Teaching Performance A Philosophy Of Piano Pedagogy

How can the studio teacher teach a lesson so as to instill refined artistic sensibilities, ones often thought to elude language? How can the applied lesson be a form of aesthetic education? How can teaching performance be an artistic endeavor in its own right? These are some of the questions Teaching Performance attempts to answer, drawing on the author's several decades of experience as a studio teacher and music scholar. The architects of absolute music (Hanslick, Schopenhauer, and others) held that it is precisely because instrumental music lacks language and thus any overt connection to the non-musical world that it is able to expose essential elements of that world. More particularly, for these philosophers, it is the density of musical structure—the intricate interplay among purely musical elements—that allows music to capture the essences behind appearances. By analogy, the author contends that the more structurally intricate and aesthetically nuanced a pedagogical system is, the greater its ability to illuminate music and facilitate musical skills. The author terms this phenomenon relational autonomy. Eight chapters unfold a piano-pedagogical system pivoting on the principle of relational autonomy. In grounding piano pedagogy in the aesthetics of absolute music, each domain works on the other. On the one hand, Romantic aesthetics affords pedagogy a source of artistic value in its own right. On the other hand, pedagogy concretizes Romantic aesthetics, deflating its transcendental pretentions and showing the dichotomy of absolute/utilitarian to be specious.

Of equal value to teachers & students, this book is designed as a text in piano pedagogy courses at the undergraduate or graduate level but can be used by pianists who are learning to teach, experienced teachers & any pianists who are interested in performance. It examines piano teaching & playing from philosophical, historical, psychological & practical standpoints & sums up many of the important ideas necessary for successful teaching & performing.

This second volume of Professional Piano Teaching is designed to serve as a basic text for a second-semester or upper-division piano pedagogy course. It provides an overview of learning principles and a thorough approach to essential aspects of teaching intermediate to advanced students. Special features include discussions on how to teach, not just what to teach; numerous musical examples; chapter summaries; and suggested projects for new and experienced teachers. Topics: * teaching students beyond the elementary levels * an overview of learning processes and learning theories * teaching transfer students * preparing students for college piano major auditions * teaching rhythm, reading, technique, and musicality * researching, evaluating, selecting, and presenting intermediate and advanced repertoire * developing stylistic interpretation of repertoire from each musical period * developing expressive and artistic interpretation and performance * motivating students and providing instruction in effective practice * teaching memorization and performance skills

How can piano teachers successfully foster student participation and growth from the outset? How can teachers prepare and sustain their influential work with beginner student musicians? This book presents answers to these questions by making important connections with current music education research, masters of the performance world, music philosophers, and the author’s 30-year career as a piano pedagogy instructor in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. It investigates the multilayered role piano teachers play right from the very beginning – the formative first four to five years during which teachers empower students to explore and expand their own emerging musical foundations. This book offers a humane, emancipatory, and generous approach to teaching by grappling with some of the most fundamental issues behind and consequences of studio music teaching. More experiential than abstract and cerebral, it demonstrates how teaching beginner piano students involves an attentiveness to musical concerns like our connection to music, learning to play by ear and by reading, caring for music, the importance of tone and technique, and helping students develop fluency through their accumulated repertoire. Teaching beginner students also draws on personal aspects like independence and authenticity, the moral and ethical dignity associated with democratic relationships, and meaningful conversations with parents. Further, another layer of teaching beginners acknowledges both sides of the coin in terms of growth and rest, teaching what is and what might be, as well as supporting and challenging student development. In this view, how teachers fuel authentic student musicians from the beginning is intimately connected to the knowledge, beliefs, and values that permeate their thoughts and actions in everyday life. Fundamentals of Piano Pedagogy stands out as a much-needed instructional resource with immense personal, practical, social, philosophical, educational, and cultural relevance for today’s studio music teachers. Its humanistic and holistic approach invites teachers to consider not only who they are and what music means to them, but also what they have yet to imagine about themselves, about music, their students, and life.

The story of piano pedagogy in 19th century Europe has yet to be fully told, although it is of immediate relevance for current music education. Europe at that time was the hub of unparalleled critical scholarly discourse, which deliberated on theories of piano pedagogy and the merits of pedagogical music. Impressively, this discourse was shaped by a wide diversity of contributors who included that period’s leading composers like Clementi, Czerny, Beethoven, and Schumann, as well as performers, pedagogues, and music critics, while even addressing parents and young piano students. Offering a unique glimpse into the rich primary sources of such interdisciplinary historical dialogue and musical works, Paradigm War: Lessons Learned from 19th Century Piano Pedagogy presents this story from a synoptic multidimensional viewpoint, integrating developmental-musical, as well as psychological-educational and aesthetic, perspectives. Thus, this book provides an intellectual map for critically evaluating these authentic early contributions to the field in terms of the two conflicting methodological paradigms that governed piano pedagogy of the time – mechanism and holism – which had emerged, respectively, from Enlightenment and Romantic philosophies. The paradigm war reached its climax and resolution in Robert Schumann’s works that, following Jean Paul Richter’s ideas on aesthetics and education, offered a methodological modification transcending both paradigms. Schumann’s innovative music for the young and his revolutionary pedagogical ideas—mostly ignored in the literature—are proposed here as the foundation for liberal and artistic piano pedagogy for our time, inspiring music teachers and piano pedagogues to partake in research that combines music, pedagogy, aesthetics, and education.

More than Music Lessons invites contemporary music studio teachers to link their teaching with notions of humanity and presents a timely vision of bringing student-centered teaching to life in the applied studio. It provides a myriad of practical tips and strategies, exploring the themes of parents, practicing, projects, and character.

This book proposes a new model for understanding the musical work, which includes interpretation -- both analysis- and performance-based -- as an integral component.

"Volume editors: Susan Hallam, Jere T. Humphreys, & John Nix"--Page 4 of cover.