Six-hand piano pieces are a great way to make piano lessons more exciting! In the following article, I will describe the planning and implementation of a trio program and outline the benefits that my students have experienced.
Planning
First I divided my studio into groups with similar levels. Then I looked for repertoire that would be at the appropriate level. It’s better to choose a slightly easier level since coordinating the timing when students play together is usually a challenge.
The youngest students prepared one piece. The next older group (still elementary level) prepared two pieces. More experienced groups did one piece each at a more difficult level.
I let the parents know who would be in which groups and which book they needed to purchase. They had a deadline so that everyone would get started at about the same time. We scheduled two rehearsal weeks during each trio season. With plenty of notice, they could work around their scheduled events and prioritize these rehearsals. The rehearsals took the place of regular lessons on the two weeks when they were scheduled during the term.
One copy of each trio stayed at my house so that if students forgot their piece, we would have something to work on.
Monitoring Progress
With 4-5 target tempos for each trio and a chart, I could track the progress of each student and group. As they reached each target tempo, they received a sticker on the chart if they met the following criteria: They had to play their part of the trio (either in its entirety or up to a pre-determined stopping spot for the 1st rehearsal) with the metronome while I played one of the other parts. If they could play their part at the given tempo without stopping, replaying, getting lost, or missing notes or rhythm, they got the sticker. The sticker meant that they were ready to play with other students.
With the sticker system, it was easy for me to see the tempo we would use for the rehearsal. I was also able to adapt the goals of each group if needed so that our rehearsal would be productive. Adaptations included shortening the number of measures we would work on for the first rehearsal and/or slowing down the tempo if needed.
Many of my students have parents who play the piano. It was a bonus opportunity for parents to play one of the parts with their child and it was very helpful for the students to get more experience playing their own parts.
Timeline:
Individual practice on trio parts began the first week of fall term (last week of August). The first rehearsal was mid-October. The second rehearsal was mid-November, right before our studio recital. If a few trio groups were ready for a public performance, I invited them to perform in the recital. Otherwise, I invited parents to attend at the end of the second rehearsal and that would be our performance.
Challenges:
Two challenges emerged during this project. One was making sure everyone was ready. I reinforced this to students at each lesson. They knew they were being counted on to be prepared and to not hold the group back. I tried to communicate regularly with parents so they would know if they needed to offer a little more support at home to meet the deadlines.
Another challenge was leveling the pieces. It’s clear on my chart when a piece was on the easy side—-everyone in the group hit the tempo targets early and earned lots of stickers. If I chose a more difficult piece for a group, there are fewer stickers and I had to adjust the tempo to a slower pace or plan to work on smaller sections at the rehearsal. I also had to devote more lesson time to help the students in some groups.
An additional challenge, was that some students purchased a pdf copy instead of a book. That was very difficult to manage with practicing since the trios required a lot of pages. I would definitely require buying a hard copy of the piece rather than printing it at home.
Benefits:
It is SO much more fun and practical to use the metronome to prepare trios. My students have gotten SO much better at staying with the metronome.
While I often choose pieces at a slightly lower level than the student is playing, sometimes a student needs a little more challenge and benefits greatly! This happened to several students who rose to the challenge of a harder piece and progressed significantly in their reading and playing of music!
The peer pressure to be ready for the rehearsal has been a positive factor in the students’ preparation. They have all progressed more with the expectation to play very accurately and to know a piece so well that almost no mistakes are made. It stretched some students and gave them really fun repertoire to play. They had positive social experiences with other students in the studio.
Piano students don’t often have the opportunity to collaborate with other musicians with a performance goal in mind. I love the social aspect of this project.
Resources: Six hand Piano Repertoire:
Grand Trios for Piano Book 1-5 by Melody Bober, Alfred
Agent 003 by Martha Mier
The Bluegrass Fiddlers by Margaret Goldston, Alfred
Hoedown Tonight! by Dennis Alexander, Alfred
Triple Dip by Robert Vandall, Alfred
Hot Pursuit by Robert Vandall, Alfred
Workin’ On the Railroad (two pianos, eight hands) by Eugenie R. Rocherolle, Kjos
Timeline
1-3 months before: Plan student groups by level, choose repertoire, plan rehearsal dates
1-2 months before: Communicate with parents about project, provide links to get the required music along with a deadline, let them know the rehearsal dates, determine goal tempi for each piece, make chart.
2 weeks before: Send reminder to parents about music while there is still time to get it. Remind about rehearsals and expectations.
1st day: Begin work individually with each student, post chart on wall, have cute stickers for each milestone reached
3-4 weeks after starting: Send parents an update on progress and expectations. Be clear in written lesson assignments what the next metronome target is. Also include a reminder of rehearsal times for each group.
6-8 weeks after starting pieces: First rehearsal. One hour
2-4 weeks later: November: Final Rehearsal, One hour. At the end of our rehearsal, parents attend to hear trios. Treats!
Repeat with new repertoire!