Abstract
This research paper is based on artistry. It focuses on piano students in higher education. Data is collected from academic literature and a qualitative interview with a famous Finnish professor. The main focus of this report is exploring what is art and the artist and what methods could be used in order to develop musical taste and expression. Creativity, inspiration, talent, musicality, musical taste and the most important artistic values are the topics upon which the research is built.
1. Introduction
1.1 The context .
1.2 Learning piano in higher education in Finland. Sibelius Academy curriculum
2. Literature review
2.1 Priorities of learning a musical piece
2.2 The historical context of the piece
2.3 Repertoire
2.4 Practising musicality
2.5 Teacher’s goal
2.6 Giftedness
3. Theoretical Framework
4. Methods
4.1 Research question
4. 2 Qualitative interview
4.3 Data analysis
4.4 Ethical issues
5. Findings
Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna’s life history
5.1 First meeting with piano
5.2 Studies in Finland and abroad
5.3 Finding passion and returning to Finland
Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna’s teaching philosophy
5.4 Inner and outdoor inspiration
5.5 Importance of Talent
5.6 Chamber music
5.7 Approaches in teaching students of different ages
5.8 Development of Musical taste
5.9 Most important Artistic quality
5.10 Artistic crisis. How to help?
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
8. References
1. Introduction
This research is focused on artistry. What is art and how to become an artist? For me art is an emotional and philosophical expression which could last for the ages such as a sculpture or fade in seconds such as musical performance. In this research paper, I would like to concentrate on a particular art form: classical piano performance. I will analyze it more deeply from the piano teacher’s perspective. This report will be focused on how best to help students who are studying advanced piano performance from their first academic year through to their graduation. The main question which I will be raising is how best to guide students to find their own artistic way and help them to become strong and independent.
1.1 The context
In order to make this report I have analyzed the Finnish educational system, in particular the Sibelius Academy curriculum as well as interviewing a Finnish piano professor Erik. T. Tawaststjerna. Meanwhile, I have also studied academic literature on the above topics which I will outline in detail later in this review.
1.2 Learning piano in higher education in Finland. Sibelius Academy curriculum
The Finnish higher education system is unique compared with other music higher education systems around the world. In most of the higher education systems, the piano students study compulsory modules upon which they receive their credits and grades. In contrast to this, Sibelius Academy’s curriculum is based on lots of freedom of choice for piano student. Most important for pianists are the subjects connected with piano performance: instrumental lessons, chamber music, and the final Bachelor or Master exam. In addition to these, students who are studying the Master’s program have to develop research and writing skills. (Sibelius Academy curriculum 2015-2016).
Bachelor degree students (BDS) have to complete 130 out of 180 credits and Master degree students (MDS) 100 out of 150 credits from compulsory courses. That means that there are compulsory courses which each student must complete during studying years. However the rest of the credits are made up from courses of the students’ own choosing along with the choice of the academic year within which to complete them. Most courses are not graded. Instead they just need to be passed. This in turn encourages the student to be inspired by the subject itself rather than attending because of pressure from the teacher and the stress of upcoming tests. The Academy offers a large selection of different courses, from language courses (Finnish, English, German, Italian, French and so on) through to body mapping courses in which you can become more familiar with your body and help yourself to relax in a stressful situation (Sibelius Academy curriculum 2015-2016). Moreover since 2013 the Sibelius Academy has been joined together with Academy of Fine Arts and Theatre Academy and became a part of University of the Arts, which opened even more available courses connected with different Arts, not only musical studies. Although Finland has two national languages: Finnish and Swedish, almost all the courses are also available in English, thus creating equality of choice for both native and foreign students. It is this environment that inspired me to write this research.
2. Literature review
To go deeper into this research topic, I have reviewed different books and academic literature. There is a great amount of written material based on piano playing, teaching, learning and performing from both an artistic and technical perspective.
I chose to focus on specific topics and analyse them. The reason why I chose these references was that all of them place a great emphasis on artistic qualities not only from the performer’s perspective, but also from the teacher’s perspective.
