Repertoire
Marvin Blickenstaff, Editor
"Listen carefully." How many times did you use that phrase yesterday in your lessons? Listen...for what? How? Why? Most of us readily would agree that the hallmarks of artistic playing involve shaping of sound, balance of the texture, and tone color appropriate to the mood of the composition. Careful listening during practice and performance guides the performer to that high degree of tonal control and broad range of color.
There may be many reasons why our students need our urging to listen carefully. They may be concentrating momentarily on rhythm, or correct notes, or distracted by our presence (someone listening). Many students have no sound model, either specific to the piece at hand or of a fine piano sound in general. The artist has spent years listening to others, evaluating and emulating those models. The artist has also spent years in practice, searching for the ideal tone. Could it be that we must first train our students to listen to others before they can effectively listen to themselves? Is that not one of the main reasons we schedule repertoire or group classes -- so that our students have the opportunity to listen?
Most likely, no
one reading these lines can recall a time when recordings were
not available. One of my early teachers would occasionally treat
me to recordings by Jose Iturbi during my lessons. That was a
truly awe-inspiring experience for a grade school piano student
who had no record player at home. Current recording technology
has advanced light years from the scratchy recordings I heard
as a child. The quality of sound on the recordings we share with
our students is amazing. How do we use these sound models most
effectively? We have asked three fine teachers, all of whom work
with a variety of ages in their studios, how they incorporate
the use of recordings in their lessons. Notice their focus on
training students to listen, all with the goal that the listening
skill will enhance the quality of their playing.
from Mary Jane Clarke's article
Using recordings to develop style and stimulate listening
Piano students actually hear very little "classical music." The concept of musical style is usually quite foreign to them. They are constantly bombarded with musical sounds, but mostly through TV commercials and popular music. I find that using recordings in both individual and group lessons is helpful in developing a sense of musical style and to stimulate careful listening. Listening adds a change of pace to the lesson as well as providing a meaningful musical experience.
Using Recordings in Individual Lessons
When selecting a new piece, I often play a limited choice
of compositions on a CD or tape during the lesson. After the student
chooses which piece to work on and we have discussed some of the
challenges it will present, the student is assigned to listen
to the recording with the score several times during the week.
The following week the recording is returned. (Once students begin
the actual work on the piece, I prefer that they not listen to
the recording. When they continue to listen to recordings, they
often try to imitate the artist and attempt to play too fast too
soon.) When the piece has been learned and is reasonably up to
tempo, we listen again to see just where we are in the development
of our work. I must add that I do not introduce all compositions
this way. A variety of presentation modes is more motivating.
I sometimes play a recording at the end of a lesson to familiarize the student with the sound or style of a piece to be assigned at a future time. To instill a sense of historical style in their playing, they first must have the sound in their ears. It is amazing how students do not (or cannot?) listen to themselves until the skill of listening to others is developed. . .
Mary Jane Clarke, NCTM, maintains a large independent piano studio in Olympia, Washington. She continues to be active in the Washington State Music Teachers Association and was State President from 1995-1997. Mary Jane frequently conducts workshops and adjudicates piano students throughout the Northwest, California, and Alaska
from Carla Dean Day's article
Listening to recordings should promote understanding, not imitation
I use recordings in four different ways with all of my students, from beginning levels through intermediate and advanced levels, both in their weekly private lessons and also in their biweekly performance and theory class.
The use of recordings for early level students
First, my elementary students are all working in the Music Tree series of the Frances Clark Library. At each level there are compact discs of accompaniments that can be played in the studio or while the students are practicing at home. Secondly, in the classes, recordings are used for ear training and listening assignments. There are rhythm drills, instrument identification exercises, and other games using recordings primarily of classical piano music, but also of other types of music and using other instruments. Thirdly, I use recordings in teaching music history, both in the classes and in the private lessons. Recordings demonstrate the styles of different periods and different composers. And finally, I use recordings in teaching repertoire.
The use of recordings with intermediate and advanced students
By the time my students are working in late intermediate and advanced literature, they are quite used to the availability of CDs in my studio. I do not pretend to be able to play at concert readiness all of the pieces I teach to some forty students. Many, yes; all, no. But I do want my students to hear truly fine performances of the pieces they play. I also want them to know that "playing well" can include a number of different interpretations: there is more than one "right" way. . .
Carla Dean Day teaches piano and piano pedagogy in her independent studio in Potomac Falls, VA. Formerly a member of the Preparatory Division faculty of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, she is also an adjudicator, writer, and a clinician on a variety of piano-related topics.
from Jama Reagan's article
What are the pros and cons of using recordings in our teaching?
Effective piano teachers continually search for new resources to supplement the tools used to encourage, to inspire, and to clarify meaning in their classrooms and/or their private studios. Once the resources have been identified, integrating them into a curriculum is a separate challenge, i.e., how to utilize, how often to apply, when not to use, etc. The purpose of this discussion is to examine ways in which a teacher may enrich a budding musician's growth with the supplemental use of recordings.
The case against using recordings
Living in a time when professional recordings are readily available, we face the decision of whether to encourage or to insist that our students listen to recordings as a part of their musical preparation. After discussions with colleagues, I have discovered that many teachers do not believe it is in the student's best interest to use recordings as a regular aspect of their weekly lesson preparation. Their comments include:
Recordings provide an example for a student to copy, and, as a result, the window for their own interpretation is limited. They do not encourage the student to explore his/her own emotions, thoughts, and experiences. Imitating recordings may stifle a student's personal expression and creativity.
Professional musicians have an artistic maturity, both technically and emotionally, that is often not obtainable by the student. When a student relies on recordings, tempos tend to come before interpretation, even if the student is not physically prepared for the tempo being used. The character of the piece is often compromised. A sense of insecurity and frustration within the student may be the result of his/her inability to make the performance sound like that of the artist on the recording. . .
Jama Reagan lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a member of the piano faculty of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. She frequently appears in concert, either as a soloist, chamber musician, or the founding member of the piano ensemble, Clarion Duo. She is known both in the US and in Europe for her gifts as teacher and as performer.
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