PIANO MAGAZINEPIANO

WINTER 2020–2021 | VOL 12 | NO 5

CELEBRATING

TH BEETHOVEN’S 250 ANNIVERSARY AND MUSICAL INNOVATORS WINTER 2020–2021 | VOL 12 | NO 5 $12.99

Anne-Marie Commissioning Stories McDermott: Composition & Celebrating of Pianists’ Creativity Artist, Leader, Innovator Underrepresented Composers

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PIANO MAGAZINE

PUBLISHER The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / CHIEF CONTENT DIRECTOR WHAT YOU’LL Pamela D. Pike FIND INSIDE SENIOR EDITOR / DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT Andrea McAlister

• SENIOR EDITORS Steve Betts RESOURCES TO SUPPORT Craig Sale OUR COMMUNITY IN COLUMN EDITORS MUSICAL ENGAGEMENT Linda Christensen, Technology & ADVOCACY Vanessa Cornett, Healthy Playing, Healthy Teaching Barbara Kreader Skalinder, Teaching • Artina McCain, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Nicholas Phillips, Recordings COVERAGE OF THE Suzanne Schons, Books, Materials, and Music NEWEST TRENDS & IDEAS Helen Smith Tarchalski, Keyboard Kids IN PERFORMANCE Jerry Wong, International Richard Zimdars, Poetry Corner AND PEDAGOGY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO • Jennifer Snow

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS DESIGN & PRODUCTION FOR PIANO TEACHING studio Chartreuse & LEARNING PROFILES COPY EDITORS Rebecca Bellelo • Kristen Holland Shear THOUGHT-PROVOKING DIGITAL OPERATIONS Shana Kirk IDEAS FROM A RANGE OF CONTRIBUTORS ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Anna Beth Rucker

• CUSTOMER SUPPORT Morgan Kline REVIEWS OF THE LATEST MUSIC, RECORDINGS, CIRCULATION The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy BOOKS, TECHNOLOGY, & EDUCATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARD Nancy Bachus PRODUCTS Alejandro Cremashi Barbara Fast Rebecca Grooms Johnson Scott McBride Smith

Winter Issue 2020-2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 1 CONTENTS

Anne-Marie McDermott: ARTIST, LEADER, INNOVATOR by Andrea McAlister 12

Photo: Group lesson at NSMS (1960s)

EXPLORE LEARN TEACH

9     EDITOR’S LETTER 32    THE GIFT OF NEW 36  BECOMING WEAVERS: Pamela D. Pike MUSICAL EXPERIENCE: Piano Students and Their Creating a Studio Commissioned Arrangements 10     POETRY CORNER Commissioning Project of Music by Under-Represented Kristofer Rucinski Women Composers 12     ANNE-MARIE MCDERMOTT: Penny Lazarus ARTIST, LEADER, INNOVATOR 62    HEALTHY PLAYING, Andrea McAlister HEALTHY TEACHING: 44  DIVERSITY IN MUSIC: Wellness in Applied Piano Building Diversity in 18      CREATIVE Teaching: A Two-Way Street Your Music Career: COMMEMORATIONS: Henning Vauth Interview with Michelle Cann How a Performer, Composer, Artina McCain and Teacher Celebrated Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary 56   INTERNATIONAL COLUMN: Christopher Madden Zoom and Gloom: The Melbourne Experience of the 88    QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Perils and Pleasures of the Online Leah Claiborne Advanced Piano Lesson Ian Holtham

2 / PIANO MAGAZINE Visit plasticfilmrecycling.org to find a recycling location for your magazine’s plastic poly bag. CONTENTS

Creative Commemorations: HOW A PERFORMER, COMPOSER, AND TEACHER CELEBRATED BEETHOVEN’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY by Christopher Madden 18

PLAY REFLECT DISCOVER

28     CREATING NEW PIANO MUSIC 74   TRIBUTE TO NANCY BACHUS 64    PUPIL SAVER: IN THE DIGITAL AGE A Glimpse Into Colorful 80   FRED KERN: Jeremy Siskind Mexican Romanticism A PEDAGOGICAL GIANT Desireé González-Miller    NORTHERN CANVASES: 48 82    REMINISCENCES Canadian Piano Music from 66    NEW MUSIC & MATERIALS OF LEON FLEISHER the Twentieth and Twenty-First 70     RECORDINGS Centuries Fred Karpoff Asher Armstrong 72     BOOK REVIEWS ROUGH IDEAS:

Reflections on Music & More, by Stephen Hough review by Paul Wyse FIND KEYBOARD KIDS ONLINE AT 85    LIFE IN MUSIC claviercompanion.com by Jennifer Snow

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 3 EXPLORE CONTRIBUTORS

ASHER ARMSTRONG MICHELLE CANN LEAH CLAIBORNE

DESIREÉ GONZÁLEZ-MILLER IAN HOLTHAM FRED KARPOFF

PENNY LAZARUS CHRISTOPHER MADDEN ANDREA MCALISTER

4 / PIANO MAGAZINE EXPLORE CONTRIBUTORS

ARTINA MCCAIN PAMELA D. PIKE KRISTOFER RUCINSKI

JEREMY SISKIND JENNIFER SNOW HENNING VAUTH

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

GEOFFREY BURLESON MEG GRAY SUZANNE SCHONS

ELAINA BURNS ERNEST KRAMER JASON SIFFORD

SCOTT CUELLAR ELIZABETH MOAK ADRIENNE E. WILEY

ANN DUHAMEL NICHOLAS PHILLIPS

PAUL WYSE

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 5 EXPLORE SUPPORTING PATRONS The Frances Clark Center SUPPORTING PATRONS

Michelle Aalders Marvin Blickenstaff Paulina Chui Bob Dyck Andrew Gellert Verena Abufaiad Richard Blickenstaff Leah Claiborne Kathy Dykstra Selina Gellert Rachel Acuff Ryan Blickenstaff Ingrid Clarfield Ellen Early Julie Gensmer Michael Adelman Wayne Blickenstaff Jacob Clark Sara Early Don Geske Martha Ahern Mary Anne Block Bynum Clarke Patricia Eastman Nancy Gilbert Yura Akina Mary Bloom Carole Cleaver Karin Edwards Emily Gilbertson Cathy Albergo Laurie Blough Lois Clouse Yukiko Egozy Lillie Gilchrist Dennis Alexander BMS Matching Gift Program Jennifer Cohen Mary Eichelberger Barbara Gill Donna Alexander Sandra Bodrero Rick Cohen Kathy Elkins Jeffrey Gilliam Nancy Alleman Donna Bondi Barbara Collins Jean Ellenberger Ann Gipson Monica Allen Eric Bouwman-Wozencraft James Conrad Jeanie Ellenberger Sharon Girard Anna Alsina Donna Bowles Nancy Cooper Frank Elliot Amy Glennon Amazon Smile David Bowlin Laurisa Cope Claudine Elzey Rebecca Glick Beth Amoroso Teri Boyd Vanessa Cornett Caryl Emerson Joan Glotzbach Julie Anderson Cheryl Braun Sandra Coryell Beth Endicott George Goeke Mike Anderson Leigh Brigaud Ana Coulter Priscilla Eng Bob Golden Kay Andre Jessica Briggs Randall Craig Sara Ernst Jim Goldsworthy Thomas Andrews Carol Brody Dixie Cramer Joanne Erwin Andrew Gomory Judith Ammann Karen Brooks Hopkins Sandra Crandall Meryl Ettelson Sharon Gomulka Tylah Archbold Ellen Brown William Creager Maggie F Catherine Gonzalez Melodie Archer Junko Brown Myrna Crooks Kaia Fahrenholz Lisa Gonzalez Sarah Arnold Nancy Brown Mary Kate Cross Stacy Fahrion Cheryl Goodwin Rita Asch Roberta Brown Kellie Cunningham Melissa Falb Jennifer Graber Stephanie Ashurst Alice Browne Carol Curtis Mike Farrah Martha Graber Marlon Austria Susan Bruckner Charles Curtis Barbara Fast Marilyn Granahan Dinesh Ajwani Grace Bunday Linda Dahlstrom Joan Fasullo Gary Graning Wendy Bachman Elizabeth Burnett Connie Dailey Mercedes Featherston Sharon Gratto Nancy Bachus Elaina Burns Manish Dalmia Polly Feitzinger Jody Graves Ann Bader Carina Busch Eva Dapon Eva Fekete Kathleen Gray Lynda Baechler Sally Buxton Elizabeth Davis Linda Felcone Cheryl Gray-Baddorf Susanne Baker Amanda Byars Lori Dawkins Fidelity Charitable Leland Green Martha Baker-Jordan Kristin Cahill Carla Day Linda Fields Ryan Greene Wendy Balder Nan Cai Isidoro De Paula Gae Finch Karen Greenhalgh Joni Ball Elizabeth Caluda Gray Deane Anna Jeanne Flesner Christine Greenwood Pat Banta Deborah Campanaro Patricia DeAngelis Nancy Fletcher Linda Gregory Linda Barker Dominique Caplier Lisa DeBellevue Andrew Flickner Susan Grice Lynette Barney Myrna Capp Judy DeClement Maureen Flood Joyce Grill Jean Barr Doris Carlson Janel Dennen Jon Fluetsch Pam Grimer Ena Barton Monica Carlson Deanna Dent Paula Flynn David Gross Christine Bates Barbara Carter Barbara DeRussel Allison Fog Helen Grosshans Angana Batki Louise Carter Osmond DeSouza Ava Fong Louisa Gu Elizabeth Bausch Tina Carter Jo Ellen DeVilbiss Timmy Fong Elizabeth Gutierrez Jeffery Beaudry Carolyn Cassidy Lauren Di Rick Foss Annika Guy Pamela Bedell Charmaine Cates Laureen Di Bisceglie JoAnne Fouser Junia Haas Anna Marie Beebe Sally Cathcart Keelan Dimick Cydnie Fox Christopher Hahn Aubrey Behunin Christine Caunan Lynda Dimick John Frankenfield Terri Halloran Gail Berenson Esther Chan Michael Dimick Brenda Frazier Joyce Halteman Seymour Bernstein Chi Wing Chang Lisa Donovan Lukas Kathy Fries Sharon Halverson Reyes Berrios Bill Chapin Mary Doran Jacqueline Fritzel Kevin Hampton Ellen Berry Eric Chen Nancy Dorgan Louise Frye Betsy Hannah Gloria Bethke Jinlan Chen Martha Dorrill Rebecca Fulgham Berneil Hanson Amy Bhatnager Nai-yu Chen Karlene Drake Sylvia Furash Jeremy Hanson Preetham Bilumane Yvonne Chen Jean Drumm Barbara Furr Peter Harisiades Susan Birchman Sony Cherukara Geoffrey Duce Joanne Gabel Don Harper Anthony Birnbaum Martha Child Allan Dueck Deborah Gainer Mary Harper Patricia Bissell Sudhir Chilukuri Ann DuHamel Linda Gaines Cindy Harris Anita Blackmon Vivian Ching Bob Duke Andrea Gardner Joel Harrison John Bleimeier Yat-Yee Chong Diana Dumlavwalla Alex Glasgow Leon Harshenin Joan Blench Fiona Christano Mary Duncan Barbara Glasgow Janet Hart Kyle Blickenstaff Marjorie Chronister Patti Duthie Linda Gates Joyce Harwood Loren Blickenstaff Sophia Chuang Annika Dyck JoAnn Geiser Marie Hasse

6 / PIANO MAGAZINE Please donate today at keyboardpedagogy.org/give EXPLORE SUPPORTING PATRONS

We deeply appreciate our friends and colleagues who have so generously given to The Frances Clark Center over the past twelve months. Your support of our work during this challenging year allowed us to provide our community with quality resources and programs for piano teaching, learning, and performing.

Ami Hatori Linda Jackson Ming Kuang Mary MacDermut Margaret Mikhno Carole Havens Maria Jacobsen Veena Kulkarni-Rankin James Macon Bart Miller Sara Lynn Havercroft Merilyn (Mimi) Jacobson Beth Kunkle Charlotte MacQuarrie Patricia Milstead Esther Hayter Judith Jain Wendy Kuo Jane Magrath Mary Mincy Susan Hayter Linda Jamer Mie Kurokawa Mary Majerus Elizabeth Moak Jennifer Hedstrom Janina Jasnosz Joann Lafler Betty Mak Nancy Modell Jane Heintzelman Ajit Jassal Deborah Lagomarsino Sarah Malick Mary Molenaar Jessica Heitmeyer Sarah Jenkins Kathleen Lamay Marcia Mally Sean Monaghan Patricia Henderson Sharon Jenson E.L. Lancaster Wanda Mandigo David Montaño Dale Hendricks Jasper Jimenez Matthew Lancellotti James Manganaro Chris Montgomory Joseph Henshaw Jessica Johnson Gail Lange Arlene Manger Kay Jean Moore Keith Herris Rebecca Johnson Kim Lange Francesca Manheim Eva Moos Laraine Herzog Angela Jones David Lanning Janell Mann Nancy Morgan Steven Hesla Lois Jones Beverly Lapp Matthew Manwarren Alexander Morollo Alice Heyer Irene Jordan Helen And Sam Lapp Sharon Marble Roger Moseley Laraine Hezog Jeriel Jorguenson Karen Larvick Isabel Marcheselli Beverley Mosley Joy Higuchi Rachael Jungkeit Nadia Lasserson Christian Marin Cuba Munsey Martha Hilley Gloria Justen Debra Laundrie Beth Marquardt Susan Munson Ikumi Hiraiwa Yashita Kaishan Anna Lee Anne Marsan-Cook Susanne Murphy Russell Hirshfield Jeanne Kallenberg Kenton Lee Laurie Marshall Rose Murray Andrew Hisey Moses Kaloustian Shu-Jung Lee Rebecca Martin Spencer Myer Marty And Shana Hodel Margaret Kalvar Phyllis Lehrer Sharon Martin Ruth Myrick Anne Hoffman Sarah Karchere-Sun Suzanne Lehrer Stephen Martucci Susan Nagel Janis Hoffman Maureen Karpan Mary Jo Leier Kathleen Maskell Nancy Nagy Sen James Hohmeyer Fred Karpoff Nanette Leleux Claire Mason Francisco Naranjo Samuel Holland Boris Katz Dawna Lemaire Lauren Mason Nazila Nekoorad Verna Holley Debra Kauffman Dianna Lemaire Nancy Matlin Ann Nelson Roy Hoobler Farrah Kaye Ann Lemke Ursula Matlock Jon Nelson Joy Hood Aarne Kela Carol Leone Aaron Matthews Margie Nelson Mary Hood Martha Kelley Alan Leverenz Mary Matthews Mary Nelson Jenny Hooley Keyes Kelly Randy Lewis Andrea McAlister Network For Good Mary Hooley-Carlisle Mary Kelly Rebecca Lewis Artina McCain New School for Music Study Margaret Hoover Linda Kennedy Iksan Lewono Karen McClellan Recital Donations Karen Hopkins Kim Kent Daniel Li Jean McEntire Suzanne Newcomb Charles Horton Paul Kenyon Shiqi Li Madeleine McEntire Peggy Newhall Maria Horvath Marissa Kerbel Claudia Libero Doreen McGowan Margaret Ng Carolyn Houck Naomi Kern Sally Licocci Susan McGuire Amanda Nguyen Carole Houghton Susan Kershman Theresa Lim Lauren McInnes Q.D. Nguyen Jan Houser Phillip Keveren Janet Limoges David McKillop Sue Ni Charlene Hubbard Natalie Khatibzadeh Amy Lin Kristen McKinnis Susan Nicholas Judy Hudak Kenneth Khaw Chiu-Ling Lin Stephen McLean Peter Nicholls Jill Hudson Duong Khuc Mei-Yu Lin Margaret McNeill Debra Nicodemus LiPing Hudson David Kidwell Paula Lin Scott McNulty Jerri Niver Barbara Huebner Phil Kidwell Peggy Lin Terry McRoberts Carolyn North Constance Hughes April Kim Kay Lindley Mimi Mead-Hagen Christopher Norton William Hughes Minhyuk Kim Tracy Linstrom Sue Medford Kathleen Nungesser Linda Hunter Sun Kim Evalyn Lipoff Liz Meggitt Colleen O’Connor Nancy Huskey Fredericka King George Litterst Ruth Meints Noriko Ohta Brian Ignatowitz Shana Kirk Wen Liu Judith Meisels Janna Olson Srebrenka Igrec Vincent Kirk Lavinia Livingston Seth Mellman Clare O’Meara Raisa Ihnat Dorothy Kirkpatrick Maggie Lo Laura Melton Evelyn Onciul Gilford Ikenberry Mitch Kleiman Laura Loewen Ann Mendenhall Steve Oppong Lidia Ikenberry Zachary Kleiman George Logan Joanie Mendenhall-Lefkowits Margie Orehowsky Stanley Ilin Ann Kleinsasser Leah Loizos Stephanie Mercer Tricia Orr Celestina Illig Matthew Kline Maria Lonchyna-Lisowsky Sue Mergen Stathia Orwig Carolyn Inabinet Karen Knick Sandra Long Merck Gives Back Judy Owens Lyle Indergaard Karen Koch Lynne Long Nancy Merkel John Owings Carolyn Irish Midori Koga Marilyn Loosemore Adam Merrill Leslie Owsley Denise Isaacs Kristine Konrad Charl Louw Maryann Messina Lois Owsley Rosemary Isbell-Hendrickson Kairy Koshoeva Donnagay Lynn Sandra Meyer Elena Panova Kathleen Isberg Karen Krieger Alice Ma Esequiel Meza Robert Parini

Please donate today at keyboardpedagogy.org/give Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 7 EXPLORE SUPPORTING PATRONS

Geoffrey Parks Natalia Ryjanovskaia Glenna Sprague Todd Van Kekerix Linda Parr Heidi Saario Jill Sprenger Susan Van Sickle Margaret Parr-Recard Caroline Sabin Greg Springer Thomas VanWart Anne Patterson Jesse Sabo Melanie Squires Suneeta Varkey Brenda Pazar Shannon Sadler Ronda Sprague Georgia Virtudazo Catherine Pederson Carol Salas Brian Stains Queyen Vo Maryjane Peluso Craig Sale Arlene Steffen Virginia Vogel-Wallace Rebecca Pennington Donna Sanders Andrew Steginsky Liberty Vorvis Alice Peterson Sibil Sanford Melanie Stein Joan Wall Rose Peterson Maria Santilli Jojie Sterman Yanting Wang Rachel Petucci Maria Santos Mary Stern Barbara V. Watson Charitable Fund Nicholas Phillips Kyoko Sasaki Betty Stoloff Tara Wayt Catherine Picker Frank Sauer Kathryn Stoltzfus-Dueck Romina Weird Richard Piech Dylan Savage Dan Stoner Robert Weirich Stephen Pierce Jan Savage Patricia Stowell D. Eugene Wempler Pamela Pike Daniel Schaible Joshua Straub Janice Wenger Mark Polimeno Akiko Schalow Melody Stroth Noreen Wenjen Robert Porter Patricia Scheel Linda Strouf Shannon Wettstein Sadler Pauline Potter Kaye Schimnich Janice Sullivan Karen White David Powell Elizabeth Schlegel Amy Sun Elizabeth White Scott Price Diana Schmuck Kimberly Sundell Samuel Whitesell Princeton Area Community Noriko Schneiderman Kowsigi Suresh Debra Wiggins Foundation, Inc. Judith Schoepflin Beth Sussman Marilyn Wilbanks Amy Puenpatom Jacqueline Schreck John Suter Barbara Wilkens Yuri Pugliese Patricia Schrock Lois Svard Joyce Williams Thomas Quinlan Lana Schumacher Donna Swan Ken Williams Michael Quinn Sonya Schumann Karin Swanson Marianne Williams Karen Raizen John Sciullo Barb Swartley Faye Wilson Seetha Ramanathan Shelagh Scott Frank Szabo Patricia Wilwerth Diane Ramoska Mary Anne Sedlacek Shirley Tai Sandy Wingard Twinkle Ratnasamy Susan See Manabu Takasawa Joy Winkeler Donna Reed Kathy Sees Chee-Hwa Tan Glenda Winkle-Morrow Joanna Reeder Miho Segal Sabrina Tang Alan Wish Karen Reeds Rick Seifert Helen Tarchalski Linda Witchie Nancy Reese Norman Seldin John Tatum Lisa Withers Leanne Regehr John Semmlow Frances Taylor Lisa Wold Emmeline Remde Megan Shannon Pamela Taylor Boris Wolfson Anita Renfroe Howard Shapiro Gabrielle Tee Jerry Wong Debbie Renton Carol Sharp Reina Teeger Richard Woo Melissa Rhine Carmen Shaw Terry Tennes Melissa Woodbury Beverly Richards Judith Sherman Adrienne Terleck Lynn Worcester Rebekah Richards Gail Shinberg Joy Theissen Mark Worcester Sarah Richards Allison Shinnick Karen Thickstun Kim Wright Laura Richling Stephanie Shinnick Joy Thiessen Sylvia Wu Mariella Rietti Mukul Shukla Iris Thimm-Netenjakob Carla Wyatt Eileen Ringel Dana Shuler Gaye Thomas Eren Yagmuroglu Joan Ritchie Jason Sifford Martha Thomas Anny Yin Tania Rivera Joyce Sillito Cheryl Thompson Em Yodin Deborah Robertson Lillian Simmons Brian Thornton Akina Yura Patti Robertson Peter Simon Claiborne Thornton Marcia Yurko Margaret Roby Frederik Simons Royce Thrush Mary Zahora Eugenie Rocherolle Jamie Sims Susan Ticknor Toni Zavatson Reginald Rodgers Lopamudra Sinharay Jeanette Tietze Deborah Zavracky Gail Roe Sandip Sinharay Susan Todd Sharon Zeruld Amy Roesler Jeanine Skinner Mary Tollefson Ying Zhao Mikkel Romstad Cathy Smetana Sandy Triplett Isaac Zilpert Robert Root Joe and Susie Smetana Diana Tritapoe Karen Zorn Angela Rose Deidre Smith Carolyn True Steve Rosenfeld Diane Smith Janet Tschida Asta Rossi Gwen Smith Zenta Tsuchihashi Todd Rossi Heather Smith Daniel Tsukamoto Donations received after Nicholas Roth Mary Smith Alma Tucciarone October 23, 2020 will be Amy Rothstein Traci Smith Beth Turco acknowledged at a later date. Sarah Roy Susan Snook-Luther Drew Turock Royal Conservatory Jennifer Snow Elaine Ulrich Silvina Rubio Kathleen Snow Cherene Unrau Sue Ruby Lisa Snow Lydia Usami Anna Beth Rucker Kaye Snyder Glenn Utsch Annie Rueff Edward Soehnlen Sheila Vail Margaret Runaas Martina Sommerer Faina Vainberg Elaine Rusk Susan Sophocleus Corrine Van Dyke

8 / PIANO MAGAZINE Please donate today at keyboardpedagogy.org/give EXPLORE EDITOR’S LETTER

Winter 2020 – 2021 CELEBRATING MUSICAL INNOVATORS PAMELA D. PIKE Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Director

Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on own extraordinary time. As 2020 important than ever. Finding new December 17, 1770, in Bonn. Although began, few of us in industrialized ways to engage with colleagues, unimaginable on that winter day, his countries recognized the profound students, and audiences takes influence on generations of musicians impact that a looming pandemic would thought, creativity, and energy. across Europe cannot be overstated. have on our personal and professional Identifying important (but underrep- To this day, his work occupies an lives. Yet, in just a few short months, resented) composers, commissioning, enormous part of our musical canon pianists have pivoted to performing creating, and performing new music and playing certain Beethoven sonatas and teaching in virtual venues. The can be an important step in celebrating remains a rite of passage for many way that professional musicians have the local cultures and communities young pianists. His compositions both engaged with local audiences and in which we live. inspired and confounded his contempo- broader communities has been creative raries, they were admired by elite and inspiring. We hope that in reading some of the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie, alike, stories contained in this issue of the and they influenced European compos- In this issue of the Piano Magazine we Piano Magazine, you find inspiration ers who followed. 1 For some, Beethoven feature the work of professional pianists for the creative spark that will kindle is alluring, in part, because he worked (teachers, performers, and composers) your musical life during the coming outside of many musical and societal who have embraced change and winter months. Elie Wiesel wrote, conventions, and he succeeded, in spite responded creatively. We hope you’ll “even in darkness it is possible of these. spend time reading about the work of to create light and encourage Anne-Marie McDermott, Lera Auerbach, compassion.” 2 The innovative work In 2020, as we begin to recognize and Rudolf Buchbinder, Michelle Cann, of the musicians featured in this issue grapple with the inherent biases and Penny Lazarus, Josh Straub, Ian highlights how music continues to elitism of our beloved western classical Holtham, and others who are featured create light in our world. music tradition, one way to commemo- in this issue. Hearing, studying, and rate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary is by performing music (whether on the world celebrating musical innovators from our stage or in a private home) is more NOTES 1. Joseph Kerman & Alan Tyson, “Ludwig van Beethoven,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: MacMillan Publishers Limited), 354–414. 2. Elie Wiesel, Open Heart, trans. Marion Wiesel (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2012).