For my research, I have focused on several specific points which I will outline in detail below: priorities of learning a musical piece, the historical context of the piece, repertoire, practicing musicality, teacher’s goal and giftedness.
2.1 Priorities of learning a musical piece
It is very important from the beginning to help your student set a goal for his or her practice, by explaining to them that the most important thing in order to master the instrument is not the technical challenges, but their musical and artistic approach. It is important to master the expression and emotions of a music performance (Davies, 1994; Gabrielsson & Juslin, 1996; Karlsson, 2008; Woody, 2000, 2003; McPhee, 2011). Moreover, mastering your technique to a professional level is possible only through musicality (Neuhaus, 1958; Kochevitsky, 1996). This school of thought developed during the nineteenth century. Franz Liszt stated that only imagination and the spirit of a composition can help the performer to find the correct movements (Kochevitsky, 1996). It is also important to lead your student to the understanding that in order for their performances to be heard, it is important that they have something to communicate through their playing (Neuhaus, 1958). From the very beginning of learning a new piece (even from the moment of sight reading) one has to use a great deal of imagination or interpretation (Gordon, 2001; Neuhaus, 1958). It is also very important to remember that there are three elements which could help a performer to reach a good level of artistic performance. The most important is the musical work itself, followed by the performer and the instrument (Neuhaus, 1958).
However nowadays, a time of advanced technology with amazing possibilities not only to record but also to edit each recording to perfection, the younger generation may forget about true musical values, such as sensitivity, and aspire to technical perfection rather than musical creativity and interesting interpretation (Halam & Gaunt 2012; Robert 2005, Gonzales- Moreno, 2014). That is why it is so important to speak with your students about true musical values and inspire them to listen not only to recordings, but also live music concerts.
2.2 The historical context of the piece
It is very important to discuss with your student not only the musical and technical side of the musical work, but also analyze its structure, historical context as well as when and for which instrument it was written. For example one can compare the keyboard used nowadays with the one upon which the composer was composing during his or her lifetime. In Kochevitsky’s (1996) book one can find a concentrated history of keyboard evolution and the factors that led to its development i.e., the space in which the piano was being played, the type of public for which it was being played and how composers of different eras reacted to these changes. This knowledge will immediately change your students’ approach not only to interpretation, but also their touch and sound quality. And that is how we come to another essential point – the importance of wide repertoire range.
2.3 Repertoire
It is very important to keep learning as many pieces as possible from different epochs to understand the abovementioned points not only in theory, but also in practice. It takes a lot of time to learn new repertoire to performance standard. However every musician should be ready to play a concert at short notice (Gordon, 2001). Gordon (2001) suggests that one should have a repertoire of pieces that one has perfected and is comfortable performing in any situation. Meanwhile it also provides more security and pleasure to have pieces in your repertoire which you feel comfortable with (Gordon, 2001).
It is also important to choose good quality pieces that interest the student and inspire daily practice. However it is important to remember that even though the choice of the repertoire plays a big role, it is not enough to choose just good pieces. These pieces have to fit the student’s needs, their strengths or be useful in order to develop his or her weak sides. In other words, when choosing the repertoire one has to select interesting pieces, however they have to be suitable, likable and/or challenging for the performer. (Townsend, 2011)
2.4 Practicing musicality
After you have helped your student to choose a repertoire, discussed the historical context of the piece and settled on a preliminary interpretation, the question then arises – how to practice all of this? One cannot make an isolated sound more ugly or beautiful, only quieter or louder (Merrick, 1968), so how do we make each sound special and individual? It is not only the power of imagination, but also the timing, pedaling, articulation and many other factors (Merrick, 1968; Gabrielsson, 1988, Woody, 2003).
The improvement of your musical skills and imagination also can help activities beyond the piano, such as singing and conducting (Kochevitsky, 1996; Gordon, 2001; Merrick, 1968; Neuhaus, 1958). Singing lessons teach the concept of music’s elastic melodic quality which is so important in piano music. As a conductor, one can look at a piece from outside and hear the music not only as a performer, but also as a listener.
