Many musicians, artists and other creative thinkers often struggle with organizational skills in preparation for events that require detailed planning, notably recital preparation. Musicians often find themselves ill-prepared and must reschedule the event, recycle music that they do not wish to perform, or ultimately perform at a lower standard. Currently, there is no standardized, established model for pianists or other types of musicians to guide them in setting up a recital and successfully executing all of its parts from start to finish. This study, through discussion of the employment of project management principles, aids artists in putting together a performance successfully. Specifically, it explored the planning and execution of all facets of the performance. This study sought to present a guide on the basic steps in planning a successful recital using the established methodology of a business model and applying it to piano performance. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how project management principles can be applied to recital preparation, planning and execution. The study addressed the returning performer; however, aspects of this study can be used by the student and seasoned professional alike. Results of the study generated an integrated project plan, illustrating the project life cycle of piano performance.

The focus of this project is the performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39. The purpose is to provide interested performers with a clear understanding of the inner workings of these compositions and to address many problems of interpretation and technical challenges of the Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39. The author's goal is to offer creative interpretive explanations and technical solutions to the existing pianistic problems and to aid a performer in his/her approach to learning in order to create a credible and skillful performance. The study makes use of the multi-faceted opportunities that are appropriate to the lecture-recital format. In addition to the research presented in the script, the author incorporated a Power Point™ slide presentation (copies included with this document), audio excerpts from CD performances, live demonstrations on the piano, and a live performance of selected Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39 (all included on the DVD which supplements this document). The script includes a brief biographical sketch of Rachmaninoff, followed by the two research topics of performance practice, interpretive aspects and technical challenges. The Power Point™ presentation serves to enhance the content and to facilitate the explanations of some of the topics of the lecture. This is especially relevant when incorporating excerpts from music scores and examples of paintings. The CD audio excerpts and live demonstrations are intended to illustrate the details of the compositional and stylistic features and performance practice. Finally, the live performance of the Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39, and its audio/video documentation on DVD, confirms the study's research findings.

The life and works of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) have been well documented. However, a comprehensive study concerning any of his nine works for piano and orchestra has not been undertaken. Among this prolific output, the Mômoprecóce, fantasie pour piano et orchestra, stands as a faithful representation of the composer's skillful orchestration, descriptive piano writing through the observation of a childhood universe, and his multi-faceted approach to nationalism. The fantasy is a through-composed arrangement of a previous solo piano suite by Villa-Lobos entitled, Carnaval das crianças brasileiras (Brazilian Children's Carnival, 1919). This research aims to investigate the historic, stylistic, and interpretative aspects of Mômoprecóce, while discussing the composer's unique usage of the piano through his innovative compositional techniques and comparison of the fantasy with his original solo piano suite. Current literature in English, Portuguese and French is thoroughly examined, discussed, evaluated, and cited. In addition I provide a formal analysis, an interpretative guide, and a sociological perspective into Brazilian carnival, as specifically applied to the performance of Mômoprecóce.

<p>Player Piano, published in 1952, primarily deals with the theme of men, or masculinities, made redundant by technological advance. This theme has in more recent years been highlighted by, for instance, Men's Liberation groups. The machinery introduced in the Industrial Revolution has, in Vonnegut's future, been refined to the point that manpower has been replaced with mechpower, where those deemed unfit for “academic” studies either must serve twenty-five years in the military or working with the "Reeks and Wrecks", the Reconstruction and Reclamation Corps. This structure is enforced and maintained by a totalitarian state. However, Vonnegut’s state is slightly different from the popular image of ‘Big Brother’, i.e. an impersonal, near-omniscient and inhuman government. It is highly human, meaning that Vonnegut examines the men behind the machinery on a more personal level, thus making possible an examination of their motives and ideas.</p><p>I argue that the hegemonic masculinity, or the masculinity of the patriarchy, provides both motivation and justification for the men who are constructing the totalitarian state of Player Piano. I will furthermore look at the effects, on both society and the individual, of a hegemonic masculinity.</p>

