This charming character piece by Anna Priscilla Risher utilizes simple yet effective harmonic progressions. It is designed to evoke a peaceful and pastoral atmosphere through a singing melodic line.
Practice sustaining the melody lines through legato finger connections.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
As in Old Gardens is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 4.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of As in Old Gardens lasts about 3 minutes.
As in Old Gardens is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include La fille aux cheveux de lin by Claude Debussy, At Bedtime, TH 70 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Ave Maria in A-flat major by Théodore Dubois — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.