How To Teach Concerti
(Concertos? Concerti? According to dictionary.com, either version of the plural is acceptable.)
Today I want to address a common question:
Which piano concerto should I teach to a pre-college student?
Here are some examples of standard historical concerti that I have taught in the past; I have primarily taught the first movement of each:
Haydn Concerto in D Major - this is my favorite first concerto in the historical canon. It is easily learned, follows all of the patterns one expects in a concerto, and has several options for cadenzas (meaning you can choose one at the appropriate length/difficulty level for your individual student). Click here to watch a recording of Sviatoslav Richter performing it - a very clean performance that is helpful for students.
Mozart Concerto in A Major K.414 - there are actually several possible Mozart movements at similar level to this one (or easier), but this one is well-loved and so beautiful. This piece fits students who know how to shape phrases and play with beautiful expression. Here’s a recording of Vladimir Ashkenazy performing and conducting from the piano, which our students should understand would have been the norm in the 18th century.
Muczynski Concerto No.1 - if you don’t know Robert Muczynski’s works for piano, I’d highly recommend them! His music sounds a bit like Kabalevsky combined with some Gershwin or other American sounds, and he wrote a lot for students. This piece is so much fun; my student and I had an absolute blast when she learned it. There are some real technical challenges, but the first movement is under 7 minutes, so it doesn’t have the same endurance issues as other options. Check out this recording.
Kabalevsky Concerto No.3 (“Youth”) - this is similar to the Muczynski, but a bit harder. The cadenza of the first movement can be challenging if you play it at a fast tempo, and it comes right in the middle of the movement as opposed to at the end. The third movement here is also worth exploring. I just discovered this lovely student recording of the first movement. Cadenza is at 4:24.
My student Emma and I after her performance of the Bach D Minor with her high school orchestra, February 2018. (So much fun, and what a privilege!)
Bach Concerto in F Minor BWV 1056 or D minor BWV 1052 - the F Minor is much easier than the D Minor, so perhaps the D Minor should go in my list below. However, I had a student who just absolutely loved that D Minor concerto and was a winner at her school’s competition, meaning she had the honor of performing with the orchestra. Bach concerti are obviously different from many others that came later, but for students who love Baroque music or the perpetual motion feel that these works provide, they might be a good choice. Also note that if a competition needs a work for only string orchestra, Bach
is an ideal choice.
Here are some examples of concerti that can be taught to advanced pre-college students but are probably not a good choice for a first concerto experience. Many of these have greater technical demands than the above and are simply long in duration, requiring great stamina:
Mozart Concerto in D Minor K.466 or C Minor K.491
Beethoven Concerti Nos. 1 or 2
Grieg Concerto in A Minor
Saint-Saens Concerto No.2 in G Minor
Shostakovich Concerto No.2
Gershwin Concerto in F
Now let’s back up and consider some prerequisites for playing any of the above. If you’ve read any of my blog or watched any of my YouTube videos, you know that I’m obsessed with preparing students for the repertoire that they will play, and not overwhelming them with pieces that are just too hard. (Click here for a free resource devoted to this topic.) So, before diving into teaching a concerto, here are some things that must first be in place:
Understanding of what a concerto is. If your student does not listen to a lot of classical music or regularly attend concerts at a symphony, he or she might have no idea what a concerto is! It’s of vital importance that students attend live performances or watch videos of concerto performances to understand the idea of solo pianist performing in front of the orchestra. While the orchestra is much more than an accompanist, it is true that concerti are vehicles for virtuosity on the part of the soloist. Anyone performing a concerto needs to adopt a soloist (perhaps even “diva”) mentality.
Ability to play in ensemble. Students embarking on study of a concerto should first experience duet playing, preferably having experience with both teacher and peer duets at the piano. Students who play other instruments in band or orchestra will automatically take to this more easily than students who do not, but I will still advocate for plenty of one-piano-four-hands or two-pianos-four-hands repertoire experience prior to learning a concerto. In addition to basic ensemble skill such as listening, cueing, and breathing with a partner, students studying piano duets quickly learn to analyze who has the melody and who has the accompaniment in any given section - a vital skill in understanding concerti.
Ability to hold a steady tempo. This should go without saying, but I did want to mention that it’s a necessary skill. One of the reasons that I prefer Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Kabalevsky, and similar composers for first concerto experiences is that, as opposed to 19th century concerti, the movements hold together in a singular tempo throughout. Performing a concerto with a lot of tempo fluctuation or rubato requires much more communication between the soloist and second pianist (or orchestra), and in general, requires more musical maturity.
Experience playing sonatas. Almost all first movements of standard concerti are in sonata-allegro form with a cadenza for the coda. Students must already understand the terms exposition, development, and recapitulation in order to understand this form and be able to learn accurately and memorize effectively, as well as perform expressively. Similarly, I would never teach a Mozart concerto without that student having prior experience with a Mozart sonata so that he understands Mozart’s style and what is required to play Mozart expressively.
Octave technique. Nearly every historical standard concerto that I know (with perhaps the exception of Bach) includes at least some octaves. Certainly there are more when you hit the 19th and 20th centuries than you might find in Haydn or Mozart, but even earlier composers used octaves to fill out the sound and increase the pianist’s volume and ability to play over an orchestra.
Access to two keyboard instruments. This seems obvious, but it’s worth noting that the teacher’s studio must have two pianos (or a piano and a digital piano) in order to rehearse the concerto with an orchestral reduction.
Now, all of the concerti I’ve already mentioned would fall into the standard historical canon of piano repertoire and are at least at the upper intermediate level. You don’t have to start here; there are several student concerti available for the lower intermediate levels by composers such as Lynn Freeman Olson, Alexander Peskanov, Catherine Rollin, Robert Vandall, and more.
One of the best resources for finding these is through the National Federation of Music Clubs. Even if you are not a member of NFMC, you can order their bulletin which has a listing of concerti appropriate for their festivals by level. (If you’re not familiar with NFMC, they do excellent work promoting current American composers; the lists of piano solo repertoire are well worth perusing! I got a used bulletin from another teacher after she updated to the new one; the concerto list doesn’t change frequently.) The NFMC list also contains several other Mozart options if K.414, which I mentioned, above isn’t your cup of tea.
Here is a great example of an intermediate-level concerto. (This is not my student - I just remember Catherine Rollin posting this on social media at some point and so enjoyed the performance. Where would we be without Catherine Rollin?!)
So teachers, what about you? Do you have a favorite concerto movement to teach?
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