Kevin Coan reviews the Jon George Configuration series

Every so often something comes along that is so good you just want to use it for all of your students. For me, that “something” is the Jon George “Configurations” series. When I first discovered the books years ago, I purchased a set for every one of my students. I continued to use the series until it gradually went out of print about a decade ago. When I finally developed a friendship with Mary Gae George, I learned that she had plans to put all of Jon’s works back into print over the course of several years. I was a bit disappointed to learn that Configurations was not one of the series on the top priority list, but the series has finally made it to the active list.

I learned today that Configurations is now back in print. Book 1a came out today, and book 1b will be released fairly soon. Books 2a and 2b will be released after that.

Configurations is similar to Jon’s Kaleidoscope series in some ways. There is a solo book and a duet book at each level. Also, each book has only 16 solos, enabling each one to be finished in a short period of time. In other ways, however, Configurations is different from most of Jon’s other works. Most of Jon’s collections tend to be very “contemporary” in style. Some students like that and others really do not. Configurations, on the other hand, reflects the various styles of the master composers. Essentially the books provide the same kind of music that is featured in the Repertoire books of Artistry at the Piano.

Some teachers have been using the Artistry Repertoire books as supplemental music for students in other methods. They are finding that they have to do a lot of teaching of concepts outside of their primary method to do this, however, because Artistry introduces concepts so early in the progression. For example, the sixth piece of level 1 includes 6/8 time, a topic delayed until level 3 in some methods. Here is where Configurations gains an advantage. Book 1a does not include compound time. There are no eighth notes in the first half of the book. There are also no key signatures in the first two books. Therefore, Configurations can be used with a wide variety of methods without having to introduce a lot of concepts apart from the method.

Like Artistry, the pieces in Configurations are linear. They enable the student to sample various historical styles with the rhythms and melodic patterns commonly associated with those styles. In books 1a and 2a, teacher duet parts also enable the student to experience the harmonies of those same styles. My experience with the books has been almost universally positive; the students enjoy these pieces, and they enjoy being able to play “real music” that provides payback to their efforts to learn the pieces.

If you use Artistry at the Piano as your primary method, Configurations provides eight additional pieces for each “master lesson” of the course. When the pace of Artistry is more than the student can handle, those additional eight pieces are a real Godsend. If you use a position-based method as your primary course, Configurations provides music outside of those standard positions. The pieces provide ideal sight reading practice for landmark/interval reading as well.

Books 2a and 2b are especially valuable for teaching the various “moves” that students need to learn: extensions, crossings, etc. The books are worth their weight in gold for that feature alone.

The new editions of Configurations are vastly superior to the first editions. The first edition duets had both the student part and the teacher part on the same page, giving the pages a cluttered appearance. In the new edition, the student part is printed on a full page by itself. On the prior page, there are questions that lead the student to make intelligent choices regarding phrasing and interpretation, followed by the teacher part.
To help with the levels of the pieces, Configurations 1a is similar in difficulty to the pieces in Music Tree Part 2A, and 1b is similar to Music Tree Part 2B. Books 2a and 2b would match Music Tree level 3.

I have waited for today for a long time. I am just delighted by the new books, and I plan once again to use them for all of my students. I think other teachers are going to find the same benefits to the books that I have found.

Kevin Coan