Arranging a popular student piece for 4-hands!

by Scott

When we asked one of our supporters, my undergraduate (Oberlin College) Japanese literature and language teacher Suzanne Gay, for a list of pieces for us to choose from, to make a new piano duet arrangement, the Solfeggietto or Solfeggio by CPE Bach was the first piece on her list. This is a popular student piece, only 1 minute long, but is full of variety and one would never tire of listening to it! I first heard it in a computer game’s soundtrack, and although I never played it as a child, I have taught it many times and never get bored with it!

It was also my first choice from her list and was really happy to get started arranging it! We had the chance to perform it at our livestream concert as well as at our performance at the VSO’s Day of Music Event. The original solo piece is quite simple and sparse, so I wanted to keep its simplicity and thinness of texture when making my arrangement. I kept all the notes from the original the same, but in my desire to make it more than just a “student piece”, I added some advanced techniques and made the melody jump between parts.

CPE Bach’s original opening

Four-hands arrangement opening (melody notes highlighted)

Original middle section

Incorporating some advanced techniques such as quickly changing registers (location on the keyboard) and alternating hands octave technique (melody notes are highlighted)