Art Music for the acoustic piano has changed tremendously during the twentieth century. Some of the techniques and skills pianists need to master in order to be able to perform successfully twentieth-century art piano music include: a refined ability to discriminate varied layers of sonorities; sophisticated pedal combinations; a sometimes percussive technique; and superior control of complex metric and rhythmic passages. New combinations of patterns that require specific technical preparation pose substantial pianistic challenges. Todays pianist needs to master a variety of glissandi, chords, or single melody textures played directly on the strings inside the piano and to combine such techniques with sounds beyond the traditional piano sonorities. Besides technical preparation, pianists must also acquire sufficient knowledge of twentieth-century compositional techniques and analytical methods, as well as composers individual styles and their contributions to new ways of using the acoustic piano. This document focuses on selected twentieth-century piano compositions by Ravel, Debussy, Prokofiev, Bartk, Cowell, Cage, Holliger, Crumb, Corigliano, and Louie. These composers and their works are discussed with an emphasis on the new expressive, technical, artistic, pedagogical, and performance elements they introduce. The original technical exercises in Appendix A employ twentieth-century scales, harmonies, and progressions. These exercises will facilitate the development of technical skills related to the pieces considered here and to other twentieth-century piano repertoire. The interviews with John Corigliano and Alexina Louie provide uniquely insightful and provocative glimpses of the creative and technical issues involved with two remarkably original artistic conceptions in this repertoire. It is almost a truism to observe that much of the piano music of the twentieth century eschews convention and invents its own vocabulary and syntax. At the beginning of a new century, we are able to gain an historic perspective upon this body of repertoire. This document will lead to an increased awareness and understanding of selected twentieth-century piano repertoire. It suggests that twentieth-century piano compositions should assume an important and equal place with the more traditional music in the pianists repertoire and in the university and conservatoire curricula.

O presente trabalho investiga as percepções e concepções sobre corpo, gesto, técnica pianística e suas relações nas vivências de alunos de piano de dois cursos de Graduação em Música. Fundamentada no conceito de corporalidade, utilizo os conceitos de gesto musical e técnica pianística para examinar as relações que emergem entre o indivíduo, o piano e a música, expressas nas experiências externadas pelos participantes. O conceito de corporalidade (MERLEAU-PONTY [1999], VAZ [2004], CHAUÍ [2011]) compreende o indivíduo como uno, ímpar e indissociável, uma unidade portadora de simbolismos, de memória cultural e social, e repleta de nuances pelas bagagens constituídas ao longo da vida nas relações estabelecidas culturalmente e socialmente, considerando que o modo como construímos nossa visão de mundo passa pelo nosso corpo. O conceito de gesto musical (JENSENIUS et al. [2010], LEMAN; GODØY [2010]) implica em um movimento que carrega intenção e significado, unindo aspectos técnicos e interpretativos, possibilitando pensar a relação entre o texto musical, pianista e piano a partir da individualidade de cada sujeito expressa na organização de movimentos ímpares. Os conceitos de técnica pianística (CHIANTORE [2001]; SANDOR [1981]; KAEMPER [1967]; WHITESIDE [1955]; JAËLL [1904]) elencados neste trabalho são convergentes em proposições fundamentadas no movimento. Participaram deste estudo oito estudantes de duas instituições de Ensino Superior: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS – Curso Bacharelado em Música/Piano e Escola de Música e Belas Artes do Paraná – EMBAP/UNESPAR – Universidade Estadual do Paraná – Campus I de Curitiba – Curso Superior de Instrumento/Piano. O enfoque metodológico foi de Estudo Qualitativo, tendo como instrumento de coleta de dados a filmagem de vídeos, uma entrevista semiestruturada que abordou o sentir-se na performance e o ver-se na performance (momento em que os participantes apreciaram suas próprias performances gravadas), e uma Entrevista Fenomenológica que abordou os três grandes eixos temáticos do trabalho: técnica pianística, corpo e gesto musical. O instrumento de análise e interpretação de dados foi fundamentado nos três passos do Método Fenomenológico: descrição fenomenológica, redução fenomenológica e interpretação fenomenológica. / This study investigates perceptions and conceptions of the body, gesture and piano technique and the relationship between them in the experiences of piano students on two undergraduate music courses. Drawing on the idea of corporeality, I use the concepts of musical gesture and piano technique to examine the relationships that emerge between the individual, the