Occasional Notes

Laurie Parente and Barb Mitchell found their love of playing together while attending an unusually dull piano teachers' meeting. They dared to skip out on the class and instantly began talking. “It was the early '90s and we just knew we had to get out and talk separately,” Barb says.

Both come from highly musical families and currently teach piano. When students began requesting Barb and Laurie’s skills at their weddings, the two banded together to bring something more than Mendelssohn’s Wedding March to couples. “We knew that we didn’t want to always play and talk about classical music,” Laurie says. “We instantly became friends from that shared interest.”

Barb wanted to cater to cool and contemporary women who were looking for something different to walk down the aisle to. The two pianists love to play with jazz and current hits, turning them into two piano arrangements. “Right now we're looking at Sam Smith, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, U2, and Ed Sheeran,” Barb says. “Anything contemporary that we think brides would love.”

Women in jazz are an inspiration to Barb; Diana Krall and Dinah Washington being two of her major influences. Laurie, on the other hand, is swayed more towards musicians such as Simon & Garfunkel. “In regards to inspiration, we are very different. But we love playing together,” Laurie explains.