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

A musical scrapbook spanning centuries and sensibilities. You encounter intimate character moments (ghostly stories, dancing cats), spirited dances, and disciplined classical forms that anchor the collection. The mix feels curated rather than random, offering students the texture of a well-designed recital in compact form.

Intermediate to late intermediate pianists preparing for National Guild auditions or building a recital program with depth and variety. This book serves students ready to move beyond single-composer exploration into a more sophisticated mixed repertoire approach without jumping to advanced difficulty.

• Approach the sonatinas by Kuhlau, Clementi, and Merkel with attention to phrase clarity and structural balance; these forms reward confident navigation of repeats and section relationships.
• Let the character pieces (Grandmother Tells a Ghost Story, The Hungry Cat and the Well-Fed Cat) guide your tempo and rubato choices; their narrative quality invites expressive interpretation rather than metronomic precision.
• Use the studies and etudes (Avalanche, Solfeggietto, Humorous Etude) as technical bridges between pieces, isolating the specific demands of each before performing them in context.
• When learning multiple waltzes from the collection, map their harmonic and structural similarities first; this reveals how composers in different eras approached the same dance form.

Pull individual pieces for varying concert contexts: pair a Bach prelude with a romantic waltz for elegant programming, or sequence the character pieces as a contrasting section in a longer student recital. The variety also makes it ideal for students performing multiple auditions where different judge preferences might favor different styles within a single book.

• Baroque counterpoint and voice independence (Bach, Handel, Purcell)
• Classical sonata form and development (Kuhlau, Clementi, Merkel, Dussek)
• Romantic rubato and expressive phrasing (Grieg, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich)
• Waltz meter coordination (three-voice metric clarity)
• Character piece interpretation and narrative arc
• Right-hand and left-hand independence through targeted studies
• Tempo flexibility and style-appropriate ornamentation