Does any one have any suggestions for a piece or two I could play at the end of my students' recital? I'm looking for something short and sweet because I know my students will be fidgety by the end of the recital. I'd like something that screams, "Playing piano is fun!" but nothing too flashy.

I'd like my students to know that I practice what I preach, but preparing any kind of solo recital is out of the question for me with an infant and toddler. I could use the motivation to get my practice more organized, too!

Perhaps you could share more background info- eg. your previous pieces performed, your preferred style- but here's a (partial) list of shorter works I've performed on student recitals:

Chopin Nocturnes- pretty much any of them work.
Debussy Preludes- bk1: nos 7 and 9.
Rach Prelude c# minor (op3, no2)
Mozart Sonatas- K310, 331, 545, 576 (I favor first movements only when it's for student recitals)
Bach 2pt Inventions- nos 8, 13, 15
Gershwin Preludes nos 1 and 3

Out of habit, I brush up on flashy pieces I learned as a teen (XX years ago!) so that I have something when these recitals pop up. Also, if I have a student learning, let's say, the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, then I'll be working on ALL 3 movements. This keeps me in pretty good shape, and it sounded to me like that's your goal too. So best of luck on your recital preparation!

~mstrongpianist

No need to play the most difficult thing you can. For something fun, how about a Scott Joplin, or Bumblebee Boogie, - something along those lines.

I think it really depends on what your strengths are: do you do better with Bartok or Bach? If you are really good at expressive playing, then opt for a Mendelssohn Song Without Words or a shorter Chopin Nocturne or Etude (I recommend the last of the Trois Nouvelles Etudes in A-flat major...it's not to tough to put together but really quite charming and a relatively new discovery for me). If it's baroque music, Scarlatti has some really fun sonatas to do something other than Bach (though I love Bach). Or if you are good with rhythmic things, what about Bartok's 6 Dances in Bulgarian Rhythms No. 6? Or, you could always do something the kids might recognize like a piece from anime from video games, like Yin No Piano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFWth-ToYuE&feature=related (you can get a lot of the sheet music for this stuff for free).

Or, I was going to say, pick something you've already learned and you know you can play well, so you just spend this time polishing it up.

Super Mario Brothers. I've kept that in my repertoire for the past six years. It works. It gets everybody's attention.

Thanks for all the suggestions!