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 9 EXPLORE POETRY CORNER A STAMPEDE OF FINGERS

A stampede of fingers Lo the minors! Always impressive to trot out, Over the keyboard, in parallel Especially in contrary motion, but what they add And contrary motion. Accidentals, To fluidity and endurance I defer Crowd the corridor, gate the rush To the discerning student. Of impetuous fingers In whole and half steps. I’ve worked the scales for decades, Recently through headphones Keys: The C scale, devoid of accidentals, At a digital keyboard. To escape Is yet a trick to pull off, tells all Boredom, I prop an old issue To an astute auditor. As for C sharp, Of Poetry against the desk. Though posh with accidentals, I have come to prefer verse It’s not so hard as it may seem to nail them all, Embedded in the muffled sweep Although for me, whatever the burn, C sharp And clatter of my voiceless keyboard Is scarcely worth the work out. D major, To that laid out on a bright blanket of silence. With only two sharps, may seem a cinch, But just behold those 3- and 4-over-1 crossings, Fingers: Consider the side-riding thumb, bouncer Pebbles in the stream to upset the glossy flow. In toe-shoes, coxswain of the fist, proclaimed E flat breaks at the turnarounds, to wit, For its opposition to the other four. Top and bottom 4-over-1’s, sinkholes A serious pianist will attest to its humble camaraderie, Where clumsy fingers may stick and stumble. Surprising agility, versus the showy grab and slap For the self-assured, E flat elides into E, Of index and middle fingers, the tyranny of middle For some, easiest of them all, with four sharps Over ring, which repays the slight in prying up Neatly beneath the hand. As with C, in E The waif-like pinky, who in turn retaliates Evenness is the bugaboo. F in ascent In that silly curl that mocks a life-long struggle Demands that 2 and 4 seize the B flats To straighten it out. Proper attack, proper curvature, And 1 attacks each C with not a hint of hesitation. In a half century, I’ve learned the hand must tilt As for F sharp, Vida supra re. C sharp. In ascent, the fingers curve crab-like, in descent, Ah, G major, just one sharp short of C, and yet, Undulate, swish and roll like blades of pond grass. So fleet, so restful, 2 and 4 in brief repose on F sharp. After forty minutes of scales, Surely you will slip right into A flat, I was once more facile, fluid, Like E flat in its perilous arrangement Without resting, able to take on Of black and white keys. And then, Twenty more of merciless If you have the stamina, pass on to A Five-finger drills, for instance, Without a break. Happy gift, the A scale, Trills and scales in thirds and sixths. But, as with E, beginner beware! A rigorous hearing will expose every wobble. But now, fingers impounded by age, I prefer B flat struts out with just two flats, but Lo, To butcher the likes of Bach preludes and fugues into Those odd leaps to C and F. You must take them Bite-sized snack packs, as Cortot did with Chopin’s etudes, In exacting stride. And onward to the key of B In the guise of taming their beastly unwieldiness. But of course, Where the fingering seems a cheat. As with E, The risk in all such technical chicanery, is failure Some celebrate B as easiest, but do not To reanimate the beasts I’ve disarticulated. Nowadays, Be tempted to race ahead, spanked along I tell myself, my back is tired, my fingers spent. Seldom do I By all those black notes. Revisit my lonely grand to test the value of time Which brings us back to C. Spent in all such hatchet work.

10 / PIANO MAGAZINE EXPLORE POETRY CORNER

BY STEVAN CAVALIER

Advice for beginners: Wield those scales like bull whips. Stay your mount. Attack. Stripe those brutish necks. At last they must submit, the gorgeous beasts Who want you to believe they were never Meant to be ridden.

STEVAN CAVALIER is a retired physician with a BA in English from Amherst College. He is a published author and director of the Sierra Chamber Society, a professional ensemble comprised of members of the San Francisco Symphony and distinguished guests, now in its 34th season.

THE PIANO MAGAZINE: COLLEGIATE WRITING CONTEST

THE PIANO MAGAZINE IS PROUD TO SPONSOR THIS EXCITING CONTEST GRAND SHOWCASING THE TALENTS PRIZE OF TOMORROW’S TEACHERS!

Writers are free to choose any topic relating to the field Publication in a of piano pedagogy and write a 1,500 word article. forthcoming issue of Submissions must be received by May 1, 2021. the Piano Magazine.

Submissions should include contestant’s full contact information, university & degree program, and major GRAND SECONDARY professor. Submit articles using 12-point, Times New PRIZE PRIZES Roman font with double spacing. A panel of professionals PublicationPublication on in a the will evaluate submissions based on content, clarity, forthcomingPiano Magazine issue of originality, value to the profession, and writing style. the Pianowebsite. Magazine . For complete rules, regulations, and online submission form, visit claviercompanion.com/about/collegiate-writing-contest.

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 11 EXPLORE

History will look back and see what the arts did during this pandemic.

That’s the great profoundness of music.

It speaks to things that words cannot.

Anne-Marie McDermott: ARTIST, LEADER, INNOVATOR

by Andrea McAlister

12 / PIANO MAGAZINE

EXPLORE

AMM: We know we can’t have musicians coming and going. We have to live within our current reality, so we decided to bring out a group of twelve musicians to spend one month in Vail. We have a 3,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, and we have determined that there can be audiences of up to 175 people, socially distanced, and livestreamed. The musicians who are coming are embracing the spirit of the events and know that flexibility is key. We’ll perform four concerts with glorious chamber music repertoire. Yefim Bronfman will be coming out to perform a two- piano program. We are also building the Bravo! Vail Music Box, which is a mobile stage that can be transported around town. We’ll have a Yamaha AvantGrand on the mobile stage and be able to seat a string quartet. Many of our donors are older and wouldn’t be able to come to a concert. We are going to bring the music to them. AM: We have to think It’s like having a house concert, but you are about our responsibility. bringing the house. AMM: It’s our responsibility to Exactly! One of our most popular series is our “Soiree Series,” and that’s exactly what this is—a house concert keep this art form alive, where we are bringing the house. I’m excited about the potential the Music Box brings. We can play children’s concerts around town, as well as bring music to senior even if it’s on centers, healthcare workers, and first responders. The response we’ve gotten in Vail has been extraordinary. a computer screen. People well up with tears at the thought of being together to hear music. Already, I feel that what Bravo! is doing this summer will benefit us for many, many years to come. It’s giving people Because we dug deep and figured out how to make this work, even within the very harsh safety guidelines, we something precious when will be better for it. AM: they need it the most. I think we’re craving human connection and live music more than ever. You don’t know how much you value it until it’s gone. AMM: The magic of live performance is the human connection. I play differently when there’s a live audience. When I put my phone on a music stand, I don’t play the same way. I don’t get the adrenaline rush. I don’t feel the power of the human connection. Nothing can replace it. We, as performers, also miss the danger of live performance— the feeling that this is happening once, at this moment in time.

14 / PIANO MAGAZINE EXPLORE

I’m performing the complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with Ida Kavafian this summer at the Ford Amphitheater. She and I have had some teary conversations about what it will feel like to play this PIANO repertoire together. It’s not going to feel normal, but I

think it’s going to feel extraordinary. We did this same Acoustic & Digital BUYER® project last summer—it was joyful and passionate. It’s going to be imbued with something different this summer, The Definitive Guide to Buying something tinged with melancholy. How could it not? New, Used, and Restored Pianos AM: Live performance does have a special energy. Do you think that can be recreated online? AMM: We have to think about our responsibility. It’s our responsibility to keep this art form alive, even if it’s on a computer screen. It’s giving people something precious when they need it the most. Yannick Nézet-Séquin, conductor of the Met and the Philadelphia Orchestra, wrote a passionate article asking why every other business is allowed to look at creative solutions, but not the arts. Right now, he’s recording eight Beethoven symphonies with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal. It’s a smaller orchestra, socially distanced, and I bet the performances will be remarkable. They’ll capture the spirit and essence of this time. The concerts will also be livestreamed. This is what we’re living through. We can’t run away from our responsibilities as artists. We have to make sure we keep the arts alive. AM: Online performances could also give audiences access to performances that they normally wouldn’t have due to location. AMM: Exactly. The reach extends further. Also, during this time when we can’t have live performance, artists have extra time to provide the public more intimate access. We’ve been holding Zoom cocktails and conversations with Piano patrons from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Information at It’s an access point that audiences don’t usually get. your Fingertips AM: • Basic Knowledge articles The arts have always captured historical moments in very unique ways. How do you think the arts are • Brand profiles, model & capturing this moment in time? price listings AMM: • Online searchable piano and History documents a time. The arts express the emotions digital piano databases and feeling of a time. History will look back and see what the arts did during this pandemic. That’s the great pro- foundness of music. It speaks to things that words cannot. WWW.PIANOBUYER.COM

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 15

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I remember all the concerts after 9/11. There were no I began writing to myself. I wanted to remember all of the words. My first performance was at the Chamber Music stages of grieving, the ups and downs, the annoyances. I Society of Lincoln Center, and the feeling was unreal. It don’t want to forget what this feels like in five or ten years. felt like so much was relying on this performance. During the pandemic, there’s the psychological side of what we’re It was really interesting, in the early days, that my brain going through, and that’s where music plays a vital role. and my heart went to a place of gratitude for having Music can provide beauty and joy in a time when it is the life I’ve had. How fortunate I am that I get to play needed most. concerts for great audiences, travel, and meet wonderful people. We had to go through a period of mourning and Martha Argerich just released a beautiful recording all that entailed. But now we realize that we have to find of the Chopin Piano Sonata No. 3. To see her walk into ways to get through this, to pivot. an empty concert hall, perform, and bow to no one is beautiful and heart-wrenching at the same time. AM: It is a powerful sign of our times. Did you come up with any sparks of innovation or inspiration in your letters? Is the tone changing? AM: How are you managing your own well-being during AMM: this time? Yes, I have seen a change. Each decade that has gone by, I feel more and more that I need to feed myself AMM: inspiration, not just through playing the piano, but also The first month of lockdown, in March, I would get up through reading. I need to enrich my brain and soul in and play the Goldberg Variations every day. Concerts meaningful ways. I’m a very big reader of Eastern were ripped away so suddenly, and I was in deep grief philosophy and psychology. When I speak to young about that. Somehow the Goldberg Variations were artists, I stress the importance of providing your own perfect both psychologically and physically. motivation and inspiration. That’s your job. You can’t just rely on your teachers for motivation. If you truly I also allow myself to feel the way I feel. There are good want to be a musician for your whole life, you have days, bad days, horrible days—but I don’t fight it. We to learn that motivation and inspiration must come need to be gentle with ourselves and each other during from within. this time. When I first started having concerts canceled,

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protective of time. I look back to last November, and I was complaining about being too busy. Time is precious. I have a whole new appreciation I now realize that we can go on automatic pilot with of time and what it means. I think our lives, and that’s not what I want to do. I don’t think I need the quantity of what I had before. what I’ll take away is being more One question I posed to myself early on was this: protective of time. How does identity withstand this time? It was a good question that I couldn’t initially answer. It’s such a period of evolution for all of us. But then I realized that my With the lockdown, I lost my own ingrained timeline. identity remains the same, although I can’t present that By the end of March, I realized that I needed a project identity in the same way I had in years past. I have to to sink into, so I started learning all of the Shostakovich adapt to the times, and that’s all we can do—adapt. Preludes and Fugues. I made a pact with myself that I would know Book One by the end of April and Book Two I think it will take many years for us to understand by the end of May. To self-impose deadlines is a good how deeply impacted we have been by the pandemic. practice. It’s a work in progress, but a project I’ll want What we’ve had to deal with is not a knowable thing. to keep exploring for many years. We need to be gentle with ourselves and grateful for the gift of music. AM: When we get back to “normal,” are there pieces of this time you want to take into that new normal? ANDREA MCALISTER is Associate Professor of Piano Pedagogy at Oberlin College. She is an active AMM: teacher, clinician, and adjudicator and serves on the executive committee of the Group Piano-Piano I have a whole new appreciation of time and what it Pedagogy Symposium. means. I think what I’ll take away is being more

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Creative Commemorations: How a Performer, Composer, and Teacher Celebrated Beethoven’s th

250Anniversary

by Christopher Madden

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At the start of 2020, musicians around the world were anxiously planning projects, practicing for concerts, and organizing events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. While 2020 will likely be remembered more for COVID-19 than Beethoven, musicians still found creative ways to celebrate. The following inspirational interviews highlight how a piano teacher, a concert pianist, and a composer have celebrated Beethoven’s legacy in 2020.

Interviewees Included:

Josh Straub Rudolf Buchbinder Lera Auerbach

Founder/Instructor of Craft Lessons Viennese concert pianist who Russian-American composer- and board member of the recently released an album titled pianist who contributed a Beerthoven concert series in Austin, The Diabelli Project with Deutsche piece titled Diabellical Waltz Texas. Both Beerthoven and Grammophon. In addition to to Buchbinder’s commissioning Craft Lessons have been featured Buchbinder’s performance of project. In addition, Auerbach in Food and Wine magazine and the Diabelli Variations, the album frequently incorporates the Austin American Statesman. contains eleven commissioned quotations from Beethoven’s works by contemporary composers, works into her all of whom were asked piano compositions. to contribute a response to Diabelli’s theme.

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Everybody at every institution should be asking themselves that question. “How do my experiences give me the unique ability to relate to a specific audience?”

two performances per event—sometimes even three Josh Straub performances. Basically everything we do sells out. CM: Do you still host all of your events exclusively Chris Madden (CM): How did the Beerthoven concert at the Saengerrunde or have you experimented with series begin? other locations? Josh Straub (JS): I have to admit that I’m not the person JS: We initially had all our events at the Saengerrunde who started the Beerthoven concert series—it was my with shows on Friday night and then a Sunday matinee. partner Daniel Swayze—but I was involved relatively early We expanded to the Neill-Cochran House (a museum in on. It’s kind of ironic that Daniel and I both took Martha Austin, TX), and we were surprised that we filled up that Hilley’s Career Goals class, where we talked about venue really quickly as well. thinking outside the box. My final project was a business plan to have an outdoor concert with UT faculty and CM: As an offshoot of Beerthoven, you also initiated local breweries and restaurants—kind of like Austin City Craft Music Lessons, a group piano class offered Limits for classical music. And then Daniel’s business plan at Lazarus Brewing in Austin. When you initially talked about bringing group piano classes to breweries. approached Lazarus Brewing about offering the So, it’s really ironic that we sort of switched roles. class, what was their reaction? I found out about the Beerthoven concert series through JS: To some extent, it was a natural extension of the a friend when it was in its infancy. After the first show, Beerthoven concert series—the idea of making things I said, “This is a great thing. I want to be a part of it.” I more accessible. But Lazarus was also our sponsor for became the beer meister, so I was in charge of serving all the concert series. When we met with the owner of the beer. I learned more about serving beer than I wanted Lazarus, he was confused and said, “You’re going to to at first. Everything that can go wrong with a keg—I’ve teach piano classes here?” It took them a couple weeks, done it. After serving as beer meister a few times, Daniel but they said, “Let’s do it.” A couple weeks later, we asked me to be on the advisory board. It’s been four years announced at the concert series that we were going now—we just had Beerthoven’s fifth season. to teach group piano lessons in a local brewery, and we filled the classes instantly. CM: You’ve partnered with the Austin Saengerrunde, a German club in Austin. Do you provide music CM: And how many classes were there? for events at the club, or are your concerts separate events? JS: Initially, we planned to offer one eight-week course, but then we asked Lazarus if we could have two back- JS: The Saengerrunde already had a singing society, to-back classes, and they said yes. We filled both and and they already had their own events. Daniel pitched still had a massive waitlist. to them, “Maybe I could have some performances here for members of the club.” The initial performances were CM: What does a typical setup look like in terms just for members, but then they agreed to buy a piano. of equipment, amount of time, etc.? As an extension, they said, “Maybe you can invite friends JS: We had to figure out how to move all the keyboards, and friends of friends.” After the second season it grew so we met with a mechanical engineer who designed through word of mouth. By the third season, the concerts a cart to transport everything. Each cart can carry six were selling out, and in our last season, we were doing

20 / PIANO MAGAZINE EXPLORE keyboards, chairs, keyboard stands, and headphones. JS: Absolutely! Triplets come later, but I’ve used that in We also have a projector that connects to my computer the class. You’re on the right track! via Apple TV, and we use Classroom Maestro. It looks like a crazy mess of cords, but we’ve streamlined it. CM: To me, it’s no different than when teachers use We actually offered a student one free class if they helped fruit names with kids. You’re really just adapting the with setup and tear down each week. With that one same strategies with different language to make it person, I was able to get the lab set up in twenty minutes. more accessible to a different audience. CM: What does a typical piano class look like? JS: Yes, it’s not really that novel. Like you said, we’ve done it with fruits, so why not do it with beer? JS: I didn’t just use Beerthoven as a generic thing; I used both Beethoven and beer in the teaching. The class is I also have them learning a warmup: a hybrid between group piano, music theory, and music appreciation. When I introduce silence, we listen to the Coriolan Overture by Beethoven, but I don’t tell them what a rest is. I say, “What is the most poignant feature of this opening?” It’s interesting: whether they’re trained musicians or untrained, they say, “The silence!” Then I introduce them to what a rest looks like in notation. CM: And how is the beer part of it? JS: In the very first class, I have them learning whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. I have a handout: a whole note is a full pitcher of beer, a half note is 32 oz., a quarter note is a pint, etc.

They sing along while they read before finally playing the C Major pentascale. In the first class, we’re already talking about beer, drinking, singing, reading notation, and playing. It’s very active. CM: What types of students typically sign up for the classes? JS: We really aimed to market Beerthoven to a younger audience. We’ve definitely had some retired students, and our youngest student was twenty-five. I would say about half the students are forty and younger, and half are over forty. CM: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in starting a community-based group piano class like this? JS: It’s not easy to do it. We’ve encountered so many obstacles, and we’ve spent enormous amounts of time, To start out with reading, I have the Ode to Drinking song. mostly without pay at the start. We’ve all invested that Quarter notes are pils, eighth notes are la-gers, and back into the business. But I’ve found the experiences sixteenth notes are hef-e-weiz-en. we’ve had to be so rewarding that it’s been worth every single ounce of effort. If you’re struggling with something, CM: You’ve got me thinking now—a triplet could be continue to work to make it better. If you have enough dop-pel-bock. grit, you will find a way to make it work. They say, “Overnight success is ten years in the making.” It’s so true.

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CM: Beerthoven has pivoted during COVID with its “Streams on Tap” series. Has this format opened new possibilities, and what ideas do you have for the future? In the JS: This situation will change the way we perceive everything. I hope we’ll be able to utilize some of the things we’ve learned from COVID to expand to Diabelli Variations, an online audience. There have been a lot of terrible things coming out of this, but there can be a lot of beautiful things too, and I think making things you have all the accessible online is one of them. characters of In April, we were getting ready to roll out one-day pop-up classes. These could be three-hour classes with a one-hour beer break. You could even do it Beethoven in one as a tourist. As soon as the restrictions are lifted and we feel it’s safe—that’s our number one concern—we’re going to do the pop-up classes. fantastic piece. We’ve also been wanting to expand with house concerts—our home brew His humor, his concert series. We actually did our first event in February before COVID. One of our patrons agreed to host for us, and we sold out with about 50 expressivity, his people. We’re hoping to have a lot more house concerts once audiences are in person again. We now have our own kegerator and trailer, so we can set anger—everything. up and transport a concert virtually anywhere. CM: What do you see as the future for musicians who want to make a living with their art? JS: I think that’s the quintessential question we have to ask ourselves as musicians in the twenty-first century. Everybody at every institution should be asking themselves that question. “How do my experiences give me the unique ability to relate to a specific audience?” Inevitably, we have to build a larger audience. If we want to succeed in the twenty-first century, we all have to reconsider what it means to create an audience and how we approach them. We have to meet them halfway, whether it’s through beer or through speaking a little bit about the history of your piece.

Rudolf Buchbinder

CM: Bruno Seidlhofer played a significant role in your love for the Diabelli Variations. How did you come to study with him, and what role did he play in your fascination with this piece? Rudolf Buchbinder (RB): At age five, I was already a student at the music university in Vienna. At that time, there were many good teachers at the university. One was Seidlhofer, and his students were Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, and of course Friedrich Gulda. He wanted to have me as his student, and I was very happy he took me. I remember it was his idea to organize a performance of the complete Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. One student played the Diabelli Variations, I played twenty-five of the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein, and other students played the remaining twenty-five.

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Background Note: The Vaterländischer Künstlerverein the second movement of the Op. 90 sonata, he changed are comprised of eighty-three variations on a theme written the tempo seven or eight times in the movement. You by Anton Diabelli. Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations account would never do this as a young person. for thirty-three of these variations. The other fifty were written by famous composers of the time, including Schubert, CM: On your website, you describe Beethoven’s Czerny, Liszt, and others. Diabelli published the complete Diabelli Variations as “perhaps his most exciting work.” Vaterländischer Künstlerverein in two volumes. The variations are “music about music.” Can you talk about this idea a little more? CM: You have now performed the Diabelli Variations 100 times, and you have recorded the piece three times: RB: For me, it’s a retrospective of his life. Each piano 1973, 1976, and 2020. How has your interpretation of sonata has its own character. In the Diabelli Variations, the piece evolved, both musically and with respect to you have all the characters of Beethoven in one fantastic its position in Beethoven’s oeuvre? piece. His humor, his expressivity, his anger—everything. RB: My interpretation has changed not only about CM: What advice would you give to pianists who Diabelli. Do you know Joachim Kaiser [a German music are studying this work today? critic]? He said to me suddenly after my first recording RB: You know, when I recorded the Beethoven piano of the complete Beethoven sonatas, “Rudi, you have to sonatas for the first time and then the Diabelli Variations, record the Beethoven sonatas again.” I said, “What?! this was the only thing on my mind; I wanted to do it. Why?” He said, “Rudi, now you are free.” And I started But first, I started with the complete Haydn. Then I to think about it, and it’s the same development with recorded smaller piano pieces by Beethoven—to get closer Diabelli: the more you know, the freer you are. and closer to this man. And this is my advice. When you CM: By freedom, do you mean the ability to see start to play piano, don’t start with the Diabelli Variations. the piece in new ways? Take your time for several years. RB: I think as a young student you are very narrow-minded. CM: In your book, The Last Waltz, you describe Diabelli For instance, I always say Beethoven is the most Romantic as a marketing genius for his idea to collect fifty works composer. He’s the only composer in music history to by fifty composers in one published edition. write a tempo after espressivo. Normally, you write a tempo RB: You know, Diabelli was a very smart man; he was after accelerando or ritardando. Carl Czerny wrote a very tricky. I’m collecting first editions. I got the first fantastic book about the interpretation of piano works edition of the last Schubert sonata, which was published by Beethoven. He wrote that when Beethoven played arizona state university Before you play any musicdancetheatre.asu.edu piece by any composer Inspiring and empowering students to become creative leaders who transform society through music. —it doesn’t matter if

it’s Bach, Gershwin, Faculty Rachmaninoff, or Cathal Breslin, piano Andrew Campbell, collaborative piano Beethoven—first read Hannah Creviston, area coordinator, piano pedagogy Robert Hamilton, piano a book about this person, Baruch Meir, piano this human being. Caio Pagano, piano Russell Ryan, collaborative piano You have to know this person first.

