awesome intermediate duets

I love duets!

Sitting by yourself at the piano for long periods of time can definitely get lonely at times. Why not supplement your students’ repertoire with some wonderful duets? Not only will it add more peer interaction and fun into your studio, it will teach your students some valuable lessons about ensemble performance. I think summer is a great time for some fun duet recitals! You could pair up students of similar levels in your studio and have their lessons overlap by a few minutes in order for them to have time to practice the duets together.

I’d like to share with you some of my favorite intermediate-level duets. Enjoy!

The Legend of Pirate Pete by Kevin Olson





Very fun early-intermediate piece. Sounds very Pirates of the Caribbean-esque! haha.


Holy moly, look at all those pianos….this YouTube video is actually very impressive considering how many pianists were playing at once!

Big River Barn Dance by Carrie Kraft

This is a great duet, lots of fun, great for recitals! This is probably mid-intermediate. Here’s a video of me and one of my adult students performing this piece.

The All-American Hometown Band by Walter and Carol Noona

This is one of my all-time favorite duets! I learned this as teenager with my sister, and now my husband plays it with me as well! I actually once saw it played with the pianists sitting under the piano, facing the audience…


This is probably mid-intermediate level.


Here is a video of my husband and I performing this piece…

C.S. Theme and Variations by Randall Compton
(dedicated to Victor Borge!)


This is such a fun duet. It is based on Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, as well as another very familiar song…… 🙂

This is mid- to late-intermediate level.


Here is a great YouTube video I found.

Jamaican Rhumba by Arthur Benjamin, arranged for two pianos by Walden Hughes


Awesome two-piano duet. My sister and I once learned this, and I guess didn’t feel completely ready to play it at our recital, because we were very surprised and relieved when our teacher forgot we were supposed to play it and never announced it!! haha. score.


This is probably later-intermediate.


YouTube video of the piece: