Monster Concert of 200 students wows crowd

Playing to a nearly sold-out house, 200 students, 25 teachers, 12 pianos and four conductors put the monster into Monster Concert.

Presented by the Peoria Area Music Teachers Association Saturday evening at Five Points Washington, the Monster Concert showcased a unique performance in which 24 pianists shared 12 pianos, playing the same songs simultaneously and following a conductor.

“This is a whole new experience for a lot of the students,” said Barbara Huebner of Peoria Heights, who has been a conductor at every past Monster Concert and who is the co-chair for the event.

“Not only do they have a partner at the piano, but playing in an ensemble situation is a whole new venue for them.”

Eleven groups, divided by age and degree of difficulty of music, but paired by skill level, played duets ranging from “Sleeping Beauty,” “She’ll be coming ’Round the Mountain” and “The Crystal Lake” to Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.”

The performing pianists, who range in age from 8 to 18, are students of PAMTA’s teachers, and have been taking lessons for at least two years.

The first Monster Concert was in 1989 at the ICC Lecture Recital Hall, where it was an immediate success. PAMTA has been hosting a concert every other year since then.

“We have packed the houses at our different locations every time and had to move to bigger facilities,” said Huebner. “We are very excited about having it at Five Points in Washington. It is a
beautiful venue to have a concert at.”

Putting together a Monster Concert takes a lot of time, effort and generosity of others.

“It takes about a year to plan this concert,” said Huebner. “A committee of teachers picked out the music back in June, and the kids have had at least four big rehearsals.”

Samuel Music supplied nine digital keyboard Yamaha Clavinovas and three grand pianos for the concert. It also provided the space for at least one rehearsal.

Kelsey Hagan,17, of Washington, has been playing the piano since she was in second grade, and says she practices about one-and-one-half hours a week.

“This is my fourth concert. It is a fun experience. You get to play with a lot of people you see all the time, but do not get to play with,” said Hagan. “And it is really great to see it all come together.”

The concert is not just unusual in that it brings a lot of pianists together, but also in that two of them have to share the instrument and follow a conductor at the same time.

Hagan is partnered at the piano with Sean Hillary, 17, of Washington. Together they played “Cascade” and “America the Beautiful.”

“Our fingers do get pretty close together,” said Hillary. “But I am not worried. We work well together, and Kelsey is awesome.”

The role of a conductor is to keep all the kids playing as an ensemble, says Huebner, which is a new experience for most.

“Most pianists live in an existence of their own, and until they become really good players, they do not have the chance to work with a conductor,” said Myrna Bietz of East Peoria, a member of PAMTA since 1974.

“This is a good opportunity for them to learn to follow a conductor. It is a bit different than just playing the piano.”

The concert ended with a 21-page, three-minute-long teachers-only rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and a guest appearance by Angelin Chang, a Grammy Award pianist.

Jared Rixstein, a sophomore at Washington Community High School, who has been a PAMTA student for the past nine years and now has 19 students of his own, said he enjoys playing in both capacities at the concert.

“I am playing in the teachers’ group, and I have six students of my own playing in the concert,” said Rixstein. “The thing to remember about the Monster Concert is that even though we get dressed up and there is some real talent there, it is not a serious piano recital. It is a light-hearted, fun experience for everybody. It is a bunch of kids who get to play the same pieces at the same time and have a great time doing it.”