Copyright © Arizona Board of Regents. All rights reserved. 0920

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“Beethoven is an influence on all of modern western thought. The individual at the center. The triumph of struggle over limitations. The revolt against the status quo.

ten years after Schubert died, so he never saw them. CM: It seemed like that, actually. And so, I was surprised when I saw the B-flat Sonata was dedicated to Robert Schumann. It’s unbelievable; Rudi: Yes, yes! When you listen to Toshio Hosokawa, Schubert didn’t know it, but Diabelli wrote the dedication for example, there are fantastic themes he takes out of to Schumann because it sells much better! Schumann Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Brett Dean is influenced was popular. This is just to show that marketing is not a lot by Beethoven. In this one, there is also the Radetzky advanced today; Diabelli already did it. March by Johann Strauss. It’s a great variation. CM: Your album also contains commissioned works CM: I also interviewed Lera Auerbach, one of the by eleven contemporary composers, which strikes me composers you commissioned, for this article. When I as equally inventive. Was this parallel something you asked about her compositional approach in “Diabellical had in mind? Waltz”, she replied that she prefers “to leave the analysis of her work to others.” When I listen to your RB: I wanted to remake the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein recording, I hear Diabelli’s theme build up and then in our time, and I wanted to show the public different disintegrate at the end. possibilities of composing in our time. There’s no [one] style. You know, today, they talk about “Baroque” music. RB: Yes, absolutely. Auerbach—how she starts and “Classical” music, it’s one of the most stupid expressions. ends—it’s a fantastic composition on its own. Again, The poor guys Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven didn’t I just like the variety in these eleven variations. To me, it’s know they were Viennese classics. Such a stupid saying. fascinating what the composers are able to do with the Diabelli theme. CM: Do you consider the commissioned works to be “variations” or “responses” to Diabelli’s theme? CM: If pianists are interested in learning some of the commissioned variations, will they be published RB: You know, it’s very strange. I think the composers together, like the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein? were oriented more by Beethoven than by Diabelli.

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RB: Together, I don’t know. It depends on the rights of LA: I prefer to leave the analysis of my work to others. each composer. It will be up to the composers and their I think your question alone perhaps describes the work individual publishers. But it will be published, I’m sure. very well. CM: I very much appreciated “Variation 29” in your CM: I’ve also recognized Beethoven quotations in book, which described your thoughts regarding the several other compositions you’ve written. For example, importance of music education. What advice would Ludwig’s Alptraum (Nightmare) begins with a fragment you give to piano teachers who are introducing from the opening of the Piano Sonata, Op. 27, No. 1, Beethoven to their students for the first time? correct? What led you to quote this Beethoven sonata? Is there something “nightmarish” about it? RB: When I was teaching in Basel, Switzerland, I always said to my students, “Before you play any piece by any LA: I was nine when my piano teacher first assigned me composer—it doesn’t matter if it’s Bach, Gershwin, to learn a Beethoven sonata. For some reason, he selected Rachmaninoff, or Beethoven—first read a book about this Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 27, No. 1, and so, with its person, this human being. You have to know this person distant bells, my uneasy relationship with Beethoven had first. Then, I allow you to play something. For Beethoven, started. At the same time, I began to read a biographical you should read the Heiligenstadt Testament. novel about Beethoven’s life. I liked reading about his difficult childhood and youth. Somehow, the more miserable he appeared to be, the Lera Auerbach more enjoyable was the reading. In light of his terrible struggles, I felt better about my own life. It seemed impossible to love Beethoven for his successes, but his CM: Can you talk about your collaboration with failures were most human. Rudolf Buchbinder for his Diabelli Project? Everything about Beethoven—the man—seemed heavy, Lera Auerbach (LA): I learned of Rudolf Buchbinder’s square, earth-bound. Yet his music seemed to be fighting interest in commissioning a variation on the theme by the forces of gravity, fighting against its own awkwardness Diabelli from my publisher. I met Rudolf Buchbinder at of movement—toward unattainable grace. What the Musikverein in Vienna on December 7, 2019, and dreams did he have? What fears? What passions? personally handed him the manuscript. What nightmares? CM: Your composition is titled, “Diabellical Waltz,” In Ludwig’s Alptraum, as it happens in dreams, the most which clearly alludes to Diabelli. Did you have other disjointed elements suddenly reveal connections. They allusions in mind when naming this piece, such as seem to belong together in a strange and distorted reality Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz? that has its own proportions, its own sense of time, and its own timelessness. LA: The creative impulse was to create a single variation that would serve as part of a larger set of variations, as CM: “Dreams” and “nightmares” are topics that recur commissioned, but that would also stand on its own as throughout many of your compositions. The fifth piece a short work for piano that could be programmed as an from your 10 Dreams for Piano uses the opening motive independent work by pianists in the future. from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Can you talk about the significance of this motive for you as a composer? CM: Can you describe your compositional approach in the “Diabellical Waltz?” I hear rhythmic fragments of Diabelli’s original theme slowly building towards a more extended harmonic and melodic quotation before ultimately disintegrating again. Is this the effect you were trying to achieve?

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LA: The universally recognizable four-note motif of music is decidedly unpianistic. It is orchestral—the one Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has become part of popular against the many. Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, 2020, mass culture. It has become a cliché in our time. I often is now defined by a pandemic, which forces us to wage, wonder how Ludwig, a revolutionary of thought, mind, in deathly terms, the needs of the individual life versus and action, would feel about it? the needs of the society. CM: As a twenty-first-century composer, how would you say Beethoven’s music still influences you, CHRISTOPHER MADDEN is Assistant Professor particularly in your writing for piano? of Piano Pedagogy at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, where he teaches piano pedagogy, keyboard skills, LA: Beethoven is an influence on all of modern western and applied piano. Aside from performing and teaching, thought. The individual at the center. The triumph of his interests include historical recordings and andragogy. struggle over limitations. The revolt against the status quo. The relationship between the human being and his work—are they related or separable? Beethoven’s piano

Despite the pandemic, the three artists above have found creative ways to celebrate Beethoven’s anniversary and contribute to classical music’s vibrant future. Given their resilience and ingenuity, the post-pandemic world of music looks bright as we enter 2021.

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Self-Funding Many composers of yesteryear relied on wealthy patrons Creating to support them financially while they wrote new sonatas and symphonies. Some, like Count Waldstein and Archduke Rudolph, are immortalized in the dedications New Piano and nicknames of the works they sponsored. Wealthy patrons still like to support the arts, but nowadays they tend to offer indirect support, donating to non-profit Music in the organizations like music competitions, philharmonic orchestras, and chamber music societies instead of Digital Age directly supporting composers or performers. Crowdfunding is one modern equivalent of patronage that encourages direct support of artists. Many crowdfunding platforms, like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, by Jeremy Siskind and Indiegogo focus on project-specific fundraising goals. Patreon, a more recent platform, asks patrons to pledge a recurring donation to a creator with the goal of providing them with a sustainable income. Introduction I was reluctant to start a crowdfunding campaign. It can By this point, you’ve probably heard a narrative feel like asking for a handout, and I’m keenly aware of that goes something like this: in the age of the ways in which I’m a member of a privileged class, YouTube, Spotify, smart phones, and eBooks, particularly as a white male and as a musician with a the traditional gatekeepers no longer full-time job. In many ways, I am the last person who determine who can publish, who can be seen, should be asking others for support. However, for me, and who can have a voice. Any artist, writer, or the power of crowdfunding dwarfs the drawbacks. A performer has the opportunity to put their well-run crowdfunding campaign helps not only to raise work “out there” (“there” is mostly the internet) money for a project, but also to create community support in a “do it yourself” fashion (“it” includes every and awareness because donors feel like they are joining aspect of a project from conception to sales). a team rather than simply purchasing a product. As a composer, building a community is crucial—community For composers writing new piano music, the members are the future pianists who will perform, teach, demise of the gatekeeper is both exciting and and discuss the work. Therefore, crowdfunding not only daunting. On one hand, the playing field that helps a composer stay out of debt, but it also amplifies determines whose music gets performed is their project and boosts their visibility. more level than it has ever been. Opportunity abounds! On the other hand—what now? If a When approaching a crowdfunding campaign, start by composer wants to create an impactful piano setting a target amount. A target should represent a middle work, where might they even begin? ground between the project’s total anticipated budget and the biggest amount the crowdfunder thinks they can raise. I found some answers while creating and I created a spreadsheet listing everyone on my mailing list launching my Perpetual Motion Etudes, a book and guessed how much each of them might give. The total and recording project released in March 2020. number was influential in determining my project goal. To be more specific, through careful planning and execution, I successfully self-funded, It’s important to have a mission when launching a self-published, and self-promoted a new suite crowdfunding campaign. I initially balked at this idea of of serious piano music. Here’s how. a mission, thinking, “I’m a musician who writes good music. Do I really need further justification?” But the truth is that most people remember a good story better than they remember a good melody and, for better or for worse, they are more

28 / PIANO MAGAZINE PLAY likely to get involved with a campaign because of a of high-quality videos, and a publicity campaign. Not only compelling narrative than because of compelling music. was it a massive relief to produce a project of this magnitude The mission for my campaign was to help pianists achieve without incurring a financial deficit, but it was also a real flow and limit negative self-talk, two habits that are exposed psychological blessing to feel the faith of a supportive when practicing pieces written in the perpetual motion community telling me, “We value you.” style. In my project video, I was vulnerable. I discussed my own challenges with the ego-driven “voice inside my head” Self-Funding Tips that disrupts my performances and sabotages my best artistic self.   Consider whether crowdfunding is right for you. It can help raise awareness of your project and get Even with a meaningful mission, crowdfunding is about music into the hands of pianists who want to play it. relationships as much as it is about the project. When When you launch a successful crowdfunding contacting potential donors, it is important to write campaign, it feels like your funders are part of the personal emails that recall a shared memory or reference “team” supporting your project. a future plan. Everybody wants to feel important and valued, not like an anonymous recipient of a mass email.  Be intentional about crowdfunding. Set a goal that considers your budget and your potential fundraising Creating relevant rewards is also important. For my book, maximum. Think deeply about your project’s mission the most popular reward was a package of a signed book, beyond the music and how to best express that signed CD, and a dedication on a “special thanks to” page message via video and text. at the end of the book. Fifty-four backers chose to make a $100 donation to receive this reward. Nearly as many (42)  Make the experience great for the funder. Reach out chose to pledge $40 to receive a book and CD, and quite a to them personally with an individualized note or few (24) chose to donate $50 to receive a signed book, phone call and create rewards that will delight them. signed CD, and early access to videos. Two special donors chose the most exclusive reward: to have one of the book’s Publication etudes dedicated just to them. They are my modern-day Count Waldstein and Archduke Rudolph! I’ve been very fortunate to publish many books with Hal Leonard. I deeply value my relationship with Hal Leonard I am very grateful to my donors! Thanks to them, I raised and hope to write for them for the rest of my career. Working about $16,000 to support the production and printing of with an established publisher comes with many perks the book, the recording and creation of the CD, production

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GENEROUS SCHOLARSHIPS AND OUT OF STATE TUITION WAIVERS AVAILABLE FOR TALENTED UNDERGRADUATES

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—it’s an important validation of a composer’s skill, the cover design, but a professional designer can help make publisher has in-house designers and editors to help create something really distinctive and memorable. For my etudes, the product, and the publisher will promote the book in the designer cost about $1500, which included the book catalogues, advertisements, and showcases. cover and CD jacket designs. Lastly, an editor provides an important second pair of eyes. I hired Spencer Myer as an However, working with a publisher also comes with editor, not only because he is a brilliant pianist who I trust significant drawbacks. Publishers, even those enthusiastic with the music, but because I wanted an editor who would about music, are ultimately business-driven and their end give the etudes credibility in the eyes of a classical pianist goal is to make money. Working with a financially interested who might worry that the pieces are “just for jazzers.” party means that a composer might have to alter their vision Spencer helped me with beaming, catching missing in order to make a book more marketable. Furthermore, accidentals, fingering suggestions, and avoiding some the publisher owns the end product, which means that the embarrassing typos. composer cannot sell their own works at performances and workshops. Lastly, the composer keeps only a small percentage of sales, usually ten percent for original music Self-Publishing Tips and under three percent for arrangements.   Set up your own website as a vendor so that your Because my Perpetual Motion Etudes are a highly personal most faithful supporters can buy directly from you. project, I chose to self-publish in order to maintain full I use WooCommerce, a Squarespace add-on, control of the music. There are many ways to self-publish, for my vendor and Stamps.com for my mailings. but the most common are through Kindle Direct Publishing  It’s worth it to publish your music through Amazon (KDP) and IngramSpark, two subsidiaries of two of the and Barnes and Noble. It helps people discover your biggest bookselling companies in the world, Amazon.com music who might not be familiar with your work. and Barnes and Noble, respectively. I focused on KDP, in It can also help streamline printing costs. part because it utilizes “print on demand,” a service that automatically prints a copy of the book each time it’s  Making a book requires a team effort. Hire an ordered. With print on demand, neither the author nor the engraver, designer, and editor to make it look seller needs to order and store hundreds of books at a time. like a professional project. Here’s how the economics of publishing through KDP work.  If you are looking to support a living composer, A paper copy of my Perpetual Motion Etudes costs $19.95 on buy direct! The composer will be very grateful to see Amazon. For any books sold in the United States, Amazon the order come in and to be able to keep a larger takes a 40% commission and deducts the cost of printing. percentage of the sale than if you buy through a Ultimately, I keep about $10 of the sale. For books outside third-party dealer like Amazon. the United States, Amazon’s commission increases to 60% and I keep only about $6. For the eBook version, even Promotion though there are no printing costs, Amazon demands a higher commission, so I keep only about $6 of the eBook’s Of course, cost margins don’t matter unless people $17.99 price tag. actually buy the book. So how do people find out about your new release? However, I can also purchase my own author copies “at cost” from KDP for about $3 each (plus shipping). When Certainly, posting social media content is important. I sell the book on my website or at a live performance or For a new work, it is crucial to have professionally shot workshop, I keep about $15, depending on shipping costs. videos of both a compelling performance and the composer I also sell the eBook on my site for $15.99 with no significant discussing the work. Social media experts stress the expense, other than maintaining a functioning website. importance of sharing a few different presentations of similar content because users engage with platforms Self-publishing a professional-looking book requires a team. differently and have varied stylistic preferences. Some users Although Sibelius or Finale can make music look nice, hiring will respond to a face-on video of an artist talking about a professional engraver is necessary to make the music look their work whereas others will respond to a long paragraph book ready. Engraving for my etudes cost about $500. of text, and still others will be intrigued by a picture of the Amazon and other services can help a composer create a score or a video of a performance taken from above the

30 / PIANO MAGAZINE PLAY hands. While it is exhausting to create, post, and monitor Etudes, my publicist helped me clarify the way I talk about this content, it is one of the most direct and cost-effective the etudes, update my online presence, and organize my ways of inviting fellow musicians to explore new music. promotional efforts. Publicists aren’t cheap. It can cost around $3000 for a three-month campaign. However, Although the pandemic has made this suggestion feel all having the perfect review can make the difference between but moot, live performances are irreplaceably valuable a project that gains traction in the field and one that is promotion. In a good live performance, the audience feels largely ignored. deeply connected to the performer, and that connection means they are more likely to purchase the music, learn a piece from the performance, or listen to the recording in Self-Promotion Tips their spare time. I had a nine-concert tour, including a stop at Carnegie Hall, lined up for March 2020 in which I   Post creative and varied content on social media. would premiere the etudes as duets with Grammy-winning Even if you don’t engage with a certain style of post, classical pianist Angelin Chang. Like so many other people in your audience might respond to it. performances this year, the tour was canceled due to  Get out and perform (when it’s safe). Nothing replaces COVID-19. Hopefully, Angelin and I will be able to the connection made during a live performance. premiere the pieces in 2021 or 2022. Come up with creative ways to form connections with Looking ahead, I have more creative interactive ideas about audiences and with other musicians that will get them live performances of my etudes than just a traditional tour. intrigued about the work. I’ve created a program in which university piano students  Hire a publicist if you have the budget. Having an can play the pieces with me as duets. Because the etudes expert on your team will help you create more include both through-composed and improvised sections, professional-looking materials and give you more a classical piano student can perform the through- mental energy to focus on the music. composed section and “pass it off” to me for the improvisation portion. I have already performed the etudes Conclusion in this fashion alongside students at the University of Central Missouri and the University of Kansas, and it was These days, an artist has to put as much creative muscle a novel experience for student and faculty pianists who were into presenting their work as into creating it. For me, unaccustomed to interacting with an improviser on stage. it requires a lot of hard work, huge amounts of hustle, I hope to bring the program all around the country once herculean resilience, and some pretty scary risk-taking. the pandemic subsides. Still, there is something uniquely exciting and rewarding about forging one’s own path and completely controlling Finally, I hired a publicist to help promote the book and the destiny of a work. recording. A publicist helps an artist create a press release, solicit reviews and interviews, promote individual performances, and share listing information for events with local outlets. Even though, because of the performance cancellations, only a few pieces were written about my

JEREMY SISKIND is a jazz pianist and composer who teaches at Fullerton College. His publications include Playing Solo Jazz Piano, Jazz Band Pianist, and Perpetual Motion Etudes for Piano. Siskind is a Yamaha Artist.

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 31 LEARN

THE GIFT OF NEW MUSICAL EXPERIENCE: CREATING A STUDIO COMMISSIONING PROJECT by Kristofer Rucinski

For many students, learning a new With planning and research (and lots piece can be an adventure. This sense of practicing!), your entire studio can of mystery and excitement wanes be involved in a vital musical event. as we get to know the repertoire for the piano and become familiar with

the music of various composers. PROJECT EXAMPLES But what if there was a way to restore A survey of commissioning projects can give us the information and inspiration to reach our studio goals. this sense of wonder? A studio When I began researching my own doctoral thesis, which commissioning project could be the would later evolve into such a commissioning project, I found a variety of resources, such as New Music Box’s answer. Aside from providing students commissioning fees calculator, Scott Timberg’s article at 21cm, “New Models: The State of Music Commission- of all ages and levels with a sense ing,” 1 and a history of composition competitions that award of achievement through learning commissions to the winners, such as the MTNA Collaborative Music Commissioning Project. music created specifically for them, Recent examples range from endowed and grant-supported a studio commissioning project can organizations such as Portland Piano International (portlandpiano.org) and the Golden Hornet Project promote a spirit of exploration (goldenhornet.org) to a private studio project such as in music. the Orchard Solo Piano Commissioning Project (eunmiko.com/orchard-project).

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PLANNING FOR THE PROJECT A second option is to petition composers’ More than likely, you will be commissioning works for a wide range of organizations like Society of Composers, students, from beginners to advanced students. Composers need to Inc. (societyofcomposers.org), American know the level of the performers, as well as other pieces that they are Composers Forum (composersforum.org), or currently working on. This will help limit the complexity of works for Composition Today (compositiontoday.com). beginning students and inform the composer of what techniques more These groups host message boards detailing advanced students are capable. opportunities and competitions, the latter of which is a great way to advertise and to A particularly adaptable type of project is the “response showcase,” form lasting relationships with composers in which composers draw from some particular source material when whom have an interest in pedagogical writing their new work. For example, a studio might commission composition. Before making any offers, responses to a set of works by Bartok, or music inspired by local landmarks review the candidates’ previous work and or history. Alternatively, composers can respond to a student’s favorite use this as a basis for selecting who to song or theme, or create a companion composition to complement commission for the project. Never use a a strong piece from their repertoire. Since the music will be tailored composer’s work if they are not awarded the to your needs, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination! commission. It is always good practice to honor the work of musicians involved in such PREPARING FOR THE PROJECT a collaboration. With the goal in mind, a list of students and their levels should be compiled. When taking stock of the information to communicate to the prospective recipient or recipients of these commissions, it is important to consider the difficulty of a student’s repertoire in context with how long learning, refining, and polishing the music has taken. Awareness of students’ learning styles will help with setting a reasonable date for both the receipt of the music and the premiere event. Consider the concert: will the students take turns playing on a single instrument with satisfactory precautions taken between each piece, or will they be streaming from their own homes? Does the performance setting present any limitations? No student, however advanced and intrepid, will be able to pluck or mute a string on a digital piano! Anticipating these scenarios will go a long way in ensuring the success of the project. FINDING COMPOSERS Fortunately for all of us, willing composers are not far away, especially in this age of global interconnectivity. Many up-and-coming composers will gladly dedicate time to writing music packaged with the promise of publicity. This is easy to guarantee with a studio project, where a recorded performance or live stream is the final goal. The composition program at your alma mater or local university is a good place to start; however, with an attractive enough proposal or commission structure, you can cast an even wider net. You can contact the composition faculty with a short synopsis of your goals and a timeline. Then they can disseminate your proposal to active students at the beginning of the fall semester, which will naturally arouse more interest than doing so in the spring semester.

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A simple way to avoid hassle when it comes to paying your composer is to implement the 50/50 model: half of the fee when the contract is confirmed and the other half when the music is delivered. In addition to describing techniques to include in the music, consider the format of the product. If the student is used to reading big notes on a landscape-oriented page, the composer should incorporate these parameters into the score. If an exact date has not been established yet, information about the format and timeframe can be included. Composers should retain ownership of their music, but in most cases, you and your student will be granted exclusive rights to the piece for THE CONTRACT a period of time to ensure that they will be the one to give Each individual piece you commission should have its the first performance. own contract tailored to the needs of each student. Length and content should be specified to provide FUNDRAISING composers with boundaries for writing the work. For example, you might want to require a piece that Even with just a handful of short commissions, the associated employs the sostenuto pedal, or one that contains a costs can escalate rapidly. In most cases, coming up variety of articulations, including notes with slurs, with this money means reaching out to the community staccato and tenuto marks, if a student is working on for help. For many project planners not involved with those techniques. Addressing the needs of special a non-profit institution, securing grant funding can be learners might mean that not every piece should be exceedingly difficult. Fortunately, crowdsourcing campaigns delivered as a score on the grand staff. Perhaps a can be integrated seamlessly into raising awareness student can play complicated patterns by rote but and promoting publicity for these important events. has an impediment to reading traditional notation. Social media-based funding has provided artists, Incorporating outside-the-box guidelines can performers, and teachers with opportunities only available produce some truly creative pieces as well as remind to few in the past. Each online platform, from Kickstarter us that music is more than notes on a page. to ArtistShare, provides a different avenue to success. Considerations for choosing which one to use will depend Each contract should include: largely on your plan for executing the project. For example, • Commission fee and payment schedule Indiegogo might be a good service for first-time users • Details of the work because their service offers a flexible funding option allowing teachers to receive money even if their total projected • Delivery and performance dates goal is not met. On the other hand, Hatchfund offers • Exclusivity clause, performance rights, personalized guidance through the fundraising process. and ownership Research has shown that longer campaign lengths do not always garner more donations. Therefore, the length of the project should usually be measured

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in weeks rather than months. Regardless of this time frame, raising awareness about the project is the most crucial element, so continually promoting the fundraiser on a daily basis through mailing lists, social media, and advertisement will produce the best results. Throughout this process, be sure to reach out to everyone! Creating a promotional studio video or shareable, informative introduction to the project will Since the music will be help spread the word. Offering an incentive will go a long way to securing sponsorship, whether this be tailored to your needs, a packaged recording, concert tickets, or copies of material to the interested patron. the possibilities AFTER THE PROJECT are only limited by With the help of the composers and supporters of the project, your premiere concert can be a huge event! Be sure to have everybody involved share and post your imagination! about it in social media, and advertise the concert with posters and fliers. If any composers are in attendance either physically or virtually at the premiere, be sure to acknowledge them after the performance. Following the concert, let them know of any future performances you might have planned. After the project, your students will be proud of their accomplishment, and so will you! Staying involved with your composers will also open the door to future KRISTOFER RUCINSKI is a pianist, composer, professor, and private teacher in Knoxville, Tennessee. collaborations and projects. When the premiere is Holding a D.M.A. from the University of Cincinnati over, ask the students to reflect on their experience. College-Conservatory of Music, Kris aims to foster the love of new music in all of his students. The gift of new music is one that celebrates and continues the long tradition of composers and performers working together.