piano and music and are expressed in the experiences manifested by the participants. According to the notion of corporeality (MERLEAU-PONTY [1999], VAZ [2004], CHAUÍ [2011]), the individual is singular, unique and indissociable, a unity that carries symbolism and cultural and social memory and is full of nuances resulting from the cultural and social relationships established during an individual’s life, as the way we build our view of the world is linked to our body. The concept of musical gesture (JENSENIUS et al. [2010], LEMAN; GODØY [2010]) implies movement charged with intention and meaning, combining technical and interpretative aspects and allowing one to consider the relationship between musical score, pianist and piano in terms of the individuality of each subject expressed in the organization of unique movements. The concepts of piano technique (CHIANTORE [2001]; SANDOR [1981]; KAEMPER [1967]; WHITESIDE [1955]; JAËLL [1904]) mentioned in this work all share ideas based on movement. Eight students from the following two music programs at two higher-education institutions took part in this study: the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Music/Piano, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, and the Degree Program in Instrumental Music/Piano, School of Music and Fine Arts, EMBAP/UNESPAR, Paraná State University, Campus I, Curitiba. The study was a qualitative one, and data were collected in videos filmed during the study, in a semi-structured interview that addressed self-feeling in the performance and self-seeing in the performance (when participants appreciated their own recorded performances) and in a phenomenological interview covering the three main themes in the study: piano technique, body and musical gesture. The data analysis and interpretation was based on the three steps of the phenomenological method: phenomenological description, phenomenological reduction and phenomenological interpretation.

Submitted by Morgana Silva (morgana_linhares@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-09-19T17:59:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1594329 bytes, checksum: 35c7653a9196ce37c2c8d75e4c54f7ce (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-19T17:59:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1594329 bytes, checksum: 35c7653a9196ce37c2c8d75e4c54f7ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Historically, piano exercises have served a significant role in the development of piano pedagogy. Nonetheless, these drills still manage to provoke debates and cause frequent divergences of opinion among pianist and piano teachers world wide. Willing to offer further material for debate, the objective of this research is to develop a better understanding of how the teachers at the largest public schools in Recife (the Conservatório Pernambucano de Música and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) handle the topic. In other words, whether or not they incorporate piano exercises into their teaching material. In order to collect this information, we used semi-structured interviews. As a theoretical basis of the proposed subject, this work will provide a historical description of piano technique and its evolution, explain the differences in approach of various “Piano Technique Schools”, explore the opinions of renowned pianists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and compare those opinions to the ideologies of the teachers interviewed. The conclusion of this work relies on the fact that the use of technical exercises is still a controverse subject among piano teachers, surrounded by disagreements, conceptual incoherences and diversity of opinion. / Em que pese ser um tema bastante antigo no âmbito da pedagogia pianística, o uso dos exercícios de técnica ainda provoca debates e constantes divergências de opinião entre os pianistas e professores de piano mundo afora. Com a finalidade de fornecer mais material para discussão, este trabalho tem por objetivo investigar como um grupo de professores de piano da cidade do Recife (docentes ou ex-docentes das duas principais escolas de música públicas da cidade: Conservatório Pernambucano de Música e Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) utiliza esse material, ou se o rejeita completamente na sua prática pedagógica. Para coletar essas informações, optamos pelo uso de entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Neste trabalho podemos encontrar, como embasamento teórico do tema proposto, um histórico da técnica pianística, onde se discutem aspectos ligados à pedagogia pianística e às chamadas Escolas de Técnica Pianística; relatos de importantes pianistas do século XX e XXI e suas posturas acerca da utilização dos exercícios técnicos, e uma comparação analítica entre suas opiniões e as dos professores do Recife entrevistados. À guisa de conclusão do trabalho vemos que a utilização de exercícios técnicos ainda é um tema controverso no meio pianístico, cercado de desacordos, de divergências conceituais e diversidade de opiniões.

