Seems like this month is over-loaded with school activities, so I used our monthly performance class to work on duets. Here are a couple of my 5th graders working on a couple of different selections.

It's amazingly difficult for them to count up to three or four!





And you know, we spend a good half hour on balancing voices as well.

Our MTNA Chapter has a Duet, Pop & Jazz Fest coming up in early May and I'm hoping to have at least half the students perform.

I always encourage duets (and award a trophy point for those who perform them in a recital). I can usually get siblings or friends to do them, but it's hard to get the other kids motivated to. I've had musically inclined parents perform duets as well with their children.

Your students look like they are having fun! Great pictures

Yes, I have two pairs of siblings who are doing duets and several parents, but I like it best when I can get non-family pairs. If they "catch the bug" their interest in piano really goes up.

By the way, these two are also starting strings. One is violin and one is cello.

The big challenge for most teachers is organising for two students of a similar standard to attend a lesson at the same time (co-ordinating schedules for all concerned). Ideally, every student would be learning to play in a duet or ensemble environment right from the first lesson (and then every week henceforth), but in practice I have never taught that way.

I think duets, duos, trios, and quartets are an essential part of playing the piano. It teaches students to listen to others and work musically with others in a way that only makes their solo performances even better. It is fun and a different aspect than just practicing by yourself and really helps to hone your counting and playing or covering up if need be under pressure. But it is difficult to arrange practice times if the students are not within the same family. Still it is well worth it!

Bingo!

Add to that problem:

1) Parents who won't drive their kids to rehearsals,
2) Kids who can't count and keep a steady beat if their life depended upon it,
3) Busy kids with 5 extracurricular activities,
4) Siblings who can't stand each other and absolutely refuse to play piano together.

In the past, the only successful duet teams I've put together consisted of best buddies, kids with extremely cooperative parents, and kids with back-to-back lessons (so they each use up 15 minutes of their lessons to put together a half-hour rehearsal once per week). Otherwise, the only duets they get to do are with [gulp!] me.

As an aside to this thread - many decades ago, when I was learning the classical guitar, my teacher *always* spent the final part of the 1 hour lesson playing duets with me. This was to promote sight reading but also to experience playing with other people. I think it was an extremely valuable part of the lesson.

(There were some occasions when I felt something really special happening while playing those duets - the interplay of ideas, a musical 'gelling'.)

And the thing is that duet playing lays such a great foundation for future opportunities as an accompanist.... And a piano teacher has even less chance of helping mentor a young accompanist than they do a young ensemble player.

Do any of your students do trios, by the way???

I've gotten into the habit of opening each recital with a duet. It is an especially fearsome position to be first, and having a buddy go up with you takes some of the pressure off. Last year it was a mother-son duo. Christmas was siblings (twins).

Currently I am working with two girls who are unrelated. My plan is to work with each girl individually for most of the time, and then have just a few lessons when they come to each other's lesson. Unfortunately, one girl is on Tuesday and one comes on Friday, so I may have to do some trading with others to create some back-to-back slots.

To me, playing duets underscores many issues that I can talk about till I'm blue in the face, but playing them forces the issue: rhythm, not stopping and fixing mistakes, tempo, listening, and so on. It also adds a social aspect to piano, and a "misery loves company" aspect. (No, my students aren't miserable - to my knowledge - I refer to the frustrations inherent in learning a new piece.)

Don't some of you teach class piano?

Seems like class piano could easily adapt to duet and ensemble work.

Yes, I've had a similar experience recently with a teen student who "caught the bug" by doing a duet performance with her "BFF" (best friend forever)
The one teen was terrified of performing in public. She was a newer student and had not participated in recitals before. Her friend, who had been playing piano for a couple of years longer than she, encouraged her friend to play in public by suggesting they play the Linus and Lucy arrangement in PA book 2B (out of print now?) at a recital. Both girls had a great time! The piece was easy for both girls and they smiled the whole time. Better to play something easy and do it well IMO.
At our Christmas piano party, one little girl played a Silent Night duet with her grandma. Grandma announced to us that she was very nervous. Her granddaughter patted her hand, led her to the piano, and said "it's O.K. Grammie!" Precious.

John, I'm curious, what is the little wooden bird-looking object in your photo? It's cute!

A question for all who do group lessons: what day and time have you found to be good for attendance?

He looks like a PianoActionMan of some sort - his legs are hammers! And is his body a key?

And he appears to have some sort of a beak?
That's why I wonder if he is a piano studio bird?

Cute, isn't he? I found him looking for a home many years ago at a WPPC conference. His name is -- sit down and drum roll please --

Piano-cchio!

moan!!!

Piano Key O

He's totally constructed of piano parts!

John, he is wonderful! I have just made this picture my wallpaper
I hope you don't mind. The pictures of your students are lovely too, thank you for sharing them.

I play in duet with students quite often, improvising or doubling, but I don't do enough formal or more challenging duets where you need to arrange double or group lessons. Most students get to accompany me on a different instrument and they seem to particularly like this, especially to perform in a concert.

That is so cute! I want one.

Most of my kids beg to do duets in the recital! They think its fun and so much less nerve wracking. If we can't coordinate to have them come to each other's lessons, we coordinate a different time that works for both of them a few weeks before the recital.

I always do my group lessons from 10:30am-11:45am on Saturday mornings. It seems to go fairly well. It still allows us all to sleep in a little extra, but its not too late that it interfers with Saturday afternoon activities.