When musing about beginner-level piano repertoire beyond the usual piano tutors and similar instructional works, it’s typically one piano lesson standard that first comes to mind: Robert Schumann’s Album for the Young, op. 68. With this collection, consisting of 43 little compositions themed on the world of children, Schumann provided an impulse that was taken up later on by composers such as Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, and others. Their compositions of this type have remained established components of teaching repertoire to this day, present throughout the programmes of music school recitals and youth competitions.
But where, in this list, are the women composers? Names like Amy Beach, Cécile Chaminade, Marie Jaëll, Leni Alexander, and Sofia Gubaidulina are typically missing even though these figures likewise made important contributions to the teaching repertoire. Their works ended up being included less often in collections and repertoire lists. This lack of visibility is due not to insufficient quality but rather to structural discrimination against women over the history of music. Even though the awareness of such works in research and university instruction is growing, everyday life in the pedagogical realm paints a different picture: teaching repertoire has remained largely male-dominated. The only exception here is that of recently published piano tutors, many of which were authored by women. This, however, is more a reflection of women’s traditional role in teaching.
One major reason for all this is a lack of familiarity with suitable works by women composers: many teachers know of hardly any such repertoire that would correspond to their students’ technical level and also be artistically convincing. It’s therefore precisely here that the project gehört gespielt [Ought to Be Played] starts.
Three Phases – One Goal: Diversity in Teaching
In order to afford women composers a more visible presence in piano lessons, the Ludwig van Beethoven Department launched a three-phase project that links scholarship, artistic practice, and media visibility. The objective was to establish a more diverse repertoire in the realm of instrumental training.
Phase 1: Research and Contextualisation of Repertoire
During the 2024/25 academic year, students enrolled in the Ludwig van Beethoven Department’s course Instrumental Didactics – Piano 1 and 2 engaged with compositions written by women for beginners and for learners of lower-cycle secondary school age [i.e., 10–13 years old—trans.]. These works were analysed, interpreted, and presented from a didactic standpoint. This gave rise to a solid foundational repertoire, in the process enhancing general awareness with regard to better-balanced teaching practices.
Phase 2: Multiplication Phase & Concert
The collected works were distributed to teachers at Viennese and Lower Austrian music schools who used them in their in teaching. Thereafter, the mdw hosted a collaborative concert as part of 2024’s edition of the music education festival Festwoche der Musikpädagogik where children and mdw students performed this repertoire. The presentation was rounded out with a brief lecture given by Diána Fuchs (of Vienna’s municipal music school operator Musikschule Wien and the mdw) plus quotations by the featured women composers.
Phase 3: Digital Visibility – Video Series
In order to ensure the long-term accessibility of this project’s outcomes, a video series was created: each of its episodes introduces a woman composer along with two of her works. mdw students provided the works’ performances, which are accompanied by biographical information contributed by Melanie Unseld (mdw). These videos are distributed via the Department’s own channels as well as via piano teaching networks (Klavierdidaktiker_innen-Kreis Österreich, Saarbrücker Gesprächskreis, et al.).
Sustainability and Impact
Since completion of the video series, follow-up initiatives have developed: for instance, the Ludwig van Beethoven Department is offering an elective entitled gehört gespielt – Unterrichtsliteratur von Komponistinnen [Ought to Be Played – Teaching Repertoire by Women Composers] taught by Daniela Fheodoroff in the 2025/26 winter semester. Furthermore, a list of repertoire composed by women and suitable for teaching is in preparation.
A particularly important effect here is the shift that has been observed among this project’s participants: what began as a didactic project has led to the formation of an awareness. Teachers, students, and piano pupils report that they intend to select their repertoire more deliberately in the future, with an eye to balance. gehört gespielt has hence gone beyond supplementing the standard repertoire to provide an impulse for structural change, in the hope that works composed by women will no longer be the exception in teaching but rather an integral component of a diverse and equitable musical canon.