NOTES 1 Scott Timberg, “New Models: The State of Music Commissioning,” 21CM (January 2015). 21cm.org/magazine/ state-of-the-art-form/2015/01/10/new-models- the-state-of-music-commissioning/

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 35 TEACH BECOMING WEAVERS:

PIANO STUDENTS and THEIR COMMISSIONED ARRANGEMENTS of MUSIC by UNDER-REPRESENTED WOMEN COMPOSERS by Penny Lazarus

Weave: The Social Fabric Project is an Aspen Institute initiative that seeks to celebrate people who work to heal divisions in our society. David Brooks, the director of Weave, describes the movement:

“Weavers are repairing our country’s social fabric, which is badly frayed by distrust, division and exclusion. People are quietly working across America to end loneliness and isolation and weave inclusive communities. Join us in shifting our culture from hyper-individualism that is all about personal success, to relationalism that puts relationships at the center of our lives.” 1

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When interviewing young prospective piano students and composers before 1950. I wanted students to discover for their families prior to starting lessons, I ask what kind of themselves this absence of women in our elementary level piano music they would like to learn and what pieces or repertoire books. So, I set up a workshop during a weekend composers they might have heard about. Most students that included students, parents, and supporters of the shrug their shoulders for a moment and, if they are young, studio’s sponsorship program. It was a kind of “school they might name Elsa, the main character from the popular science fair,” except it was all about looking for and learning movie Frozen. They might mention that they want to learn about the absence of women composers in our studies. to play “Happy Birthday” for a family celebration that is Working from a list of possible topics, two sisters in our coming up. Many beginning students still demonstrate studio set up a station to share information about Patty and that they can play “Chopsticks,” a piece that never goes Mildred Hill, the composers of “Good Morning to All,” the out of style. With a little prodding, a student will often song that eventually became known as “Happy Birthday.” 4 name Beethoven. One of the youngest students chose to look up “Chopsticks” and its composer Euphemia Allen. As part of their 2 The Boulanger Initiative recently took to the streets to presentation, they made a five-minute video, displayed on ask people a similar question: “How many classical their iPad, for visitors to learn about Euphemia Allen and composers of music can you name?” Nearly every adult where the name “Chopsticks” came from. The student even they interviewed could name Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, passed out real chopsticks and also copies of the classic Schumann—as in Robert, Mendelssohn—as in Felix, “Chopsticks” arrangement that students and parents still Mahler—as in Gustav. However, when these same folks love, because the duet is so easy to learn and play. Everyone were asked to name a female composer, not a single person in our studio now knows about Euphemia Amelia could give an answer. How are our students ever going Nightingale Allen (1861–1948) who composed “The to be able to ask about the work of female classical Celebrated Chop-Waltz” when she was sixteen years old. 5 composers, which according to dictionaries of professional Mozart Allen, Amelia’s brother, suggested she use the male women composers number over 1,000 before 1900, if pseudonym Arthur de Lulli for the 1877 publication of the 3 most people can’t name a single one? Even those of us in song by his company. music education would be hard-pressed to come up with more than a handful of names. The reasons are systemic. For example, my students and I started a yearlong investigation of women composers in my studio last year. I was sharing a newly published anthology of contemporary piano pieces with high school student Mia Yim, when both of us suddenly grasped that not a single female composer was included. This realization set off the proverbial light bulb: in all of our books of simplified and arranged classical melodies for young students, books that are so important for our students as they begin to appreciate the wealth and depth that music has to offer, hardly a single female composer is represented. And yet, the very first tidbits of music that beginning students often bring to their lessons —a theme from the movie Frozen, “Happy Birthday,” and “Chopsticks”—were all written, at least in part, by women. Harvey Houghton looks on as Boston composer Pamela Marshall looks through Christmas books My piano studio is a community project-based studio. in search of songs by women composers. Every year I organize our study of music around a theme that guides our choice of compositions to study, what music To allow students to show their parents the lack of women’s theory to explore, and which avenue of music history to pieces in our piano books, we displayed dictionaries of take. This sets up an annual fundraising initiative where women composers, first books of classical themes, and students raise money by practicing for a sponsor at three anthologies of classical music. We extended our search cents a minute over a period of six weeks. Last year, it was to other genres: one student and his father (boys were as clear that we needed to study the history of women equally excited to participate in this workshop as girls)

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looked at the statistics demonstrating the lack of women There are very few pieces by women composers before 1950 represented in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 6 One student that young students can play as originally written. But there familiarized himself with the music of Clara Schumann. are a few gems, even though they are unseen among all the He had his iPhone ready with uploaded YouTube videos compositions by men. Pieces by T. Salustrinskaya are of her music to share with visitors. He also set out all of our included in a number of leveled classical compositions in composer statuettes that we hand out at the end of each original form. 9 In particular is “Shepherd Pipes,” a delightful piano year, to show Clara Schumann is the only woman piece that I never tire of sharing with students. It is one of composer available to order in these collections of twenty- only a handful of known compositions by Russian composer six composer busts. Another student discovered how few Tat’iana Salustrinskaya. 10 composers who worked for Disney were women: she found only Peggy Lee, who composed the music for Lady and the Women often used first initials—if they didn’t use a Tramp, and the team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and her complete pseudonym—in order to obscure their gender husband Robert Lopez who composed the music for Frozen. in a male-dominated music publishing world. Although Our workshop was held in early November 2019, just as we in Salustrinskaya’s case, her full first name is just about 11 were starting music for the December holidays. One student all we know of her. A situation where a first initial with last searched for women composers among my collection of name again obfuscates the names of women composers holiday music. He found two pieces: Katherine Kennicott appears in the case of Blanche Ray Alden (1870–1934). Davis’ 1941 “Carol of the Drum,” otherwise known as Her piece “Christmas Day Secrets” in Suzuki Piano Book 1 “The Little Drummer Boy,” 7 and “Do You Hear What I is the only piece published by a woman composer in the Hear” composed by Gloria Shayne Baker in 1962. 8 Both five Suzuki books for piano. But one would hardly know, women suffered from lack of recognition and loss of royalty because Alden used the pseudonym Theodora Dutton, payments during their lifetime. and then publishers blurred this name even further as T. Dutton. 12 Mélanie Bonis’ works are still mostly unpublished except for appearing in IMSLP. We may not even be aware that “The Sewing Machine,” published in The Piano Odyssey, Celebration Series, Repertoire Book 1, is by Mélanie Bonis because she chose to go by the ambiguously gendered pseudonym Mel Bonis. 13 Black composer Florence Price, who wrote popular music early in her career under the name Vee Jay, 14 wrote not only beginning piano materials, available from Classical Vocal Reprints, but also wonderful character pieces for early- intermediate students. However, we have to download most of her character pieces from IMSLP as well. 15 A mazurka by Maria Szymanowska (1789–1831) is included in Denis Agay’s The Joy of First Classics, 1987, and simplified slightly more in Progressive Piano Repertoire, edited by Keith Snell for Kjos in 2020. Presentations for Clara Schumann and Cécile Chaminade.

SIMPLIFIED Accompaniments

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TEACH

Stephen Heller, and Friedrich Burgmüller—to name only a few of these compilations that make up suggested repertoire for developing pianists. But we are mostly unaware of similar collections of music written by women and devoted to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century fascination with childhood, 16 such as Cécile Chaminade’s “Album for the Young,” Amy Beach’s “Children’s Album,” and Mélanie Bonis’ “Album pour les touts-petits.” 17 However, with the exception of Bonis’s “Album for the Very Young,” these pieces are a level five.

Students preparing for their workshop on women composers. Harvey and Pax are reviewing Pax’s presentation on women in rock and roll.

Women composers before 1950 wrote mature piano pieces, chamber music, symphonies, art songs, nocturnes, concertos, sacred music, suites of pieces for harpsichord, and beautifully complicated romantic-style solo concert works. Many women wrote “Albums for the Young,” as did Robert Schumann, Cornelius Gurlitt, Piotr Tchaikovsky,

Senior Competition Postponed to 2022 New dates are April 10 - 18, 2022 for ages 18-30 Palm Desert, California USA Solo and Concerto Divisions Application Deadline: Oct. 15, 2021 Over $30,000 in prize money plus performance opportunities www.vwipc.org 760-773-2575

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material that could be realized in a five-finger position with very little hand movement. In addition, the melodic themes needed to be “ear worms,” 18 transposed to C major or A minor, have an accompaniment reducible to simple chords, and with minimal use of accidentals. It was a process for all of us. We had to clearly define what is meant by early- level music. And, we had difficult decisions to make: how do we represent the loose, flowing, and irregular meter of Gregorian chant when we worked with Hildegard von Bingen’s antiphonal psalm “O Frondens Virga”? I was tempted not to use a meter signature, but Marc Yu was able to capture a sense of undulating rhythm in 4/4 meter with the occasional tied suspension across measures. We had a similar discussion when arranging a rag by Adeline Marc Yu, senior composition student, Shephard. We did ultimately switch out of 2/4 meter, A-flat Berklee College of Music. major, and sixteenth-note syncopation in favor of 4/4 meter, C major, and the occasional tied-eighth note. I really wanted to include a concerto by Amy Beach, but how Clearly there is a need for melodic arrangements for could I find that one melodic phrase that would become a beginning piano students of advanced pieces by women memorable ear worm when her Concerto in C-Sharp Minor, composers, so that they can learn that women before 1950 Opus 45, moves in daring harmonics that never stay in any were also active in writing music! No one needs to count one place for very long? And I truly wanted to represent the number of times that arrangements of Beethoven’s a relatively unknown choral work by Florence Price titled “Ode to Joy,” Mozart’s “A Little Night Music,” Grieg’s Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. 19 Our students would “Morning Mood from Peer Gynt,” and Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony appear in beginning classical melodic collections. With this realization, our studio set out to fill in this gap by raising money to commission composition majors at Boston’s Berklee College of Music to create arrangements for young students. I contacted Professor of Composition Dr. Eleanor Aversa and, with her department’s support and multiple recommendations from other faculty, we created a contractual arrangement with Eleanor, college junior Cameron Smith, and senior Marc Yu to create nine arrangements. It was these college students’ first official commissions! Our project became multifaceted; not only were we going to start to fill in this gap in primary student repertoire, but we were giving my students an opportunity to become a patron of new music and also, creating an opportunity for young composers to work on commission while they themselves learned about women who composed so early in history.

We agreed on $100.00 per arrangement. I selected the pieces to represent different periods of music, varieties of instrumentation, and a mixture of genres. I wanted students to recognize that women often composed on a grand scale: symphonies, chamber music, concertos, and choral works. And always, while exploring this stunning music, I had to keep in mind that we were often aiming for thematic

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certainly relate to this title and the fervently pleading text by American poet Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931). So, our composers ended up generously contributing multiple Commissioned Arrangements: levels of each piece—as they worked to achieve simpler, more straightforward melodies, yet still manage to reveal HILDEGARD VON BINGEN, 1098–1179, the beauty or humor of a theme. I called this process of O Frondens Virga (O Blooming Branch), starting with the original manuscript and winnowing down antiphonal psalm. Arranged for three levels by levels a version of Schenkerian analysis. Yet Marc and by Marc Yu: Level 1 Elementary, Level 2 Upper Cameron both saw this process as not that different from Elementary, Level 3 Early Intermediate. creating lead sheets. WILHELMINE VON BAYREUTH, 1709–1758, Just as the studio was getting ready to start the practice Concerto for Strings and Cembalo in G Minor. challenge to raise money for these commissions, the Arranged for two levels by Dr. Eleanor Aversa: pandemic hit. We moved to online lessons right away, Primer, Level 1 Elementary. but the economic impact of the Massachusetts’ stay-at- home order was immediate. Usually, my students earn ELISABETTA DE GAMBARINI, 1730–1765, between twenty to thirty dollars in practice minutes Tambourin in F Major. Arranged for three levels counted over a six-week period. And, I do arrange for by Marc Yu: Level 1 Elementary, Level 2 Upper extra sponsors who are delighted to help a scholar Elementary, Level 3 Early Intermediate. student contribute to these fundraisers if their family FANNY MENDELSSOHN HENSEL, 1805–1847, cannot afford to do so. But our composers were already “July” (Serenade) in F Major, H. 385, from Das Jahr; turning in their arrangements and I was not confident piano suite of twelve pieces. Arranged by that we would be able to make our match. It was shocking Cameron Smith: Level 3 Early Intermediate. to learn just how much our studio families valued this project. We raised $1,300.00 and we will be able to FANNY MENDELSSOHN HENSEL, commission four more arrangements. Notturno in G Minor. Arranged for four levels by Cameron Smith: Primer, Early Elementary Our arrangements are now available to download from with Teacher duet, Level 2 Upper Elementary, Sheet Music Plus as individual sheet pieces. Look soon for and Level 3 Early Intermediate. this collection to be presented in the SuperScore music app as a complete online book. Money raised from sheet CLARA SCHUMANN, 1819–1896, music sales will in part be funneled back into our Women’s Piano Trio in G Minor, Opus 17, first movement: Historic Composer Project for the Developing Pianist, Allegro Moderato. Arranged by Cameron Smith: so that students can continue to be weavers, by putting Level 2 Upper Elementary. inclusion and relationship-building at the forefront of their musical endeavors. AMY BEACH, 1867–1944, Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor, Opus 45, first movement: Allegro Moderato. Arranged for four levels by Cameron Smith: Level 1 Elementary, Level 2 Upper Elementary, Level 3 Early Intermediate, and Level 4 Intermediate. ADALINE SHEPHERD, 1883–1950, Piano Rag, “Pickles and Peppers” in A-Flat Major. Arranged in four levels by Marc Yu: Level 2 Upper Elementary, Level 3 Early Intermediate, Level 4 Intermediate, and Level 5 Upper Intermediate. FLORENCE PRICE, 1887–1953, “His Head is Bowed,” fourth movement from the choral oratorio, Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. Arranged by Dr. Eleanor Aversa: Level 3 Early Intermediate. Student composer Cameron Smith, Berklee College of Music junior.

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CAMERON SMITH is a composer and concert pianist studying at Berklee in Song Stories for the Kindergarten (Chicago: Clayton F. Summy Co., 1896). Yet, some College of Music. A pianist for fifteen years, she has performed and competed historians claim that the melody of “Good Morning to You” predates the sisters’ use. This in venues throughout the United States and enjoys accompanying other charge came about when arrangers of “Happy Birthday” researched the royalty claims instrumentalists. Her training as a composer is more recent and has been her by Warner-Chappell Music that they owned a valid copyright. For a summary of this focus at Berklee. She has especially enjoyed collaborating with other musicians, discussion see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You and “Lawsuit Filed To scoring short films and videos, and has had several of her orchestral, choral, Prove Happy Birthday Is In The Public Domain; Demands Warner Pay Back Millions Of and solo works performed. Cameron is double-majoring in Film Scoring and License Fees,” techdirt.com/articles/20130613/11165823451/filmmaker-finally-aims-to- Music Composition and is pursuing a minor in contemporary conducting. get-court-to-admit-that-happy-birthday-is-public-domain.shtml. Yet, Happy Birthday is still most often attributed to Patty and Mildred Hill. MARC YU is from Los Angeles and San Francisco, and has performed 5 Instructions on the original piece said: “Play both hands turned sideways, little fingers worldwide and on television as a concert pianist. He currently studies film lowest, so that the movement of the hands imitates the chopping from which this waltz scoring at Berklee College of Music in Boston. From Rachmaninoff to Zimmer, gets its name.” Allen was trying to make the hands as if they were cleavers cutting a Mozart to Giacchino, his inspirations influence his musical styles and chop. When people stopped recognizing this kitchen technique, the public renamed the compositions for soloists, ensembles, and orchestra. Beyond his experience piece “chopsticks.” (See: classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/piano/histo- as a pianist, arranger, and composer, Marc is also an avid binger of film and ry-of-chopsticks-music-euphemia-allen/ and rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/ television and occasionally enjoys cooking and composing video game music. audio/2018658204/the-history-of-musical-chopsticks-and-its-many-variations.) 6 See: David Barnett, “Women Make Up Less Than 8% Of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ELEANOR AVERSA writes music about things serious, humorous, or Inductees,” npr.org, accessed September 13, 2020, npr.org/2020/01/14/796012607/ thought-provoking. Her work has been performed in twenty cities in the United women-make-up-less-than-8-of-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-inductees#:~:tex- States and abroad. Honors include the Northridge Composition Prize, the Brian t=%22Rock%20and%20Roll%20Hall%20of,The%20crowd%20cheered.&text=Mc- M. Israel Prize, and a MacDowell Fellowship. She has been commissioned by the Donnell%20discovered%20that%2C%20over%20the,%E2%80%94%20or%20 American Composers Forum, San Francisco Choral Artists, and Amuse Singers. less%20than%208%25 and Ann Powers, “41 Women Who Should Be In The Rock Other performers include the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, & Roll Hall of Fame,” npr.org, accessed September 13, 2020, npr.org/2020 clarinetist Jean Kopperud, the Momenta Quartet, the Rawlins Trio, and the /01/15/796717978/41-women-who-should-be-in-the-rock-roll-hall-of-fame. CSUN Symphony. She is an Assistant Professor of Composition at the Berklee 7 Katherine Davis wrote over 600 songs and, as was common practice for women College of Music. composers well into the twentieth century, used several pseudonyms including the name John Crowley. But in 1958 bandleader Harry Simeone re-titled the song “The Little Drummer Boy” and, along with conductor Henry Onorati, claimed and, received royalties as if they originally wrote the song. These names continue to appear with PENNY LAZARUS has a BA in Piano Performance, Katherine Davis, who wrote the piece in 1942, as the original composer of the song a BS in Psychology, an MA in Art History, and Teaching (historybecauseitshere.weebly.com/katherine-davis-the-little-drummer-boy.html). 8 “Do You Hear What I Hear” was written in 1962 as a plea for peace during the Cuban Certification in Secondary Education. She has undertaken Missile Crisis of John F. Kennedy’s presidency. Baker grew up next door to the Kennedys PhD work in the philosophy of art from the University of and, in a switch with husband Noël Regney, Baker wrote the music for this song while he Pittsburgh. She maintains a forty-five-student piano studio wrote the lyrics (nytimes.com/2002/12/01/nyregion/noel-regney-songwriter-known-for- in Newburyport, MA. Penny has written previously for do-you-hear-what-i-hear-is-dead-at-80.html). Keyboard Companion, Clavier Companion, and NAfME’s 9 “The Cuckoo” in Guild Repertoire, C and D, and the sonatina in Guild Repertoire, Teaching Music, and has presented at NCKP, NAfME, Intermediate A (Summy-Birchard, 1960) are listed only as T. Salustrinskaya. MusicEdConnect, Association of Adult Musicians with 10 See First Steps in Keyboard Literature: The Easiest Classics to Moderns in Original Forms, Hearing Loss, and in March 2021 for MTNA. edited by Lynn Freeman Olson (Alfred, 1988) and Everybody’s Perfect Masterpieces, A Collection of Exciting Recital Repertoire for Early Levels of Piano Performance (Alfred, 1989). 11 Other than her birthdate (1915) birthplace (Tambov, in central Russia), and where she studied composition (The Tchaikovsky Conservatory) little else is known (musopus.net/ musicians/salutrinskaya-tatiana/). Notes: 12 We know very little about Blanche Ray Alden’s oeuvre. The full name Theodora Dutton 1 aspeninstitute.org/programs/weave-the-social-fabric-initiative/#:~:tex- appears on her compositions in a music book for silent movies by Ernö Rapée in 1924. t=%E2%80%9CThe%20Weaver%20movement%20is%20repairing,isolation%20 But by the time her name appears in Suzuki Piano School, Volume 1, composers’ names and%20weave%20inclusive%20communities. 2 were shortened inexplicably to first initial and last name, further obscuring the “Celebrating, Performing, and Supporting Music Composed by Womxn,” The connection between Blanche Ray Alden and T. Dutton. Boulanger Initiative, accessed September 13, 2020, boulangerinitiative.org/ 13 Sadie and Samuel, The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, 74. boulanger-initiative. See also: “Can you name a woman composer?,” Boulanger 14 Freya Parr, “A guide to Florence Price,” Classical Music, BBC Music Magazine, October 3, Initiative, May 18, 2020, video, youtube.com/watch?v=S8pMLIWBM7s. 2019, classical-music.com/features/composers/guide-florence-price/. 3 The following list of dictionaries and compendiums of women composers was compiled 15 Lia Jensen-Abbott, ed., A Collection of Florence Price’s Piano Teaching Music, Volumes 1 and 2 by Dr. Lynn Worcester Jones, Sue Ruby, NCTM, Penny Lazarus, NCTM, and Sally Ritchie (Fayetteville, AR: Classical Vocal Reprints, 2016). See also: Leah N. Claiborne, “Hidden on “Myths, Magic and Mysteries of Women Composers” for Michelle Sisler’s Keys to Figures,” The Piano Magazine 11, no. 3 (Summer 2019): 32–34. The character piece Imagination webinar series: “Ticklin’ Toes” is published in Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, compiled by Anya Lawrence, Women of Notes: 1,000 Women Composers Born Before 1900 William H. Chapman Nyaho, Volume 1, Oxford Press, 2007. (New York: Richards Rosen Press, Inc., 1978). 16 The Victorian period fostered a fascination with the lives of children, who often did not Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, eds. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women live to adulthood. Children’s mortality rates were generally 149 deaths per 1,000 live Composers (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1995). births (pbs.org/fmc/timeline/dmortality.htm). See also: Lora Deahl, “Robert Pamela Youngdahl Dees, A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers, Volume I: Schumann’s Album for the Young and the Coming of Age of Nineteenth-Century Piano Composers Born Before 1900 (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2002). Pedagogy,” College Music Symposium 41 (October 1, 2001): symposium.music.org/index. Pamela Youngdahl Dees, A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers, Volume II: php/41/item/2177-robert-schumanns-album-for-the-young-and-the-coming-of-age-of- Composers Born After 1900 (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2002). nineteenth-century-piano-pedagogy. Anna Beer, Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music 17 I am very grateful to colleague Sue Ruby, NCTM for introducing me to the amazing and (London: Oneworld Publications, 2016). prolific work of Mel Bonis. For a listing of levels for her and other women composers see Karen Dunn and Roberta Walker, An Introduction to Women Composers (Scotts Valley, CA: the 2020 MTNA Annual Meeting video recorded session by Camille Jensen-Weber with CreateSpace, 2017). downloadable spreadsheet “Mothers of Music: Piano Works by Female Composers for Jennifer Boster, Shades of Sound: Women Composers: A Listening & Coloring Book for Pianists Elementary to Early Intermediate Students, 1650–1925” (mtna.org/Virtual/Sessions/ (Ogden, UT: The Playful Piano, 2020). Mothers_of_Music.aspx). 4 The song “Happy Birthday” is considered to be the most recognized song in the English 18 An ear worm is a melodic pattern that is easily remembered and memorized because language. It is most often thought to be based on the song “Good Morning to You,” of its simplicity and unexpected “hook” (merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/ attributed to sisters Patty and Mildred Hill, who, as schoolteachers, used this to greet earworm-meaning-origin). their students in the 1890s. As Agnes Snyder cites in Dauntless Women in Childhood 19 Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight was edited by Michael Driscoll in 2018 for the 2019 Education, 1856–1931 (Washington, D. C.: Association for Childhood Education premiere performance by the Andover Choral Society (MA). This work was one of International, 1972, p. 244) the song “Good Morning to You” was originally published several compositions recently discovered in a box in an attic of an abandoned Illinois home in 2009 (baystatebanner.com/bsb-event/abraham-lincoln-walks-at-midnight-by- 42 / PIANO MAGAZINE florence-price). Need flexibility in your professional development? Registration is now open!

We have you covered. Winter 2021 - Online Piano Teacher Course Feb 3 – April 14, 2021 Build on your foundation of music teaching experience by learning from master teachers and music pedagogues to Summer 2021 - Online Piano Teacher Course gain insights into physical approaches, musicianship, June 9 – Aug 18, 2021 repertoire, and artistry alongside a network of like-minded colleagues. rcmusic.com/PianoTeacherCourses TEACH DIVERSITY IN MUSIC

Building Michelle Cann is making Diversity history as the newest female IN Caribbean American Your to join the piano faculty at the Music Career Curtis Institute of Music.

