Conversations at the Meetinghouse, Four Hands, One Grand, Christine and David Hagan, Duo-pianists

Christine and David Hagan, Duo-pianists

FOUR HANDS, ONE GRAND

We’re not exactly sure of the demographics concerning
piano duo teams, but it would seem that there are a great
many siblings involved, sometimes more than two, with an
extra one or two for stand-ins, as well as any number of
married pairs. Belonging to the former category, we
started piano lessons during our respective first-grade
years. Perhaps it was our three-year age difference, but
we didn’t actually begin playing piano duets for some time
– about thirty years, that is. By that time Chris had moved
to Virginia, and David to Massachusetts, providing one or
the other of us with a 400-mile trip in order to be able to play

together on the same piano. The impetus to do this actually came

by way of an invitation to give a memorial concert for our first teacher.

More excuses for the commute followed, and we’ve been doing one or

two concerts a year since then. In the Boston area we have performed in Jordan Hall,

The Art Complex at Duxbury, on WGBH radio, as well as here in Sharon.

The business of sharing a piano keyboard is not unlike eating at a diner counter: working in a narrow space, watching out for your neighbor’s elbows (and your own), passing things back and forth, not being able to move your seat, not always being sure what to do with your feet, and someone reaching over to take your fries. To illustrate some of the situations duo-pianists can get into, we’ll be playing a group of pieces by Mozart, Schubert, Rossini, Brahms, Gershwin and Sousa.

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