Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Pianos and Cupcake Machines

At the age of three or four, my son's imagination was spinning with tales of an imaginary cupcake factory filled with chutes and conveyor belts, ovens and giant frosting tubes. He drew pictures of these machines and mimed working in his imaginary factory on a daily basis. It was a little exhausting, but so amazing and sweet, too. I miss those days, and if I can find one of those pictures I will post it.

I decided to write a little piano piece about those cupcake machines:

It's very short, but a lot of fun to play. Here is the first page of the sheet music:

You can't see it on this page, but did you hear the factory sounds in the SoundCloud recording? That little bit of dissonance is what makes this piece so fun, and sort of machine-like in that "Uh-oh, the cupcakes are piling up and falling off the side of the conveyor belt and the frosting has gone awry," kind of way. I am sure students will come up with some very imaginative ideas here. If the left hand part seems too challenging for the student, try turning it into a teacher-student duet and let the student play the right hand only, or double it at the octave. This leads to another idea...

What if you have two beginning students who love love love chocolate cupcakes? Why, you have them learn a cupcake duet, of course. I was inspired this spring to write a duet version of "Chocolate Cupcake Machine." (So far there are no recordings of the duet, but it is very nearly identical to the solo, only with the melody doubled.) 

Here's a preview of the first page of each part:


There's a short introduction that is sure to inspire giggles. Good for practicing counting aloud! You'll notice that both the Primo and Secondo are a bit easier for the student in the duet than in the solo. The Primo can be played as written or without the left hand. You might even turn this into a trio, having two students play the Primo part either one or two octaves apart. I highly encourage students to incorporate their own ideas into these pieces, by improvising on the note patterns, changing tempo (accelerando during the intro and ritardando to the end?) experimenting with different dynamics, or even adding to the melody. Consider adding instruments to enhance the cupcake machine sound. You could try this with either the solo or duet.

How would you use this piece in your teaching studio? Let me know in the comments, and also tell me if you'd like a complimentary copy of either the solo or duet (or both!). After you comment, please use the contact form in the sidebar on the right to tell me the email address you want me to use to send your PDF of the music. That way I'll know how to get it to you. 

If you want to purchase these pieces, visit my website at