I am starting to think about my studio's Christmas and Spring recitals and am mulling over what I would like to play. I am a late intermediate/early advanced pianist. I want the music to engage and motivate the students and impress the parents, but not take up too much time.

This Spring I played "Fur Elise" and "Piano Man." I was thinking that I'd like to play "Joy to the World" and to pair that with something that contrasts. Any suggestions for the contrasting piece? Do you think one of Chopin's nocturnes or the "Raindrop Prelude" be awkward with "Joy to the World"? Could anyone recommend a great arrangement of "Joy to the World" for my level?

For the Spring Recital I was thinking about playing "Imagine" and "Giant Purple Butterflies" by Wynn Anne Rossi. Does this sound like a good match? If not, any suggestions?

What do you play at your student recitals?

This may change over time, but the only pieces I played at the recent recital were pieces with students. My "showcase" teacher piece--if you want to call it that--was with a beginning student who had learned a portion of "I've Got Rhythm." I rewrote it in F Major for her and added a few things. She started us off on a keyboard by playing the A portion solo, "I got rhythm, I got music, I got my dog (LOL) who could ask for anything more?" Then I came in with a jazzy version and played while she repeated the melody. I was going to have her play the B portion "Old man trouble...", but it just wasn't coming together. So I played that portion solo, then we came back in together for the end. In this way, I played for my students, but it was still all about them.

I did kind of a similar thing with one of my students.

We played Green Frog Hop from 2A Performance. I taught her how to play it with a swing eighth feel. At the recital we looped the first four measures and I improvised some bluesy stuff over top, then I cued her with the written duet part. We continued to play the main part of the tune, then when the intro ostinato comes back in as an outro we opened it up again for a little more improv, then ended together with the written duet part. Everyone was very impressed at her skills at accompanying.

If you are at the level of Fur Elise, you are not ready to tackle a Chopin nocturne, at least not without a teacher. The Raindrop Prelude is a bit long. Take a look at the E Major Prelude or perhaps Schubert Landler.

I can play the posthumous C# nocturne, but maybe that is too long and too dramatic a contrast from Joy to the World. Thank you Arlene for the suggestions. Would you please recommend a good edition that contains all or most of the Landler?

You can find them in many collections. Edition is not so important with these works.