Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum planning a piano literature class... appreciate input!

Well, I'm trying to make post #500 an important one!

I'm changing jobs to another university for the fall, and part of my load will be teaching a two-semester piano lit sequence. Class meets 3 hours per week.

My primary goal in this class is getting the students to understand why certain composers sound like they do, impart a little of the historical context in there, and give them a couple of pieces they can aspire to learn in the future.

What I don't want is a class where names and dates get memorized [and subsequently forgotten after the semester] and "drop the needle" exams cover the first 10 seconds of all the Beethoven piano sonatas [which are also subsequently forgotten].

One rather random approach I can't get out of my head would be to teach the couse in REVERSE chronological order to promote interest, discussion, and accessibility within the mind of an 18-22 year old. When I was younger, I was attracted to the "modern" aesthetic first and grew to appreciate the earlier periods later on.

Any thoughts or ideas you have are most welcome.

I have always been fascinated with how the various periods of music compare with what was going on historically, politically, artistically, etc... during that period in history. For example, Baroque music was all about order, rules, absolutes and how that reflected the religious thought of the day. The romantic era was more about expression of feelings and breaking away from certain long-held rules; what was going on in the world then? I think teaching musical eras and styles as part of a bigger picture would allow students to 'connect the dots', so to speak.

I completely agree with dumdumdiddle!

So much can be understood by reading music history books with lots of pictures of people and their lifestyles in them. Clothing, furniture, architecture, art, so many clues. Then what they were lacking, the invention of the printing press, electricity, etc., that changed lives significantly. And, then, and then, and then, and so on.....The music accompanies the history.

Guido d'Arrezzo always gets a large part of my attention: A new book for children is "Do Re Mi If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido d' Arezzo" by Susan L. Roth (Houghton Mifflin) (2006). It lacks original manuscripts, but is nicely illustrated. The Hymn to Saint John the Baptist: "Ut, Re, Mi" is a simple border on the bottom of a page rather a full poetic version of the words. Looking at early manuscripts in books has always been a thing of beauty to me.

From "Daedalus" (overstocked books resource) Five Centuries of Music in Venice by H.C. Robbins Landon - Schirmer Books. (1996). 200 illustrations 49 in full color. This is an elegant and lavish book. (I know I paid very little for it as Daedalus is a "budget" way to buy books. Check their catalog for other books.

Grow yourself a library of music history! It's not just about us in our lifetime you know!

A picture says a thousand words!

Some ideas for class activities:

Have a class repertoire assignment. Have them learn the complete French suites as a class and share their learning experiences. Or three Haydn sonatas, or the Schumann Album for the Young, etc...

Suite movement recognition. Instead of learning "the Bach partitas" or "Couperin ordres," teach it by dance type. Learn "Allemande" or "Sarabande" and listen to several examples. I'm always a little shocked at how well people know the Bach suites and yet don't understand the difference between a Courante and a Corrente.

Have them read a book. Assign "Men, Women, and Pianos" or Amy Fay's "Music Study in Germany." Have them read a composer biography.

Independent study projects. Give the students a chance to choose some repertoire to explore.

Oh, and congrats on the job! I've met a few of their piano faculty and their department chair and it seems like the school is moving in a good direction. Did you take Liz's job or is it a new position?

Thanks for the input so far. Keep it coming!

Kreisler, thank you too. I'm doing mostly what Liz did. How did you figure it out so fast? I just accepted the position last week! PM me off the board if you want to talk about it... sometimes I worry about posting employment-related details on PW. You happy in El Paso so far?

terminaldegree - my eyes were opened when living in Germany, not as a tourist, but actually living there, worshiping in old churches, playing and singing (yes, I sang in choruses a lot in my younger days) in various venues, all of which were 300 or more years old. Tempos had to be changed to account for reverberation, touch and phrasing had to be changed to get good articulation. I mention all this as a supportive argument to what D3 & Betty have said. Historical context is arguably important. Composers didn't work in a vacuum! I should add that I really like Kreisler's ideas as well.

I'm sure you know all this, but let me present offer it for consideration. Religion was important, if not central to most people's lives. That they didn't talk or write about it was, in my opinion, more due to it's ubiquitousness than lack of interest. Most students you will teach have never stepped foot into a church - and literally have no knowledge of the Latin mass, which virtually everyone pre-1950 knew by heart, whether Catholic or Protestant (who knew it in their own tongue). While most piano music tends to be secular, the composers, for the most part, wrote huge quantities of sacred music. Of course, they didn't write in isolation - there is heavy overlap between the two genres.

Death and dying was common, every day occurrence. Families were large, but surviving to adulthood was the exception. How many brothers and sisters did Beethoven have? How many actually made it to 21? Music, like art, became a way to bring beauty into peoples' lives.

Perhaps as an introductory assignment, it would be good to have them view the PBS series "The 1900's House" http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house/ There is a British version which preceded this and is also interesting.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Best wishes, John

In commending the suggestions of colleagues for a piano lit. presentation ... might I suggest out of personal experience that historic dates have been more chiselled into my mind through the events in composers lives than through battles.

At school I hated history ... why did I have to remember William the Conqueror and 1066 ... or that the French Revolution started by the storming of the Bastille in 1789 ... and the subsequent rise of Napoleon ... but who really cares?

However, when these dates started to cross paths with a particular musical interest ... in this case Beethoven born 1770 ... a sudden interest and reading up of the history at that time was fired ... how would the goings-on in France have effected the 19 year old Beethoven ... why did the composer score out the dedication name of Napoleon to his 3rd Symphony on the 20th of May 1804? Napoleon comes unstuck on his Russian Campaign and retreats from Moscow ... providing Tschikowsky with the national fervour to write his 1812 Overture.