O presente trabalho investiga as percepções e concepções sobre corpo, gesto, técnica pianística e suas relações nas vivências de alunos de piano de dois cursos de Graduação em Música. Fundamentada no conceito de corporalidade, utilizo os conceitos de gesto musical e técnica pianística para examinar as relações que emergem entre o indivíduo, o piano e a música, expressas nas experiências externadas pelos participantes. O conceito de corporalidade (MERLEAU-PONTY [1999], VAZ [2004], CHAUÍ [2011]) compreende o indivíduo como uno, ímpar e indissociável, uma unidade portadora de simbolismos, de memória cultural e social, e repleta de nuances pelas bagagens constituídas ao longo da vida nas relações estabelecidas culturalmente e socialmente, considerando que o modo como construímos nossa visão de mundo passa pelo nosso corpo. O conceito de gesto musical (JENSENIUS et al. [2010], LEMAN; GODØY [2010]) implica em um movimento que carrega intenção e significado, unindo aspectos técnicos e interpretativos, possibilitando pensar a relação entre o texto musical, pianista e piano a partir da individualidade de cada sujeito expressa na organização de movimentos ímpares. Os conceitos de técnica pianística (CHIANTORE [2001]; SANDOR [1981]; KAEMPER [1967]; WHITESIDE [1955]; JAËLL [1904]) elencados neste trabalho são convergentes em proposições fundamentadas no movimento. Participaram deste estudo oito estudantes de duas instituições de Ensino Superior: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS – Curso Bacharelado em Música/Piano e Escola de Música e Belas Artes do Paraná – EMBAP/UNESPAR – Universidade Estadual do Paraná – Campus I de Curitiba – Curso Superior de Instrumento/Piano. O enfoque metodológico foi de Estudo Qualitativo, tendo como instrumento de coleta de dados a filmagem de vídeos, uma entrevista semiestruturada que abordou o sentir-se na performance e o ver-se na performance (momento em que os participantes apreciaram suas próprias performances gravadas), e uma Entrevista Fenomenológica que abordou os três grandes eixos temáticos do trabalho: técnica pianística, corpo e gesto musical. O instrumento de análise e interpretação de dados foi fundamentado nos três passos do Método Fenomenológico: descrição fenomenológica, redução fenomenológica e interpretação fenomenológica. / This study investigates perceptions and conceptions of the body, gesture and piano technique and the relationship between them in the experiences of piano students on two undergraduate music courses. Drawing on the idea of corporeality, I use the concepts of musical gesture and piano technique to examine the relationships that emerge between the individual, the piano and music and are expressed in the experiences manifested by the participants. According to the notion of corporeality (MERLEAU-PONTY [1999], VAZ [2004], CHAUÍ [2011]), the individual is singular, unique and indissociable, a unity that carries symbolism and cultural and social memory and is full of nuances resulting from the cultural and social relationships established during an individual’s life, as the way we build our view of the world is linked to our body. The concept of musical gesture (JENSENIUS et al. [2010], LEMAN; GODØY [2010]) implies movement charged with intention and meaning, combining technical and interpretative aspects and allowing one to consider the relationship between musical score, pianist and piano in terms of the individuality of each subject expressed in the organization of unique movements. The concepts of piano technique (CHIANTORE [2001]; SANDOR [1981]; KAEMPER [1967]; WHITESIDE [1955]; JAËLL [1904]) mentioned in this work all share ideas based on movement. Eight students from the following two music programs at two higher-education institutions took part in this study: the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Music/Piano, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, and the Degree Program in Instrumental Music/Piano, School of Music and Fine Arts, EMBAP/UNESPAR, Paraná State University, Campus I, Curitiba. The study was a qualitative one, and data were collected in videos filmed during the study, in a semi-structured interview that addressed self-feeling in the performance and self-seeing in the performance (when participants appreciated their own recorded performances) and in a phenomenological interview covering the three main themes in the study: piano technique, body and musical gesture. The data analysis and interpretation was based on the three steps of the phenomenological method: phenomenological description, phenomenological reduction and phenomenological interpretation.

