This is the first in a new series of articles I’ll be writing featuring my favourite piano pieces for boys by a variety of Australian and International composers.
I had the fortune to meet Geri Rea at a piano teachers’ PD day at the Convention Centre in Melbourne 2010.
Geri is a talented teacher and composer who lives in Newcastle, NSW who has written a number of books of music, mainly for students around Preliminary – Grade 1/2 level (late elementary – early intermediate).
I’ve been teaching with three of her books in my studio since 2010 and have chosen what I believe to be the top 10 best pieces for boys from:
Here’s a quick look at the pieces:
Geri’s music will instantly appeal to all children, teens and adults, with the Surfing, Sailing & Sprinting book a particular favourite amongst my male students (children and teens).
World in Harmony is a great book for exploring the sounds of other countries and the pieces would instantly suit a themed recital “Around the World” or similar.
The Playground is great for any school-aged children and features music in a variety of styles, harmonies and speeds.
I was really excited to find out that one of Geri’s pieces from “World in Harmony” has been featured in Trinity College’s Grade 1 piano books. The piece is called Red Square March.
This is a great indicator of the quality of Geri’s music and I’m sure more exam boards will pick up her music in the future.
When you become a member of my Inner Circle Community, you get free access to Surfing, Sailing and Sprinting with a full studio licence.
Click below to find out more about all the great benefits of membership:
For Geri’s other books, head to her website: Piano for Schools to order your books.
Let me know below 🙂
Sir Julian says:
Hi guys, these pieces all sound awesome. Why is it that you think they’re particularly suited to boys? As a woman, I love them. As a female piano teacher who teachers both girls and boys, I can’t see why these pieces would appeal particularly to boys. Why do we tend to give the ‘cool’ pieces to our boys? And the pretty blah traditional boring minuets etc to our girls? What’s the deal? I’m VERY interested to hear your thoughts.
Jo Kotchie says:
Hi Sir Julian – I’m glad you’re enjoying these pieces and yes, they’re as much for the girls as the boys! As regards my own music, much of it was driven by the boys in my practice who I’ve generally found harder to engage (and keep engaged!) than the girls. The boys (between about 8 and 12) always ask me for faster, darker, scarier music. When I try to pin them down they become more specific – monsters, aliens, dangerous stuff …. and their eyes glaze over as their imaginations kick in. So this is what I feed off. And create food for. That’s not to say that they don’t also enjoy beautiful, expressive music. They do (so long as it doesn’t have what they consider a ‘girly’ title) …. and of course the girls love all of these fast, furious, dark and dangerous pieces just as much as the boys do! The only difference is that the girls are not asking for them – they are generally more willing to try different styles/types of pieces and more open to enjoying them. But given a choice, they will generally pick the same types of pieces as the boys want. ……. And personally (as a woman) when I’m writing purely for myself I tend to write Celtic battle music 🙂
Tim Topham says:
Hey Sir Julian! Thanks for your comments. I tend to preface most of my posts/presentations/etc about things to do with boys with the comment that, of course, I’m generalising and yes, these pieces also motivate girls. The reason that I continue to write articles like this is simply because many teachers struggle more to find music to inspire their boys than their girls. For this reason, when I find music that I know boys will love, I put it in articles like this so that other teachers can find and use them. And ‘blah traditional boring’ music shouldn’t be used on any students IMO 🙂