Two-Piano Teaching Duets for Burgmüller’s Op. 100

Three years ago, in a lesson I was giving to my oldest daughter, she completed a Burgmüller piece from the Op. 100 set. After I put a sticker on the page, she said, “Daddy, remember those duets we used to play in the Alfred books? I really miss playing those with you.” She was referring to the teacher duets that are commonly found in method books for early beginners – fun accompaniments that teachers can play along with students’ solo parts to make them sound more complete. The duets served as fun rewards once students had memorized and polished each piece.

Freakishly, I had already been seriously considering writing two-piano duets for Burgmüller’s Op. 100, not only because it just seemed like a super fun thing to do, but also for the same reason that Josef Lhevinne articulated in this timeless quote of genius:

Duet playing with a strong, vigorous musical individual is the best way to catch rhythm as one might catch measles. Rhythm is infectious.

After those words came out of my daughter’s mouth, I knew I had to do it.

I am proud to announce my publication of Teaching Duets for Burgmuller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, Op. 100 for a second piano. It is available on the Orange Note website (official release date: February 28, 2018). Taken from the product description:

The original pieces from Burgmuller’s Op. 100 are gems of consistently high quality.  Most teachers are familiar with staples such as the Arabesque, Ballade, Limpid Stream, Harmony of the Angels, and Tarantella, but all 25 pieces in the set are worthwhile and rewarding to learn and teach.

Some duets add color or spice, others add bravado.  Some offer accompaniments, while others present new melodies that would seem to repurpose Burgmuller’s original writing to that of an accompaniment.  Some experiment and explore limits of ensemble, and there are even some that borrow motifs from movies.  Most of these duets do many, most or all of these things.  All of these duets complement, intensify and sometimes reimagine the musical character, creating beautiful, interesting or surprising new pieces of music.

The duets range in difficulty from moderately easy to somewhat tricky.

My local MTNA association (GPC-PMTA) asked me to present these pieces to the association. I decided to do a “Burgmüller Bash” on February 28, 2018 and invite teachers to volunteer to play. It was a blast. Those who volunteered were assigned various pieces from the Op. 100 set. The pieces were played in their original solo forms first in order of the Op. 100 set, and after each solo piece, I played the teacher duet with them. 

It was also satisfying to introduce so many teachers to all of the lesser-known high-quality pieces in Burgmüller’s Op. 100 set. At one point, I asked everyone, “How many here are more fond of Burgmuller’s Op. 100 now than they were a month ago?” Literally every teacher raised their hands!

If you visit the Orange Note website, also note there is a CD recording along with audio samples of the recording. A digital download album will be available on the same date.

I made this recording in Kresge Hall (CMU) on a 9-foot Steinway. I first recorded all 25 of Burgmüller’s original pieces. Two weeks later, I recorded the duet parts while listening to the originals with headphones. The two recordings were mixed together to produce the effect of two pianos playing simultaneously.

This project was such a huge indulgence of musical pleasure for me. Writing each duet was like solving 150 addicting puzzles, and I ended up with 25 two-piano miniatures that are, in my opinion, totally suitable for the concert stage. I’m obviously biased, but in a recital or concert of piano ensemble music, would it not fascinate and excite you to see something like this programmed?  One teacher in attendance (a piano professor) at the Burgmuller Bash also commented that she felt these would be great to program on the concert stage, which was validating. It is not only my hope, but my wager as well, that many teachers/students, parents/kids, students pairs and even concert artist pairs will have nearly as much fun exploring this music as I had writing, performing and recording it, not to mention the endless selfish fun my students and I are going to have in my own future lessons and studio recitals.

I cannot resist ending with one tangential paragraph about something I’ve wanted to blog about for some time. Hopefully the convenient timing of this opinion will not cause my readers to be too dismissive of it. Some teachers do not teach on two instruments. I know that some simply do not have the option, such as traveling teachers. But even if I weren’t selling two-piano sheet music, I would still urge any teacher to give it a try if at all possible. Buy a digital piano and squish it against the wall if necessary. Whatever drawbacks of how it makes your living room look or how much space it takes up are more than made up for by the benefits of using it in your teaching. You will model passages more often for your students, and when you do, the model will be more accurate since your modeling is not displaced by two or three octaves, you have control of the pedals, etc. You can rehearse with your students when they play concertos. You can be a “human metronome” while they play scales, exercises or even when they play pieces. You can still sit in a comfortable reclining office chair (I do – there is no bench at my teaching piano). You can play along with students in any octave you choose. You can have your students perform on your piano before recitals to give them the “playing on an unfamiliar piano” feeling in order to reveal memory weaknesses and failures to adapt for different tone, touch and/or pedal. When I switched to two pianos in my teaching, I wondered how I ever got by without it.

I do plan to make major announcements through my blog, but if you want to keep in closer contact with Orange Note, you can do so through its Facebook page.

(c) 2018 Cerebroom

3 thoughts on “Two-Piano Teaching Duets for Burgmüller’s Op. 100

  1. Well done Chad! This is such a great accomplishment! I can’t wait to check these out and play them with my students!

  2. These are wonderful. I’ve done several by now with a few of my students. They are immensely satisfying, both for me to play, and for the students to hear. The sound is much different and fuller than a “mere” duet on the same piano. The styles of the second piano part are quite varied. Looking forward to doing even more next year!

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