Guiding Piano Students in Private Studio from Intermediate to the Next Level

INTRODUCTION

    This research is an interdisciplinary study that draws on resources of the Music Department and the Department of Education (Education Psychology and Child Study) at Concordia University. Although there are a lot of pedagogy works about the art of teaching piano, many teachers still struggle to keep talented students from dropping out of piano study. The reasons to give up piano are usually complicated. Many students have excellent musical sense, but dislike theory and technical exercises, and find them de-motivating. I have found very little study to date that uses theory and techniques as motivating factors. This research focuses on how to bring these two areas into private music study in a highly motivating way, so that students, far from wanting to drop out, develop a “rage to master” their instrument and their music (Winner, 1996a, 1996b).

    Every pianist understands that technique is essential because it trains the hands in certain patterns that will be needed for performance. It encourages flexibility, agility, strength, and endurance. Music theory, as “the grammar of music” (Skaggs, 1981), enables musicians to facilitates musical understanding. Musical expressivity creates communication between performers and audiences. Piano technique, music theory and stylistic instruction should begin with the very first lessons. Adult students can develop their own practice system individually. However, with relatively young students, it is the teacher who must suggest practice strategies that organize the student’s ability to integrate new technical skills and theory knowledge (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986).

    According to Goodkind (1981), students respond most enthusiastically to abstract fundamentals when they discover their relevance to the music itself. An effective strategy is to link the study of technique and theory with every piece of music played (Hughes, 1915; Matthay, 1926). For instance, most of the piano teachers admit that scales, chords and arpeggios practice is an excellent preparation for performance of literatures from different periods (Agay, 1981). Yet, some teachers raise the doubt: Practicing these exercises separately might take the joy out of piano practice. Gieseking and Leimer (1972) suggest that a piano teacher should be able to lead students to discover the beauties of music. Music communicates through phrases instead of isolated tones. Piano literatures from Classical and Romantic periods, such as sonatas by Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert, contain a lot of scales, chords and arpeggios in different keys. Therefore, instead of practicing these exercises hours and hours without concentration, a lot of repertoire from Classical and Romantic period should be introduced. In this way, students not only practice technique, but also develop insight into different music styles and create enthusiasm.

    On the other hand, due to psychological factors such as anxieties, the fear of memory lapses is common among musicians including experienced professional performers (Agay, 1981). In spite of this, many musicians still display great gifts of memory (Revesz, 1925/1999; Marcus, 1979; Marek, 1982; Charness et al., 1988). Their learning styles are supported by research (Lehmann & Ericsson, 1995; Ginsborg, 2000). A lot of pedagogues suggested that one of the important strategies of enhancing performance and memorization is to apply music theory into instrument study (e.g. Ross 1964; Chaffin & Imreh, 1994; Hallam 1997). In his research, Rubin-Rabson (1937) discovered that students analyzed the pieces before memorizing, can perform more accurately than those memorized at the keyboard. Knowing this, students will see the necessity of learning music theory. Hopefully, they will discover the joy of learning the “language” of music eventually (Goodkind, 1981).

    Moreover, being strong only at technique and music theory does not make a student into a professional pianist. What music expresses is emotion (e.g. Budd, 1985; Davies, 1994; Juslin & Sloboda, 2001; Laukka, in press). Exploration in stylistic education should be involved throughout the entire piano study (Agay 1981). Suggested by Robert (1981), “criticism, demonstration, analysis and inspiration” is a four-way piano teaching strategy. To be able to do so, piano teachers should maintain life-time study in knowledge of music, competence as pianists, and the skills and personality necessary for teaching (Skaggs, 1981).

RESEARCH

    Many children start piano study when they are very young, for example, five years old; however, a lot of them, including some very talented musicians, do not continue past intermediate level. My proposed research will focus on successfully guiding a range of intermediate piano students to the next stage.

     The two main focuses of the research will have different but complementary perspectives:

     1.        The impact of music theory knowledge on performance and memory

     2.        The effect of varied teaching techniques based on styles and interpretation of music from different periods, specifically, Classical, Romantic and 20^th/21^st c.

    This study offers participants private instruction about music theory and performance technique and interpretation. Research participants are involved in the teaching practicum of the Masters candidate, on a one-to-one basis. Teaching practicum activities are recorded for analysis, discussion in the candidate’s research seminars, and inclusion in the final thesis.

    Participants are roughly 8 to 14 years old, divided into three groups:

           Level I: early intermediate (Royal Conservatory of Music grades 3 - 5)

           Level II: middle intermediate (RCM grades 6 - 7)

           Level III: late intermediate (RCM grades 8 - 10)

    The design are pre-test post-test. At the start of the study, each participant play three short excerpts of music, one from each representative period (Classical, Romantic, 20^th/21^st c) at their current technical performing level. A panel of judges evaluate these pre-test performances for technique and interpretive stylistic skill.

    During the year of research, students will study much repertoire from all three periods. The researcher will keep journals of repertoire; students will keep practice logs.

    At the end of the research, students will give a short recital to demonstrate how far they have advanced technically and musically (recitals will be recorded and evaluated). They will also play again the three original pieces from their personal pre-test as a post-test control. Again, a panel of judges will evaluate these post-test performances for technique and interpretive stylistic skill. Pre- and post-test scores will be submitted to statistical analysis which will be correlated to recital scores as well as information from teacher and student logs and journals.

    Throughout the research, the researcher hopes to conduct interviews with master piano professors, in order to further deepen her knowledge of piano pedagogy.

The main research question: How can a teacher guide piano students through the intermediate stages, keeping them motivated to progress to the next level?

    This question leads to two secondary questions according to the two core areas of study proposed to be included in the participants’ training, specifically music theory, and stylistic interpretation according to period.

CORE AREAS/FIELDS OF STUDY

 Music Theory:

 Sub-Question: Does learning music theory help students to advance in performance?

    Usually, music theory lessons are separated from piano lessons. There are many students who can play excellent piano, but cannot understand the importance of taking theory classes. A lot of them believe that theory is boring and useless, and what they learn in theory is not applied in their piano performance. However, once they reach intermediate level, more theory is involved in actual technical exercises as well as the structure of the pieces themselves; students might make better progress faster if they understand the theory behind the performance demands. This research will focus on basic theory only, and will study how a teacher can integrate theory into piano playing during a private performance lesson.

Technique and Stylistic Interpretation:

Sub-Question: How beneficial is it to teach different techniques and interpretations according to the varying styles of different musical periods?

    When students arrive at intermediate level, they start to study repertoire from different musical periods, which display systematic differences of music styles. These styles require different techniques and interpretations. This research will focus on three main periods: Classical, Romantic and 20^th/21^st Century music. Representative excerpts and works will be included at pre-test, during the year-long instructional stage, in the recitals, and at post-test, at all three Group levels.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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For discussions about this research, please contact me at: peixin0chen@yahoo.com