Hi all,

Last night my wife and I went to a concert given by the students of a local piano teacher and one of the performances was a duet.

To my surprise my wife suggested that she would like to have a go.

I took up the piano a few years ago after a 20 year gap and I practise quite a bit and am probably a weak grade 8 standard. My wife passed grade 5 20 years ago but hasn't played since.

Can anyone suggest any piano duets we could try.

Regards

I have passed Grade 6 and am working on my G7, and am enjoying playing the first movement (Berceuse)of the Dolly Suite by Fauré with my teacher. (Apparently it used to be played on 'Watch with Mother' or something similar) Admittedly, this is probably too easy for you, as I can more or less play the harder part, and the other part is in octaves for a fair part of it but it is a good duet to get used to playing as a pair because the parts go together easily. Have fun playing, and sorry I can't help any more .

Try a search on piano duet / all forums. There are many previous threads offering suggestions for repertoire, so there's a good chance you will find some ideas at the right standard.

Good hunting, and hope you have fun!

I have made suggestions on other threads, anyway here's a few for starters:-

Dvorak Slavonic Dances
Mozart Eine Kliene Nachtmusik, there is a paino duet version.
Schubert March Militaire
Handel Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, also theres a version of his Water and Fireworks Music
Ravel Mother Goose Suite
Faure Dolly Suite, especially the Pavane mentioned above.

Thank you very much. These are some great ideas to get us started.

I would rather start off too easy and then get something more dificult later.

Does anyone have any experience playing with a partner. I have heard it said many times that one shouldn't play bridge with a husband/wife.

Any thoughts?

Re. partners, well I play duets with my 13 year old daughter and... er... it does not always go smoothly and advice is not always taken in the spirit in which it was intended! Most of the time it's okay though.
I would recommend starting off with something straightforward - Diabelli's Melodic Excercises would be good. They were written for pupils to play with their teachers, the pupils playing primo, and they are lovely pieces and sound great.
It's just that if to start with the pieces aren't too hard and you can get on with playing them easily, then there is less chance of falling out!
Having said all that, you'll have really good fun - there is something so satisfying and enjoyable about playing duets. And you'll be able to impress your family and friends when they come over!

Must look for those pieces. Thanks for sharing the name.

Duets I have tried, all available to borrow from our local library, are;
Beethoven - Deutsche Tanze
Mozart - various
Schubert - Landler
Diabelli - various
Haydn - various
Warlock - Capriol suite
and many more - try your library

Although we are both too busy with other varieties of music to play duets for fun, my wife and I occasionally prepare them for performance. I am probably a better pianist than when I scraped through Grade 8 55 years ago but she has an accompanist's diploma, so she kindly takes the more difficult part (not always Primo). We rarely have arguments, though we have frequent discussions, mainly concerning balance, since I have difficulty matching her control of dynamics. When choosing works to play to others, even people we know well, we are careful not to bite off more than I can chew.

We recommend "Studio 21 Piano Duets", marked as suitable for Grade 2-4 (we think one or two are a bit harder than that) with works by Diabelli, Walton, Brahms (a well-known waltz), Anthony Hedges, Janina Carscia, Lutoslawski, Kozeluh, Hengeveld, Schumann, Sebastian Scott, Tchaikovsky, Ross Edwards, Irena Garztecka and Dusek. The volume is published by Universal Edition. It cost us £5.95 in 1992.

There's also Roger Quilter's nursery rhyme duets, some of these are straightforward, but others might prove a bit harder.

tritsch tratsch polka!!!!!

I played it once in the local music festival with a friend and we won - absolutely brilliant!!