Ensemble Recitals - So Much Fun!
Have you ever run an ensemble recital for your piano students? You know, duets and trios? (Or maybe even duos if you had access to two pianos?!)
For many years, I have run one recital per year that is entirely made up of ensemble repertoire. The pandemic threw a wrench in those usual plans, but I’m thrilled to say that this past weekend we started up the tradition again after two years off. Most students play one piece, and most of the pieces are piano duet (1P4H). If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you might have seen the three videos this week I posted of highlights from that recital.
I think I can safely say it’s my favorite performance event of the whole teaching year.
Why? Well, put simply, it’s so much more fun to play with others than by yourself!
Students also really enjoy the fact that memorization is not required, and the performance is less focused on them as an individual.
Learning to play in ensemble is a crucial skill for students at all levels. Think about the educational, volunteer and job opportunities that might be available for a teenage student or graduate of your studio who can hold their own part while also following another:
Choral accompanist
Jazz band pianist
Solo accompanist
Church or synagogue pianist
Musical theater pianist
I have had students do all of these things - either while still studying with me or later as a college student or young adult.
Thankfully, playing in ensemble is one of the most fun skills to develop since students get to play with one another, and it’s one that builds studio community and creates a lot of positive energy.
But, if I’m honest, planning this recital is a bit of logistical puzzle. And, after I posted those videos, I did get a few questions which I thought I’d answer here.
How do you pair students for duets and trios?
There are three ways you can pair students:
Equal level students
Sibling students or parent-child
Student and teacher
As much as I try to avoid the last option, it does happen sometimes that I just have to play with a student. This usually happens when a student is new to the studio, and I just haven’t found the right match yet. I’ve also done this when a student’s schedule is simply impossible and they don’t have a family member available to play.
Equal level (or similar level) is the best, and I have frequently had pairings of students in the studio who know each other from school or sports or other activities.
Do you ask students to come to each others’ lessons?
Yes. However, we usually only need to do this once or twice before the recital. Prior to that, I will play the other part with each student many times and make sure they are completely prepared to minimize the time needed in rehearsal.
To schedule this, I take advantage of any possibility that might be at my disposal:
Back to back lessons (I happen to have one pair of students who are similar level and friends outside of piano whose lessons are back to back this year, hooray!)
Rearrange my schedule the week of the recital to accommodate rehearsals
Offer an extra evening of teaching the week of the recital for final rehearsals
Ask students to coordinate a rehearsal on their own time (this works especially well for teens or families who know each other outside of lessons - even better if they attend school together and can grab the band room piano at lunch or after school)
Use the hour prior to the recital at the venue for final rehearsals
This year’s recital was in January, so I took advantage of the days off of school for Christmas break to rearrange a few lessons and encourage outside rehearsals.
If you do regular group lessons, these would be an ideal time to get students together, particularly if you have multiple instruments and could have multiple pairs rehearsing simultaneously.
ONE IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT LOGISTICS
If you’re overwhelmed already by thinking through the scheduling, then let me give you one tip on how to make this feasible: keep it simple. Choose whatever repertoire you like and suits the students (rather than trying to form a theme or align with a holiday/other event) and hold the recital at a comfortable, familiar venue. I never do a food reception at my duet recitals. It’s a no-frills event with really fun music.
How do you choose duet repertoire?
In addition to the large amount of standard historical repertoire available for piano duet at the upper intermediate to advanced levels (Fauré’s Dolly Suite, Debussy’s Petite Suite, Brahms’s Waltzes, Mozart’s Sonatas for Four Hands, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, and much, much more), there is an absolute wealth of pedagogical music written for four hands. Alfred in particular has published many motivating duets for students over the past few decades.
One note: I almost always assign duets that are roughly one level below the student’s current repertoire level. The added task of playing in ensemble is enough to make it more challenging. I would rather students focus on the art of playing well together rather than struggle to keep up with their own part.
Keep in mind, also, that piano duo/duet is a great occasion to use arrangements - either of famous classical works or more popular selections. There is a long tradition of composers writing out symphonic works for four hands, and just the fact that there are two people playing means the options for arrangement are greater. Students can sound much bigger and better because they are not alone!
Here are some suggestions for duet repertoire, in no particular order:
Music for Sharing book 1 or book 2 by Margaret Goldston
Five Star Duets by Dennis Alexander (multiple iterations, such as “Folk,” “Patriotic,” etc.)
Celebrated Piano Duets by Robert Vandall (five levels; note that many of these come as individual sheets as well)
Beethoven’s Boogie by Mary K. Sallee and many other single sheets from Alfred
In Recital Throughout the Year —or— In Recital With Classical Themes (many volumes of these at five levels. These books have both solos AND duets, and the arrangements of Classical themes for piano duet are very nice. The first linked one here has a great arrangement of Habanera from Carmen that I have taught multiple times.)
Jazz, Rags, and Blues for Two by Martha Mier (five levels)
Grand Duets for Piano by Melody Bober (five levels; note that there are five levels of Grand Trios for Piano as well)
Dances for Two by Catherine Rollin (three levels)
Contest Winners for Two (five levels from various composers at Alfred. Book 4 contains what may be my favorite pedagogical duet of all time: Valse Sentimentale à Deux by Catherine Rollin)
Spotlight on Duets (three volumes from various composers at FJH)
Double Agent! by Jeremy Siskind (arrangements of famous spy movie/show theme songs like James Bond, Mission: Impossible, The Pink Panther)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Piano Duet Play-Along Volume 19 from Hal Leonard (note that there are many other volumes in the Play-Along series; this is one that I have used and loved)
Twice As Nice - Original Duets compiled by Weekley & Arganbright (three volumes). If you are not familiar with the work done by Weekley & Arganbright in this field, you can check out many of their titles here. I have used countless editions published by them through KJOS.
Primo Light edited by Weekley & Arganbright (student-teacher duets with student parts staying within a 5-finger-pattern by composers such as Anton Diabelli - these are crowd pleasing historical pieces that are satisfying for an unequal duet pair)
Duet Classics for Piano, Book 1 edited by Gayle Kowalchyk and E. L. Lancaster (nice historical duets, mostly equal level or near-equal level. I’m noticing now that this says “Book 1,” but I’ve never seen a book 2! Maybe I should look for that!)
Dolly Suite by Gabriel Fauré (early advanced except the first movement, Berceuse, is intermediate and a lovely piece)
Petite Suite by Claude Debussy (early advanced)
What about piano trio repertoire?
There has been less written for piano trio (1P6H), but there are still many pedagogical options. Rather than list several of them here, I would suggest that teachers browse the Alfred catalog listings at this link.
There is also a lovely compilation of pieces for 1P6H titled Essential Keyboard Trios: 10 Intermediate to Early Advanced Selections in Their Original Form for teachers looking for historical works for three players.
It’s important to note that it takes more rehearsal time to put together a trio than it does for a duet. I guess that seems obvious, but I have regularly been surprised at how much more it takes!
Running a recital of all duets is a great alternative to a normal studio recital, and one at which I think students feel less pressure. But it helps students learn the skill of setting a performance goal and reaching it on time, as well as all of the other benefits to working in ensemble.
One of the best ways we can “normalize” performance and train our students to be confident performers is by offering a variety of performance opportunities throughout the year, with varying levels of formality or expectations. That’s exactly what I discuss in module 2 of my course, Preparing Confident Performers. Have you checked it out yet? Click on the photo to learn more:
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