Adult Piano Study
Brenda Dillon, Editor
In the Adult Piano Study column for this issue, editor Brenda Dillon has asked teachers/composers MARY SALLEE and PAUL SHEFTEL to discuss the compositional considerations that motivate adult piano students. In her introduction to the column, Brenda states that both Mary and Paul understand perfectlythat adult students sometimes need more "instant gratification" from their repertoire than does "any child we have ever taught." She also believes that the music of both of these composers proves that "musicality and high teaching standards are not sacrificed with their attentiveness to thoughtful compositional techniques."
Here are a few of MARY SALLEE's thoughts on the subject of suitable music for the adult student:
I have enjoyed teaching adults for fourteen years, but in my early years of teaching I struggled to hang on to a handful from one semester to the next. I had difficulty finding "carrots" (motivating repertoire) that I could use to keep them going, especially when their lives became hectic. I soon learned that perhaps I needed to re-define my idea of legitimate teaching literature.
Many teachers do not define legitimate teaching literature as letting their students play what they want to play. Like them, I used to think that doing so would compromise my teaching philosophy and lower my standards. Surprisingly, when I began to I listen to what my students wanted to play, my ears were opened to a whole new variety of literature! They not only turned me on to a lot of "gems" that I use today, but encouraged me to compose and find my own voice. I soon began to write for individual students, customizing the curriculum to fit their needs, tastes, and abilities. As a result, I noticed a drastic improvement in their motivation and commitment to piano!
Knowing that a majority of my incoming adults were going to be "transfers," I set out to write some pieces that I could use as jump-off points-meeting the students where they were, but also allowing them to experience artistry and mastery in their playing . . .this was a foreign concept to many since they were used to working on literature that was beyond their grasp!
I needed something fairly unassuming, but not insulting-something to motivate them to LISTEN and make beautiful sounds at the piano. For this, I used more than two registers,. . .a simplified pattern for pedaling, . . .(and I made pieces that were) fairly patterned and repetitious so (students) could learn some parts by rote (if necessary) . . .I also tried to avoid any subdivision of the beat (to) ensure a sense of steady pulse first. I found that writing in a triple meter seemed to help (adult students) feel a flowing motion more easily. Producing a score that was "easy on the eyes" also became a factor when I kept hearing, "I need something in my assignment that I can learn yesterday and play today"! For some, if they thought it was going to be hard, it usually turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Example 1, an excerpt from "The Shore" (a piece from my collection, Summer Scenes, published by Carl Fischer), is an illustration of what I call a "user-friendly" piece.
Mary Sallee performs
her piece, "The Shore"
1 MB, WAV sound file
Copyright ©
2001 by Carl Fischer, LLC
International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
Used with permission.
{To jump to the next audio clip, click here}
* What makes teaching pieces "user-friendly?"
As a teacher/composer, I have learned to steer clear of hazardous material. For example, when writing rhythms, I try to avoid ties and holds so that students are forced to feel (and hear) the underlying pulse. Sometimes, I . . .avoid division of the beat for my beginners and write in a different time signature, eliminating compound meters altogether. I also use 8vas so that the students feel at home playing in any register. Since too many ledger lines can be overwhelming, I am careful to use them sparingly. Knowing how much my students hate page turns, I avoid through-composed writing, preferring to keep forms simple by using da capo repeats. (This also keeps students from being intimidated by the length of the piece.) Using similar material in the introductions and codas encourages students to 'make the form their friend.' This also presents them with a plan for not only practicing, but also for moving away from the score.
Perhaps my ideas of "legitimate" teaching literature have changed (since) graduate school, but the aspirations that I have for my students really haven't. I want them to develop into good musicians and be open to the beauty of music in any style. Being able to compose for my students in the last six years has truly transformed my teaching.
MARY SALLEE resides in Norman,
Oklahoma, where she operates a private piano studio in which the
majority of the students are adults. She has written a variety
of hymn, jazz, classical, and duet collections for the adult student
and has music published by Willis, Alfred and Carl Fischer. She
is currently writing an adult beginner method for hobby students
entitled Piano for Procrastinators (to be published
by Willis).
