Research

I am not an academically published author. This page is simply for myself and whoever is curious - to have a place to link articles, books, and videos on areas that I hope to continue researching and eventually write about in a more formal way, be it books or extended articles.

(A) Comparative Analysis of Health-Centered Pedagogical Approaches to Piano Playing

Summary: In recent years, there has been a trend in piano pedagogy away from finger strength technique and towards a technique based upon coordination and bodily awareness. Additionally, recognition of the large prevalence of playing-related injuries among professionals and amateurs has grown. The search for alternatives to "traditional" approaches to piano playing has led some pedagogues to develop methods centered around the body's natural patterns of movement and the coordinated application of those movements to the difficulties of piano music. Not only do these approaches not diminish virtuosity and brilliance in playing, they often enhance it. Of equal importance is the reduction of playing-related injuries and discomfort.

Below are four different approaches along the lines described above. The terms "approach," "method," and "school" should not be taken too strictly, since they may be used differently or synonymously by those within the same philosophy of piano playing.

1. Taubman Approach

Probably the most well-known approach to healthy, coordinate piano technique is that developed by the American teacher Dorothy Taubman (1917-2013). Her student Edna Golandsky became the main proponent of Taubman's teachings, co-founding the Golandsky Institute which hosts annual symposiums at Princeton University and conducts masterclasses and lectures all around the world.

2. Lister-Sink Method

 

3. Penelope Roskell Approach

4. Abby Whiteside School

"A supremely great artist can be subjected to a traditional finger technique and still have a coordination which is integrated with a basic rhythm. But all but the very few great talents will be so damaged by this over-emphasis on finger training that they can never fulfill the talent exhibited in childhood." - Abby Whiteside

Purpose: To analyze the similarities and the differences between these approaches, with respect to their treatment of both the mechanics and the art of piano playing. Propose methods of comparison, address common questions and concerns, and attempt mechanically-informed syntheses. All the while keeping in mind that piano playing, like all arts, cannot be reduced to formulas, nor can all questions of technique and musicality be given answers universally applicable. To these ends, three fundamental questions should guide research:

1. What is the substance of the technique in these approaches? (The physical, bio-mechanical aspect of the approach)
2. How is the technique described in words/terminology? (The cognitive aspect of the approach. The difference between this and Question #1 is important, since terms can be inaccurate in their meaning or what they imply, when compared to the actual physicality of the technique. Terms are necessary, yet never perfect, and any concept has the potential to be misinterpreted in a way incongruous with the actual approach.)
3. How is the technique taught? (The pedagogical aspect. Closely related to Question #2, this aspect largely determines the effectiveness, and consequently the reputation, of the approach.)

(B) The Art Songs of Nikolai Medtner

Summary: Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) is now recognized as one of the most important Russian composers of the late Romantic to early modern period. His works (especially the piano sonatas and skazki or "fairy tales") are gradually appearing more often on recitals, but the 108 art songs are little known. One obvious reason for this is that Russian is not one of the standard three or four languages that are required for most singers learning diction. Another is the great difficulty (or perceived difficulty) of Medtner's pianistic writing. (In reality, many other popular composers have song accompaniments as difficult as Medtner's).

(C) The Art Songs of Agathe Backer-Grøndahl

Summary: Norwegian composer and pianist Agathe Backer-Grøndahl (1847-1907), student of Franz Liszt and a friend of Edvard Grieg, composed well over one hundred songs for voice and piano, as well as numerous piano works. These songs (on authors in Norwegian, German, Danish, and other languages) are largely overlooked and underperformed despite their great expressiveness and skillful writing.

      

(D) Muzio Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum

Summary: Muzio Clementi, often called "the father of the pianoforte," is today remembered almost exclusively for his Six Sonatinas, Op. 36, and a few other miscellaneous pieces. His massive collection of one hundred etudes, entitled Gradus ad Parnassum ("Steps to Parnassus") is one of the most unjustly neglected works in the repertoire. Once the staple diet of piano students everywhere, these wonderful pieces are now seldom played either by student or seasoned professional. Unlike in the endlessly-practiced and scarcely beneficial studies of Hanon and Czerny, in Clementi's Gradus, the technical is always subordinate to the musical, and the two complement each other.

(D) August Alexander Klengel's Canons and Fugues

Summary: A famed student of Muzio Clementi, the German pianist, organist and composer August Alexander Klengel (1783-1852) wrote a two-volume series of canons and fugues in all major and minor keys for solo piano modelled after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Klengel's canons serve the role of preludes in Bach's opus. They were well-received in their day, but are virtually unheard of now, and there is still no recording of them available (only Steffan Fahl's computerized rendition, which is quite well done). Besides the two main volumes of canons and fugues, he wrote a preceding volume of just canons in all 24 keys. The quality of Klengel's canons and fugues is consistently high, and in them he shows himself to be a master of counterpoint as well as a true Romantic.

(E) Jan Ladislav Dussek's Messe Solemnelle