The educational merits in playing piano duet

Piano duet has a long history, until now, there are many repertoires for piano duet. Piano duet always involves two players in one piano and it is recognized as beneficial to piano learners. The development of piano greatly promoted the development of piano duet in 18th century and more piano duet pieces were composed. From the literature review, piano duet helps to improve rhythmic control, enhancing listening and sight-reading skills, and developing cooperation. Furthermore, piano duets can raise learning interest. These merits bring positive educational effects to piano players. The purpose of this study is to find out the educational merits of play piano duet.
Many well-known composers composed piano duet pieces. In this study, Haydn’s piano duet repertoire, “Il maestro e lo scolare”, will be discussed. The title of the repertoire, “Il maestro e lo scolare”, indicated this duet piece is for a teacher and a student that “maestro” and “scolare” represented a teacher and a student in English. Apart from offering joy of music and entertainment, “Il maestro e lo scolare”, the title specified the character of two players, being a teacher and student, serving as a teaching material. The study analyzes and discusses the musical and technical musical skills, such as (1) rhythm, (2) phrasing, (3) articulation, (4) balance, (5) ornamentation and (6) coordination, of this repertoire, and discuss how this repertoire provide educational merits.
The study found that this repertoire can provide the educational merits that the literature review reported. It is also suggested that this repertoire can be used a teaching tool for piano learning and more piano duet pieces should be adjusted to include in piano lesson based on the students’ abilities and learning needs.