Artina McCain (AM): It is a pleasure for me to interview you after watching your career blossom over the past decade. Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get started with piano? Michelle Cann (MC): We had music in our family and in our blood. My father, who is a music teacher, started me. He has been teaching K-12 schools his whole career. His focus is on band, choirs, steel drums, etc. Particularly unique for me is my older sister who had already been playing piano pretty well by the time I started. When I was six or seven and ready to start, my parents understood the importance of piano study and were diligent to seek out proper instruction. As a progressing pianist (or as a teacher passing students on), we must realize and appreciate the fact that students get something from every teacher. There is a time when a student might need someone else to develop them as a musician that we might not be able to offer them. That said, as my sister matured as a pianist, my parents understood that our talent was beyond lessons with the local teacher and transferred Interview me to a more serious teacher within about a year with Michelle Cann of study.

by Artina McCain

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AM: So, what was the next step as you got older? Fast forward: I finished at Cleveland Institute of Music and moved to Philadelphia to begin my diploma at Curtis. MC: I auditioned at various music conservatories but I thought, finally, I’m getting what I want! Practice piano also had an interest in medicine. I ended up going to and nothing else—and I was miserable! This had never the Cleveland Institute of Music and that was important been my life. After my first semester, I was asked to be the because I wanted the ability to study science at Case choir director for Play on Philly, an el Sistema inspired Western Reserve University but also receive the highest program. I had never really directed any choirs. I had only level of musical training. I studied with a great teacher, accompanied them. I started working with these young Paul Schenly, and pursued biology as a minor. As I kids after school and learned a lot. progressed, I continued with the five-year program to receive my Masters degree. Suddenly, I went from being depressed and overwhelmed to having balance and purpose. I realized I need to be AM: At what point did you realize that your diverse doing things for people and with people. Sitting in a career would not include biology? practice room by myself playing for hours on end and MC: I went through a crisis in my own mind where having no connection with other people or musicians I thought I wasn’t good enough to make it in this made me miserable. Playing and making music with kids competitive world as a pianist. A lot of this was my gave me purpose. From there, I started to add things on own personal issues. I didn’t want to keep going towards —I found a job with a church as the choir director, started this career if I didn’t feel confident with my pianistic my own independent studio, and was asked to be on the skills. It didn’t matter what other people told me, I kept collaborative staff at Curtis immediately after graduation. saying I wasn’t good enough. I decided to perfect my In addition to all of that, my primary interest to be performance craft and pursue the Artist Diploma at the a soloist and play with orchestras was still there. Now I Curtis Institute of Music with Dr. Robert McDonald. concertize as a soloist and chamber musician. I perform I told myself—you have come this far, it’s not the time with my sister as the Cann Duo. In addition, I started my to give up. Go for broke, go as hard as you can. This own group piano class with eighth graders at another will be my last push. If I spend time only on the piano, school as a one-on-one mentorship program with first at least I will know if this is where I want to be. When graders called Keys to Connect. The program brings role I decided mentally I was going to give it my all, I realized models to young kids and responsibility and purpose to I would never have a fair chance if I kept pursuing a the eighth graders. These are the things that I continue career in medicine and piano. Something had to give to involve myself in. I have found a balance that suits me if I was going to do one thing well. and don’t see that changing anytime soon. I don’t regret having done so many things, because AM: Wow! That’s incredible and I should say you do it gave me choices. everything at an extremely high level. It seems you have exhausted the possibilities for a diverse career as a AM: Tell us about your career up until this point. Can pianist! With so many interests and success, can you you take us from your time as budding student musician share a challenge that you have faced and overcame? to professional concert artist? MC: What was interesting for me from a young age MC: After graduating from Curtis I have stayed in through my time at Curtis, was when I would walk into Philadelphia for the past ten years, and my life is extremely a space, especially a competition, and would get these varied. I always had a life that was multifaceted. Having looks. I would either get the energy or looks that would a musical father, we were expected to be a part of his imply “why are you here” or “you aren’t going to win” ensembles and help strengthen those ensembles. In or “I’m not taking you seriously.” I learned to navigate addition to piano, I played violin, trombone, steel drums, this negative energy. On the flipside, there were people hand bells, and tuba in my last two years of high school. who liked me while others would say “this is unfair” I had quite the childhood. It was hilarious. I was in all these or “how did she win.” ensembles doing so many things in music. When I went to college, something had to give. I was pursuing biology, As I got a little bit older, I was able to develop a tough taking violin, organ, and piano. I was determined to play all skin. Despite my accomplishments, even at my audition of these instruments—it was who I was, and what I enjoyed. at Curtis there was another disappointing moment of “why are you here.” In the audition waiting room there

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“I told myself—you have come this far, it’s not the time to give up. Go for broke, go as hard as you can. This will be my last push. If I spend time only on the piano, at least I know this is where I want to be.”

was a father waiting for the results for his child. He asked worked. No matter how much you’ve achieved they think me, “Why are you here auditioning? There are so many you don’t deserve to be there or don’t belong there. There other schools.” He began listing all these other schools. is an implicit bias as soon as you enter the space. This just Again, this question, “why are you here,” was all based showed me there is so much work that has to be done. on how I looked. Thankfully, at that time I already finished my audition before he gave that energy to me. I will never AM: I resonate with that so deeply. Implicit bias says, forget that when I made it, he looked shocked. I had “you don’t belong here” without even giving you a chance mixed feelings. Selfishly, we all probably love the fact to present your skill set. What can we do as classical when people doubt you and you prove them wrong. It feels musicians to initiate this change of attitude particularly good, but frustrating when you know how hard you towards BIPOC communities?

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MC: For classical music, we need more diverse leadership of diversity and why that’s a great thing to have. When so that you and I see more of ourselves. If there is more you have a diverse faculty, you are encouraging all of me in the space, there is less ability to doubt that I students that want to come into that space and making belong there. them feel comfortable. It’s an honor and responsibility that I’m happy to take. When I was ten years old, if there were ten other Black children, along with other races, I don’t think I would be Hopefully, I will provide great inspiration and great getting the looks. At this point, you can’t question that I mentorship to those who will come. belong here—that’s why we have to change the landscape. AM: Speaking of changing the landscape, I want to MICHELLE CANN received her BM and MM degrees congratulate you on your new position at the Curtis from the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Artist Institute of Music. What an opportunity to be the leader Diploma degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. She we all need to see! currently serves as a Curtis Collaborative Staff Pianist. MC: We are out here! Despite all the roadblocks, as you know, we are still making our way through. It’s important for us to come together and lift each other up. But it’s ARTINA MCCAIN has a built a three-fold career as also important for the classical music world to let us in a performer, educator, and speaker. Performance these spaces. I am overjoyed to join the piano faculty highlights include Oregon East Symphony and MTNA. Currently, she is Coordinator of Keyboard Area at at Curtis. Hopefully, I will be a great inspiration to all the University of Memphis. the students who are there and a symbol of the power

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NORTHERN CANVASES: Canadian Piano Music from the Twentieth & Twenty-First Centuries

by Asher Armstrong

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Southam’s own preference was to work with individuals with whom she felt close; this resulted in wonderful relationships with dance choreographers and ensuing a wealth of When I first came to Canada, I remember electronic music. But in her significant acoustic an enthusiastic introduction to a group of output, the piano is central: “most of the time, painters known as the “Group of Seven.” Southam was loyal to the piano as her artistic medium of choice—and as she declined to write For many Americans, this group and names for wind instruments or the human voice, big like Lawren Harris, Tom Thompson, and symphonies, choral works, and operas were out Emily Carr may be nothing more than of the question. Perhaps this held her back: for many years, she was a relatively obscure figure in an obscure footnote encountered in an Canadian music.” 2 At the same time, pianist art history text, but for Canadians, these Christina Petrowska-Quilico notes of Southam’s initial obscurity: “when I was growing up, new artists are important and celebrated. music meant Boulez and Stockhausen […] Their self-proclaimed task was to bring anyone who didn’t write in that style was ‘no artistic recognition to the landscapes good’ […] you really have to give her credit for remaining independent.” 3 and beauties of Canada; in a large way, they were successful. Southam’s music for piano is extensive, with her largest and perhaps most representative work being the nineteen-movement suite of piano Many Canadians are similarly proud of pieces called Rivers. The piece I first encountered their country’s music, which constitutes a of Southam, Soundstill, is cut unequivocally from rich tapestry depicting this land of large, the same cloth as Rivers; a magical ten-minute synthesis of minimalism and twelve-tone beautifully distinct landscapes and diverse technique, it achieves something beautifully voices. One of the first truly memorable lyrical, peaceful, and atmospheric 4 (see Canadian music listening experiences I Excerpt 1). had involved the music of Ann Southam. Excerpt 1: Ann Southam, Soundstill, mm. 1–8. Southam was born in Winnipeg, but moved to Toronto at the age of three, and spent most of her life in this artistic hub. Despite the urban setting in which much of her music was composed, it sometimes seems to reflect the epic, reverentially perceptive landscapes of Lawren Harris. One of her contemporaries describes her artistic voice: Southam notes of the piece: “I would work at the piano and just play around with patterns…I just there’s something so pure about work my way through a whole twelve-tone row, four notes at a time, the first four, 1-2-3-4, her music, and so ruthless, and rich. 2-3-4-5, making these little cells and turning Thrilling, empowering, it’s Canadian them around and around.” 5 because it has this size in it.1

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The piece’s gentle arpeggiations are not without a rigorous piano shows a loving consideration of the great examples and, yet accessible, underpinning. While Southam works of twentieth-century piano literature such as Rachmaninov her way through the tone row four pitches at a time, she and Prokofiev, Mozetich’s is oftentimes more subtle. embeds a pattern which is a “key” into the structure of the piece (and, for a student who wishes to memorize this lovely canvas, a welcoming way in): while the left-hand intervals Long-breathed lyricism is never too far away, and while he remain identical for the entire first page, in the right hand, feels free to plunder other more recent modern innovations the penultimate tone of each measure determines the first in his compositions, it is in a way that is more intriguing pitch of the following measure (for instance, the B-flat in than off-putting. measure one, the D-flat in measure two, the F-natural in His Three Pieces for Piano Solo is a relatively old work (1984), measure three, and so on). Once this pattern is discovered, but shows the mature composer’s voice fully. The opening the learning process is magically clarified. piece’s arpeggiations seem to implicitly suggest the kind of The fabric of this work contains a pointed feminist “preluding” so associated with Bach, where a single commentary: Eve Egoyan and Gayle Young have observed pianistic figuration governs the course of the whole that for Southam, there is a close connection between movement. In this example, there are nonetheless moments composing for or playing the piano and other forms of that will be expressively quite familiar for admirers of the work done by hand, such as weaving, that reflect the nature most pianistic of nineteenth-century music (see Excerpt 2). of traditional women’s work—repetitive, life-sustaining, Excerpt 2: Marjan Mozetich, Three Pieces for Piano Solo, I. requiring time and patience. But through it all, runs a Prelude, mm. 27–30. thread of questioning.” 6

This remarkable piece, and Southam’s larger oeuvre is worth deeper and more thorough exploration—Egoyan has noted significantly that “of that generation of women, she is the most unique voice. Her use of the piano plays on things that 7 are, for me, spiritual about the instrument.”

Another Canadian composer who is not well known, but “quietly building a small, devoted following” 8 is Marjan Mozetich. Born in Italy to Yugoslavian parents, Marjan By name, the Adagietto second movement brings Mahler Mozetich immigrated to Canada at the age of four, and to mind; in fact, Mozetich attributes the inspiration for its began musical studies at the age of nine. He grew up in opening melody to Bruckner. This abundantly lyrical a suburb outside of Toronto and, in fact, was a friend and character and its accompaniment seems to distantly echo colleague of the older Southam. An accomplished pianist, the off-beat pulsations of a Notturno by Grieg or Respighi his initial efforts in composition were more in line with (see Excerpt 3). contemporary modern trends; however this trajectory Excerpt 3: Marjan Mozetich, Three Pieces for Piano Solo, II. underwent a tectonic shift: “Stylistically he has evolved over Adagietto, mm. 1–8. the years from avant-garde expressionism, to minimalism, to a post-modern romanticism [. . .] since the late 80s he has achieved an overtly ‘traditional’ and yet distinctively modern voice: a blend of the traditional, popular and the modern.” 9 As a composer who has shed the fetters of the avant-garde and adopted a kind of Neo-Romantic approach, his musical language is not too far away from some of the music of his much more well-known American contemporary Lowell Liebermann; where Liebermann’s enormous output for

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Characteristic of Mozetich’s approach is a contextually reached that point I thought, ‘okay, where do we go from free-handed approach to rhythm; his frequently-shifting here?’…where do we go without deviating too much from meters are perhaps the most “modern” aspect of this the piece…when you reach that point (in performance) it movement (although they are perhaps canceled out by surprises people—they don’t know, until halfway through the two, and later, three flats in the key signature!), until what’s going on…gradually it becomes more dissonant— one reaches the middle section (see Excerpt 4). it’s all ‘acceptable’ and then it gets louder.” 10 Excerpt 4: Marjan Mozetich, Three Pieces for Piano Solo, While Mozetich’s music is eminently approachable and II. Adagietto, mm. 53–56. attractive, it has yet to gain wider appreciation outside of Canada, and if Richard Perry is to be believed, it has yet to catch on even in Canada!

Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1975, Vincent Ho is one of a This section is prefaced by the indication “into a black hole.” growing number of a generation of younger Canadian The cluster effect is sensitively approached and its inclusion composers who are making waves across the continent. is organic, however its power to take the listener by surprise He has written a number of larger-scale works (including cannot be understated. the critically acclaimed Artic Symphony), and has a large body of chamber works to his name. His output for piano Mozetich himself describes the process of arriving at this solo recently expanded with a work of exciting individuality: kind of “extended technique” as something fraught with a set of virtuoso etudes called the Supervillain Etudes. caution and not without thoughtfulness: “that whole movement is based on ‘alternating’…I remember when I

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Virtuoso musical portraits of six villains from the Batman Excerpt 5: Vincent Ho, Reflections in the Water, m. 1. universe (the Riddler, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and the Joker), they are demanding but imminently pianistic, and represent Ho’s compositional philosophy to a fault. Ho is interested in musical ideas that are intrinsically woven into the fabric and technique of the instruments he writes for. How the music “feels” is of utmost importance to this accomplished pianist. In a recent interview, one of the highlights he mentions is encountering the Preludes and

Fugues of Nikolai Kapustin—his enthusiastic tone is The low glissando is to be executed on the strings inside contagious as he speaks about what he finds to be special the piano! These extended techniques, which are in the music of the older composer: “He creates these tactile, thoroughly embedded throughout in a way which could gestural ideas that fit so well in the fingers—and yet they’re hardly be more organic (or effective, or accessible), are individually his—specifically to guide the pianist into all these something Ho had wanted to incorporate right from the tonal worlds and galaxies that I didn’t even think were start: “I wanted to explore extended techniques: glissandos possible… It almost allows me to rediscover what it’s like on the strings and things like that… at that time, with the to play the piano—in his world.” 11 two other pieces I’d written for piano—(The Swan) was One finds this sensitive approach at work in Ho’s purely extended technique, and Three Scenes of Childhood captivating piece Reflections in the Water. Commissioned all on the keyboard, so with Reflections in the Water I wanted for the Markham Festival and Competition in Ontario, to combine both.” 14 its title suggests Debussy (the first of Images, Book I), but Minimalistic figurations and patterns feature prominently Ho meant no specific homage to that composer: “there throughout (see Excerpts 6 and 7). is no reference whatsoever to Debussy; it was a pure coincidence; it was a title I came up with because I thought Excerpt 6: Vincent Ho, Reflections in the Water, m. 9–11. it fit with the character of the music.” 12

In speaking about the inspiration and intention with the composition of Reflections, Ho notes:

I wanted to write something that was musically engaging while giving that sense of creative imagination that would spark curiosity in their minds as they Excerpt 7: Vincent Ho, Reflections in the Water, m. 99–104. played… another inspiration—I recall John Corigliano’s Fantasia on an Ostinato. That piece was built on minimalistic principles: repeated note patterns, repeated chords; that played an influential role as I was writing the piece.13 Reflections opens in a magical way, which instantly juxtaposes traditional writing with something much newer (see Excerpt 5).

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Ho highlights that these areas of the score “not only serve to express color changes but also function as tactile ideas that develop and unfold.” 15 Additionally one encounters graphical notation—something invented in North America and now adopted by many composers all over the world, even the most “traditional.” When asked about the appearance of graphic notation and extended techniques (often a stumbling block for younger pianists, or indeed, any pianists schooled in the works of the “canon”), Ho notes: I felt that as a composer I wanted to the initial source is how it feels on the write something that was encouraging, keyboard, then trying to translate that into something that would encourage (students) graphical form is the next step…there’s so to explore these new techniques rather than much more that can be discovered that’s challenging them…I wanted to write a piece beyond the limitations of the Western that would open the door to these new notation form—it’s just up to me to try and techniques. …with the graphical notation… figure out how to adapt what I’ve written 16 into the notation system that I have.

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 53 PLAY

One hopes Vincent Ho will continue to Notes: write music which invites pianists to discover 1 Patricia Beatty, Southam Documentary Produced and Prepared by Eitan Cornfield, Canadian Composers Portraits: Ann Southam, Centrediscs, CMCCD-10506, 2005. what is possible with the piano, and that 2 Colin Eatock, “Six Canadian Composers You Should Know,” Queen’s Quarterly 118, no. 2 (2011): 10. more students will play this and his other 3 Christina Petrowska-Quilico, Southam Documentary, Centrediscs, 2005. 4 All excerpts of music by Ann Southam and Marjan Mozetich are reprinted with beautiful, atmospheric works. permission by Canadian Music Centre; excerpts of music by Vincent Ho are reprinted with permission by the composer. 5 Ann Southam, Southam Documentary, Centrediscs, 2005. 6 Quoted in Evan Ware. “Ann Southam.” In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 2011; last edited December 16, 2013. thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ ann-southam-emc. To adequately discuss the music for piano coming out of 7 Eve Egoyan, Southam Documentary, Centrediscs, 2005. 8 Richard Perry, “Gorgeous Once, but Repetitive Three Times: [Final Edition],” Canada is far, far beyond the scope of this article, but The Ottawa Citizen, September 10, 2000, myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/lo in- my hope is that for those unfamiliar with some of these ?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F2 404 22268%3Fac- incredible works, it may be an invitation to discover more countid%3D14771. 9 Biography,” on Marjan Mozetich’s official website, accessed May 24, 2020, of what is out there. mozetich.com/biography/. 10 Marjan Mozetich, interview with the author, May 21, 2020. 11 Vincent Ho, interview with the author, May 14, 2020. 12 Vincent Ho, interview with the author, May 14, 2020. ASHER ARMSTRONG, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, 13 Vincent Ho, interview with the author, May 14, 2020. is an Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of 14 Vincent Ho, interview with the author, May 14, 2020. Arkansas, having previously held positions in piano and 15 Vincent Ho, Reflections in the Water, inceho.com/project/reflections-in-the- piano literature at the University of Toronto. A performer water/, (accessed 24 May 2020). and Cambridge-published scholar, he holds degrees 16 Vincent Ho, interview with the author, May 14, 2020. from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (M.M.) and the University of Toronto (D.M.A.).

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54 / PIANO MAGAZINE NEW Additions to the Series

50

Use with Unit 6, page 45. Magnolia Rag

20 With a steady beat

3 1 8 Use with Unit 14, pages 94–95. Dennis Alexander 5 Martha Mier 1 3 1 5 Dennis Alexander 5 1 1 4 Premier Piano Express: Repertoire 1 Ó Martha Mier Starlight 5 5 2 Repertoire Books 1-4 4 œ œ 5 2 Gently 3 œ 5 5 œ 5 ˙ ˙ 5 1 2 3 3 1 ˙ 5 1 ˙ Ó 2 4 ˙ ˙ ∑ 3 & 4 2 5 p ∑ ONLINE ACCESS INCLUDED Audio Performances 2 and Orchestrated 1 • Motivational original compositions by Dennis Accompaniments 9 ∑ 5 1 ? 4 Practice Software 1 4 2 4 1 1 ˙ 4 œ œ 1 1 œ 3

œ Alexander Alexander and Martha Mier, as well as standard 5 œ 2 4 1 œ 5 1 ∑ 2 ˙ 5 œ 4 3 ∑ ■ 1 œ Kowalchyk ∑ 13 Books 3 & 4 & 5 repertoire in ˙ ∑ 4 2 1 5 œ 2 ■

œ Lancaster 3 ? 2 5 2 5 1 2 5 2 5 ■

McArthur 1 • Designed to reinforce concepts introduced 5 2 3rd time 4 17 to Coda 3 œ œ 3 1 1 ˙ œ ˙ ˙1 4 ˙ ˙ 5 ■ ˙ ˙1 ˙ Mier b˙ b ˙ 3 3 ˙ b 1 1 œn ˙ 2 Premier Piano Express ˙ 2 in , but can be used as Duet: Student plays one octave higher. œ ˙ 2 Gently œ œ 3 4 1. 4 œb ˙ 2 2 œb 2 1 1 ˙ ˙5 2 2 RH œ œ œ ˙ ˙ 4 œ ˙ ˙ 1 ˙ 3 ˙ ˙ 4 ˙2 1 ? 4 œ ˙ œ LH 4 œ œ supplementary repertoire for any method 3 œ œ œ b˙ œ 8va œ 2 π œ œ œ œb b ˙ œb œ œ œ3 5 5 3 œ œ ˙ 2 ˙ ˙ ˙ 1 1 œ ˙4 ˙˙ œ œ 2 ˙ œ2 œb1 ? 5 œ5 5

2 7

UNIDAD 1: El Patrón de 5 Dedos sobre C Marea al Anochecer Úsese con el Premier Piano Express, Libro 3, Repaso, páginas 4–5.  ascendente El Patrón de 5 Dedos sobre C en la Clave de Sol

Hoja de ejercicios Moderadamente, con expresividad

1 Usando redondas, escribe el patrón de 5 dedos sobre C en orden Nombra cada nota

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2 Usando redondas, escribe la nota que formará una 3ra entre cada una de las Spanish Translation dos notas ya escritas Nombra las notas w MP3s, MIDI &

Software 5 w d. & ˙ 3 ˙ Premier Piano Express, Books 1–4 and Repertoire c. 4 ˙ ˙ & 4 3 Nombra cada nota Después,b. tócalas en 1el teclado 4 ˙ & 4 a. 2 4 ˙ Books 1–4 are now available in Spanish. ˙ 4 ˙ & 4 & 4 derecha izquierda

Repaso de Sostenidos y Bemoles eleva una nota medio tono (o semitono) a la # baja 1 Un sostenido (Elige una.) (Elige una.) derecha

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Video Series Authors Dennis Alexander, Gayle Kowalchyk, and E. L. Lancaster discuss the inspiration behind the series, the writing process and offer teaching tips and pedagogical advice.

Learn more at alfred.com/PPX TEACH ZOOM &GLOOM, The Melbourne Experience of the Perils and Pleasures of the Online Advanced Piano Lesson - By Ian Holtham

The impact of the current pandemic on piano teaching Australia’s University of Melbourne houses a large center of higher-level worldwide has been deep and enduring. Even so, piano education and research. Comprising a salaried staff of five thus far, the scourge’s scarring effects have been only —one professor, two associate modestly recorded by the global world of piano professors, and two lecturers 1—and some twelve sessional instructors, pedagogy. It is hoped that by recalling the experience its student cohort across all available programs generally numbers of one institution, some sense of collective memory between 150 and 200. At the might be proffered, shared, compared, and evaluated. beginning of 2020, this anno terrores, approximately 167 students were enrolled to receive piano instruction in its new building, equipped with four new Steinway Ds and in which the standard piano of instruction is an array of Steinway Bs. The Australian university two- semester year begins in March. Thus, at the beginning of that month the Melbourne Conservatorium was primed to deliver its standard piano undergraduate curriculum for the forthcoming twelve-week semester: a weekly lesson; a weekly piano class; concert practice; and, for some,

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participation in the piano duo-duet ensemble and a variety staff had adequate equipment support for online learning. of chamber music collaborations. In 2020, things went Broadband connections, computers, and peripherals, normally for the first three weeks. Then the gathering tsunami where possible, all had to be in place immediately. More of COVID-19 which had been engulfing other parts of the complex was the urgent need to ensure all students had world, and which Australia had been observing with access to a piano of some sort. For the many students who growing alarm, hit Australia’s most southern mainland city had relied on institutionally housed practice arrangements, with significant force. the need was excruciatingly urgent. The senior piano staff had to accept that, in the absence of acoustic instruments, In a matter of a few days our piano department was electronic keyboards would have to be acceptable. required to become one of the largest virtual centers of Melbourne was scoured for such instruments and staff advanced piano instruction. Whilst many keyboard divisions were to provide all appropriate details of students in need. globally shared the same fate, the Melbourne Conservatorium A large number of electric instruments—some of them fairly delivers over 150 individual lessons weekly, as well as a basic—was dispatched to student accommodations across two-hour undergraduate class for a similar number. In the city. All this was accomplished in a matter of days. In addition, we house one of the largest international student under a week, staff and students were instructed in the cohorts in the country—almost one-third of the undergraduate use of the Zoom platform and the University’s huge piano group. A small number of these students returned to their department was virtual-lesson ready. home country in anticipation of the online learning experience but the majority elected to remain in Australia. Despite this strong start, it quickly emerged that the virtual piano pedagogical world was riddled with Suddenly, virtual and instrumental infrastructure unanticipated administrative complications. Communication became pre-eminently important. The technical staff with staff and students regarding lesson protocols, of the Conservatorium had to ensure that all students and assessment expectations, and a myriad of individual

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 57 TEACH

requirements weighed excessively on a governance The central players in this scenario were the advanced structure never designed for such pressures. Early in April, student and high-level piano pedagogue. Ultimately, the the decision was taken to coalesce departmental leadership temporary resolution of the omnipresent technological into a duopoly, ostensibly dividing responsibilities between limitations lay with artistry. Few, if any, online advisers the various coursework programs and the higher degree would ever have given a virtual lesson to an advanced research programs, though stressing that the division was piano undergraduate on a Chopin or Ligeti étude flexibly conceived and that either of the two “Co-Heads” featuring an electronic keyboard equipped with a single could be responsible for any relevant departmental matter. pedal, but that is precisely the sort of situation advanced In practice this meant that the many complex issues that piano pedagogues were now embracing on a weekly arose almost on an hourly basis could be funnelled to a basis. Even with better acoustic instruments, piano continually consultative governance model; thus, sharing sound distortion—indeed the consistent misrepresentation and dividing the heavily increased administrative weight. As of piano sound via the online platform—raised a whole the weeks of Melbourne’s lockdown went on, this leadership range of issues for the teacher of high-level repertoire that transformation—possibly unique in piano departments— were not readily resolved by variation of platform controls. proved time and again both a wise and resilient reform, given the scale of both the staff-student cohort and the To penetrate these problems effectively, in a very short complexity and mutability of the environment. space of time the advanced teacher had to become an “online piano teacher.” This pedagogical remodeling is Governance and administration aside, at the core best illustrated by three recollective examples. of the virtual pedagogical piano world has been that extraordinary entity, the Zoom lesson. The At Melbourne, all first-year students undergo a “technical global implementation of this extraordinary pianistic examination” at the conclusion of their first twelve- development was swift, merciless, and inescapable. week semester. Apart from a compendium of specified At its inception, the Zoom lesson was conceptually technical requirements, these students prepare a suitable supported by institutional online and IT advocates with Chopin Étude and a Scarlatti Sonata. One such student, a host of advice regarding volume and microphone who had relocated back with family to another part of preferences, camera angles, and an array of adjustments Australia, was preparing Chopin Op. 25, No. 1. The first intended to make the platform amenable to one-on-one online lesson revealed a temperamental broadband advanced music teaching. The core problem, however, connection, hazy vision and sound reproduction, and an was that Zoom, a platform basically designed for spoken upright piano worthy of a Crocodile Dundee setting. word meetings, simply did not have adequate sound The expected clarity and tonal elegance of the opening reproduction to resemble anything like the acoustic bars were impossible to discern on the basis of what was properties of a real-world piano lesson. being heard alone:

Attempts to ameliorate this prime difficulty tended Excerpt 1: to point to the disjuncture in the pianistic academic Chopin, Étude in A-flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1, mm. 1–2. environment between artist-teachers—who were doing the actual teaching—and online learning specialists, whose technological knowledge could assist with various issues but rarely fully resolve them. Careful instructions regarding the “original sound” options tended to produce sound that was original only in a virtual sense and the deeper, more complex issues regarding the online reproduction of piano sound were often met by The obvious pedagogical challenge here was to know instructions regarding microphone positioning and how to give the most suitable advice. Instead of relying volume adjustments that, in the end, produced modest purely on sound, responses based on the visual observation improvements at best. of posture, and hand and arm movement enabled a method of producing better control of the demanding arpeggio undulations and concomitant phrase shaping.

