Keyboard camaraderie

Though there are huge glories and advantages to studying and playing the piano, there is no question that the process of practising can be off-putting for many. The piano has a lonely, isolationist image that can be extremely daunting and appear dispiriting to many students, especially if they are young children. String and wind players move quickly (relatively) from their first beginner lessons into group activities and ensemble rehearsals. Singers commonly start off in choirs before even thinking about refining and honing their vocal skills via solitary practice and one-to-one lessons. How sad, then, that many pianists only occasionally have the opportunity to try out keyboard duets, if their tutor is game for sharing the keyboard with them – secondo and primo – for at least a few phrases during their weekly lessons. It is all too easy for a developing pianist to feel that, away from lessons, they are destined always to play, work and think alone. This is especially true for under-18-year-old learners who come from families in which they are the only instrumentalist.

Happily, there are numerous ways in which tutors, family, friends and fellow pianists can group together and make the learning process less solitary. Without becoming impractical or too idealistic, it is possible to stimulate social piano learning via various strategies. We should never assume that we always need to work alone; as pianists, we can and should feel part of a keyboard community. We can find piano buddies. We can be supported and encouraged, not only by family and friends but by group music activities and events that are empowering and spirit-lifting.

Let's look at some of the possibilities that could make piano learning less lonely.

Starting well

The traditional notation-priority approach to learning for beginners is systematic and tried and tested – but it can be disheartening. By focusing on printed symbols first and sounds afterwards, we risk losing a sense of perspective. Our priorities should be sound and rhythm, not naming pitches and note-values. Musicianship can and should begin with improvisation, rhythm games, singing, movement and imaginative responses that can be explored in lessons, through duets. Teachers can clap, sing or play a musical ‘question’ (fragment or phrase) and the student can respond with an ‘answer’. Once their confidence and experience develop, you can switch this around. So much can be learnt from active collaboration.

The group approach to learning can be more effective as students feel part of a collective doing the same thing, facing the same issues and working as a team to overcome challenges. Theory fits comfortably into supporting, rather than preceding, music-making, and when there are several pupils in the room, there's more time for a student to assimilate and reflect, rather than constantly being in the proverbial firing line!

Teachers should be open to fun and musical play during lessons. Sessions which take place in rooms with two pianos are naturally more conducive to a ‘playing’ teaching style. The second instrument need not be particularly expensive – nowadays it is possible to obtain perfectly acceptable touch-sensitive electronic keyboards that can sit comfortably next to the main instrument in the room. This enables lots of two-keyboard collaboration, playing by ear, improvisation and response work. Scales, aural exercises, sight-reading, learning new notes – nearly every aspect of a traditional piano lesson can, and should, take place with an element of playful collaboration between teacher and pupil.

Easy duets

When a beginner is learning single-line, five-finger-position miniatures based on the five white notes from middle-C upwards, it can be hard to remain focused unless the teacher plays more elaborate figurations simultaneously. Happily, there are numerous method books on the market that allow for teacher-student duets from the first lessons. But for a comprehensive, systematic selection of five-finger-position duets, look no further than Anton Diabelli. His duets can be utilised from the first weeks of lessons onwards. Diabelli's Op. 149 is a particularly useful selection of pieces designed to be practised and played by teachers with their students (see link at the end of this article).

Getting parents and peers into Piano Mode

If the prime purpose of developing fluency at the instrument is to obtain a graded certificate for a test in which the sole listener is an anonymous examiner, then it is hardly surprising that many feel the process of learning piano an isolated, lonely experience. Teachers can get away from this rather negative emphasis by offering more than yearly exams to their students. Why not schedule regular concerts and activities with groups of students and their families? With sympathetic circumstances, some teachers are able to arrange classes in which students of similar ages regularly come together and play. Of course, classes are much easier to arrange at specialist music schools and conservatoires, where enterprising students often independently book large rooms so that they can play to each other without supervision.

For private teachers working independently, weekly or even monthly, such classes may prove impractical. This is when the end-of-term ‘piano parties' prove invaluable. Parties and group piano activities can help to build a sense of community. You can have quizzes, socialising, questions about practising, plans for visits to concerts, and so forth. The party could end with a closing concert.