Player Piano, published in 1952, primarily deals with the theme of men, or masculinities, made redundant by technological advance. This theme has in more recent years been highlighted by, for instance, Men's Liberation groups. The machinery introduced in the Industrial Revolution has, in Vonnegut's future, been refined to the point that manpower has been replaced with mechpower, where those deemed unfit for “academic” studies either must serve twenty-five years in the military or working with the "Reeks and Wrecks", the Reconstruction and Reclamation Corps. This structure is enforced and maintained by a totalitarian state. However, Vonnegut’s state is slightly different from the popular image of ‘Big Brother’, i.e. an impersonal, near-omniscient and inhuman government. It is highly human, meaning that Vonnegut examines the men behind the machinery on a more personal level, thus making possible an examination of their motives and ideas. I argue that the hegemonic masculinity, or the masculinity of the patriarchy, provides both motivation and justification for the men who are constructing the totalitarian state of Player Piano. I will furthermore look at the effects, on both society and the individual, of a hegemonic masculinity.

Abstract Evaluative performances, such as festivals and conservatory examinations, frequently play a large role in formal piano study. Many teachers and parents assume that requiring students to participate in these evaluations will result in several benefits, including increased discipline and motivation, exposure to a balanced and rigorous music curriculum, and access to helpful feedback from expert adjudicators and examiners. However, not all students experience positive outcomes as a result of their participation in evaluative performances. Using a multi-method approach that incorporates grounded theory and narrative inquiry, this research provides insight into how beginning and intermediate piano students experience participating in festivals and examinations and what factors contribute to the quality of students’ experiences. Positive experiences with evaluative performances are characterized by positive emotional outcomes, meaningful music learning, and the development of a strong musical identity. The theoretical model developed through this research presents several important contributors to students’ positive experiences with evaluative performances, including students’ understandings, values, and goals related to music learning, and their abilities and inclinations as performers. The entire learning process must take place within a supportive relational context. When students have positive experiences with evaluative performances, their self-efficacy is heightened. They also experience self-determination regarding their music studies and their involvement in evaluative performances. The self-efficacy and self-determination that follow students’ success and positive experiences motivate further involvement in music study.

This inquiry explored cooperative learning theory and methodology in the context of teaching functional keyboard skills in undergraduate collegiate group piano classes. The purpose was to create a teaching guide to be used in the teaching and learning of harmonization, transposition, improvisation, sight-reading, accompanying, playing by ear, and technique. The guide was created using established cooperative learning methods and was intended to be used in conjunction with other resources common to collegiate group piano classes. The majority of cooperative learning material pertains to non-music subjects; of those resources that relate to music, there are almost no available published sources that incorporate cooperative learning into the group piano curriculum. Teachers of collegiate group piano classes may wish to use this guide to introduce cooperative learning methodology in their teaching situations. / School of Music

While some attempts have been made to model the behaviour of the grand piano action (the mechanism that translates a key press into a hammer striking a string), most researchers have reduced the system to a simple model with little relation to the components of a real action. While such models are useful for certain applications, they are not appropriate as design tools for piano makers, since the model parameters have little physical meaning and must be calibrated from the behaviour of a real action. A new model for a piano action is proposed in this thesis. The model treats each of the five main action components (key, whippen, jack, repetition lever, and hammer) as a rigid body. The action model also incorporates a contact model to determine the normal and friction forces at 13 locations between each of the contacting bodies. All parameters in the model are directly measured from the physical properties of individual action components, allowing the model to be used as a prototyping tool for actions that have not yet been built. To test whether the model can accurately predict the behaviour of a piano action, an experimental apparatus was built. Based around a keyboard from a Boston grand piano, the apparatus uses an electric motor to actuate the key, a load cell to measure applied force, and optical encoders and a high speed video camera to measure the positions of the bodies. The apparatus was found to produce highly repeatable, reliable measurements of the action. The behaviour of the action model was compared to the measurements from the experimental apparatus for several types of key blows from a pianist. A qualitative comparison showed that the model could very accurately reproduce the behaviour of a real action for high force blows. When the forces were lower, the behaviour of the action model was still reasonable, but some discrepancy from the experimental results could be seen. In order to reduce the discrepancy, it was recommended that certain improvements could be made to the action model. Rigid bodies, most importantly the key and hammer, should be replaced with flexible bodies. The normal contact model should be modified to account for the speed-independent behaviour of felt compression. Felt bushings that are modelled as perfect revolute joints should instead be modelled as flexible contact surfaces.