2.5 Teacher’s goal
A teacher’s most important task is to teach the student to acquire the independence to deal with the technical and musical challenges themselves (Neuhaus, 1958; McPherson, 2005). When embarking on a musical career the student must be able to master the skills of interpretation and technique without reliance on their teacher. It is important to teach your student how to practice not only physical, technical and musical aspects, but also to analyze metacognition (what does your student think about while playing) (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011)
Also, it is very helpful to use metaphors or words which create atmosphere instead of giving exact instructions. In this way the student can find his or her own touch and interpretation (Tait, 1992; Arrais & Rodrigues, 2007; Barten, 1998; Froehlich & Cattley, 1991; Persson, 1996; Watson, 2008). It is a good way to guide your student aurally (Dickey, 1992; Ebie, 2004; Karlsson & Juslin, 2008) or by discussing and focusing on the student’s previously experienced emotions, such as happy or sad moments (Gabrielson & Juslin, 1996; Juslin, 2003; Sloboda, 1996; Woody 2000).
Another helpful tool is to teach the student to work on self-evaluation. For example you can record your student playing and afterwards listen together to analyze the recording. Instead of the teacher offering their own suggestions straight away, first allow the student to critically reflect on what they hear and give themselves feedback (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011).
Although the biggest effort and focus has to be musicality, creativity and artistry, it is also important to make your student understand that to achieve this requires daily practice and hard work not only by finding the muse, by which I mean the guiding inspiration behind their interpretation, but also working on technical tasks (Lehmann, 1997, McPhee, 2011, McPherson, 2005).
2.6 Giftedness
While all the above mentioned points are important to help your student, a teacher might question why some students are more successful, learn faster and are more creative than others even though they receive the same education. Does innate giftedness and talent play a big role in artistic musical performance?
First of all, it is important to note that there are different types of giftedness, such as phenomenal memory, perfect pitch, ability to sight read music quickly and precisely, compose, improvise and so on. While some of these might be easier for some students other tasks might be more challenging (Winner & Martino, 2000).
However all these skills can also be learned and practiced until a brilliant level is achieved. Extended periods of practice will show the results (Sloboda, 1996; Howe & Davidson, & Sloboda, 1998). There are many techniques which enable a student to master one or other skill. Everyone is born with a great chance to become great musician due to hard work, goals. It is necessary to develop gift, but hard work can’t replace it (Winner & Martino, 2000).
According to Hayes (1981) and Simonton (1991), all famous composers spend many years mastering, practicing and improving their talents. To summaries, giftedness and talent can be helpful at the beginning of musical studies, however after many years of good, productive practice, one can achieve and master anything he or she wishes.
3. Theoretical Framework
In this chapter I would like to focus on creativity. Csikszentmihalyi, (1997) explains creativity as an action which leads humans to progress as well as making peoples’ lives fuller and more satisfying. The main questions which I will be raising in this section are: What is creativity, how does one become creative, and how can we develop our creativity?
Before going deeper into the topic, first let us look closer at Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his interpretation of creativity.
Csikszentmihalyi is a famous Hungarian psychologist. He is not only professor in Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University, but also author of many books, articles or book chapters. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1997), creativity is the process by which the symbolic domain in the culture is changed. It is only possible by focusing on the problems at hand. Creativity comes from curiosity, interest in finding the solution to the problem or making something different and finding new ways of looking at problems and their solutions.
In order to become creative one has to search for different ways of being able to reach his or her goal by adapting to different situations and managing to work with whatever is needed.
Csikszentmihalyi (1997) defines the creative process in five steps: Preparation, period of incubation, insight, evaluation and elaboration.
Preparation is the process of searching for and finding sources which would awaken interest and curiosity. Period of incubation is the time to try ideas from different angles enabling you to solve a problem. This is the most creative part of the process and could last from a few hours up to months or longer. Here one has the space to try any combination of ideas, even the most unsuitable, that might spark inspiration to find a suitable solution. Insight is the time when all the ideas finally come together. Evaluation is an important step as here is when one analyses the decisions which have been made. It is an emotionally difficult part of the process as you have to think critically which ideas are valuable and which are better discarded. Elaboration is the last step in the creative process. This stage takes the most time and requires the hardest work. This is the period of time when your ideas come to fruition. The difficulty is that ideas which are good theoretically may not work practically. Even if they do work practically, very often they require lots of work to be realised.
