Babadjanian, Arno

• Bilder for piano

• Poem

Bach, Johann Sebastian

• English Suite in g minor

• Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825

• Prelude and Fugue III in C-sharp Major, WTC I

• Prelude and Fugue V in D Major, WTC I

• Prelude and Fugue XVI in g minor, WTC I

• Prelude and Fugue in D Major, WTC II, BWV 874

• Prelude and Fugue in d minor, WTC II, BWV 875

Baltin, Alexander  

• Sonatina

Barber, Samuel

• Nocturne

• Sonata for Piano Op. 26

• Souvenirs for Two Pianos

Bartok, Bela                                        

• Romanian Folk Dances

• Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

Beethoven, Ludwig van                        

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major

• Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 5 No. 1

• Sonata Op. 10 No. 2 in F Major

• Sonata Op. 13, “Pathetique” in c minor

• Sonata Op. 14 No. 2 in G Major

• Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 24, "Spring"

• Sonata Op. 31 No. 2, “Tempest” in d minor

• Sonata Op. 31 No. 3 in E-Flat Major

• Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 47, "Kreutzer"

• Sonata Op. 57, “Appassionata"

• Sonata Op. 79 in G Major

• 32 variations in c minor

Bernstein, Leonard                              

• West Side Story Suite (arr. for two pianos by John Musto)

Bolcom, William

• Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano

Brahms, Johannes

• Hungarian Dances for four hands                                

• Hungarian Dance No. 1 for solo piano

• Intermezzo Op. 118, no. 6 in e-flat minor

• Rhapsody Op. 79, No. 2 in g minor

• Trio for horn, violin, and piano Op. 40 in E-Flat Major

• Variations on a theme of Robert Schumann, Op. 9

•  Waltz in G-sharp minor, Op. 39, No. 3

Chopin, Frederic                                 

• Ballade No. 1 Op. 23 in g minor

• Berceuse in D-flat Major, Op. 57

• Bolero Op. 19

• Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11

• Etude Op. 10 No. 4 in c-sharp minor

• Etude Op. 10 No. 12 in c minor “Revolutionary”

• Etude Op. 25 No. 1 in A-Flat Major

• Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 in D-Flat Major

• Nocturne Op. 37 No. 1 in g minor

• Nocturne in c-sharp minor, Op. Posthumous

• Piano Trio in G minor

• Polonaise Op. 40 No. 2 in A Major “Military”

• Sonata No. 2 Op. 35 in b-flat minor “Funeral March”

• Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor

• Waltz in e minor (Posthumous)

Copland, Aaron    

• Passacaglia

Debussy, Claude                                 

• Claire de lune from Suite bergamasque

• La cathedrale engloutie and Minstrels from Preludes, Book I

Enescu, George                                   

• Prelude in f-sharp minor

• Suite No. 2 in D Major

Gershwin, George

• Rhapsody in Blue

Ginastera, Alberto                               

• Danzas argentinas

Grieg, Edvard                                      

• Piano Concerto Op. 16 in a minor

• Wedding Day at Troldhaugen

Haydn, Joseph    

• Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 25, “Gypsy”

• Sonata in F Major (Hob. 23)

• Sonata in G Major (Hob. 40)

• Sonata in C Major (Hob. 50)

• Sonata in E-Flat Major (Hob. 52)

Jensen, Carl                                         

• Etude No. 20 in c minor

Kabalevski, Dimitri                              

• Rondo in a minor

Lecuona, Ernesto                                 

• Danzas Afro-Cubanas (Nos. 1, 3, 6)

Liszt, Franz                                          

• Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major

• Liebestraume (Notturno III) in A-Flat Major

• Sonata in b minor

• Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, in E-Flat Major

• Paganini Etudes

  • No. 3 – “La Campanella” in g-sharp minor

  • No. 5 in E Major

• Totentanz for piano and orchestra

• Transcendental Etudes

  • No. 11 – “Harmonies du Soir” in D-flat Major

• No. 8 – “Wilde Jagd” in c minor

Lutoslawski, Witold                             

• Paganini Variations for two pianos

MacDowell, Edward                           

• Etude Op. 46 No. 2, “Moto Perpetuo” in A-Flat Major

• Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 23 in d minor

• Witches’ Dance, Op. 17 No. 2

Madsen, Trygve                                  

• Sonata for Horn and Piano

Mendelssohn, Felix                              

• Rondo Capriccioso Op. 14 in E Major

• Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, “Italian” (arr. for two pianos, eight hands by Theodor Kirchner)

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus                

• Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466

• Fantasy K. 397 in d minor

• Sonata K. 331 in A Major

• Sonata K. 333 in B-Flat Major

• Sonata K. 448 in D Major for two pianos

• Sonata K. 457 in c minor

• Sonata K. 570 in B-Flat Major

• 10 Variations on an air by Charles W. Gluck K. 455 in G Major

Oyster, Allyson M.