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In a sense what was closely observed visually fed responses Excerpt 2: which helped sound production: a reversal in some Bach, Prelude in A Major, BWV 864, mm. 1–3. respects of the standard pianistic pedagogical position.

The second-year students at Melbourne undergo a similar examination with repertoire based on contrapuntal textures and a Liszt or Rachmaninov étude. One of our second years had returned home overseas for the duration of the lockdown. In this case, the network connection was generally reliable, the piano a respectable grand, and the main distraction came from the external noise of the internal computer fan which could not be turned off. Even so, sound clarity was still erratic and addressing The Fugue, however, was more complex since tempo the contrapuntal textures of Bach’s A Major Prelude restraint emerged as undue limitation on its buoyant and Fugue from the first book was no small challenge. character. Interestingly, the problem was addressed by Interestingly, the beautifully threaded triple counterpoint a clearer approach to clarity and definition of of the Prelude clarified almost by magic when a judicious articulation so that greater attention to note length restraint of tempo was exercised, allowing for a provided a means of both better quality of performance measured dignity in the performance. in the online environment, as well as a more stylistically alert approach in more general musical terms.

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 59 TEACH

Excerpt 3: Excerpt 5: Bach, Fugue in A Major, BWV 864, mm. 1–4. Ligeti, Cordes à vide, m. 32.

In part, this suggests an enduring paradox in the imposed online teaching environment: that some of the obvious Ligeti ÉTUDES POUR PIANO, BOOK 1, No. 2: CORDES À VIDE shortcomings in sound reproduction may—under certain Copyright © 1985 Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany conditions—lead to approaches and solutions which All Rights Reserved result in enhanced musical outcomes. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors Company, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany Perhaps the most extreme of these examples involved a third-year student whose examination repertoire included Even in the best of real-time piano environments, études by Szymanowski and Ligeti. Imagine, for achieving these acoustic and emotive extremes example, the spacious beauty of Ligeti’s Cordes à vide requires a high level of tonal responsiveness across étude (see Excerpts 4 and 5) delivered on a single-pedal so wide a palette. electronic keyboard where the attempted dynamic ppp to fff stretches Zoom capabilities to the limit. In the virtual world of compromise much can be achieved with gesture and a comprehensive sense of dynamic scale across the entire work; but the true acoustic impact is Excerpt 4: really another matter. Ligeti, Cordes à vide, m. 26. In similar vein, the veiled tempest which opens Szymanowski’s Op. 33, No. 10, and which is riddled with surging dynamic volatility, poses a special challenge. Achieving both dynamic and articulation requirements demands a special combination of focus and precision, especially across a virtual teaching platform.

Excerpt 6: Szymanowski, Étude, Op. 33, No. 10, mm. 1–4.

Ligeti ÉTUDES POUR PIANO, BOOK 1, No. 2: CORDES À VIDE Copyright © 1985 Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany All Rights Reserved Used by permission of European American Music Distributors Company, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany It was found, in practice, that Zoom audio technology could not cope with this work, not least because of the lack of clarity in the swirling left-hand sixteenth notes

60 / PIANO MAGAZINE TEACH

in the lower part of the electronic instrument. So, the And as 2020 draws to a close, the strange, surreal, inventive approach was to use Zoom for vision with the and often panicked world of lockdown, isolation, unfiltered sound platform, Source-Elements, providing virus testing, and pervasive anxiety continues. Music the actual piano sound. On the whole this was, if and piano lessons also continue; their enduring cultural technologically cumbersome, a more musically useful importance more manifest than ever. To all the brave way of approaching repertoire of higher textual students and teachers still determined to create artistic pianistic complexity. meaning through pianistic means, the daily exacting demands of the online lesson remain testament to In all these examples, it emerges that the teacher must the tenacious heroism of pianists. transform into a virtual “teacher-plus.” Sound- responsiveness, normally the first recourse in pianistic pedagogical armory, is only one constituent in an IAN HOLTHAM PHD, Hon FMusA, is Professor of environment demanding astute visual analysis, close Music and since April 2020 Co-Head of Keyboard at the University of Melbourne where he has led the attention to varying instrumental resources (or lack Piano area since 1998. Distinguished pianist and of them), and a fair degree of educated hypothesizing teacher, his many CD releases include the complete in terms of constructing a musical whole. The virtual Chopin Etudes and the complete Well-Tempered Clavier. teacher of repertoire at this level becomes part sleuth, part magician, and, in overall pedagogical direction NOTES of the online lesson, part performance-psychologist. 1. Australian Academic rank consists of five tenurable levels in descending seniority: Professor, Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Lecturer, and Tutor.

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Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 61 LEARN HEALTHY PLAYING, HEALTHY TEACHING

Wellness in Applied Music itself can make us well, Piano Teaching: but we also need to be well in order to make music. A Two-Way Street

by Henning Vauth

In tandem with course offerings at the Hannover Institute Many years ago, at the Hannover of Music Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine, headed by University of Music, Drama and Media Professor Dr. Eckart Altenmüller, my college piano studies in Germany, my piano teacher Professor led me to realize the importance of understanding wellness in applied piano teaching as a two-way street: Einar Steen-Nøkleberg used to greet us Music itself can make us well, but we also need to be students with a handshake when entering well in order to make music. Wellness through music, his studio. He took our hand, pulled as I experienced it in Herr Nøkleberg’s piano lessons, us into the room, and closed the door. and wellness for music, as provided by the Altenmüller institute, were indeed two sides of the same coin. “Now you forget all your woes and worries. In here, only the music matters.” How can we independent private piano instructors and university faculty members complement teaching healthy I still feed upon the warmth and focus keyboard technique, and integrate this bidirectional Herr Nøkleberg created in his room understanding of wellness into our pedagogical routine? during those years. He taught us about My answer includes three simple, yet crucial steps every piano teacher may take without much field-specific physiological aspects of playing the piano, knowledge or preparation (the three Cs, if you will): always in relation to sound production, creating a culture of open communication and and inspired us to let our musicality awareness, identifying resources for care and healing, and developing a positively framed mindset in the roam freely. Once, when unexpectedly spirit of comfort. emphasizing an inner voice in Scriabin’s

Etude in B-flat Minor, Op. 8 No. 11, Toward Communication and Awareness: I heard an appreciative grunt, followed by the commentary, “I have absolutely The first step in overcoming a hurdle is often acknowledging its existence. As teachers, it is our responsibility to nothing to say against hearing a beautiful create an atmosphere in which the student feels at ease middle voice.” to convey potential problems. I believe in a proactive

62 / PIANO MAGAZINE LEARN HEALTHY PLAYING, HEALTHY TEACHING

approach. I am open to my students about challenges self-examination, close observation of one’s students, I have faced and about limitations I currently experience and through professional development. Wellness is not in my musical life. I have found that, instead of a static concept. The three steps are interlinked and diminishing their respect for me, this openness has reinforce each other. Communicating the availability had quite the opposite effect. Relating personal of care provides comfort, not just for the students but histories instills trust and the desire for mutual problem also for their parents. solving. Leon Fleisher’s life with focal dystonia stands as an inspirational example. And what a line-up of Considering wellness in applied piano teaching as a students he had! two-way street, i.e., both as a necessary condition for and as a wonderful result of music-making, renders the benefits of open communication, access to musicians’ Toward Care and Healing: healthcare, and comfort in practice and performance true complements to the time-honored understanding In recent years, health care professionals have of healthy keyboard technique. discovered the arts. In the United States, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association has identified the performing arts as an emerging field of employment for both preventative and rehabilitative care. The HENNING VAUTH serves at Marshall University as Professor of Piano and Co-Director of the Center for Performing Arts Medicine Association is an organization Wellness in the Arts, a collaboration between the entirely dedicated to the health of performing artists. Colleges of Arts & Media and Health Professions The Music Teachers National Association and the providing wellness services for performing arts students. International Society for Music Education host wellness symposia at their conferences. Many higher education institutions have launched wellness initiatives, like the Center for Wellness in the Arts at Marshall University, my own employer. Physicians at major hospitals have specialized in treating performing artists. For any applied piano teacher on the various levels of instruction, it is helpful to identify healthcare professionals and physicians in the area who have experience or specialize in musicians’ wellness. These individuals can become invaluable partners, should physical or mental distress hinder a student’s musicianship.

Toward Comfort and Positivity: I will enlist my former teacher, Professor Steen-Nøkleberg one more time. I vividly recall when he explained to me how through touching the piano keys, through engaging the tactile sense we can derive joy and physical pleasure. Without having to sacrifice rigor, structure, and clear expectations, framing practice and performance not as work and test, but as inherently joyful and pleasurable activities will lead to the comfort students need for a satisfying and fulfilling musical experience—at home, during the piano lesson, and in recital. In detailing the steps toward open communication, care, and comfort (the three Cs), I have implied move- ment. The wellness street is one that needs to be traveled in both directions, back-and-forth, through constant

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 63 DISCOVER PUPIL SAVER

A GLIMPSE INTO COLORFUL MEXICAN ROMANTICISM

by Desireé González-Miller

INTERMEZZO NO. 1 IN E MINOR BY MANUEL M. PONCE Manuel M. Ponce (1882–1948) is undoubtedly one of the most prominent composers in Latin American history. Among his piano pieces, one of the most beloved is his Intermezzo No. 1 in E Minor. This intermezzo has similarities to Brahms’s Intermezzo in E Minor, Op. 119, No. 2. Both works are in ternary form, their main thematic material is developed from a single motif based primarily on thirds and sixths in sixteenth-note patterns, and both of their middle sections visit the parallel key of E major.

From a pedagogical standpoint, this piece could be helpful for students in a variety of ways:

1. RUBATO: 2. SHAPING

ScoreThis piece requires a careful sense of rubato between (at the micro and macro levels): Score phrases to avoidIntermezzo over-sentimentalism mm.1-3 in every segment Throughout theIntermezzo intermezzo, themm. student 7-9 will encounter where the theme is used. This can be seen from the very a series of two-note gestures within larger contextual beginning, as Ponce starts with a short introduction phrases. These layers must be shaped properly to avoid which develops into the main theme. a mechanical sounding sixteenth-note pattern.

Moderato Maline onico U œ œ œ œ œ œ # 2 # 2 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & 4 Œ ≈ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ & 4 œ ≈ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ≈ œ œ Piano œ# œ œ œ Piano œ# p U p œ œ ? # 2 œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 ≈ ? # 42 Œ œ J ‰ œ J ‰ œ œ

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© © DISCOVER

3. VOICING: Intermezzo No. 1 in E Minor by Manuel M. Ponce offers a Students will need to bring out the main melody in the refreshing repertoire addition for late-intermediate to early- right hand while playing thirds throughout most of the advanced students. It could be performed during a studio piece. The melody is often the upper note of the thirds. recital, festival, competition, or even as an encore. This is a The left hand will also have opportunities to shine crowd pleaser! beginning in measure 16, where the secondary theme Score This piece is not currently in print by a publisher, but the Intermezzo mm. 16-19 originates. This will demand that students be more sheet music is available for free online from the Petrucci careful with their balance and overall shaping, not Music Library (www.imslp.org). Many of Ponce’s other only of the new theme in the left hand, but also of the works for piano, including Intermezzo No. 2, are published dialogue it creates with the main theme in the right hand. by Peermusic. The manuscript of this piece and the majority of Manuel M. Ponce’s works are found in the Manuel œ œ œ œ œ # 2 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ M. Ponce Archive, located at the Fondo Reservado of the & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Piano Cuicamatini Library, Universidad Nacional Autónoma j œ œ. œ œ. ˙˙ de México in Mexico City. ? # 2 œ œ j J œ œ œ œ œ# j œ 4 j œ . j œ œ œ œ œ marc. il canto œ Score ° * ° * Intermezzo mm. 32-34° * 4. CADENZA-LIKE PASSAGEWORK: DESIREÉ GONZÁLEZ-MILLER is an award-winning Mexican pianist and pedagogue. González-Miller is a This B section showcases a bit of Spanish flare and frequent presenter at national and international music fingerwork, reminiscent of Lisztian flourishes. conferences. She maintains an active schedule as a performer, pedagogue, and researcher. non legato œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ# œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ# œ œ œ œ œ & 42 ≈ œ œ œ œ œ Piano fsciollo # 2 j September& 20184 Pianoœ œ Explorer.qxp_Layoutœ œ 1 12/16/19œ 1:41œ PM Pageœ 1 J œ œ œ œ

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Pus fun ames pues and uies Group rate: $6 per student per year (5+ copies) Regular rate: $12 per year wwwpeforidscom offers suppementa materia Shipping additional outside U.S., 10 issues/year each month incudin music featured in the issue Adust uantities at an time

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Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 65 DISCOVER FIRST LOOKS NEW MUSIC

The second volume, Five Famous Sonatas, is a more advanced collection containing the “Pathétique,” (S4) FIVE EASY “Funeral March,” “Moonlight,” “Pastorale,” and PIANO SONATAS “Tempest.” It is surprising—and somewhat disappointing AND —that the “Appassionata” was not included. Nevertheless, (S6) FIVE FAMOUS this volume will give more advanced pianists a taste of PIANO SONATAS Beethoven’s best-known masterpieces. by Both volumes feature extensive prefaces in English, Ludwig van Beethoven German, and French. In addition, most of the sonatas are also preceded by some brief preliminary notes along with a few facsimiles extracted from Beethoven’s handwritten manuscripts. The fingerings provided by the editor, Murray Perahia, are excellent. Finally, at the end of each When new piano majors come to my college studio for volume, readers will find an extensive list of editorial their first lessons, one of my initial tasks is to discuss and comments concerning sources, corrections, omissions, assign them new repertoire. Unfortunately, many of and much more. these students were previously conditioned to work from photocopies, simplified arrangements, orchestral Henle has succeeded in filling an important gap in the transcriptions, single sheet solos, and multi-composer literature with these two new splendid publications. These anthologies. When purchasing new music, I recommend books are a practical option for students who are likely to to them that they embrace a more professional, three- learn only one or two Beethoven sonatas, but want a very pronged approach: first, they should invest in excellent high-quality edition. (Henle, $22.95; $27.95) editions by recognized, international publishers; second, —Ernest Kramer they should chose Urtext editions over highly edited ones; and third, they should begin to assemble a personal library of masterworks that they can study and cherish for a lifetime. When my students are ready to study the (S4) SIX EASY incomparable piano sonatas of Beethoven, two new SONATAS FOR PIANO volumes published by industry leader G. Henle fit all by three requirements very nicely. Leopold Koželuch, edited by The first, Five Easy Sonatas, is a perfect introduction to Christopher Hogwood Beethoven’s most approachable sonatas. The volume includes Op. 2, Op. 14, and Op. 49. The preface states that the selections are ordered by increasing complexity; however, based on the actual technical difficulties, a more natural order might be Op. 49, No. 2; Op. 49, No. 1; From 2010–2015, Bärenreiter published a four-volume, Op. 2, No.1; Op. 14, No. 2; and Op. 14, No. 1. The keys fifty-sonata anthology by Leopold Koželuch—the final range from G major to E major, the lengths of the volume of which caught my eye in the MTNA national movements are from three to seven pages, and the forms convention exhibition hall, mostly because I thought, include sonata, rondo, ABA, and theme with variations. “Who is this composer I’ve never heard of...who’s written The technical difficulties are moderate, rarely involving fifty keyboard sonatas?!” Intrigued, I conducted further more than some occasional ornaments or triplet and research, and in the process discovered quite a marvelous sixteenth-note passages. collection of Classical-era sonatas. This recently published edition of Six Easy Sonatas contains the least difficult of Koželuch’s sonatas, “printed in roughly 66 / PIANO MAGAZINE DISCOVER FIRST LOOKS & MATERIALS progressive order.” Though the preface by Christopher Hogwood is not as extensive as in the complete sonatas, the forward provides useful (S3-4) 3 JAZZ SUITES FOR PIANO notes, both on Koželuch’s place in by music history, as well as on musical Glenda Austin characteristics. The reader learns that Koželuch was, in his late eighteenth-century day, “without question, the living composer most loved by young and old,” and that his works display “liveliness and grace, the noblest melody combined If you and your intermediate or advanced students are looking for some intriguing, with the purest harmony, and the clever music with sophisticated jazz sounds and rhythms, Glenda Austin has written most pleasing organization in terms the book for you! Austin’s talent for creating fresh and original sounds shines of rhythm and modulation.” The through, as every movement in this book has a different character. volume exhibits the characteristic In Jazz Suite No. 1, the moods of the three movements range from light and clean lines one expects of Bärenreiter entertaining to lyrical, and finish with a fast and lively Finale—Austin states “hang editions: no fingerings or pedal on!" All three movements are very effective, but the second is particularly lovely, and markings, few dynamics, and reminiscent of Chopin, with its songlike melody and subtly chromatic occasional articulations. A brief accompaniment figure. discussion of ornaments, including appoggiaturas and trills, is found in The first movement of Jazz Suite No. 2 is a beautiful homage to Austin’s former the forward. professor, which is very similar to Gershwin’s second Prelude. The third movement is decisive and energetic, and filled with brisk major seventh chords in the left hand. These Koželuch sonatas are The second movement is utterly charming! The melody reminds one of “Happy comparable in level to Kuhlau Birthday to You,” but with a sparkling jazz twist. sonatinas and easier Haydn sonatas. They exhibit charm and grace, Movement three is particularly enjoyable in Jazz Suite No. 3. It is marked “Intriguing with delightful triplet figurations, and Mysterious,” and indeed it is! The interesting bassline and contrasting graciousness of minuet and trio articulations give it a truly spooky feel. The first movement is playful and light, movements, and whimsically and the second movement is a lovely study in two-against-three polyrhythms. sparkling sixteenth- and thirty- second-note passagework. As Hogwood notes, the musical qualities of the pieces “...continue to recommend them to young and amateur pianists today, as well as to professionals who seek charming counterweights to the more revolutionary works in their repertoire.” (Bärenreiter, $24.99) —Ann DuHamel

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3 Jazz Suites is listed by the publisher as early to later Rejino incorporates plenty of technical variety. The graceful intermediate; however, you might wish to use this book “La Alhambra de Granada,” in 6/8 meter, features a with intermediate through early-advanced students. left-hand sixteenth-note triplet within a repetitive rhythmic The rhythms are definitely yncopated,s the pedaling pattern. “Malaga” employs a two-against-three pattern. and articulations are subtle, and the pieces are of Energetic “Madrid” has a series of parallel second- substantial length. In addition, several of the movements inversion chords and winding scale passages. “Procesión require considerable octave playing in the return of the de Toledo” opens with a dramatic maestoso section, opening melodies. followed by a lively dance. A page of fast and fiery triplets at the beginning of “Ronda” leads to a cantabile section Glenda Austin’s writing is original and always interesting. with lush right-hand arpeggiated chords suggesting guitar Her use of articulations, contrasting melodies, and complex strums; the left hand carries the gentle melody. In “Sevilla,” pedaling give her music life and energy. The clever use of a steady off-beat rhythmic pattern requires careful control silence in these works allows the ear to soak in all of the of the left-hand thumb for proper balance. unique jazz harmonies. Teachers and students alike will enjoy 3 Jazz Suites for Piano by Glenda Austin. (Willis Music, To enhance the musical experience, students could $10.99) —Meg Gray research the scales and harmonies prevalent in Spanish music, the centuries of cultural influences, and/or the traditional dances associated with the music. One can find videos of Mona Rejino performing all of (S3) IMPRESIONES these pieces on YouTube: just type “Mona Rejino” followed DE ESPAÑA by the name of the specific piece in the search box. (Hal Leonard, $8.99) —Carmen Doubrava by Mona Rejino

(S4) SUCCEEDING WITH THE MASTERS & THE FESTIVAL COLLECTION: SONATINAS, BOOK 5 After a trip to central and southern Spain, while the sights and sounds were still fresh in her memory, Rejino compiled and edited by thoughtfully put pencil to manuscript paper and composed Helen Marlais with Crystal Zimmerman Impresiones de España, a collection of six intermediate-level piano solos. In her introductory notes, she writes: “The many musicians performing on the streets and sharing their love of music with others moved me to do the same.” This collection is guaranteed to take you and your students Is there room for one more sonatina collection? Absolutely! on an exciting trip to Spain without ever leaving the This new book features seven composers ranging from piano bench. the Classical to Romantic periods: Marie Teresa Agnesi, Hedwige Chrétien, Anton Diabelli, Muzio Clementi, To heighten the performer’s experience, Rejino writes Cornelius Gurlitt, Jacob Schmitt, and Fritz Spindler. This a paragraph about the cities, architecture, artists, and sonatina volume is unique in many ways, most notably for dances that inspired each composition. Castanets, its inclusion of multiple female composers. The editors tambourines, the click of a boot heel, and the distinctive have carefully assembled a preface, which students will find rhythmic hand clapping are all here. Imagine the brilliant easy to read and highly informational, that discusses the sounds of trumpets in the pasodoble, the guitar sonata-allegro form, terms associated with the sonatinas improvisations of the passionate flamenco, the tranquil (e.g., “scherzo”), and a brief overview of the following serenades of the tuna singers, or the lyric melodies of the music history necessities: “Classical Art Styles,” “Bridging zarzuela. Rejino’s knowledge of Spanish scales and Baroque and Classical Music,” “Transitioning into the harmonic progressions is evident: each piece is unique, Classical Era,” “The Enlightenment,” and “From Classical but the essence is unmistakably Spanish. to Romantic.” Concluding the collection is a section featuring short biographical information about each

68 / PIANO MAGAZINE DISCOVER FIRST LOOKS composer and a tidbit about the piece, either performance teachers and students, and certainly sets the bar higher for suggestions or stylistic considerations. any other sonatina collections that might be forthcoming. (FJH, $13.95) —Adrienne Wiley The novelty of this collection is that, with the exception of Clementi’s Sonatina in F Major, the sonatinas are not well THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS: known. While students will find all of these works very SUZANNE SCHONS is Music Editor at the Piano Magazine. She teaches inviting, teachers will appreciate the fact that lesser-known music courses at the University of St. Thomas and piano lessons at K&S works are available for their students. Fresh new sounds Conservatory of Music in Minnesota. and styles of writing abound in this repertoire. Agnesi’s CARMEN DOUBRAVA is on the fine arts faculty at The Hockaday School in Dallas, where she teaches piano and accompanies several choirs, orchestras, Sonatina in C-sharp Minor is a one-movement work, filled and various school concerts. She is also the choir accompanist at Horizon with light and playful patterns. Chretien’s sonatina boasts Unitarian Universalist Church in Carrollton. four movements, of which the third is a scherzo. Diabelli’s ANN DUHAMEL serves as Head of Keyboard Studies at the University of Sonatina in C-sharp Minor, a two-movement work, offers Minnesota Morris. This year she has performed and given masterclasses in Asia, Europe, and across the United States. Ann earned a DMA from the much drama in the first movement and sounds delightfully University of Iowa, and recently began her term as the President of the Minnesota atypical of Diabelli! Gurlitt, Schmitt, and Spindler all offer Music Teachers Association. three-movement sonatinas that are fresh in sound and MEG GRAY is on the faculty at Wichita State University where she teaches piano style. In particular, Spindler’s sonatina features an “Evening pedagogy and coordinates the undergraduate class piano program. She also Song” as the second movement. All of the movements maintains a pre-college studio, and is an active adjudicator and presenter. ERNEST KRAMER is professor of music theory and keyboard studies at of each sonatina are included throughout this collection. Northwest Missouri State University, and holds degrees from Peabody- Vanderbilt University, Drake University, and the University of North Texas. Teachers will appreciate the curriculum correlation chart ADRIENNE E. WILEY is Professor of Piano, Pedagogy, and Class Piano at included in the back of this book, as well as the very fine Central Michigan University. She loves teaching both college- and editing and clean layout. This is a refreshing new option for precollege-aged students and discovering new gems of teaching literature.

