Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum "pupil saver" pieces for teen boys...please recommend.

Please share the names of pieces that have saved your teen male students from quitting.

Thanks!

:S i have yet to find one. Unfortunatly all my male students want to play things that don't really transcirbe to piano (like Metallica :S) and even if we CAN find something to play on the piano it is usually a much higher piece. Sorry i'm not help!

So much depends on the student. Is he technically advanced enough to play "Kitten on the Keys?" The piece which kept me going in HS was Pictures at an Exhibition. There couldn't be two pieces more different, yet equally demanding - everyone marches to a different drummer.

So, help us out a bit. What level is your student at? What genre do you think would tickle his fancy?

John

If he is advanced enough and is like 99.9999999% of teen boys, he would probably be interested in playing some of the music from his favorite video games. Loud and fast music might interest him, too.

I had a teen boy who wanted to play Chopin's Raindrop Prelude because it was used in a Halo 3 commercial. Rachmaninoff is also a hit with boys. Beethoven's Tempest would be good for them too.

There are some pretty difficult arrangements of videogame music, like from Super Mario, that would be demanding and also interesting for teenagers.

For the ones who are not so advanced, Grieg's "Little Troll" would be good for them. I remember loving that as a kid, though I wasn't a boy. Schubert impromptus wouldn't be bad either.

Just thinking out loud, but if there are musical renditions of movie hits loved by him (say, "Lord of the Rings", wonderful motives there..) this might keep him interested and at the same time be easier to find than a videogame tune.

It was video video game music that started and kept my teenage son involved with the piano. So much so, that he now composes music for video games, theater and video productions.

Mention the game series "Final Fantasy" to your student and I'm sure his eyes will light up. You can find free solo piano arrangement sheet music here:

http://ffmusic.ffshrine.org/

Published version of the music for several games can be ordered from:

http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore

Rodney

Try stuff by Timothy Brown ("Toccatina" or "Song for Elise") and Kevin Olson ("Sonatina in Flight"). If the student likes romantic/melodic stuff, try Melody Bober ("Romanze" or "Midnight Rhapsody").

Jazz, Rags, and Blues books by Martha Mier are interesting/pleasing to students who aren't serious about piano.

A very good site for boys...

http://www.pianothemes.com

Try some Eric Baumgartner stuff as well.

And a shameless plug for some of my books... (with some free samples - Gidget's Gadgets and Walkin' the Dog are popular with the boys...)

http://www.danielmcfarlane.com/main/page_supersonics.html

Most of these pieces were composed for students that didn't like the "normal" repertoire.

My 8th grade male student purchased some music from "Pirates of the Carribean" and realy enjoyed learning it.

Star Wars theme was a great hit for many of the boys I have taught. For both girls and boys, cartoon music and Charlie Brown theme.

I always ask all of my students to think of pieces they want to play. Most settle on movie themes.

Or give him ideas of pieces or songs that will impress his girlfriend.

How about Raiders March. Actually anything from John Williams.

What about the Infernal Galop? Any galop in fact or a polka

If they like classical music and they've got the chops, selections from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet suite would fill the bill, especially Montagues & Capulets.

I like the Pirates suggestion. That certainly captured mine's attention at age 11-12.

Dan.mc, plug away! Thanks for sharing your music! Your music is creative and fun to play. I believe it would appeal to my teen student. Anything in the works for young beginners?

Hi Lillystar, thanks for the plug! Book 1 has pieces that beginners can handle once they are familiar with C-G in both hands. I should have the recordings for all the books done soon...

Ps http://www.pianothemes.com/ has a good arrangement of the Pirates of the Caribbean music

Also, Philip Glass' piano music is great for boys - they seem to love minimalism!

If there was such a thing as a piano teacher that teaches a course on video game music, I'd pay extra.

Definitely video game music, if you can find it. Pirates of the Caribbean is always a favorite for boys and girls. Boys also really like Melody Bober's Sonatina of the High Seas. Kevin Olsen's Machines on the Loose is great too. Check out Dennis Alexander as well.

Duets and ensembles go the extra mile in keeping boys interested in piano. Girls love them too, of course, but I've kept boys in lessons by adding more duets when nothing else worked. This works best if you can pair two boys together. Or if the
boy has a bit of a crush on his female partner. Hmm, that probably works even better.

I think if you pair up a boy with a girl he has a crush on, then he'll decrease in performance during lessons due to distractions.

However, I would think his home practice would skyrocket since he'll be determined to impress the girl by playing better.