Playing with four hands on one piano — yes, it’s a thing.

They usually say the more the merrier, and why not? Adding an extra set of hands can turn any task into an adventure—whether it’s assembling furniture, navigating a crowded kitchen, or attempting to fold a fitted sheet. Of course, collaboration isn’t without its challenges: timing needs to align, space can get tight, and someone inevitably ends up questioning the arrangement. But when it works, it’s magic—seamless, synchronized, and greater than the sum of its parts. This reality is perhaps most clearly seen with the piano, where playing alone with your own two hands on one piano is difficult enough.

This delicate dance was precisely what Ryan Baxter, a Doctorate of Musical Arts candidate at Western University, and Connor O’Kane, an alumnus of the same program, performed at Conrad Grebel University College, playing Carl Vine’s Sonata for Piano Four Hands and Stuart Greenbaum’s Sonata for Piano, Four Hands. The genre of four-hands piano was quite popular throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, but its prevalence precipitously dropped off for reasons still not fully understood. Baxter speculated that whether composers got bored with its novelty or found its difficulty a challenge, they simply “stopped writing for Piano Four Hands for quite a long time.”

This rarity initially drew Baxter to pursue graduate work and research at Western University to unveil more about Piano for Four Hands—its meaning, evolution, and how it was meant to be performed. “We’re taught performance as a form of [active] research,” says Baxter. “We can also, of course, study music from different angles, whether that’s theoretically, historically, or through musicology, and looking at music as culture.” It was here at Western where Baxter and O’Kane met and began collaborating on these pieces.

Before both Baxter and O’Kane embarked on graduate studies, however, they were classically trained solo pianists. Having started playing the piano in early childhood, their passion eventually led both to pursue bachelor’s degrees in piano performance. “A music degree looks quite different from most other degrees,” Baxter says. “We get a lot of one-on-one time with professors… we had larger classes like music theory, history, and skills, which involve sight reading and ear training.” In addition to this coursework, many undergraduates also perform both in school and in the wider community.

However, O’Kane stresses how painstaking the process is to find opportunities to perform. “It’s basically just emails, right? There’s no glamour in it. You find a series you’re interested in performing…you email them…[and] you propose a concert.” This is exactly how they came to perform at Conrad Grebel, which became their first opportunity to showcase the sonata.

When asked about other memorable performances, Baxter reflected on the concert at Conrad Grebel and the subsequent one in Toronto, describing both as milestones in their journey as performers. For O’Kane, it was his time as a Laurier student with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony that stood out. He recalled the thrill of playing the first movement of a Grieg Piano Concerto, a moment he described as transformative—one that deepened his love for performing on stage.

Their parting words for aspiring musicians are simple yet profound. O’Kane’s is a reminder to “never stop listening to music.” Whether it’s a piece you’re studying, the latest pop hit, or the rustle of leaves in the wind, he believes every sound has something to teach. “Listening shapes the way we connect with the world and each other,” he says, emphasizing that a musician’s growth doesn’t come only from playing but from hearing music with an open mind and heart. He encourages everyone to seek out inspiration in unexpected places and to let the act of listening fuel their creativity and passion for the art form.

For Baxter, he encourages musicians to embrace the journey. “Find joy not only in the applause at the end of a performance, but also in the hours of practice, the mistakes that lead to growth, and the camaraderie built through collaboration,” he says. “Music is as much about the process as it is about the product.” He urges artists to remain curious, take risks, and never lose sight of why they fell in love with their craft in the first place. Every wrong note and awkward page turn is a stepping stone to something extraordinary.