Peer support

When parents see their kids having fun on the piano with other children, values can be shifted gradually. Collaborative piano playing can lead to greater connection and understanding between parents and teachers. Awareness that there is more to music than UCAS points can radically change attitudes for the better. If pupils can get together in a room with two pianos, then there are many opportunities for fun, creativity, and inspiration to be had; try scale and arpeggio relays, for example.

If there are two keyboards in the room, create a quartet with two students sitting at each instrument. One player can start off a scale while the next continues, before the third player continues on keyboard 2, and then the fourth – all in time. Alternatively, if more than one student knows the same piece, see if one can start it but stop halfway through, allowing the second player to continue. You can do the same sort of thing with sight-reading exercises and quick studies. You can also try clapping, singing games and improvisation with four players at a time.

If young pianists can find friends who play the piano, they are less likely to be put off by peers who may mock them for continuing to study classical music at a time of life when such an activity is considered ‘uncool’.

Summer schools and piano meet-up groups

For adult learners, especially those returning to the piano after a long break, it can be invigorating to attend a summer school or a regular piano meet-up group. At the 1901 Arts Club in central London, there is a particularly successful community of non-professional adult players who attend the London Piano MeetUp Group regularly. Bringing fellow players together does so much for morale, motivation and dedication in the practice room. Modesty should not prevent me from mentioning how vibrant and busy the adult amateur course is on Chetham's International Summer School and Festival for Pianists, which I founded in 2001. This has been supporting adult lessons, workshops, concerts and much more for 22 years now.

In a more general sense, there are wonderful forums online that provide a wealth of information and a sense of ‘piano community’. Questions can be answered, uncertainties resolved. Social media can be a positive influence, making solitary worries less of an issue. A problem shared is often a problem solved.

Group piano and chamber music

It is a myth that only advanced players can attempt chamber music, or works for three, four or more players on one or two pianos. While it is true to say that the great chamber works require experienced pianists, it is also the case that arrangements provide wider access and similar ensemble experiences. It's worth looking through the recent collections by Nancy Litten, called Classical Vienna and Romantic Vienna (Alfred Publishing), for piano trio (violin, cello, piano), featuring popular classics that can be tackled by players from around Grade 6 level and above.

For a comprehensive list of repertoire, look no further than Piano Needn't be Lonely by Nadia Lasserson, a wonderful book full of useful information. This provides repertoire lists for pianists playing chamber music with strings, melodic instruments and bass, woodwind, voice, speaker, brass, and large instrumental groups. The music is graded from elementary level (Grades 3–5) to intermediate (6–7) and advanced (Grade 8+). Particularly fascinating is the section on multi-player repertoire, which includes music for three pianists (initial to Grade 2+) on one instrument, for four pianists on two, and the extraordinary Gay March (Grade 2), by Joyce Edginton, that requires 12 hands on two pianos, or Alistair Jones' March for Sixty Fingers. There are pieces, too, for four players on one piano, as in Chaminade's Les Noces D'Argen, and even, with P. Canonica's extraordinary Polka Concertata Op. 190, for 16 hands on two pianos!

Longer-term prospects

The irony of this entire article is that once a pianist is technically confident, fluent with sight-reading and sensitive to listening and stylistic nuance, opportunities to play with others will become much more common. The piano emerges as the most social of instruments rather than an isolating one. For the accomplished adult amateur, accompaniment work can and should make piano playing a communicatively interactive activity. While opportunities to play in orchestras diminish as amateur wind players get older, for accomplished keyboardists, musical life can become much busier. The social aspect of playing with others can grow for pianists after full-time education, as instrumentalists, singers and choirs all need pianists to rehearse and perform with. Capable, reliable players will always be in demand for instrumentalists who need accompanists for their school concerts, festivals, and exam performances.

Ultimately, far from being the loneliest instrument, the piano can bring people together impressively. Once confidence and facility are achieved, pianists can look forward to many rich musical experiences shared not only with fellow pianists but with many other instrumentalists and singers.