Unique piano concert held at Wesleyan College

It was not a typical piano recital held at Wesleyan College on Sunday.

About 100 students participated in A Grand Ensemble, in which they simultaneously played on six grand pianos, with up to three students per piano.

Approximately 300 people attended the event held at Porter Auditorium.

The concert featured nine separate student ensembles ranging from six players up to 18. Most ensembles had 12 players, with two at each piano.

The concert is put on by The Macon Music Teachers Association. The teachers began the concert with their own ensemble, playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Association President Susan Mincey said the concert is so difficult to put on that they only do it about once every few years. The students practice for it for months.

"This is like a piano orchestra," Mincey said. "You may take a basic duet and multiply it six times, and everybody's got to stay together, which is a very tricky thing."

The way they do that is with a conductor who stands on a high platform off to the side of the stage.

The preparation began around October with each student learning their own part, then later they began playing with their partners. After mastering that they played as the full ensemble on keyboards in Wesleyan's piano lab. They had only once chance to practice on the grand pianos on stage.

Kate Grant, 13, played "Doubletalk" by Roger Grove in a 12-player ensemble. She has been playing for about four years and was immediately intrigued when her teacher asked her to participate in the ensemble.

"I was ecstatic," said Kate, who is home-schooled. "I've never done anything like this before."

She said it's a big challenge to play with another person while trying to keep time with five other pianos.

"When you are playing on your own, if you mess up you can just come right back, but when you are playing with another person it's hard because you have to stay in tune with them," she said. "But I feel like I know my partner pretty well."

Susan McDuffie, a teacher who had several students playing in the concert, said it's a good learning opportunity.

"Instead of playing alone, it's so good to play with somebody else," she said. "It's really nice for them to be playing duets, and then they have to follow a conductor and keep time with other pianos."

The concert was free, but attendees were invited to make donations to the association's fund that sends students to a summer fine arts camp.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published March 13, 2016 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Unique piano concert held at Wesleyan College ."