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pianistic statement it was in 1795. The Third Concerto LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: provides an immediate contrast; he sounds especially THE COMPLETE PIANO at home here, with a full-bodied and confident sound, SONATAS PLAYED ON combining fiery drama with moments of fancy and joy. PERIOD INSTRUMENTS The slow heartbeat of the Fourth Concerto is preserved Paul Badura-Skoda, fortepiano, beautifully, and Barnatan interweaves accompanimental Arcana A203 | 9 CDs figures and melody with great transparency and skill. [Total Time: 10:06:09] The Triple Concerto highlights the range and sensitivity of OUTHERE-MUSIC.COM Weilerstein and Jackiw—their collaboration is clearly joyful. As deeply insightful and brilliant Badura-Skoda expectedly I especially admire how Barnatan employs the full range of is in this collection of reissues recorded between 1978 and the piano throughout, never shying away from extreme 1989, perhaps the principal interest here is the use of seven dynamics or articulations, and providing each work with of the pianist’s own vintage fortepianos. Two Broadwoods, tremendous vividness and clarity of intent. —Scott Cuellar from 1796 and 1815, and an 1830 Caspar Schmidt instrument reveal themselves to be more than capable of effectively conveying all of the material—textures, contrasts, BEETHOVEN: and an articulative palette across the registers—of some of THE PIANO CONCERTOS the more resonant works, like Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 7, Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano; the “Waldstein” and the “Appassionata.” An 1824 Graf Die Kölner Akademie conducted fortepiano is the true standout, which Badura-Skoda by Michael Alexander Willens chooses for the final five sonatas. Unfortunately, two of BIS 2274 the seven instruments on this recording, manufactured by [Total Time 157:13] Walter and Hasska, are markedly inferior, marred by tuning BIS.SE issues and mechanical noise from the action. Nonetheless, this is overall a superb and enlightening account of A fine combination of quality period instruments, excellent this cycle. An expansive booklet on the sonatas and the performers, and glorious music. Concerti Nos. 1 through 3 instruments is also included.—Geoffrey Burleson feature a copy of an 1805 Walter & Sohn that is both *Editor’s note: Please visit claviercompanion.com for an expanded mellow yet full of vitality. The instrument for Concerti Nos. 4 review of this 9 CD set. and 5 is modeled after an 1819 Conrad Graf, and shows an BEETHOVEN: amazing range of sound. Both are works of Paul McNulty, PIANO CONCERTOS PART I a fortepiano builder in the Czech Republic. Attentive liner Inon Barnatan, piano; notes by Jean-Paul Vachon further enhance this two-disc Stephen Jackiw, violin; set. Beethoven offers clues to his later writing; the First Alisa Weilerstein, cello; Concerto’s octave glissandi foreshadow the “Waldstein” Academy of St. Martin in the Sonata, and fugal elements in the Second Concerto prepare Fields conducted by Alan Gilbert the path towards the “Hammerklavier” Sonata. Brautigam Pentatone PTC5186817 presents an admirable performance, although the Fourth [Total Time 144:36] Concerto surprisingly opens with an arpeggiated chord, PENTATONEMUSIC.COM announcing a unique dolce approach, with hints of liveliness. In his hands, all the concerti finales consistently The first installment of this complete piano concerti project bring a smile to the face while the spirit dances. features the pianist’s crystal-clear conception of each piece’s —Elizabeth Moak overall character, making evident the stylistic trajectory present across the works. The First Concerto is refreshingly playful and improvisatory, and Barnatan’s intentional virtuosity realizes the work as the compositional and

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RECORDINGS REVIEWS GEOFFREY BURLESON is on the piano faculty of THE BEETHOVEN CONNECTION, Princeton University, and is Professor/Director of Piano VOL. 1: SONATAS BY CLEMENTI, Studies at Hunter College-CUNY. He is currently DUSSEK, HUMMEL, AND WÖLFL recording the complete solo piano works of Saint-Saëns for Naxos Grand Piano. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano; ELAINA BURNS directs Resonance: Mind-Body-Music, Chandos CHAN 20128 a piano and yoga studio dedicated to the creative and Total Time [82:34] healing arts. Burns lives in New York and holds a doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma. CHANDOS.NET SCOTT CUELLAR received the gold medal at the San Antonio International Piano Competition. He holds In this unique disc celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the sonatas by Clementi, Dussek, Hummel, and Wölfl are presented as Juilliard School, and Rice University. He now teaches at companions and context to Beethoven’s work. In the accompanying essay, Oberlin Conservatory. Bavouzet encourages us to consider these seldom heard sonatas as beautiful ELIZABETH MOAK is a pianist and recording artist who performs as soloist throughout North and South summits in a mountain range that has Beethoven as its highest peak. His America, Asia, and Europe. An Associate Professor at thoughtful presentation of these gems takes us on a tour of the late classical the University of Southern Mississippi, Moak studied at style. The first, Joseph Wölfl’s Sonata, Op. 33, No. 3, is the most traditionally Peabody Conservatory with Fleisher, Martin, and Schein. NICHOLAS PHILLIPS is Recordings Editor for the conceived work, while the last, Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Sonata, Op. 61, C211 Piano Magazine and Professor at the University of —which bears the subtitle “Élégie harmonique sur la mort de son Altesse Wisconsin – Eau Claire. He has performed in solo recitals Royale le prince Louis-Ferdinand de Prusse”—is arguably more progressive across the United States and abroad, is an active recording artist, and is a regular presenter at national and than Beethoven’s works of the same period. All four of the sonatas are international conferences. impeccably interpreted and performed, a true delight to anyone interested JASON SIFFORD is a freelance teacher and pianist in the musical landscape of Beethoven’s world. —Jason Sifford based in Iowa City. He is also a frequent presenter and adjudicator and serves as composer/clinician for the Willis Music Company.

BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN SONATAS Sezi Seskir, fortepiano; Lucy Russell, violin; Acis APL29582 Total Time [69:33] ACISPRODUCTIONS.COM Seskir and Russell invite intentional listening, as we encounter these powerful works in an engaging performance on period instruments. The striking tone of the fortepiano, coupled with the rich warmth of the violin’s gut strings, draws the listener in with captivating colors. The Sonata in A Minor, Op. 23, features playful dialogue in the second movement, and one hears a seamless transfer of the melodic line between the performers clearly. The intensity in its final movement is captured by the duo with perfectly synchronized dynamic inflections. One highlight is the enchanting banter achieved in the “Spring” Sonata in F Major, Op. 24. Here, the instruments exchange melodic and accompanimental material, and this musical discourse is expertly depicted. The inquisitive, conversational opening of the Sonata in A Major, Op. 30, No. 1 yields to a soothing Adagio movement, followed by a delightful set of variations in which the duo affirms their commitment to stylistic authenticity. —Elaina Burns

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review by Paul Wyse Rough Ideas by the British American pianist Stephen Hough Bowen, of whom I admit I had never heard, and whose is a new collection of easily readable essays on a wide music I have enjoyed getting to know while reading range of topics from practice, performance, and repertoire, this book. to Catholicism and spirituality. This informative and provocative tome provides a fascinating look into the Hough’s extensive pages of classical music anecdotes are mind of one of today’s finest classical pianists. delightful, informative, and are exactly what one would expect in picking up this book to say, pass some time with A self-professed gay Catholic, Hough flits from the surface a cup of coffee. Such a reader might find himself surprised of one idea, to the depths of another, deftly turning from the at the turn of tone towards the end of the book, where Beatles to Sibelius, or from Herman Hesse to the demise of Mr. Hough takes the chance of entering into lengthy Bechstein. As one might expect from the title of his book, discussions of Catholicism (to which he converted from many of his essays are inconclusive and unresolved. The Protestantism in 1980), spirituality, assisted suicide, hospice reader is often left to ponder a salient question to which care, and abortion. One could argue these final 100 or so the author does not provide conclusive answers: this aspect pages stand out as disjunct from the previous 400, and I of Hough’s writing is sometimes frustrating, other admit there is a feeling that Mr. Hough’s thoughts on these times delicious. more difficult issues stand in contrast to the overarching lighthearted character of the book. Hough revels in recounting hilarious tales of mischief, like the time he was thrown out of Carnegie Hall for giggling He could not possibly have imagined in writing this book, during a concert (he giggles a lot!), or the time he nearly that it might be read in the throes of the COVID-19 missed a dress rehearsal with the New York Philharmonic pandemic. Houghs’s Rough Ideas, albeit unintentionally, due to a faulty alarm clock. These are the stories we all calls attention to the sad uncertainty of our musical lives in love to tell and hear over a beer at the pub with our old the near future. In this light, hilarious anecdotes of page- conservatory friends. turning mishaps, frustrating mid-concert cell phones, and terrifying memory slips come to the fore as elements that A lengthy section on practicing serves as an inspiring are sorely missing from our lives. Hough reminds us all of wakeup call to get back in the practice room during this the joys and fears of being a musician, and yes, he made time of quarantine. Hough offers useful guidance for me a bit nostalgic for the days of garlic-breathed page both amateurs and professionals on a variety of topics turners, rude concert goers, and sweaty palms. Thanks including fingering, pedaling, trilling, scales and arpeggios, to Mr. Hough for bringing all of these emotions front and metronome use, and managing your time and energy at center at a time when we miss them the most. (Farrar, the piano. It is a useful collection of tips for both students Straus and Giroux, paperback 424 pages, $20; other and teachers. formats available) In encyclopedic fashion, Hough fluently discusses many of the great works for piano and orchestra by Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Dvorak, as well as PAUL WYSE is a Steinway Artist and painter living a large chunk of solo repertoire from Chopin and Liszt, in Cleveland Ohio. His work hangs in the Smithsonian Institute, and his art case piano designs, including to Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc. He makes a point of “Pictures at an Exhibition” are a corner stone of introducing the reader to lesser-known composers as well, Steinway’s Crown Jewel collection. paulwyse.com taking extra time to explore the extensive repertoire of York

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I had the great pleasure and privilege of working with Nancy Bachus for eleven years at Keyboard Companion and Clavier Companion. In her role as an Associate Editor, she helped to find and prepare an article for every issue. During that time, I was fortunate to know her not just as a colleague, but as a friend, teacher, and advocate. Nancy was a highly dedicated, passionate teacher who worked tirelessly to bring the highest standards to her students, to her writing, and to the profession. She was a seemingly endless sources of ideas and inspiration; as I scroll through hundreds of e-mails that we exchanged A Tribute to there are so many memorable articles that emerge. Nancy led the Repertoire and Performance column in Nancy Bachus the magazine, and she did amazing work in several areas.

Notable among them were articles that organized and preserved great ideas from master teachers, drew It is inevitable that our profession will attention to important works (sometimes undiscovered), lose valued members of our community, and provided clear instructions on the “how” of playing but that does not make the loss any with artistry and musicianship. Several of these were significant cover stories that had a lasting impact easier. Our colleagues touch our lives and on our readers. influence our work and the work of those around us. Nancy Bachus was one of those Nancy was a joy to speak with, and I can’t recall a single conference encounter when she wasn’t bubbling impactful, cherished colleagues. A beloved over with ideas for the next articles and projects. She author, clinician, performer, and friend, had an enthusiasm that was infectious, and she was Nancy passed on September 8, 2020 after fully committed to helping to train and educate future generations of pianists in the great musical traditions a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. of the piano. I was very sad to learn of Nancy’s passing; she will be Nancy’s contributions to the Frances greatly missed. I will always admire her work, her ideas, Clark Center and its publications were and her commitment to helping make the world a better extensive. She served as an Associate place through music and the improvement of music teaching. Editor for Keyboard Companion, heading up the Repertoire Department, beginning – Pete Jutras in 2005. She continued as an Associate Editor for Clavier Companion, then joined Nancy was my treasured friend and colleague for decades. the editorial review board for the Piano One can’t talk about Nancy without mentioning her deep Magazine in January 2019, where she devotion and love for her family and friends. served until her death. The Piano Magazine In her work life, she shared her knowledge and passion remembers and honors our friend and for music with thousands of piano students, teachers, and pianists. Nancy’s work was inspirational as a colleague by sharing some tributes, contributing board member of the American Liszt Society, written by a few who knew her well. associate editor for the Piano Magazine, and author of popular books through Alfred Publishers.

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“Nancy more than delighted in sharing pianistic wisdom and inspired the desire to perform and teach with artistic confidence and musical intellect.”

The titles for her Spirit series of books were appropriately Nancy more than delighted in sharing pianistic wisdom named. She brought music alive! Nancy’s work was infused and inspired the desire to perform and teach with artistic with her interest in world affairs and history, and most of all, confidence and musical intellect. I remember so fondly the with her steadfast, humble, and joyful spirituality. warm smile and plentiful laughter that would radiate from her when “I got it!” The sincerity and authenticity with A graduate of Eastman School of Music, where she studied which she imparted knowledge and beauty was rare and with Eugene List, Nancy later studied with Fernando so very important to her being. Laires while preparing her Spirit series. Her teacher tree has cultural roots tracing her only four musical generations Her mastery and passion for teaching was palpable at every from Liszt and Chopin, five from Czerny, and six from lesson. I have literally no idea how she imparted such sincere Beethoven. Nancy eagerly gathered fruits from the various enthusiasm at 9:30 in the morning after having been up all branches of her teacher tree, and delighted in passing night, literally, creating her Spirit series and Exploring series. these fruits on to nourish our next musical generations. I would be greeted at my lessons by her wonderful husband She remarked of her sessions with Fernando: “The artistry Don, coffee in hand, preparing the students for their lessons Fernando managed to find in some of even the earliest level with a laugh and a joke. Nancy always was so easy with compositions astounded me.” The popularity of Nancy’s laughter and humor and integrated it as necessary to life books illuminates her remarkable flair for exploring, and piano! digesting, and framing information and impressions. Through her work and her own teachable spirit, Nancy I finally figured out that the titles of Nancy’s books are a made an indelible imprint on the music world and beautiful representation of her true self. The Spirit series secured a legacy we are so privileged to share. reflects her sincere and energetic spirit for music and spirited life force. Exploring the Classics is a testament to – Helen Smith Tarchalski Nancy’s engaging curiosity, exhaustive historical research, and exploration of human nature and its desire and need for beauty via music. I’ll never forget the day we met, as it was a pedagogical awakening and crucial turning point in my life as a I hope that these words portray the potency and poignancy performer and independent teacher. Most importantly, of such a treasured pedagogue, teacher, confidante, it was the commencement of a lifelong treasured and friend. I am so glad Nancy’s passions took her literally friendship with Nancy and her family. around the world and that she graciously shared her experiences and explorations with us. Shared mountain top listening experiences with Nancy are among my favorite memories. Zimerman, Schein, With tremendous gratitude, admiration for your artistry, Bronfman, Alan Walker and The Romantics Festival, and eternal friendship Nancy… MTNA conference—always accompanied by her beloved – Kim Bakkum Krispy Kreme doughnut in the car to get us to our destination!

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Many of Nancy Bachus’ friends followed her roller coaster bout with cancer. Her CaringBridge reports were at once Dear Nancy, hopeful and then followed by set-back. I was confident that she would win the battle, and was totally unprepared for I am lucky to have met you. I miss late night the news of her death. texting with you about teaching. I enjoyed My friendship with Nancy goes back to her senior year our chats over lunch and dinner about our in college when I was performing on that campus. The orchestra conductor arranged for me to hear her audition family lives and students’ progress. You program for Eastman. We worked together several helped me so much when I had to prepare hours that weekend, and, as the saying goes, “the rest my pedagogy course at The University of is history.” Nancy earned her masters at Eastman, and we remained friends for life. Our friendship was renewed Akron and encouraged me to write an article at conferences with a lunch or dinner together, and she which I never finished, regrettably. I enjoyed replaced me as an Associate Editor at Keyboard Companion. hanging out with you at conferences and Ours was a friendship that needed no renewal. It was meeting other vibrant people who admired stable, dependable, and always there. your work. You made me smile because you Nancy is on my mind each teaching day, for virtually all made other people happy! I was planning of my students are learning from one or another of her publications. These repertoire collections are so very to hear more of your life stories and talk valuable, for they include pieces difficult to find elsewhere. with you late at night while sharing a room The historical information she included in these volumes at future conferences. My daughter enjoyed contributes greatly to the student’s understanding of style and music history. She has made a significant studying with you, and watching you and contribution to the education of my students. my daughter interact made me realize I She has made a significant contribution to my life, should have gotten to know you better for her friendship is a cherished memory. sooner. We first met twenty years ago, but – Marvin Blickenstaff only recently did I learn so much from you. I really appreciate our friendship, and I will cherish the memories. Thank you so much for inspiring me and helping me to grow “Nancy is on my mind as a teacher and a mother. I love you, and I miss you dearly. each teaching day, for virtually – Mayumi Kikuchi all of my students are learning from one or another of her publications.”

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I was one of Nancy’s students in the late 1990s and early along to her own teacher, Eugene List, in New York City. 2000s, when she was working on the first books of her We remained close ever since that time. Her influence in my Spirit series and wearing cherry blossom lotion. My lesson musical life remains as strong as ever. I recorded eight CDs assignments often included pieces that she was considering for her Spirit series for Alfred Publications. Her insistence for the new books, and we worked through them quickly. on the highest standards of faithfulness to the demands of I remember hearing about her late nights of editing, the score and stylistic considerations were a learning long phone calls to California, computer headaches, and experience for me. Over the years we felt comfortable copyright laws. More importantly, I remember hearing enough to ask each other questions about repertoire or how about music history, the lives of the composers, the to solve various technical problems for our students. Often, development of the piano, and the never-ending quest we exchanged emails late into the night. Her energy and for technical mastery, as if it were breaking news. She was strength were indomitable. She reminded me that we genuinely interested in learning and, consequently, sharing. never get to the point where we know everything and that She would tell me about her own teachers and her own our studies are a lifelong journey of growth. piano study in such a way that I was influenced to chase that same spark. Her love of learning made her an irreplaceable teacher. I’m so thankful for the years that I knew Nancy and that her example inspired me to be a piano teacher to the next generation. And yes, we still use the Spirit books! “I’m so thankful for the – Amy Sauriol years that I knew Nancy and

Nancy Bachus was my friend, colleague, and neighbor, that her example inspired and she held my complete admiration from the moment I first met her in 2003. Her dedication to students, family, me to be a piano teacher to and community was both limitless and unwavering. Nancy had the unique ability to encourage and critique the next generation.” simultaneously, building the spirit while feeding the intellect. Her discipline and devotion to her work outside of the studio (the editing, articles, adjudication, travel, and presentations) was nothing short of astonishing. When I left Hudson, Ohio in 2019, Nancy remained steadfast in her friendship and kindness. Her emails, even during illness, were always jovial, supportive, and curious about my new life abroad. Though I now live far from the snowy road that joined us together by about a mile or two, I still reflect on our times together, forever in awe of all she gave to the world of music teaching. – Jerry Wong

I first met Nancy Bachus when I was a naïve high school student in Ohio. My teacher at the time recommended I study with someone who had more experience working with more advanced students. I had had almost no technical training, and Nancy transformed my playing within half a year with intensive study of scales, arpeggios, Hanon, and Dohnányi. I went on to study with her at Hiram College for my first two years of college, and she then passed me

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When she told me in 2019 that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I made every effort to see her. In January, I stopped in Ohio on the way from San Francisco to Europe to attend the memorial of another great personal mentor, Abbey Simon. I will never forget the moment she took me into “She reminded me… her library and told me to take anything I’d like. I felt a bit awkward and uncomfortable, as if I was stealing highly personal and beloved belongings. She sensed my discomfort our studies are and immediately put me at ease by handing me various books, saying “how about this, do you have it?” It was a personal and loving moment of sharing that I won’t forget. I hope to a lifelong journey continue her legacy and pass along as much of what I learned from her as possible. Isn’t this the best way to honor those whom we have loved and lost? of growth.”

– Daniel Glover

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC Keyboard Studies A century of student-centered learning guided by a tradition of excellence and a vision for the future.

DEGREE PROGRAMS VISIT Email our professors to schedule a BM in Performance (Piano) sample lesson or virtual visit. BM in Piano Pedagogy Contact information available at BME in Choral Music (Piano Concentration) baylor.edu/music/directory BM in Church Music (Piano Concentration) BA in Music (Performance) AUDITION PROCESS Secondary Major in Keyboard Music Performance 1. Complete the Baylor University MM in Performance (Piano) application at baylor.edu/gobaylor MM in Collaborative Piano 2. Complete and submit the School MM in Piano Pedagogy and Performance of Music application and your MM in Church Music (Piano Concentration) video recorded audition at DMA in Church Music (Piano Concentration) app.getacceptd.com/baylormusic Advanced Performers Certificate 3. Visit baylor.edu/music/admission Study available on harpsicord and carillon for dates and deadlines Baylor student in recital at Carnegie Hall

To learn about our faculty, visit baylor.edu/music/keyboard baylor.edu/music (254) 710-7681 [email protected]

Baylor University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status.

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REFLECT FRED KERN: A Pedagogical Giant

MARTHA HILLEY • President, Music Teachers National Association • Professor Emeritus, Butler School of Music, College of Fine Arts • Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas at Austin

You know, Fred and I got quite the reputation as the comic relief during the Saturday night banquets when Richard Chronister ran the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy (NCPP). We had some rare, wild, and wonderful times with that. But I tell you, there has never been a more dedicated teacher at a piano than R. Fred Kern. He was the kind of teacher that everyone wanted to study with, regardless of age or level of ability. I will miss him more than you can imagine.

Fred Kern could light up any room. Those who knew him—and even those who didn’t—couldn’t SAM HOLLAND help but smile anytime he was near. Dr. Kern, widely known as a clinician, author, teacher, • Algur H. Meadows Dean, Professor of Music, composer, and arranger, published numerous texts Southern Methodist University on piano pedagogy and wrote more than 500 Of all the music educators I’ve known over the years, arrangements and original pieces for piano solo. Fred Kern was truly one of the most (if not THE most) Although Fred Kern passed away in August, creative at the process of teaching. The only other 2020, his spark, creativity, wit, and inexhaustible individual that comes to mind in the same thought is Lynn Freeman Olson. As an educator, Fred was a true contributions to piano pedagogy will live on. virtuoso. He had an uncanny ability to understand a We asked a few of Dr. Kern’s closest colleagues student’s problems and then develop seemingly endless to write tributes to one of this generation’s creative approaches to solving them. In the learning greatest contributors to piano education. process, he and his students had great fun even as they The Piano Magazine thanks Martha Hilley, worked on serious things. He always seemed to utterly enjoy music, learning, and people—able to be serious, Sam Holland, and Pete Jutras for their memories but never take himself (or anyone for that matter) too of Dr. Kern. seriously. Fred was known mostly in the adult group piano world, but he could teach anyone successfully including children.

