or by contacting our Sheet Music Department on 0161 834 3281 ext. 603. or by emailing our sheet music department. Catalogues are also available on request.
Submitting Your Manuscript
We accept submissions from composers and writers who would like their work considered for publication. Ideally music will be submitted in electronic format (e.g. Sibelius), while a recording (however basic) also helps to give us a better idea of your work. It is also worth thinking about how you would like your music presented and how you would assist in its marketing.
Categories we are particularly interested in include:
- Original music for learners of all instruments, particularly pieces that would be suitable for the exam board syllabi.
- New arrangements of classic pieces and out of copyright works.
- Modern recorder music from beginner to advanced, and recorder arrangements of classics
As we are a small independent company with limited capacity to bring new works to the market please be prepared for long delays in responding to your submission, and the possibility of rejection, which is often for reasons of time and budget rather than the quality of the music.
About Our Music
Piano Music
Forsyth publishes a wide range of piano pieces, tutors and studies for the learners at all stages, as well as superb piano arrangements of many great classical works in the Silhouette Series. We are most famous for Walter Carroll’s albums, including the seminal ‘Scenes At A Farm - 1st Lessons at the Piano’. He has been described as the Beatrix Potter of children’s piano music and his albums remain popular with learners and teachers across the globe even over 50 years after his death.
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FBS02: Night Time Impressions by Sarah Baker £7.95Sarah Baker is Vocal Composer in Residence at Education Music Services, an ABRSM examiner and a well known composer of songs and musicals for primary schools and massed-choral events. All this experience has come together in the creation of this first published album of piano pieces, inspired by the sounds heard at night from the woodland just beyond Sarah’s childhood home. Suitable for players of around grade 4-5 standard, her evocative sound pieces begin at the tranquillity of dusk and end with the exuberant dawn chorus. |
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FBS03: Day Time Impressions by Sarah Baker £7.95A second selection of pieces by Sarah Baker, this time on a day time theme, for solo piano. Suggested grade 4-5. These sound pieces describe a crash-landing hot air balloon, garden invading cows and a even a snake in a pond! |
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FDW01: Arabic Folk Tunes for Solo Piano by Wajdi Abou Diab £18.95Take a journey into the beauty and drama of Arabic melody and rhythm with award winning Lebanese composer and pianist Wajdi Abou Diab, as he explores some of the most popular songs of the Middle East and North Africa. A graduate of the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music, Diab's arrangements for solo piano encapsulate the spirit of these famous Arabic songs and the richly poetic stories they tell. Suitable for intermediate to advanced players, these pieces are essential repertoire for lovers of Arabic music or those who wish to expand their cultural horizons. |
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FCW01- FCW20: Walter Carroll SeriesFrom the first edition of Scenes at a Farm in 1912, Walter Carroll’s work has been an essential accompaniment to the progress of the learner piano player. Using music, poetry and art in his albums, he continues to help players, in his own words “develop self expression and to cultivate, even this early, that sense of the beautiful without which there cannot be real interest or progress”. The relevance of his music today is reflected in the recent listing of ‘The Reef’ from his album ‘In Southern Seas’ (pictured) on the new Associated Board Grade 4 syllabus, and his piece ‘May Day Dance’ from Scenes at Farm on the Trinity Guildhall Initial syllabus. For the adult player, we also publish his superbly melodic Piano Sonata, and arrangement of Corelli’s Gigue in A. |
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FSS01- FSS21: Silhouette SeriesSuperb albums for the intermediate standard piano player, each featuring arrangements of classics by one of the great composers. Brilliantly transcribed by Heller Nicholls and Cyril Dalmaine, these provide ideal teaching material, as well as being exceptionally useful for those wishing to explore the orchestral, vocal and piano music of leading composers on their own piano. Composers featured: Bach, Beethoven, Bizet, Brahms, Chopin, Dvorak, Elgar, Grieg, Handel, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Puccini, Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky, plus albums of great waltzes and great opera melodies. |
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FHC12 - 20: Graded Studies of the Masters SeriesThis series of studies will take the learner from grade 1 to diploma standard. Edited by Cuthbert Harris, each edition contains studies by some of the great masters of pianoforte technique, including Czerny, Chopin, Hummel, Lemoine, Heller, and Mayer. The exercises will improve all aspects of the player’s ability, including finger control and ability, lightness and evenness of touch, strengthening of the fingers, phrasing, scales, independence of the hands, and style and interpretation. |
Recorder Music
Forsyth publishes a world leading catalogue of modern recorder music, featuring works by leading contemporary composers such as William Alwyn, Jim Parker, Peter Crossley-Holland, John Golland, Nicholas Marshall and Alan Bullard, and luminaries of the recorder world such as our series editor John Turner and Thomas Pitfield.