I pin all my historic dates around the activities of the composers ... Gershwin has to be the 20-30s New York ... I am transported to the haunts of Tin Pan Alley ... prohibition and Al Capone.

Hoping the nutty approach finds some use ... the bonding of history with music can prove a potent motivation to provide a blotting paper remembrance of the related facts.

Hey Terminal - I sent you a PM.

I worry too about job-related things here at PW. On one hand, I would like our members to be able to discuss their careers and commercial endeavors openly. On the other hand, I can see how we might get flooded with people who sign up simply to advertise and recruit students. (Which is why I never recruited or mentioned Texas Tech while I taught there.)

Regardless, I like that we have a wide range of professionals on the forums. It's one of the things that makes us unique!

I think it would be good to cover the
earliest and most recent literature, since
those areas are hardly covered at all. The
earliest would cover things like the first singing,
ancient Greek music, church chants,
Flemish counterpoint, etc., that is,
everything before J.S. Bach. The most
recent would cover music from about
the mid-1950's onward. The bulk of
the course would be in these areas,
and the period from J. S. Bach to
about the mid-1950's would be just skimmed
through, since this has been done to
death in numerous courses.

In the class I would have students be hands-on by reading through pieces that are being studied. When I took piano lit, we had to each sight read a Prelude from the WTC. Then it's more interesting and also has them become more familiar with the repertoire and improves reading skills. Maybe also have them give some information that they learned about the piece including structural and musical things about the piece in addition to just learning historically. Explain to them to look at it like they were going to teach it to a piano student, look for patterns in the music that would make learning the notes easier, like in Bach look for sequences, changes of direction, motives. My teacher taught this way and I took a lot a way from the class. It taught me how to look at music differently and it's a way of learning that I still use today.

When do you need this by?

I have some materials on hand that I could send as attachments, but I would need to do it after Sunday this week.

This is a result of my planning a 3 hour class for barbershoppers (non pianists) to teach them to read music (novices). The only class we will have together. "Music Reading Empowerment" we will present the keyboard in relationship to the grand staff, to read pitch and intervals, read by direction and distance, do color mapping for patterns, introduce "magic" counting and study rhythm patterns, do breathing exercises and guided attention. I'm introducing Guido d'Arrezzo and a quick look at 5 Centuries of Venice, just to give them an idea that they have a much easier job today of learning to read music now and an appreciation that music has indeed survived and it still important to society.

The biggest problem is probably the students not all being at the same level. There are probably some simple tests for evaluation of where they are. I'm glad you have experience with beginners one on one, the biggest difference is probably in the pacing and in the different levels of understanding. And, you say you took a lot away from study with your teacher, and still use it! Great!

You will benefit by seeing your class often, and being able to adapt what is going on with them. I get one shot here.

Good luck!

Betty.. your posts are a joy to read.. very informative!

Apple, I really appreciate your note!

You have 13304 posts to your name! So I really appreciate your contributions, too!

Is everything still up do date in Kansas City?

Betty

Well, the semester begins August 22.

Each semester will have roughly 32-34 hours of class meeting time. [160 minutes per week]

Keep in mind the goal is to cover a survey of piano literature in its' entirety in two semesters total. Also keep in mind that piano literature is taught in addition to the "regular" music history and theory courses which are also required for piano majors. I'm all for "connecting the dots" between disciplines but I must make sure to cover a huge period of time each semester.

One history text I always enjoyed was Piero Weiss/Richard Taruskin's "Music in the Western World: a History in Documents". It's music history in the words of the composers and critics themselves, in the time that it happened. If enough of the important composers for the piano are included, I'm inclined to use it as a supplement to my lectures, student presentations, and recordings/performances [and require it as a text they can use for the rest of their lives, in other courses].

I continue to welcome your ideas. I have taught this sort of course before, but it's always interesting to see other people's take on what it should be...

I have never taught a piano lit. class but have taught music history classes, music appreciation, and theory. My Ph.D. was in humanities with emphasis in music and art history.

I have done recitals where I had one slide for each piece I played of a work of art from the exact time as the piece was written. You voiced concerns that you didn't want students to simply memorize dates of composers and compositions. I have found that the recitals where I used slides (only one slide per piece so as not to overwhelm the audience) were the most memorable -- not only for me but for my audience. It is simply another tool to understand the period, the culture, the similarities between the arts.

Having visuals might be a way that at least some students could "hook" on to the subject and become immersed in the period and context in which the piano composition was written.

Laurence

Just a quick follow up. I didn't just put up a slide and move on. These were recitals where I lectured between each piece and discussed the painting and the composition, and other relevant information about the culture in which they were produced.

Laurence

"I smashed the ping pong ball and it was simply ghastly!"

Aside from a standard rep survey, you could always do genres - Mozart concerti, the avant garde, French music of the late 19th/early 20th, etc.

What university did you move to? Also, what university did you leave, so I can keep my eyes open for a job posting on CMS?

PM me off the board, Brendan... if you really want to know!

I absolutely loved my piano lit class- and we more or less taught eachother. We would choose or be assigned a certain composer and she would give us list of what needed to be covered. We were responsible for providing info on the composer's life and music, using reputable sources (NOT wikipedia) including CDs and we were also to prepare a small segment of music to perform. We also had to prepare handouts for everyone. She would fill in any gaps, elaborate on certain points, and provide additional listening examples. We did alot of listening with the scores and part of our tests involved IDing style by the score alone. This sort of format really got us all involved in the course material and we ended up having some really good discussions. Not only were we learning the lit, we were constantly researching, listening, and sight reading outside of class, and learning a bit about teaching and presentation as well. It was a very small class- just 3 students so it worked quite well.