Csikszentmihalyi, (1997) raises more questions such as how can we develop creativity? He proposes some ideas on how to achieve this as, according to Csikszentmihalyi (1997), we all are potentially creative, even though the presence of laziness and the inability to manage energy leads us to become less inspired and creative. However this could be remedied if we try the following methods:
1) Trying to find something surprising every day
2) Try yourself to surprise someone every day
3) Write down and analyze things which were surprising for you
4) Find something that is of interest to you and follow it
These steps are very easy and they could be the key to a satisfying and more interesting life. If we aim to become more creative in our everyday life, it will be easier to apply this creativity to our working surroundings
4. Methods
This is a qualitative case study, which means that the subject matter is analysed and oriented to one professor’s experience (Bresler & Stake, 1991). This goal of such research is to achieve a deep understanding of a specific case rather than to compare how it differs from others (Bresler & Stake, 1991). It is field oriented, the context is well studied and the interviewee was chosen from the research context (Bresler & Stake, 1991). This report is descriptive- words are the main tools used to illustrate the presentation. (Bresler & Stake, 1991). In order to prepare for the interviews I was following the recommendations of Tellis (1997) – I prepared the questions of each interview and sent them to my interviewee (Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna) well in advance of our meetings. Tellis (1997) also recommended doing test interviews before doing the actual one. Unfortunately because of lack of time I had to skip this step. However knowing this well in advance I chose a person who is very experienced in giving interviews and is also very familiar to me. I knew that I would feel comfortable and would be able to not only follow the planned questioner, but also follow the interesting ideas which I rightly assumed would arise in the dialogue.
4.1 Research question
My research questions are:
1. How can a piano teacher in higher education inspire students to become more creative and artistic?
2. Which teaching methods could be used in order to raise the student’s interest in finding their own musical language and interpretation?
This research will focus on methods which teachers could use in order to direct their students in higher education to become professional piano performers with their own individual creative approach.
4. 2 Qualitative interview
To generate my data I chose to have qualitative interviews with a Finnish piano professor from the Sibelius Academy. I selected Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna, a famous piano professor who is currently teaching at the Sibelius Academy. The reason I chose to interview him was not only because he is a great musician, but also because he has a huge amount of experience teaching piano students of various different nationalities and students studying music to a high artistic level. Moreover, professor Tawaststjerna travels around the world giving master-classes and serving as a jury member in competitions.
In order to prepare for the interview, I chose Seidman (2006) The three-interviews series. The idea of this series is based on going deeper into the interviewee’s history and experience. During the first interview Seidman suggests concentrating on the subject’s life history and asking about the interviewee’s personal experience. In the second interview, he suggests delving into specific details, and in the last interview, analyzing all the information accumulated as well as exploring the solutions found in the process. I used the above-mentioned interviewing technique and modified it into two interviews (about forty-five minutes each). The reasons I chose to modify this was lack of time and my interest in analyzing collected material from my own perspective.
In my first interview I focused on piano music from a performer’s point of view. I was also interested in professor Tawaststjerna’s personal history from early childhood until present. In my second interview I focused on the professor’s teaching career, looking more closely at specific details of his teaching experience.
5. Findings
Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna’s life history
5.1 First meeting with the piano
Our first interview meeting started with Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna’s memories of his first encounters with the piano and classical music. The professor comes from a musical family. He used to hear live piano music from a very early age and he got his first piano lessons from his father Erik W. Tawaststjerna. The senior professor Tawaststjerna was not only a pianist, pedagogue, and music critic, but also one of the most famous Finnish musicologists of his generation, and the writer of what many consider the definitive biography of Jean Sibelius. Thanks to his father, the young Erik T. Tawaststjerna heard such musicians as the pianists Sviatoslav Richter (whom Tawaststjerna heard live at age of 8), Artur Rubinstein, and Emil Gilels. He also got to know the music of Chopin, Sibelius, Beethoven and many other composers who have been an inspiration to him all his life. According to professor Tawaststjerna, his father had a huge influence on his taste and love of classical music.