Many pianists are impacted by playing-related pain and injury, but a great deal is still unknown about the development and prevention of these problems. Several approaches to piano technique have been developed to provide technical recommendations based on scientific ideas. The anecdotal success of some approaches suggests that understanding the biomechanical concepts underlying them may be beneficial. However, these approaches are rarely discussed in the literature, in part due to linguistic inconsistencies among pedagogical and scientific disciplines. This has created obstacles to scientific evaluation of the claims made by pedagogues, and it has limited the degree to which knowledge transfer can occur among different fields. One approach that has been anecdotally successful in alleviating and preventing playing-related problems is the Taubman Approach, which aims in part to identify certain “sources of tension” that may increase the likelihood of developing physical problems. This study used Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) to examine sources on the Taubman Approach in order to identify claims about biomechanics underlying two different “Sources of tension:” “Curling” and “Keybedding.” The results from each QCA were then used to propose a biomechanical explanation of these concepts in language that is consistent with current scientific literature. The results of the analysis on “Curling” suggest that actively flexing the DIP/PIP joints requires activating multiarticular muscles, which can lead to increased muscle contraction, forces, and stiffness across multiple degrees of freedom when playing. Motions and positions proposed by the Taubman Approach as alternatives to “Curling” were also examined. The results of the analysis on “Keybedding” indicated that using excess fingertip force once the key is depressed may be problematic. Relevant aspects of the piano mechanism were identified, as well as recommendations for the proper setup at the keyboard that may impact muscle contraction, forces, and stiffness once playing begins. Subjective terms were analyzed to differentiate biomechanical aspects of the recommended way to keep the key depressed from other ways that may be problematic. The hand and forearm were said to have an important role in generating the necessary fingertip force to keep the key depressed without using excessive muscle contraction across the finger joints. Both analyses also identified technical and physical problems that may be relevant to each concept. The findings in this study yielded insights into important issues related to the terminology used to describe piano technique in different contexts. These insights included the need for clear differentiation between subjective and objective language, as well as the need for understanding pedagogical language in context before knowledge transfer can occur.

abstract: This research paper is an explanatory document for the lecture recital presented by the author. The lecture recital focused on the mimicking of instruments in arrangements and transcriptions for piano of Chinese traditional music. There are five Chinese music instruments discussed in the paper, namely guqin, zheng, erhu, suona, and pipa. This document provides an introduction to the five instruments, including their origin, historical background, and physical characteristics. Then it discusses the selected traditional pieces for these instruments and compares them to their corresponding piano arrangements. The traditional pieces are Three Stanzas of Plum Blossoms (arranged by Jianzhong Wang), Liu Yang River (arranged by Jianzhong Wang), Moon Reflected on the Er-quan Spring (arranged by Wanghua Chu), A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix (arranged by Jianzhong Wang), and Flute and Drum at Sunset (arranged by Yinghai Li). The comparison and the discussion of the technical issues in certain passages will help the pianist to create a fitting sound when performing the works. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2020

