Piano recitals can be intimidating. As students get older and become more self-aware, convincing them to participate in recitals can be challenging.
With a little coaxing, young children can be convinced to participate in recitals. With a little more coaxing, pre-teens can be convinced to participate in recitals. And with a lot of coaxing, teens can be convinced to participate in recitals.
But, there is one group of piano students that can be extremely resistant to performing in public… older beginners!
And who can blame those older beginners? Piano repertoire in early elementary piano books is not written for older beginners. The already-intimidating piano recital environment becomes absolutely terrifying when an older beginner must perform “The Pretty Palomino” or “The Angry Aardvark”.
But we’re about to take the fear out of piano recitals for older beginners and help them to become the highlight of your spring recital with March’s piano book of the month from PianoBookClub.com. Read on to discover the performance-based repertoire your older beginners have been waiting for. You can also listen to five full audio samples AND see a flip-through preview of the book!
The Ultimate “First Recital” Duet Book For Older Beginners
With the 7 pop-rock, teacher-student duets in this book, your Early Elementary pre-teens and teens, adult beginners (and even your young ones who love to jam!) will be begging you to let them rock your recital. Say goodbye to reluctant performers, and say hello to excited piano students who will “wow” your audience with the awesome pop sounds this book provides.
Your older beginners will be thrilled to participate in your recital if they have a performance piece they can be proud of. The big sounds in this book provide the dose of “cool” your tweens and teens crave without pushing them outside of their current skill level. Set in C and G position, each piece is carefully-crafted to sound impressive while remaining accessible to piano students who have only been in lessons for a short time.
The 7 teacher-student duets in this book offer a wide variety of pop/rock sounds from mellow to “blow the roof off”, enabling you to find the perfect match for your older beginner. Plus, each piece is paired with a beautiful poster featuring original artwork that you can use as “first piano recital” inspiration. Post them in your studio for some visual encouragement in the weeks leading up to your recital!
A Flip-Through Preview of How To Rock Your First Recital
How To Rock Your First Recital was March 2017’s Book of the Month from PianoBookClub. To see this month’s book visit PianoBookClub.com.
Listen to More Music From “How To Rock Your First Recital”
Pretty awesome, right?! Visit www.pianobookclub.com to find out how you can revitalize your piano recital with new, exciting music your piano students will actually want to practice!
Elaine says
This has quickly become my favourite ever PBC book – I have used it with older beginners, who love it, and with adult beginners (for whom I also constantly struggle to find repertoire that sounds good) and with a teenager with special educational needs who said “it sounds like remembering happy things that aren’t here any more, sort of happy and sad at the same time” (‘With Heart’). The best thing is that the teacher part is well within the range of her younger sister, so they are now both very excited and practising it together.
Thank you so so much, Andrea (as always) x
Andrea says
Hi Elaine – thrilled! We hoped that teachers could also use with with adult students who want a more satisfying sound. I love your story of the sisters playing together – this is fantastic. Enjoy and thanks for your kind words 🙂
Dana says
This is amazing! All 7 pieces are beautifully written and all unique! My college daughter is home for spring break and we sat at the piano until 1 am because we could not stop playing! (Not ideal for a 5 am start this morning, but worth every minute we enjoyed together!) Thank you for sharing your incredible gift with us. ❤️❤️
Andrea says
Oh Dana! This makes my heart so happy 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
Wendiann says
Thanks Andrea and Trevor! I printed extras copies of the cover page for each song and displayed them in the studio as inspiration while we prepare for our recital. These mini-posters have sparked amazing conversations. The duets are so fun, too, of course. I really appreciate all you do to help make my job so fun! xoxo
Andrea says
Hi Wendiann – I’m SO happy to hear this 🙂 It’s exactly what we envisioned when we designed the artwork for the book – we hoped teachers could use it as some pre-recital motivation and sneak in some preparation tips in the process 😉 We just love the artist we work with and he was able to beautifully bring that concept to life! Enjoy the duets! Thanks for your support of our music 🙂
Sandra says
Not just for adult beginners! Kids in early year studies often need something easy to work on occasionally that will sound totally cool when paired with the accompaniment. I am hoping to pair some beginner students with older more advanced students for recital performance.
Andrea says
Hi Sandra – it’s true! Yes, we also hope that the book will get used by “young students who love to jam” as we mentioned in the post 🙂 Hopefully it becomes a really flexible book that you can get great use out of. Love the idea of pairing students for the duet – what a great opportunity for them!
Kara says
Thanks guys, these are great! Love the big sounds provided by the duets.
A question…what technology do you use to record your songs? It sounds like you play them on an acoustic piano. Do you have a particular recording device that you use?
Thanks!
Andrea says
Hi Kara – I use a really good keyboard connected by MIDI and record it into GarageBand. Glad it sounds like an acoustic 😉
Kara says
Wow, really? Thanks for the info!
Rita says
This is exciting!!!! How do I get it? I am already a member of the Book club……
Andrea says
Hi Rita – your membership renews on the 21st of each month so you’ll receive this book on March 21st. If you’d like me to move your delivery date earlier just email me 🙂
Sandy says
Can I purchase this book as a single purchase?
Andrea says
Hi Sandy – all of our music is only available through PianoBookClub.com (this is how we’re able to offer it at a significant discount to industry standard for studio-licensed music). You can cancel your membership at any time, but we hope to “wow” you each month with our unique take on supplementary repertoire 🙂
Caren Worel says
Can’t wait for this to come!!!! Thank you so much for writing this!!! Will be watching my email for it.
Andrea says
Enjoy Caren! And if you don’t want to wait I can change your delivery date – just ask 🙂
Elaine Bovender says
I can’t wait to get this! I think mine comes around the 25th. I have an adult beginner that I think this would be great for his first recital music. He just had his first lesson last week and my recital is in May. He should be able to do some of these easily by then. Thanks so much, Andrea!
Andrea says
Fabulous Elaine! So glad you can use it right away 🙂 Enjoy!
Debbie Anderson says
Hi all!!
I’m already a member…………………….and enjoying all of your great ideas!! I was wondering how to download these pieces……………….they are great for my older students!
Thanks!
Karla says
I just found this book on your site…is it available for purchase separately since the March deadline is past? I recently moved cross-country and most of my new students are all older beginners. This would be perfect for them!
Andrea says
Hi Karla! This book isn’t available currently as our music is only available through the PianoBookClub membership, but if you are a member you do get the chance to purchase re-released books from the past each month as an optional “add on”.