The piano action is the mechanism that transforms the finger force applied to a key into the motion of a hammer that strikes a piano string. This thesis focuses on improving the fidelity of the dynamic model of a grand piano action which has been already developed by Hirschkorn et al. at the University of Waterloo. This model is the state-of-the-art dynamic model of the piano in the literature and is based on the real components of the piano action mechanism (key, whippen, jack, repetition lever, and hammer). Two main areas for improving the fidelity of the dynamic model are the hammer shank and the connection point between the key and the ground. The hammer shank is a long narrow wooden rod and, by observation with a high-speed video camera, the flexibility of this part has been confirmed. In previous work, the piano hammer had been modelled as a rigid body. In this work, a Rayleigh beam model is used to model the flexible behaviour of the hammer shank. By comparing the experimental and analytical results, it turns out that the flexibility of the hammer shank does not significantly affect the rotation of the other parts of the piano mechanism, compared with the case that the hammer shank has been modelled as a rigid part. However, the flexibility of the hammer shank changes the impact velocity of the hammer head, and also causes a greater scuffing motion for the hammer head during the contact with the string. The connection of the piano key to the ground had been simply modelled with a revolute joint, but the physical form of the connection at that point suggests that a revoluteprismatic joint with a contact force underneath better represents this connection. By comparing the experimental and analytical results, it is concluded that incorporating this new model significantly increases the fidelity of the model for the blows. In order to test the accuracy of the dynamic model, an experimental setup, including a servo motor, a load cell, a strain gauge, and three optical encoders, is built. The servo motor is used to actuate the piano key. Since the purpose of the motor is to consistently mimic the finger force of the pianist, the output torque of the motor is controlled. To overcome the problem associated with the motor torque control method used in previous work, a new torque control method is implemented on a real-time PC and a better control of the motor torque output is established. Adding a more realistic model of the piano string to the current piano action model and finding a better contact model for the contacts that happen between the surfaces that are made of felt (or leather), are two main areas that can be worked on in the future research. These two areas will help to further increase the fidelity of the present piano action model.

While some attempts have been made to model the behaviour of the grand piano action (the mechanism that translates a key press into a hammer striking a string), most researchers have reduced the system to a simple model with little relation to the components of a real action. While such models are useful for certain applications, they are not appropriate as design tools for piano makers, since the model parameters have little physical meaning and must be calibrated from the behaviour of a real action. A new model for a piano action is proposed in this thesis. The model treats each of the five main action components (key, whippen, jack, repetition lever, and hammer) as a rigid body. The action model also incorporates a contact model to determine the normal and friction forces at 13 locations between each of the contacting bodies. All parameters in the model are directly measured from the physical properties of individual action components, allowing the model to be used as a prototyping tool for actions that have not yet been built. To test whether the model can accurately predict the behaviour of a piano action, an experimental apparatus was built. Based around a keyboard from a Boston grand piano, the apparatus uses an electric motor to actuate the key, a load cell to measure applied force, and optical encoders and a high speed video camera to measure the positions of the bodies. The apparatus was found to produce highly repeatable, reliable measurements of the action. The behaviour of the action model was compared to the measurements from the experimental apparatus for several types of key blows from a pianist. A qualitative comparison showed that the model could very accurately reproduce the behaviour of a real action for high force blows. When the forces were lower, the behaviour of the action model was still reasonable, but some discrepancy from the experimental results could be seen. In order to reduce the discrepancy, it was recommended that certain improvements could be made to the action model. Rigid bodies, most importantly the key and hammer, should be replaced with flexible bodies. The normal contact model should be modified to account for the speed-independent behaviour of felt compression. Felt bushings that are modelled as perfect revolute joints should instead be modelled as flexible contact surfaces.