Ode To Joy - For 3 Pianos

A few years ago, long before I began focusing on group piano, I discovered that I could cut our recital time down significantly if the students played duets and trios. At the time I had about 35 students and didn't want to plan multiple recitals. So I put together a few ensemble arrangements and cut our recital time in half! The students enjoyed playing together,  the parents were happy to hear the fuller sound ensembles make, and I was happy to fit everyone into a single recital.  

Going through the thousands of miscellaneous folders I now have on my computer, I came across some of these arrangements and started dusting them off and rearranging them slightly for my group classes.

Ode to Joy is one of the more popular ones. Parts 1 & 2 are for students around Level 1 (if their Level 1 method book includes 8th notes - some methods don't introduce 8th notes until Level 2). Part 3 is more suitable for a Level 2 student.

We double up on the parts because some of my groups are 4 or 5 students, so I have two  students playing the Piano 1 part, two students playing the Piano 2 part and then just one student playing Piano 3.
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Try it with your students and let me know how they like it :)

Piano 1 - Melody

Piano 2 - Harmony

Piano 3 - Bass & Chords