FJH Duets at Their Best, Book 2: Early Intermediate Piano Book

These duets solve a real problem: finding pieces where both players have equally interesting material and neither part feels like accompaniment. The roster of composers (Leaf, Costello, Bober, and others) guarantees variety in style and character, so you're not teaching the same harmonic or rhythmic patterns across seven pieces.

Colorful and worldly. Titles like Moroccan Breeze and Haifa Holiday signal music that travels, while pieces like I Wanna Be a Spy hint at humor and personality. The writing stays musical throughout; there's nothing perfunctory here.

Early intermediate piano students ready for genuine duet experience. This collection also works beautifully for studio teachers who want to program a student recital featuring multiple pairs of players without scrambling for seven different books.

• Balance the melody line between primo and secondo so listeners hear it as a shared conversation rather than a solo with backup. This matters most in pieces where the melody migrates between parts.
• Record yourselves and listen back. Early intermediate students often push tempo when nervous; a playback reveals whether you're actually together.
• Invest time in the introduction and codas. These bookend moments set the recital moment's tone and deserve the same attention as the main themes.

Use these as your studio's answer to student recital programming. One pair performs Haifa Holiday; another tackles Mountain Wildflowers. This approach gives your students ownership of different moods and styles in a single concert, and the equal-part writing keeps rehearsal manageable.

• Listening to a second pianist while maintaining independent rhythmic line
• Balancing dynamic control when melody moves between primo and secondo
• Reading and executing ensemble cues and tempo changes
• Developing musical phrasing that accounts for shared material across both parts