5.2 Studies in Finland and abroad
Even though his first encounter with the piano and classical music was in Finland, the professor has amassed musical knowledge from around the world. He studied in the following locations: Finland (private lessons with prof. Tapani Valsta), Moscow (private lessons in the Moscow Conservatory with Genrietta Mirvis), Vienna Academy of Music (Prof. Dieter Weber), New York Juilliard School (Sascha Gorodnitzki), and New York University (Doctoral degree under the guidance of Eugene List).
When Erik T. Tawaststjerna was between 15 and 17 years old he travelled regularly to Moscow for around one month at a time to have private piano lessons. There he developed not only his musical ideas, but also his technical skills. His teacher, Genrietta Mirvis, was strict and picky, thus inspiring the young Tawaststjerna to practice a lot every day. In addition to this, he also attended excellent concerts and performances. In Moscow Tawaststjerna had the opportunity to see performances at the Bolshoi Theater, numerous concerts of great pianists such as Richter, Gilels as well as the great cellist Rostropovich. He also could listen to the Tchaikovsky Competition and other spectacular cultural happenings. After his studies in Russia, Tawaststjerna continued his studies at the Vienna Academy of Music in Austria. After building a good technical background in Moscow, his Viennese teacher, Dieter Weber, gave him many new ideas concerning the interpretation of music. In Vienna he also attended solfege and theory classes and sang in the Vienna Academy choir. These activities, combined with piano lessons, opened up his inner musical voice. The main difference between these two experiences was the approach to teaching. In Russia, the teacher gave strict instructions, e.g. more legato, less pedal etc., while in Austria, the teacher encouraged his students to think for themselves about how they wanted the music to sound.
His final formal studies were in New York, first at the Juilliard School, and then at New York University. At this final stage of his studies, he received piano lessons, did a fair amount of academic work, and got ready for life as a professional independent musician. He then came back to Finland to share his knowledge with students in his home country.
According to Tawaststjerna, through his teaching he is sharing the knowledge he gained during his own studying time. Furthermore, he is all the time searching for new ways to develop his own methods of teaching.
5.3 Finding passion and returning to Finland
In 1982 the professor was invited to teach at the Sibelius Academy as a lecturer of piano and chamber music and later, in 1986, he became professor of piano playing. The professor’s decision to come back to Finland originated not only in the wish to take part in the Sibelius Academy’s development, but also in the opportunity to perform solo and chamber concerts and to perform with an orchestra. Nowadays the professor still teaches at the Sibelius Academy, but also gives master classes, performs around the world, and serves as a jury member in international competitions.
Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna’s teaching philosophy
5.4 Inner and outer inspiration
According to prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna inspiration is one of the biggest motivations and there are two kinds of inspiration: an inner and outer. He says that musicians usually tend to forget that both are equally important, and that it is not enough to practice the piano extensively. It is also important to read books, go to art museums, listen to recordings, attend concerts and widen your musical world from different sources.
To help a student to build up inner motivation, the professor suggests to search together with the student all of the beautiful things that are in the music. This happens when you are not guiding the student on technical aspects alone but when you are searching together for the emotions and deeper meanings of a musical work. One more inspiring and motivating aspect is encouragement. When the students believe in themselves, they are motivated and this builds their inner inspiration. Meanwhile outer inspiration is easier to find. It could be anything from the student’s own performance experience (concert, exam, competition) to recordings, books or attending other performances.
5.5 Importance of Talent
When it comes to talent, it is the professor’s opinion that while it plays an important role in each musician’s life, it is not everything. If a musician chooses to dedicate his/her life to music and gets accepted to an institution like the Sibelius Academy, he or she must have at least some talent. There are different elements of talent, some of which are very personal and hard to learn, such as sensitivity, stage presence, or deep musical understanding. There are many others, however, which can be practiced and developed until perfection, for example sight reading.
