How To Teach Kabalevsky's Clowns

Today in our How To Teach Intermediate Piano Repertoire series we are looking at one of my favorite teaching pieces of all time - Clowns Op.39, No.20 by Dmitri Kabalevsky. Hopefully you love Kabalevsky as much as I do! Note that I also have another post about a slightly more difficult piece by him - the Sonatina in A Minor Op.27, No.18.

Recommended editions:

• Music Pathways Repertoire 4B (Olson/Bianchi/Blickenstaff)

• Kabalevsky: Twenty-Four Little Pieces, Opus 39 (Keith Snell)

• Masterwork Classics, book 4 (Jane Magrath)

• The 20th Century - Upper Elementary Level: 30 Piano Pieces (Schirmer Performance Editions, Richard Walters)

Skills and Knowledge Required to play Clowns well:

• 16th notes in 2/4 time with a pickup

• Parallel major / minor pentascales for A and F

• Several accidentals

• LH ostinato with octaves; other quick moves; willingness to bounce around

• Bouncy articulation

• Quick dynamic changes

• Energetic performance needed 

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