Music To Their Ears - Motivating Repertoire
Many different factors can motivate pre-college students to practice and continue in their piano study. Today’s topic: Repertoire. One of the best things a student can say to me in a lesson is,
“I really love this piece.”
Often, we categorize repertoire according to historical era or ability level. I’d like to offer a different way to categorize, which has helped me plan for my students and help them choose pieces that they will enjoy.
EXCITING PIECES
There are very few feelings in the world like running your fingers across a piano in a virtuosic show of triumph. When our students play fast-moving, exciting repertoire, they feel the thrill and share that with their audiences. They know the satisfaction of the culmination of all of their technical work to this point.
In advanced repertoire of the classical canon, this satisfaction can be found in etudes by Chopin and Liszt, final movements of sonatas by Beethoven, works by Prokofiev, fast-paced preludes by Bach, and much more.
Many of the modern methods such as Piano Adventures do a great job of including flashy-sounding pieces as part of the curriculum, and these are often my students’ favorite pieces. (Who doesn’t love a good tarantella?!)
As our students progress through the intermediate historical repertoire, we might find examples of this in etudes of Burgmüller, Gurlitt, Heller and Kabalevsky, fast sonatina movements by Clementi and Kuhlau, or Little Preludes and Inventions by Bach.
Of course there are hundreds of other examples, and current pedagogical compositions should not be overlooked. Pieces written in a fast jazz or rock style such as those by Martha Mier, Christopher Norton, and Robert Vandall would also fit here.
BEAUTIFUL PIECES
Of course, music is a beautiful art. I debated whether to call this category beautiful or lyrical, as lyrical is probably a more precise term for what we often consider “beautiful” at the piano; however, there are many examples in the piano repertoire that are not melody-driven that I personally would call beautiful.
When a student finds a piece that she finds particularly beautiful, she will invest emotionally and want to share it with family and friends.
Many of the most well-loved pieces in the advanced piano repertoire fit this category, such as Chopin Nocturnes, Mozart Sonatas, Rachmaninoff concerti, Schubert Impromptus, and any of Debussy’s more lyrical pieces such as Clair de lune or Reverie.
New-age piano music such as River Flows in You by Yurima also falls in this category, as does anything with lush chords, even if it’s less melodic in nature (more Debussy and Rachmaninoff, and even Bach’s well-known Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier).
Intermediate historical selections here would include many of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, easier Schumann character pieces, Schubert waltzes, slower sonatina movements, and lyrical selections from 20th-century composers such as Ivan Sings (also called Andantino) by Khachaturian.
Many of today’s composers writing for students do this style so well; Timothy Brown, Jennifer Linn, and Catherine Rollin all come to mind. Jeanine Yeager has a particular knack for the new-age style.
FAMILIAR TUNES
When most teachers think of what might motivate their students, this is probably what they first consider. “How can I give my student something he already knows and wants to play?” Certainly helping students learn pop songs, movie themes, video game music, and Broadway tunes is a great way to get them to practice and connect personally to their time at the piano.
The problem is that music in these categories can often be quite difficult to teach from a traditional reading-based approach.
It is difficult to find piano solo arrangements that
1) are at the correct level and not too difficult and
2) actually sound good on the piano!
I could write a whole post on this, but instead, I will direct you to these podcast episodes on
why you should teach pop music and
(Thank you to Nicola at Vibrant Music Teaching!)
I will add that most of the time, when students say they want to play a particular song in a pop style, I direct them to a lead sheet and not to printed music.
Let’s not forget, though, that it’s likely there are other tunes that are familiar to our students.
If they are involved at church or synagogue, students can learn music regularly sung in worship, again, usually through using a lead sheet or similar approach.
Holiday or patriotic music is also familiar, and can be taught in a variety of ways.
Students also often get to know music that their studio peers (or even older siblings!) are playing, and recognize the most widely popular ones if the teacher regularly holds studio class or recitals. (Burgmüller Arabesque or Für Elise, anyone?!)
If students are familiar with classical music in general at all, they might know pieces such as Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring or Canon in D, and finding an appropriate piano arrangement of these can be very fulfilling. Carol Matz does a wonderful job of arranging these classics at the intermediate level.
This last category is probably the one that requires the most work on the part of the teacher. If a student comes to me with a specific request, either a famous classical piece or tune in a more popular style, it’s my job as the teacher to:
decide if the student has the skills to learn this piece, and then,
if so, how we will approach this piece - through an original piano solo, through a simplified version, or through an approach like a lead sheet, and lastly
prepare my student with the skills needed to execute the task at hand.
Check out this post about Debussy’s Clair de lune to explore how I might go about this.
It’s also my job to know each individual student well enough to know what is most motivating to him or her. While I do try to balance out a student’s musical diet with different styles and types of repertoire, I certainly want them to always have something to work on that they love.
How can we tell what students like if they don’t offer that information verbally?
Well, this can become clear through practice habits - which pieces does the student regularly prioritize?
Another tactic is to ask them. I regularly ask my students to annotate recital programs (or remember during studio class) and tell me which pieces they enjoyed the most. It’s usually easy to see a trend, although sometimes I am surprised by a student’s opinion.
We’ve all had students who only like fast and exciting repertoire for years. I’m happy to say, though, that I’ve had multiple students who have made a shift during their teenage years to not only like that category, but also connect more deeply with pieces in the beautiful category.
How about you? Do you have favorite pieces to teach in each of these categories? Or favorite composers whose music is motivating to your students who aren’t yet at playing at an advanced level?