• Sola Rosa

Paladi, Radu                                        

• Rondo a capriccio in C Major

Piazzolla, Astor                                    

• Histoire du Tango

  • No. 1 – Bordel 1900

  • No. 2 – Café 1930

• No. 3 – Night Club 1960

Poulenc, Francis                                  

• Elegie in alternating chords

Prokofiev, Sergei                                 

• Etude Op. 2, No. 4 in c minor

• Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 26 in C Major

• Sonata No. 3 Op. 28 in a minor

• Sonata No. 6 Op. 82

Rachmaninoff, Sergei                           

• Concerto No. 2 Op. 18 in c minor

• Etude-Tableau in d minor, Op. 33, No. 5

• Etude-Tableau in f-sharp minor, Op. 39 No. 3

• Etude-Tableau in a minor, Op. 39 No. 6

• arrangement of “Flight of the Bumbleebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov

• Moment Musical in e minor, Op. 16, No. 4

• Prelude in B-flat Major, Op. 23, No. 2

• Prelude in D Major, Op. 23, No. 4

• Prelude in C Minor, Op. 23, No. 7

• Prelude in G-sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12

• Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19

• Suite No. 2, Op. 17, for two pianos

Rameau, Jean-Philippe                         

• Gavotte and Variations

Ravel, Maurice                                    

• Sonatine

Saint-Saens, Camille                            

• Carnaval des Animaux for two pianos and orchestra

• Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor

Scarlatti, Domenico                             

• Sonata in d minor

• Sonata in E Major

Schubert, Franz                                   

• Fantasie in f minor for piano four-hands

• Impromptu Op. 90 No. 2 in E-Flat Major

• Impromptu Op. 142 No. 3 in B-Flat Major

• Moment Musical in F Minor, Op. 94, No. 3

• Sonatina for Violin and Piano, Op. 137, No. 1

• Sonata D. 958 in c minor

Schumann, Robert                               

• Des Abends and Grillen from Phantasiestucke Op. 12

Scriabin, Alexander                             

• Etude Op. 2 No. 1 in c-sharp minor

Shostakovich, Dmitri                            

• Prelude and Fugue in D minor, No. 24

• Sonata for Cello and Piano

• Waltz No. 2 from the Suite for Variety Orchestra (1956), arr. Florian Noack

Silvestri, Constantin                             

• Baccanale

Sinding, Christian                                 

• Suite Op. 10 in a minor for Violin and Piano

Stravinsky, Igor                                   

• Concerto for two solo pianos (1935)

Wilder, Alec                                        

• Sonata No. 1 for Horn and Piano

Wolk, Henning

• Amazing Grace in the Style of W. A. Mozart

Maira's Performances

Sample Maira's live performances here, or go to Maira's YouTube channel to hear more of her playing.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcV2CDNSF4ZavitlhbE54fA

Call (330) 456-0275 or email maira@keystoartistry.com for more information.

Keys to Artistry studio offers private lessons for all ages, from young children to adults. 

Benefits of Piano Study on the Human Brain

•  “Playing a musical instrument develops an important neuro-cognitive skill known as executive function. Strong executive function is critical for the brain to operate in school and in life. Focusing on a topic, memorizing information, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and paying attention to multiple ideas simultaneously are examples of it. It is at the heart of all learning.” ~Mia Chung of the “Philadelphia Inquirer”
• According to the Associated Press, playing the piano actually grows the non-dominant side of the brain! https://mic.com/articles/91329/science-shows-how-piano-players-brains-are-actually-different-from-everybody-elses#.wyl4utuCZ
• Pianists’ brains are also more agile in many other ways: http://braininspired.net/science-says-piano-players-brains-different-everybody-elses/
• Playing the piano offers an avenue for individual expression and for capturing the beautiful in a way that cannot be quantified; that is music’s best quality.
• Music is not a luxury or a pastime; it is essential to human survival: Nazi camp prisoners made art of every kind; first organized gatherings after 9/11 were musical~ Karl Paulnack of the Boston Conservatory of Music. https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/s091/Welcome_address_to_freshman_at_Boston_Conservatory.pdf  

Please see our Studio Policy for details about lessons, including scheduling and tuition rates for lessons.

