Mark Nightingale
The Nuthatch
A short jazz study from Easy Jazzy ’Tudes that develops rhythmic placement and stylistic articulation without advanced range demands.
| Composer | Mark Nightingale |
|---|---|
| Era | 21st century |
| Type | Study |
| Difficulty | beginner |
| Available scorings | Unaccompanied, Electronics |
| Duration | ~2 minutes |
| Clef | bass, treble |
| Technical demands | jazz inflection, syncopation, rhythmic precision |
| Good for | first solo, school performance, developing player |
| Publisher | Warwick Music |
No. 6 from Mark Nightingale’s Easy Jazzy ’Tudes, The Nuthatch brings jazz language into the catalogue before “jazz” becomes shorthand for an advanced showpiece. Its work is rhythmic: placing syncopations, keeping the pulse internal, and making articulations sound spoken rather than merely short.
ABRSM lists the study at Grade 2 for baritone and euphonium. Warwick publishes both bass- and treble-clef routes and offers backing tracks for the collection, so the piece can be practised unaccompanied or with a recorded setting. It is especially useful for a player whose early repertoire has been almost entirely hymn tunes and straight-eighth classical miniatures.