Lee, Julia: Three in a Row

Easy pieces for three players at one piano

Three in a Row is a quite new kind of piano book. These eleven pieces, some of which are based on well known tunes, were written to give piano pupils a chance to play together at an early stage. Most piano teachers will agree that learning our instrument can be a lonely business. Lacking the stimulus of playing together in an orchestra pupils may lose incentive to practise, and while easy duets are plentiful there is a limited repertoire of pieces for three players of the same level. The innovation in Three in a Row is that each player reads from one stave only. This gives young pianists the advantage held by players of orchestral instruments. Most of the pieces (exceptions are shown by notation or in a footnote) are designed so that they may first be practised by each player using one hand only. Later each part may be played in octaves with both hands (player 1 adds an octave higher; player 2 and 3 an octave lower). This gives the full range of the piano's sound and can produce a most exciting effect. Pupils love to play in this way. These pieces are highly successful at pupil's concerts. By facilitating reading, Three in a Row enables young players to listen to one another, balance their tone and fell confident when playing in ensemble. The pieces may be used with three individual pupils of similar standard or as part of regular group piano repertoire.