First of all let me say that the dueling pianos act is gaining MAJOR popularity with corporate events as it encourages everyone in your company to sort of "come together" and participate.  We've had countless event coordinators getting pats on the back for putting a dueling pianos show on.

Next, let me say that every country club should consider having a "dueling pianos night".  This has been working great!  The members show up in DROVES.  A unique and delightful night will blossom and just watch your guests build as the weeks go on...

Anywho, with that said - here's what we came here for:

After countless conversations with nightclub owners, wedding coordinators, corporate event planners and other interested parties about bringing in dueling pianos to their events, I have painstakingly attempted to explain the proper way to create a dueling pianos environment over 1000 times.  So, in order to save my voice for singing with Roll Over Beethoven (my dueling pianos act), I decided to put all of this information online.  With that being said, if you have been referred to this site by myself or any of my business associates, please do not take offense - it's not that we don't want to explain it to you over the phone, it's just that this website is easier for all of us.  By using the following pointers, I am confident that most of you will be able to accomplish your goal of setting up a dueling pianos environment that suits your event.  Here are some top facts that you need to know:

Number 1 - Be Sure You Understand What Dueling Pianos is!
This is not only for you, but for your audience, guests or clients.  Be sure that your audience understands the concept of "dueling pianos".  Be aware of how your group might react when introduced to a dueling pianos environment.  Crowd participation is CRUCIAL to the success of a dueling pianos show.  If you don't think that your audience will "get it" then you might want to go with a live band or a DJ for your event.  At the risk of sounding snobbish, the dueling pianos concept is most appreciated by the middle class to upper class audience.

Number 2 - The Pianos are in a Prime Location  Just as in real estate, creating the perfect dueling pianos environment starts with "location, location, location".  The reason for the success of many dueling piano bars is the placement of the pianos themselves.  

Most importantly, the pianists need to be able to see everyone in the audience and everyone in the audience needs to be able to see the pianists.  A successful dueling piano show includes the ENTIRE audience.  Crowd participation is essential to a successful dueling pianos show.  Don't be afraid to put tables right next to the pianists on all sides.  Dueling piano players often encourage "heckling" and loud verbal requests to fuel their show.    Members of the audience are constantly invited to come up to the pianos and participate.  Dueling piano players have TONS of "shtick" that involves bringing up an audience member to participate in the fun.  For instance, if a wild bunch of women are sitting in a section demanding Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" then in most instances a good dueling piano player would invite the group of gals to join them by the pianos and sing along!

You also may have noticed that many of the top dueling piano bars are quite small.  Why would they build their bars so small?  The reason for this is so that whether there's 150 people in attendance or 20 people in attendance, the atmosphere still feels intimate.  The dueling piano players can still involve everyone in the crowd - large or small.  You will also notice that in ALL of the major dueling piano bars, the pianos are located in a place where everyone in the audience can be included in the fun - that's what location is all about.  If you are coordinating a private event featuring dueling pianos, you still need to set up the room like a dueling piano bar with relation to the location of the pianos and the audience.

Number 3 - Make Easy Access to the Pianos  The audience needs to be able to easily approach the pianos.  This is necessary for delivering requests, joining the pianists in a sing-along, etc.  Roll Over Beethoven employs a "request gatherer" who goes out into the crowd, but not all dueling piano acts are this organized.  Place the pianos in a manner that encourages your guests to approach the pianos and get involved.

Number 4 - Attention:  Nightclub and Bar Owners

Attention nightclub owners!  In order for dueling pianos to work in your club, there cannot be any TV's turned on during the dueling pianos performance.  NO SPORTING EVENTS! (make sure that you don't schedule the dueling pianos during an important college basketball game, etc).  People are far too fascinated with television to focus on anything else around them.  Also, please remember that dueling pianos usually requires a fairly intelligent (middle to upper-class) audience to be successful.  If your audience in made up of mostly "local yokel knuckle draggers" they may become frustrated with the dueling pianos agenda and act out accordingly.  This fact also comes up under a section below called "tipping".  If your bar patrons aren't familiar with the dueling pianos format (tip to get the song that you want played) - then it is likely that your dueling piano players will not do a return show for lack of tips.

Also, be sure that your regular patrons understand what dueling pianos is about.  Dueling pianos is NOT a band and they will need the audience to PARTICIPATE in order to be successful.  Most dueling piano acts will not perform if there are any sort of distractions such as pool tables, video games, or other typical white trash bar staples.

Number 5 - Tipping

Dueling piano players expect to get tips - period.  No tip, no request.  One of my favorite dueling pianists did a bit one night that taught me a valuable lesson.  He held up a $5 dollar bill with a request attached to it and said "this is a request".  Then he held up a request form with no money attached and said "this is a suggestion".  The whole concept of dueling pianos is based on requests accompanied by tips. 

Expect dueling piano players to do different things to warrant tips, for instance many dueling piano players use a dry erase board on stage for audience members to write anything they want on - KU Jayhaks RULE! or something like that.  There is a dollar amount placed on the board that the next audience member must match in order to erase the previous message and write a new one - MU Tigers RULE!  This can go back and forth for several turns until a nice little pile of money is built up.  Rumor has it that a feud between college basketball fans resulted in a $1000 final offer to play their favorite collegiate fight song.  A good night for a dueling piano team should be around $800 or $400 per player (TIPS) - this is in ADDITION to their base salary or nightly rate.  Most dueling piano players in the US make more than doctors.  Another fun thing that warrants tips is "Stop That Song".  During the coarse of the performance audience members can walk up and slap a $20 bill down on the piano and exclaim "STOP THAT SONG!".  The pianists will then stop the song and ask if anyone else would like to beat the $40 STOP in order to continue the song.  The song YMCA by The Village People often induces mixed feelings among folks and the audience will quickly take sides on whether or not to keep the fun, yet annoying song going.

Number 6 - Time of Performance

Dueling pianos are very high energy, and extremely entertaining and engaging. We suggest the following time allotments:

Option 1: (2) Sets of 45 Minutes Each, with 30 minutes of dance party DJ in between sets (total time = 2 hours)

Option 2: (1) Set of 75 Minutes, with a short DJ "cool down" at the end of 15 minutes (total time = 90 Minutes)