Guild Repertoire: Piano Music Appropriate for the Auditions of the National Guild of Piano Teachers, Elementary C & D: Piano Book

This book moves through a landscape of character pieces that sparkle with personality. You encounter mischievous chickens and grasshoppers, stately dances and folk melodies, moments of quiet storytelling alongside playful rhythmic games—each piece manages to be both approachable and genuinely engaging to play.

Young pianists preparing for National Guild auditions at the Elementary C and D levels will find a curated selection of pieces that meet competition requirements while building foundational technique and musical understanding. Private studio teachers use this collection to streamline repertoire selection and ensure students have access to approved material across all required categories.

• Work through the four categories (Classics, Sonatina, Romantic, Modern) as separate units so students understand the historical and stylistic arc of their repertoire choices.
• Pair contrasting pieces from different categories when preparing audition selections; alternating a Baroque minuet with a modern character piece builds dynamic recital programs.
• Use the folk song and dance pieces to develop rhythmic clarity and stylistic awareness before moving to more structurally complex sonatinas.

Structure your year around one category at a time, rotating students through different styles so they develop fluency across all four forms before audition season. The variety makes it easy to build a balanced audition program that showcases a student's range of interpretive skills.

• Reading pieces in multiple time signatures and key signatures appropriate to elementary level
• Distinguishing stylistic conventions across Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern idioms
• Executing ornaments (trills, grace notes) found in Baroque and Romantic selections
• Controlling dynamics and phrasing in character pieces with explicit expressive markings
• Building rhythm security through folk dances and syncopated figures