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Fred was the first individual to research and write a dissertation on the life and work of Frances Clark. Early PETE JUTRAS on, he recognized the breadth and depth of her contributions • Director, Hugh Hodges School of Music; to the field, in particular in the education of teachers. University of Georgia He was able to look beyond the celebrity culture that surrounded her in the 1970s and 1980s and seek to • Former Editor-in-Chief, Clavier Companion understand the profound philosophical and psychological Funny. Scratch that… Riotous underpinnings that she introduced to piano pedagogy Creative. Scratch that… Ingenious in her publications, workshops, and training programs. Whether they know it or not, most keyboard music Clever. Scratch that… Brilliant, educators since have been somehow shaped by Clark’s Penetrating, Scintillating teaching and Fred’s dissertation is a seminal study in understanding that influence. These are some of the words that come to mind when I remember Fred Kern. One could be around Fred for One personal incident involving Fred endeared him to a few minutes and easily discern that he was funny, me for all time. It happened right around the time I moved creative, and clever. When you got to know him over time, to Dallas to take over the piano pedagogy programs at however, you learned that there were much deeper levels SMU in the early 1990s. One day Fred showed up at my of these traits, and that this was truly a special person. office unannounced. He was driving a brand new Miata convertible and proceeded to take me all over town with Fred could instantly get to the core of things like nobody the top down showing me the best restaurants, the else, whether that was quickly seeing the easiest way to best dive bars, and every place I might want to shop. teach a chord progression, or astutely knowing exactly It was a great welcome—and wholly unexpected. how seven-year-old boys would react to a piece. His wit was always acerbic, but there was always a keen truth Sometime not long thereafter, Fred moved to a high-rise behind everything—he knew human nature and he knew condominium in the posh Turtle Creek neighborhood music, and he was able to expertly combine the two into of Dallas. From his balcony, there were expansive views pedagogy that was relevant and effective. His music and over the urban landscape of Dallas, including the SMU his materials speak directly to students, and his uncanny campus. He was fond of reminding me that every day ability to empathize with anyone lies at the heart of his he loved to get up in the morning and look down on Sam brilliant teaching. Holland. I often would look up in his direction and smile. Just knowing he was there was good for my heart… Fred could interject fun into any setting; I will never And I truly miss him. forget his side-splitting jokes about organists at funerals, and the Party Cat suit will remain one of the most legendary piano conference sights in the history of piano conferences. Fred understood the value of fun in keeping students (and everyone) engaged and motivated, and “I often would look up in his he could make anything entertaining. direction and smile. Just Fred, you are truly one of a kind, and you will be dearly missed. We are all so grateful, Fred, for your creative knowing he was there was ideas, your kindness and caring, and your true dedication good for my heart…And I truly to helping others enjoy music at the keyboard. Party Cat will live on, and you will always be loved and remembered. miss him.”

-SAM HOLLAND Bela Siki passed away on October 29, 2020 at the age of 97. A student of Ernst von Dohnanyi and Dinu Lipatti, he won the Geneva International Music Competition and taught many pianists including Anton Nel, Peter Mack, and Janet Lopinski.

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Reminiscences of Leon Fleisher (1928–2020)

by Fred Karpoff

The scene: Leon Fleisher’s fourth-floor studio, Tuesday afternoon, September 3, 1985, 88 degrees, “WAIT!!!” no air-conditioning. Thirty-five students line the And the most indelible: “The secret of rhythmic playing is walls of his studio. Some sit on the floor and others to be as late as possible while still playing in time.” lean against the sills of an open window. This first of many lessons, spread over thirty years, was a I’m filled with excitement and fear. It’s my first paradigm shift for me as a musician and artist. Incisive day as a conservatory student, about to begin rhythm, dramatic rests, bold contrasts, penetrating imagery…these only scratch the surface of Leon Fleisher’s my Master’s studies. Mr. Fleisher calls the roll gifts and inspiration. and asks for volunteers to play. No one moves Over the next six years, I had the pleasure of performing or, it seems, takes a breath. works by Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn, Mozart, and “I know what you’re thinking,” he says slowly. “You’re Brahms for Mr. Fleisher, and observing him present dozens thinking: what is the level? And where do I fit… into…all of other master lessons. Playing for Fleisher brought on a of that…I’m just looking for two individuals…who will… kind of euphoria—his intellect so penetrating, his wit so transcend…all of that…garbage.” quick, and his rhythm so infectious that afterward, I felt like I was flying. Once, after finishing the fugue of the “Eroica “Mr. Fleisher, I’ll play,” I say, before I can take it back. Variations” with Mr. Fleisher conducting and transmitting energy to me, I walked down Charles Street feeling a foot “Good—what will you play?” taller, like my feet weren’t touching the ground. “Beethoven, Opus 111.” In 2004, I attended a four-day workshop where Fleisher Almost immediately, my classmate, Stephen Prutsman, taught the last four Schubert Sonatas at Carnegie Hall. also volunteers to play. When Mr. Fleisher turns to me to Mr. Fleisher was just as spry as fifteen years earlier—he begin, I stall, saying I need a drink of water, so he asks continued to orate and sing with as much intensity as ever. Stephen. That leads to a nearly one-hour session on the I’d thought that my habit of demonstrating with singing first movement of Beethoven, Op. 7. (and demanding that my students do the same) originated in my role as a vocal and chamber coach. But seeing Then my turn comes. After performing the first movement Mr. Fleisher teach the 17-year-old Yuja Wang how to of Op. 111, a few of the things Fleisher says include: scat-sing brought back memories of playing the ‘big’ Haydn E-Flat Sonata for him (“Yumm; Pumm; pum- “You need to play the 32nds strongly as well, or they’ll pumm!”) and countless other examples. Without a doubt, get swallowed!” it was Mr. Fleisher’s unrestrained demonstrations that moved me to be unashamed about using my own mediocre “Puh-Pum///Puh-PUM!!” singing voice, boldly and often, in piano lessons.

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As Mr. Fleisher said to Ms. Wang, “If you can’t sing it, you It was my great good fortune to spend between three can’t really hear it, you can’t really play it.” I tell my students and four hours a day with Mr. Fleisher for six days, that singing compels us to verbalize our musical intentions. not only partaking in musical discourse, but also Producing sound with one’s own voice and immediately communing over meals and breaks. He was warm and evaluating it is very instructive; it engages multiple senses keenly attuned to issues of social justice, notably expressing and heightens one’s internal sense of rhythm. Singing and concerns about inequality and opportunity. He was rhythm are intertwined: melodic phrasing, articulation, solicitous of my video pedagogy work and asked probing, inflection, and declamation are all affected by our intentions. insightful questions about it, including how to best convey The more we risk being uninhibited by integrating singing the balance between music and technique in what we now into our practice, the clearer and more engaging our refer to as asynchronous learning. Early on his second day, playing becomes. I picked him up at his hotel and he promptly boomed, “I wish you would call me LEON!!” I was touched, but not One instance where Mr. Fleisher’s inspiration bore fruit surprised. After all, this was the same humble man who was during a stint as a visiting professor at Eastman, where exhorted us to “transcend all of that garbage” on the first I worked with two doctoral students from Belarus and Korea day I met him, and clearly had no use for pretense and on the Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos. Hoping to heighten hierarchy in human relationships. the synergy of their ensemble, I asked, “Do you ever scat?” They looked at me as if I had two heads until I realized my When I arrived at Peabody as a student, Mr. Fleisher’s error—as international students, they had only heard this assistant warned me against playing the Brahms D Minor word in another context…Once we cleared up the for him; he thought Fleisher’s ideas were too strong, that misunderstanding, they each sang the main theme. the maestro wouldn’t allow sufficient room for a student’s They discovered that they had different inflections of similar creative freedom. Now, after so many years as a phrases—articulations were longer or shorter, one’s rhythm professional, I found the opposite to be true during his moved more determinedly forward while the other’s had residency at Syracuse. He treated me as a colleague and more poise, etc. After experimenting, they came to a unified was eager to collaborate as equals. He shared his wealth approach that fit the stylistic, architectural, and musical of ideas freely while also allowing space for, and needs of the piece. This interaction surely had Leon accommodating, my own. Getting on the same page Fleisher’s influence stamped on it. with Mr. Fleisher was easy. A much greater challenge was playing with a student orchestra (including many I was delighted when Mr. Fleisher agreed to begin working freshmen playing in their first concert). with me again in 2013. Spending hours with him on the Schubert D Major Sonata reenergized me anew. Also, new The performance was engaging and life-affirming. dimensions had appeared in his playing and teaching. As I Anguished furor, tender intimacy, and determined passion told him, what especially thrilled me in the opening seconds were just some of what we and the orchestra experienced of his CD, “Two Hands” was his sound. (He looked at me together. I felt honored and grateful to have been a part of with humility and asked, “It’s better, yes?”) His approaches this event, and so pleased that the students were able to to sound and pedaling had become more nuanced and gain so much from a rich, exuberant week with Mr. Fleisher. inspired me to seek new possibilities. At one point, he shared how a colleague had referred to “Schnabel-izing” a passage Leon Fleisher’s impact on the teaching of music, in general, (a kind of stylized, vibrant rhythm) and I admitted to and the piano, in particular, is enormous. He is with me occasionally discussing “Fleisher-izing” with my students. always—when I play and in every lesson I teach—inspiring He said, “you do?” and then looked down and quietly me and others with imaginative ideas about rhythm, said, “oh, s---!” inflection, and the music’s meaning, urging us to take risks and never to compromise by taking the safe route. Subsequent sessions and communications led to a residency where he taught solo and chamber master classes and conducted me and Syracuse University’s Winner of the MTNA Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy orchestra in his signature piece, the Brahms D Minor Award and Professor of Piano at Syracuse University, Concerto. This occurred in October 2015. FRED KARPOFF is Artistic Producer of Entrada Piano, an online application that helps achieve three-dimensional, whole-body piano technique.

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DISCOVER LIFE IN MUSIC

“ Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” — HELEN KELLER by Jennifer Snow

With the approaching new year of 2021, it is time for This is an important ideal as we take the time to expand reflection about where we have been, where we are now, our knowledge of each of our students and the music and the path ahead. Our professional community has that has meaning for them. Our newest course, Unsung demonstrated extraordinary innovation and creativity Heroes in Piano Pedagogy, led by expert Dr. Leah Claiborne, throughout this year as we maintain piano education delves into the wonderful teaching repertoire by Black and music engagement for our students. The rapid composers. It provides pedagogical insights and rich transformation to online teaching and adjustments to discoveries of great music that has been largely ignored. safe in-person teaching ensured that students were able The opportunity to include teaching repertoire by a wider to continue their music learning. Most impressive has representation of composers is transformative. By building been the power of our professional community to support a shared experience through music, we foster a deeper each other. The Frances Clark Center Teacher Education understanding of each other and our unique perspectives. Webinars have been a gathering place to connect, share, and discover. These conversations inspire each As musicians, we are compelled to share music with others. of us to continue forward even in difficult times. Never Being active community contributors has never been more has community been so essential as we manage isolation profound. The feedback from the Center’s online concert and a longing for social engagement. series, Piano Stories on Stage, amplifies the need for the communal experience of a shared musical journey. With At the heart of community is a sense of belonging. There is the innovative NCKP 2021 Virtual Conference, we will a distinct need for connectivity, emotional awareness, and further discover meaningful ways to gather, connect, and creative expression. This is the time for musicians to expand share new ways to build our community. their impact. Through music, we have the opportunity to extend our community to be much more inclusive. Student- It is clear that the work of piano educators is having a centered learning takes on a deeper meaning as we consider profound impact on students and their families. Students how to reach a wider range of learners most effectively. have found encouraging lessons combined with a creative outlet for personal expression to be essential. Individual Recently, The Frances Clark Center has focused on practice time provides breaks from the long hours of substantive resources to support inclusive piano education. general educational “screen time” and group learning The Inclusive Piano Teaching course, led and designed by provides much needed peer interaction. It is inspiring expert Dr. Scott Price, provides enriching coursework, to witness the collaborative spirit of our professional resources, and strategies to help us more effectively reach community pulling together in mutual support. As we all students with special needs. For those that attended NCKP reflect on the overwhelming year we have endured, we 2019, it is impossible to forget the moving PedX talk by welcome 2021 grateful for our students, our service to one of Scott’s former students, Bryann Burgess. Bryann, music, our empowered community, and for the overarching an incredible young woman and piano teacher who transformational power of music. was born with Down Syndrome, stated powerfully at the beginning of her presentation, “Music does not discriminate, and neither should we.” By broadening our awareness and knowledge, we are better equipped to realize a more inclusive philosophy. We meet our students where they are, allowing us to support their personal growth more successfully in music. Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 85

AD INDEX The Piano Magazine: Clavier Companion (ISSN 1086-0819), (USPS 013-579) is published quarterly by The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, 90 Main Street, P.O. Box 651, Kingston, NJ Alfred 55 08528. Periodicals Postage Paid at Kingston, NJ, and at Arizona State University School of Music 23 additional mailing offices. Printed in USA. Baylor University Piano Studies 78 Butler University School of Music 19 Contents © 2020 by the Piano Magazine. All rights reserved. None Coastal Carolina University 13 of the contents of this magazine may be duplicated or reprinted without advance written permission from the publisher. The DePaul University 51 statements of writers and advertisers are not necessarily those of EPTA - Spain 17 the Piano Magazine, which reserves the right to refuse to print any Faber Piano Adventures Inside Back Cover submitted advertisement. FGCU Bower School of Music 29 Frances Clark Center: Collegiate Writing Contest 11 Subscriptions and Circulation Frances Clark Center: NCKP 61 Subscription rates are $36.00 for one year, $68.00 for two years, Frustrated Accompanist 38 $12.99 for single copies, $26.00 for individuals in groups of five or Ithaca College School of Music 54 more in the US. Rates include shipping. Kapok Press 11 Kawai America 27 Canadian subscription rates are $42.00 US funds for one year, $80.00 US funds for two years. Foreign subscription rates are KITS 33 $49.00 US funds for one year, $94.00 US funds for two years. Lisa Wold 71 All non-US subscriptions payable by Visa or Mastercard only. The Master’s University, School of Music, Piano Pedagogy Program 40 Claims for missing copies cannot be honored after 60 days. Michael G. Cunningham 35 Please allow a minimum of four weeks for a change of address Music for Young Children 73 to be processed. Music Teachers National Association 53 Musical Keys 67 Address subscription and change of address inquiries to: My Music Staff Inside Front Cover Piano Magazine, Frances Clark Center National Federation of Music Clubs 59 90 Main Street, P.O. Box 651 Neil A. Kjos 84 Kingston, NJ 08528 North Park University 46 Toll-free: 1-800-487-6188 Pace Piano Lee Roberts Music 31 [email protected] Piano Buyer 15 Advertising Piano Explorer 65 Address advertising correspondence to: Piano Magazine Marketplace 47 Sarah Jenkins Piano Street 26 [email protected] The RCM Certificate Program 43 Royal Conservatory of Music Back Cover Editorial Russell Hirshfield 63 Address letters to the editor, content, and editorial Rutgers University - Mason Gross School of the Arts 88 correspondence to: Scott Hiltzik 22 Pamela Pike Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition 57 [email protected] Sunderman Conservatory 34 Please visit our website at claviercompanion.com for manuscript TAMUC Music Department 69 submission guidelines. The publisher does not assume Top Music Market Place 79 responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photos, or University of Oklahoma 56 artwork. Unsolicited letters to the editor, articles, and other Waring International Piano Competition 39 editorial matter will be edited at the discretion of the editorial staff. Wittenberg University 9 The Piano Magazine reserves the right not to publish any material deemed inappropriate by the publisher.

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86 / PIANO MAGAZINE PIANO MAGAZINE 2020 VOLUME 12 ARTICLE INDEX

BOOK REVIEWS REPERTOIRE (ADVANCED) • Master Classes with Menahem Pressler by William Brown (Summer) • Beyond Debussy and Ravel: Discovering the Piano Music of Déodat de Séverac • Teaching Piano Pedagogy: A Guidebook for Training Effective Teachers (Spring) by Courtney Crappell (Spring) • Character Conundrum: Literary Lessons for Pianists in Schumann’s Kreisleriana • The Complete Pianist: From Healthy Technique to Natural Artistry (Summer) by Penelope Roskell (Autumn) • Chopin and the Keyboard: Extracts from Alan Walker’s Fryderyk Chopin: • Yoga in the Music Studio by Lesley S. McAllister (Autumn) A Life and Times (Autumn) • Northern Canvases: Canadian Piano Music from the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries (Winter) BUSINESS OF TEACHING • The Fantaisie-Impromptu’s Forgotten Companion: Ferdinand Hiller’s • Keeping a Studio Running Effectively (COVID-19) Hommage à Baroness d’Este (Autumn) • Teaching with My Music Staff During COVID-19 (COVID-19) • The Hidden Life of the Humble Arabesque (Spring) • The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Piano Duet Repertoire: John Corigliano’s Gazebo Dances for Piano Four Hands (Autumn) CREATIVITY • Voices Silenced: Piano Music by Composers Killed in the Holocaust (Summer) • Creating New Piano Music in the Digital Age (Winter) • The Gift of New Musical Experience: Creating a Studio Commissioning Project (Winter) REPERTOIRE (INTERMEDIATE) • Piano-a-thon: Paying it Forward Through the Power of Music (Summer) • Appropriate Arrangements (Spring) • Norwegian Folk Songs: Making Rhythmic Complexities Easy and Enjoyable (Autumn) DIVERSITY • Pupil Saver: A Friendly Tarantella (Autumn) • Becoming Weavers: Piano Students and their Commissioned Arrangements • Pupil Saver: A Quick and Patterned Crowd Pleaser (Summer) of Music by Under-Represented Women Composers (Winter) • Pupil Saver: Caribbean Blue (Spring) • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Ten Things You Can Do to Diversity • Pupil Saver: Intermezzo No. 1 (Winter) Your Studio (Autumn) • Repertoire Swaps: Achieving Diversity and Inclusion through an Effective Repertoire Selection Device (Autumn) TECHNOLOGY & ONLINE TEACHING • Ricardo Castro and Romantic Mexican Piano Music (Autumn) • bitKlavier: Expanding Musicianship Bit by Bit (Summer) • Building Diversity in Your Career (Winter) • Class Piano and Covid-19 (COVID-19) • Creating New Piano Music in the Digital Age (Winter) INTERVIEWS • Inclusive and Online for Students Who Are Special Learners (COVID-19) • An Asian Perspective on Study Abroad; Grace Chung, Gabriel Kwok, • Lessons from Teachers In China (COVID-19) and Albert Tiu (Summer) • Motivation and Performance in the Time of Covid-19 (Summer) • A Legacy of Touches from Rosina Lhévinne: An Interview with • Striving for Excellence in Online Piano Pedagogy: Characteristics of Expert Daniel Pollack (Autumn) Teachers Using the Video-Conferencing Format (COVID-19) • Anne-Marie McDermott: Artist, Leader, Innovator (Winter) • Smiling Faces and Adapted Approaches in Online Lessons • Creative Commemorations: How a Performer, Composer, and Teacher with Children (COVID-19) Celebrated Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary (Winter) • Supporting Our Students Who Are at Risk (COVID-19) • Delivering Pianos to the University of Memphis Students (COVID-19) • Teaching Advanced Students in Uncertain Times (COVID-19) • Engaging the Brain: Practice Tips from an Interview with Spencer Myer (Summer) • Teaching Group Classes Remotely (COVID-19) • Teaching Music Online: Past, Present, and Future Opportunities (COVID-19) PEDAGOGY & TECHNIQUE • Teaching Via Video: How to Still be “You!” (COVID-19) • A Life-Changing Decision (Summer) • The Benefits of Teaching Advanced Students Remotely (COVID-19) • A Tribute to Marvin Blickenstaff and His Pedagogical Legacy (Spring) • The New Normal of Piano Teaching (COVID-19) • Accommodating Student Needs and Learning Styles (Spring) • The Role of Technology in This Time of Crisis (COVID-19) • Decatastrophizing the Memory Lapse (Spring) • Thirty Years of Teaching with Technology: Was It Worth It? (Spring) • Don’t Make Me Use My Teacher Voice: How to Get Results Without • Tools for Group Piano Online (COVID-19) Getting Frustrated (Spring) • Zoom and Gloom: The Melbourne Experience of the Perils and Pleasures • Exploring the Tactile Foundation of Sight Playing (Summer) of the Online Advanced Piano Lesson (Winter) • Improvisation for Students of All Ages (Summer) • Improvisation: The Classical Way (Autumn) • Incorporating Metacognition into the Group Piano Curriculum (Spring) WELLNESS • Let Them Eat Cake! Teaching Piano Using Stacked Engagement Layers (Spring) • Checking In: Mindful Body Awareness for Pianists (Spring) • Magic in the Air (Summer) • Mental and Emotional Well-Being in the Time of COVID-19 (COVID-19) • Piano Lessons in the Dark: Understanding the Needs of Learners Who Are Blind • Physical Health and Wellness Considerations for Online Teaching (COVID-19) (Autumn) • Survival of the Resilient: One Pianist’s Journey (Autumn) • Slow Looking: Applications of Shari Tishman’s Observational Strategies • The Teacher’s Role in Hearing Health (Summer) in Piano Study (Spring) • Wellness in Applied Piano Teaching: A Two-Way Street (Winter) • Then and Now––A Retrospective of the New School for Music Study’s Sixty Years (Summer) • With or Without Your Music (Spring)

Winter Issue 2020–2021 Vol 12 No 5 / 87 EXPLORE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS by Leah Claiborne

In the Autumn issue of the Piano Magazine you wrote about I want to use this question to bring up an area in pedagogy how you overcame a racial stereotype about Indigenous that needs great attention. There are pieces that I have come culture in a piano method book. Until publishers create more across in my research that are fantastic pedagogical pieces diverse method books, can you provide other examples of how that use spirituals as a means to help the young student we can overcome such racial biases? progress. For example, Blanche Thomas’ 12 Plantation Songs in Easy Arrangements for Piano is a fabulous collection that all As educators, we hold so much power in the music we choose to pedagogues need to have in their studios (Schirmer). However, teach our students. When we decide which curriculum to use, it is now out of print. Many of us understand the importance we are deciding which music is most important in the canon to of young people having access to music by composers whose help our students progress. We also hold power in the music we own identity represents the folk idiom. If we, as pedagogues, choose not to use with our students. Pedagogues must use create a demand for folk music from publishers and create that innate power to decide what is culturally appropriate or spaces for living composers of color to address this issue, more inappropriate for our students. It is imperative that teachers diverse music will be available for our young students. We have do not blindly use method books and collections without also great power as teachers; it is time that we use this power to ignite addressing culturally insensitive material. change in our field. There are some pieces that I personally will not teach my students, however, I do not simply “skip” over the piece. I create a conversation LEAH CLAIBORNE promotes diversity in the arts by around why we skip a certain piece for its racial implications and championing piano music by Black composers in her I supplement it with different material that fulfills the same performances, research, and teaching. Dr. Claiborne received musical/technical/analytical concepts in a dignified way. I often her undergraduate degree from Manhattan School of Music, stress to students that as pianists, we experience a hands-on and her Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan. Dr. Claiborne serves learning opportunity to learn about other cultures, time periods, as coordinator of Keyboard Studies at the University of the and customs. With that opportunity comes an obligation to District of Columbia. represent those cultures, time periods, and customs in the most respectful, informed, and artistic way that we can. This is a concept that students of all ages understand and appreciate. There have been times where I wasn’t even aware of material in the method books that was perceived as offensive until a student or family member brought it to my attention. I don’t believe that any pedagogue needs to be an expert on religious or culturally insensitive materials, but we must be willing to learn from others. The more diverse our studios and networks are, the more expert we all become. If a teacher wants to continue to teach a piece that has racial implications, simply changing the title of the piece could be justifiable after a conversation is had as to why the title is being changed. Although not racially derived, I remember teaching a Halloween piece to a student and the next week I saw that the word “holy” was added in front of the word “Ghosts” along with religious pictures. I had a conversation with the family and thanked them for creating a safe space in their child’s musical studies that respected their own beliefs. Ultimately, we, as teachers, want to create dignified and respectful learning environments for our students who will then go out into the world with a greater appreciation and informed understanding for various cultures. Are there arrangements of world music (folk songs, etc.) from other cultures for beginning piano students?

88 / PIANO MAGAZINE Piano students are immersed in the magic of touch and sound… expansive, sensual, creative, and expressive! This tactile and multi-sensory world of music engages the individual in the here-and-now with a trajectory of growth. This describes a perception developmentally healthy and aware “situated learning focus self.” In contrast, digital online education strategies

can reduce the senses to miniature screens,

hemispheres left/right earbud sound, and mere thumbs on a discipline self esteem physical device. Keen perceptual awareness joy may give way to static mental confidence skill representations and dulled emotions. sensitivity The next generation is being affected by a technology juggernaut. We cannot let remote learning become remote relationships. Digital models offer no replacement of soul. The immediacy and richness of music study, the delayed gratification and expression daring stretches of skill development, along analysis with the power of your nurture can indeed bolster a generation. Together, we offer an antidote to technology, a celebration of

our humanity, and an adventurous path of creativity human development.

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