Memorization Tips

You mean I have to memorize some of my pieces? Yes. Not only is memorization an excellent exercise to keep our brains fresh, young, and agile, but the extra practice needed to memorize a piece of music means that, for many of us, the piece becomes ingrained much more solidly into our minds, giving us a sense of true confidence when we perform. But there is no doubt memorization is not always easy. Look at the following tips to avoid just mindlessly repeating, hoping the piece will stick. Nobody has time for that! 

1) Patterns, patterns, patterns. Always be aware of what the pattern is: a scale? a chord? a rhythmic pattern that repeats? How many times? Never try to memorize just by rote repetition. 

2) We learn in three ways, and we all have some combination of these three: aural (what it sounds like), visual (what it looks like on the page), and muscle memory (what if feels like to play it). 

• Some memorization will happen just by playing something many times. That's why we practice. You'll remember what the piece sounds like, looks like, feels like. 
• When you find a spot you can't just play without looking at the music, break it down. Is there a pattern? If I'm missing a note, what am I missing? Am I playing too high, too low, etc., and how can I adjust? If you break down and understand the spot that you didn't previously have memorized, you can make a strong spot out of a previously weak spot.

3) Small steps. Don't try to memorize large sections of your piece at once. You'll forget many things and feel discouraged. Instead, make small goals: "Today, I'll memorize these four (or eight, or whatever) measures of my music." And do so very thoroughly, looking at patterns, and trying to boil down the passage to a couple concepts. For example, you could say "The first two measures are a C Major chord going down, then I play the scale going up." Or, "these four measures have the same rhythm and melody, but each measure starts a step higher than the previous one."

4) Add it up. Make sure you can play each segment confidently, then start to "glue" them together. See if you can play two segments back to back. It may take practicing just the last measure of the first segment into the first measure of the next segment to iron out the transition.

5) Be confident in your part. You should be able to play your music from memory fluently many times before expecting that you'll remember it next time, or in ensemble, or in a performance situation. Those factors offer distractions that you don't have in the practice room when you're practicing your part alone.

6) Starting spots! Every four measures or so, make a check-mark for a starting spot. Then practice being able to jump AHEAD to your next starting spot, and the next one, and so on. You'll need to work on learning how to start in all those places. But if you get lost in performance, being able to jump ahead and rejoin the music a couple measures later is vital, and practicing having starting spots and jumping ahead to them gives you a much stronger sense of confidence that you'll be fine no matter what.

7) Keep it fresh. Don't assume that if you memorized it once, it will always be there. If you haven't played it in a while, brush up on it before your next rehearsal.

8) How does it fit? If you’re working on a piece for an ensemble, listen (quite a few times) to a good recording of the piece, so you can hear what your part sounds like in the context of the whole piece. Then, you won't be stuck just counting 32 measures of rest during which the time signature changes four times and worry about when to come in next.  

8) Make music! Most importantly, get to the point where you feel so comfortable with the music, you just sit down (or stand up) and make the music happen. Ideally, when you have a piece learned really well, you should be able to just listen as you are making the music, instead of thinking about what note comes next, or how to make that next passage sound clean. That's what it is all about: making music! The point is not to just have it memorized (you could memorize your textbooks if you just want a memorization exercise); the point is to MAKE MUSIC!

Keys to Artistry Studio Events (2024-25)

Student and events and our new Keys to Artistry Concert series details will be announced soon! Stay tuned!

Plus, click on the photo below to check out the performances of Maira's university students and Maira's own recitals.

Studio Classes/Workshops

Starting fall 2024, studio classes will be offered once every week or every other week for teen and adult intermediate and advanced students. These classes offer an opportunity to practice performing and critical listening skills as we try out upcoming recital repertoire and offer constructive criticism to each other. Studio class will not incur additional fees as the cost is included in students’ regular tuition cost. More details coming soon!

Teen/Adult Supplemental Series

Edition 1: Music Theory 201 (Beyond Scales and Key Signatures)