Primarily the writer was interested in the relationship between technique and interpretation in the concept of pianism, especially in the music of Brahms, because of the technical difficulties thereof. In this study the truism that technique = interpretation is the focus point. After giving many different opinions about this, the writer brings it into context with Brahmsian pianism specifically. It is made clear how Brahms used certain techniques for certain soundworlds that he wanted to create, in order to reach a certain interpretation, and that there are recurring technical procedures in opus 34, 35, 56b and the 51 exercises. As an interface to these Brahmsian techniques, the writer selects a mixture of generic technical aspects from a wide scope of other musical minds. There is a definite inter-reaction between all these generic aspects and those of Brahms. The background and history of opus 34 is explained, plus a short section about Brahms aesthetics/ambiguity, and some philosophical opinions about the dimension of emotions and feelings in interpretation. However, the writer explains that this dimension is outside the scope of this thesis. A summary of schools of thought on technique and theories of interpretation is given to establish the links between them. Using available literature on quintets, ensembles, pianism, idiomaticism and timbre, the piano quintet specifically was explored for the uniqueness of its features. Brahms’s individualistic approach to pianism, as exemplified by his chamber music and his unique contributions to virtuoso technical routines, is examined against the background of sonorities of the piano and underpinned by appropriate technical skills. Against a template of pianistic criteria, appropriate examples, rich in context, are analysed both technically (objectively) and interpretatively (subjectively) to educe outcomes that establish that the two approaches have a holistic relationship and are ultimately inseparable and interdependent. The score examples show how technical difficulties escalate in combinations of complex movements in the “marriage” of technique and interpretation, and how interpretation relies primarily and fundamentally on the craft of technique, which is also an art in itself. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Music / unrestricted

Syftet med denna studie är att utforska vilken roll tummen spelar inom pianoteknik, vilka metoder som kan användas för att minska ofrivilliga spänningar i tummen samt om medveten övning under en period leder till en märkbar förbättring i tumteknik. Studien utgår ifrån ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv och baseras på självobservationer med hjälp av loggbok och videodokumentation. Forskning tyder på att överansträngning av tummens muskler är vanligt bland pianister, samt att fingrarna påverkar varandra i deras rörelser. Litteratur inom pianoteknik diskuterar ofta hur tummen kan påverka spelet och att problematiken med ofrivilliga spänningar. I resultatet diskuteras min upplevda utveckling, vilka metoder jag använde och vilka fördelar jag upplevde i samband med färre spänningar i tummarna. I resultatet framgår det att jag i samband med dedikerade övningspass upplevde en förbättring i tumteknik på flera håll, att flera olika metoder för att minska ofrivilliga spänningar i tummens muskler hittades och att det fanns flera fördelar med friare tummar, exempelvis mindre trötthet och mer tillfredställande musikalisk gestaltning. Studien ställer resultatet mot tidigare litteratur och forskning och finner samband mellan bland annat använda metoder och hur trötthet i muskler infinner sig under pianospel. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the roll of the thumb in piano technique, what methods can be used to reduce involuntary tensions in the thumb and whether dedicated practise over a certain time period can lead to a noticeable improvement of thumb technique. The study is based on a phenomenological perspective and self-observations using a logbook and video recordings. Research suggests that excessive straining of the thumb’s muscles is common among pianists, and that fingers affect each other in their movements. Literature on piano technique regularly discuss how the thumb can affect piano playing as well as the problems of involuntary tensions. The results of this study discuss my experiences of progress, what methods I used and what advantages I experienced in relation to less tension in the thumbs. The results show that I, on account of my dedicated practising, experienced an improvement in thumb technique on several levels, that different methods to reduce the amount of tension in the thumbs were found, and that there were several advantages with freer thumbs, for example reduced fatigue and more satisfying musical performances. The study discusses the results in relation to earlier literature and research and establishes connections between, among other things, applied methods and how fatigue in the muscles is manifested during piano playing.

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The idea for this investigation was inspired by the writer's attempt to acquire a more complete knowledge of piano teaching techniques. It is hoped that this report will challenge musicians of all ranks to delve further into the subject and investigate other methods of technique not included in this report.