SIX TIPS: Choose appropriate repertoire
HELP PIANO STUDENTS BE READY FOR AN UPCOMING PERFORMANCE
One of the best ways to ensure that your student will be ready for an upcoming performance is to choose appropriate repertoire. This is the first in my series of Six Tips to Ensure Your Student is Ready for a Performance. You can read an overview of all six here.
But what do I mean by “appropriate”?
A piece that is at the correct level for the student (not too difficult)
A piece that the student enjoys
A piece that is pianistic and sounds “good” when played
Of course, what sounds “good” is a matter of opinion, but in this context, I simply mean something that is engaging for a listener on some level because it uses the instrument effectively and is well-composed. As pianists, we have no shortage of excellent material for all levels of players, and “good-sounding” repertoire might include pieces that are
excitingly fast or
melodically lyrical or
big and bombastic or
heartbreakingly melancholy or
lighthearted and amusing.
Note that none of these descriptors is limited to one style or historical era of music. I wrote more on this topic in this post titled Music To Their Ears - Motivating Repertoire; if you need assistance finding music that motivates your students, I’d encourage you to check that out.
GOOD REPERTOIRE FOR PIANO STUDENT PERFORMANCES
What are good sources for such repertoire?
Well, my answer here is that students should be playing quality repertoire ALL OF THE TIME. Of course, lessons should also include technical warmups and functional skills. But the core of lesson material should be repertoire that is worthy of study and therefore repertoire that holds potential to be used in performance. Sources in my studio include:
Method series lesson or performance books (selections Piano Adventures, Piano Safari, and Alfred Premier Course often end up on my recitals)
Standard historical repertoire found in an intermediate student’s current repertoire series or anthology (minuets, sonatinas, character pieces, etc.)
Original compositions by current pedagogical composers (my favorites include but are not limited to: Melody Bober, Timothy Brown, William Gillock, Jennifer Linn, Martha Mier, Christopher Norton, Catherine Rollin, and Robert Vandall)
Quality arrangements by composers who know how to write well for students and for the instrument (such as Jennifer Eklund, Carol Matz, or Chrissy Ricker)
HOW MUCH time do you spend choosing repertoire for performance?
To be clear - I don’t spend much time choosing performance pieces for my students. I do spend time making sure they all have good repertoire to study throughout the year, and then we choose recital and exam pieces from that repertoire.
I know I’m not alone in this because this is what Frances Clark had to say about it in her book, Questions and Answers: Practical Advice for Piano Teachers
“Some teachers place too much emphasis on the recital piece instead of continuing, right up to recital time, to learn many beautiful pieces of music, each one of which an audience would thoroughly enjoy hearing. It’s wrong to consider a recital piece as something different from other music a student is studying.” (p.192)
Quick caveat: I do spend more time planning specifically for early-advanced and advanced students. The repertoire becomes more demanding, and these students don’t usually use anthologies or series as the core of their curriculum. They also frequently encounter repertoire requirements in exams or competitions that are far more stringent, so that does require more planning.
WHAT repertoire is Not appropriate for performance?
Well, if your student is participating in an exam, festival, or audition that has specific repertoire requirements, then there will be all sorts of pieces that you can and cannot use.
However, for standard studio recitals or similar events, I only have two things that I will not program:
a piece that is unpianistic
a piece that is too difficult
I have spoken at length about why we should not allow our students to play music that is too difficult for them, and you’re welcome to read more about that here, as well as check out my Repertoire Difficulty Worksheet if you need help determining the difficulty of any given piece.
If you have questions about what I mean by “unpianistic,” feel free to leave a comment here.
Want to take a deeper dive into how to best prepare our piano students for upcoming performances? Check out my course called Preparing Confident Performers. Click on the photo to learn more:
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