Popular Piano Library: Duets from Broadway and Popular Piano Library: Duets of Timeless Standards

Abstract

In Duets from Broadway, we enjoyed the modulations and key changes in "All That Jazz" and the rhythmic interest in "Don't Rain on My Parade.

Piano Duet * Popular Piano Library: Duets from Broadway and Popular Piano Library: Duets of Timeless Standards, by Dan Coates. Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., 2012. www.alfred.com; 64 and 52 pp., $12.99 each. Intermediate to lateintermeditate.

Dan Coates's arrangements are notable for their fidelity to the original music and these two new duet offerings are no exception.

Fortuitously, a pianist friend stopped by just after my review copies arrived, so we sat down to explore.

In Duets from Broadway, we enjoyed the modulations and key changes in "All That Jazz" and the rhythmic interest in "Don't Rain on My Parade." "Camelot" features lovely passing of the melody between the parts. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" affords an opportunity to practice repeated notes.

By the end or the book, though, we were longing to play in a key other than C major as all but one of the pieces were in that key.

Duets of Timeless Standards offers a wider variety of keys. Several pieces employ triplets. "What A Wonderful World" features two against three. We particularly enjoyed the beautiful interplay of parts in "From This Moment On." "My Funny Valentine" is also gorgeous.

We both preferred Timeless Standards, possibly because of the quality of the original works themselves (for example, two Gershwin selections).

Pieces in both books range from three to five pages, have a good balance of tempos and moods, and distribute melodic material nicely between primo and secondo.

Both collections are designated "intermediate to late-intermediate." My partner and I both found the arrangements to be certainly no more difficult than indicated, perhaps ly easier.

Each book contains eight arrangements laid out with secondo on the left and primo on the right. (Personally, I prefer the parts to be printed one above the other on the same page in order to easily see the relationship between parts.)

The music is easy to read with print and lots of white space.

My local association presents two multi-piano concerts each year and I plan to recommend several of these fine arrangements for consideration.