Among our best selling volumes are our ‘Recital Pieces’ and ‘Pieces For Solo Recorder’ series for the accompanied and unaccompanied recorder player respectively. The pieces in these editions, like many other of our recorder works, feature strongly on the Trinity, ABRSM, and London College of Music Exam syllabi.
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BALMORAL SUITE by Robin StevensRobin Steven’s Balmoral Suite is an affectionate tribute to the Royal Family in the late reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Featuring musical sketches of imagined family life during summers at their Scottish home, the work is a pastiche of well known Scottish folk tunes, delivered with the occasional modernist twist and plenty of humour.
Click links to hear via YouTube. £11.95 Buy Now |
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PIECES FOR SOLO RECORDER Vol.5The latest edition of our Pieces for Solo Recorder series is a joyful volume of very diverse works for unaccompanied recorder (variously sopranino, descant, treble, tenor) with a universal dimension . There are pieces by composers from the USA and Taiwan, music influenced by the rhythms of Africa and by the heavens, as well as the humorous portrayal (with optional narrator) of the antics of a pet dog. In addition there is a plethora of dance and birdsong. The works vary in difficulty from moderate to challenging but are entertaining and fun to play! £12.95 Buy Now |
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SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNEY by Jim ParkerJim Parker's TV, film and theatre scores are much loved, with credits including Foyle’s War, House of Cards, Midsomer Murders and House of Elliott. He has won the British Academy Award for Best TV Music on no less than four occasions. South American Journey shares Parker's genius for painting musical pictures and weaving memorable melodies. He'll even have you believing your recorder is a Peruvian pan-pipe! The piece was written as a tribute to the memory of his friend and near-neighbour Stephen Dodgson. £9.95 Buy Now |
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RECITAL PIECES for Solo Recorder Vol.4This fourth volume in the Forsyth series of Recital Pieces for recorder and piano provides 8 superb concert pieces for the intermediate to advanced recorder player. Edited by recorder virtuosi John Turner, it includes works by Jim Parker and Peter Hope. No. 8, Paean, features on the ABRSM Grade 8 treble recorder syllabus from 2022. £12.95 Buy Now |
Popular Titles |
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HAT BOX by Alan Bullardfor descant doubling sopranino/treble/tenor recorder, and piano or guitar Hat Box is a celebration of the town of Stockport, home to recorder virtuoso John Turner, to whom (with guitarist Neil Smith) this piece is dedicated. Stockport was formerly the centre of the hat-manufacturing industry, and gave its name to the hymn-tune ‘Stockport’ written by 18th century Stockport organist John Wainwright for the carol ‘Christians awake, salute the happy morn’. The eight hats depicted in this suite refer to phrases from Wainwright’s famous tune. £13.95 Buy NowCode: FBA05 ISMN: 979-0-57050-007-9 Moderate to AdvancedExam Syllabus: ABRSM Grades 6 + 8, Trinity Grades 4, 7 + 8, LCM Grades 5 to 8 |
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NEW WORLD DANCES by John Gollandfor descant and treble recorder with piano (or guitar) A Joplinesque Ragtime and Latin-American Bossa Nova, both for descant, frame a lazy Blues on the treble. All 3 movements require an assured technique but are rewarding for both performers. The recorder part can be taken by a flute or other melody instrument, and the guitar part is published with an alternative version for harpsichord or piano. £11.95 Buy NowCode: FGJ02 ISMN: 979-0-57050-114-4 Intermediate to AdvancedExam Syllabus: Trinity Grades 5 + 8, LCM Grade 7 |
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Seascapes by William Alwynfor soprano voice, treble recorder and piano William Alwyn was a prolific composer in all genres. His major works for the voice were composed during the latter part of his career, between 1965 and 1980, and include this song-cycle of four exquisite songs depicting various aspects of the sea from the mysterious to the majestic. The words are by the poet Michael Armstrong from Jersey where he derived much inspiration from the sea and the surrounding landscape. £11.95 Buy NowCode: FAW01 ISMN: 979-0-57050-001-7 Intermediate |
If you would like to receive updates on new publications for recorder please contact [email protected]