PAUL SHEFTEL writes the following about music for the adult student:
My first attempt at writing specifically for adult students occurred when I was teaching a group of them in a piano lab setting (for the first time in my life). I quickly understood that the material I had chosen for the course would neither meet the needs of the students pedagogically nor in any way match their levels of musical and intellectual sophistication. Many wanted a sort of mixed approach-part classical, part pop. They wanted sounds to which they could strongly relate. They represented a mix of levels but all had had some previous experience. I decided to try my hand at composing some pieces for them that would serve to instruct as well as to inspire and entertain them. On my first attempt I produced a little piece that I called "Etude I" (later to become the first piece in my collection called Interludes; published by Carl Fischer). Many of the pieces in this same collection grew out of the collaboration with these adult students as well as with others with whom I was working at this time. ("Etude I") is based entirely on one rather simple pattern that recurs in three transpositions. From this study my students could learn about musical pattern, transposition, form and use of the pedal-and it was a nice little finger exercise to boot. Most importantly, they liked the sounds!
* For composers, necessity is often "the mother of invention"
Some years after the above incident, the parent of a child I was teaching came to me with a novel request: could she learn to play the piano but not do all those things her kids were doing like learning notes, reading, scales, and the like? Could she just play some nice pieces? Well that struck me as a most reasonable or at least most understandable request. She had had no previous musical training whatsoever, but she was extremely bright, motivated, and, as it turned out, musically gifted. So I began by composing a piece for her that I called "Sunrise." It was rather similar in design and concept to "Etude I", although a wee bit easier, and again with clear, rather simple and repetitive patterns. This once more led to the development of a new collection of pieces-Merry and Mellow (published by Alfred). I later discovered that although these pieces were originally intended for adults, they also appealed to many of my younger students as well. (Maybe the dividing line between child and adult isn't always that great . . .)
A rather different event occurred one day when, teaching a class of intermediate level college students, one of them asked what the difference was between a progression and an inversion. (This question led me to) the idea of creating a small textbook with illustrations and exercises to help develop skill and understanding in dealing with varieties of chords. When I finally began to develop my idea, . . . the (single) textbook morphed into two collections of intermediate level pieces instead-In Perfect Accord and In the Country (both published by Carl Fischer). "Ballade in E minor" is an example from In Perfect Accord (and) illustrates the approach I use in this collection.
Paul Sheftel performs
his piece, "Ballade in E minor"
realized from a MIDI file
on a Kurzweil PC-88mx
1.6 MB, WAV sound file
Copyright ©
1996 by Carl Fischer, LLC
All rights assigned to Carl Fischer, LLC
International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
Used with permission
MIDI file of the original
performance
(a quick download,
but if you are using your computer's
built-in synthesizer, the above WAV file will likely sound far
superior)
The accompaniment in this piece focuses on the progression of chord i to chord VI in E minor (the E minor and C major chords). These are the sole harmonies used in the entire piece and accompany a rather simple melody.
* In Summary
In this article, I began by attempting to define differences between the child and adult student. In some ways these differences are marked, in some ways they are subtle, and in some, non-existent. Learning styles vary greatly between and within both of these populations. Perhaps a more straightforward way of viewing the issue of writing for students, whether for children or for adults, is to think in terms of a kind of communication-of a kind of understanding or resonance that can develop between a student and a teacher/composer. From this, the music will often take shape.
PAUL SHEFTEL teaches Piano Pedagogy
at the Julliard School and maintains a private teaching studio
in Manhattan. He is a nationally recognized leader in keyboard
studies, has an extensive list of compositions, and has been a
pioneer in the creation and development of instructional materials
using computerized technology. His software is used throughout
the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
From the Editor:
We urge you to
read the complete articles that are found on pp. 38-41 of the
Spring 2003 issue of KEYBOARD COMPANION.
For the other Sampler from this issue, click here
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