5.6 Chamber music
Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna has played chamber music repertoire extensively, mostly duos with string players but also trios, quintets, and piano duets. Together with the famous Finnish cellist Arto Noras, Tawaststjerna played all the Beethoven cello sonatas. The professor maintains that experience with chamber music is necessary for each musician because through playing chamber music one learns how to listen and respond to another musical line, as well as how to understand timing and how to work on balance of sounds. All of these skills are important even when you are playing solo. Chamber music is included in the Sibelius Academy curriculum and to some extent it should be a part of each musician’s life.
5.7 Approaches in teaching students of different ages
Tawaststjerna teaches students of very different ages, from bachelor degree students, who have just come from high school, to doctoral students, who have been already studying for many years in various music institutions. According to him, students of different ages have different knowledge and needs. For example, when guiding younger students Tawaststjerna seeks to open them up musically, helping them to develop a more courageous approach and personality, as well as providing them with the basic elements of musical language and piano technique, such as phrasing, memorising, preparation of jumps etc. With more experienced, older students he can discuss philosophical ideas and interpretation. It is important to meet each student’s needs.
5.8 Development of musical taste
Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna teaches not only students at different ages, but he is also working with students of different nationalities. Along with Finnish students, there are students from Asia, USA, Russia and different parts of Europe. The professor says that it is important to find the key for each student in order to best help him or her to develop. Usually each student has a specific field in which he or she is most interested. It can be, for example, contemporary music. As the professor states “Then I am also getting interested in that and we are together searching for new pieces. I am trying to respond to each personality, but also trying to remind that there are also other fields, other than the one which they are interested in”. That is how musical taste is developing: by widening up your sphere of interests. Although it is good to be passionate about something, it is also important not to forget that there are other beautiful and inspiring things around.
Also, in order to help students to develop their musical taste the professor often recommends listening to interesting concerts. At times he listens and discusses recordings together with the student. According to Tawaststjerna it is important not only to share with students the best performances of greatest masters, but also analyze what makes them so special and unique.
5.9 Most important artistic quality
After listening to hundreds of musical performances, from the brilliant to the mediocre, and after analysing what is the difference between a good and a fantastic performance, Tawaststjerna came to the conclusion that one of the most important artistic qualities is the use of time. One could say that a performer has to find the golden balance between a metronomic, precise tempo and a totally free, improvised pulse.
5.10 Artistic crisis. How to help?
From teaching experience Erik T. Tawaststjerna believes that very often an artistic crisis is connected to a personal crisis. He wishes that in such situations his students would come and speak to him openly. Then it will be easier to find solutions together with the student. Usually the best way for the teacher to help in these situations is to help the student to rebuild his or her self-esteem. That could be done by building up the experience of a successful performance, first at a lesson, then at a group lesson and finally in the concert hall. This, however, will be a long process and it can be accomplished only through diligent and hard work.
6. Discussion
This chapter is dedicated to a discussion of this study’s findings together with other research written in this area.
In this section I will summarize techniques which answer my research questions based on collected material. My research questions are as follows:
1. How can a piano teacher in higher education inspire students to become more creative and artistic?
2. Which teaching methods could be used in order to raise the student’s interest in finding their own musical
language and interpretation?
Even though these questions are broad, I will answer from both from my own perspective and the collected data from my interview with Professor Tawaststjerna and relevant literature.
Based on my research I have come to the conclusion that the most important task for the teacher is to understand that there are many ways of guiding your student to become an artist and not to limit yourself to only a few. Moreover it is important to be innovative and find new ideas not only from different literary sources, but by creating new methods yourself. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1997), searching for new solutions also helps not only to develop creativity but also keeps one interested in developing and progressing. Another difficulty is to find the key for each student’s development during individual lessons according to their age, interests and needs. What is suitable for one student can be most unsuitable for another. Different aged students require different knowledge and teaching approaches. It was very well said by Professor Tawaststjerna that the teacher must motivate students by going deep into some specific field, which is of interest to the student while at the same time expanding the student’s knowledge by introducing new repertoire and composers. In other words, it is good to remind your students that there are very many inspiring music masterpieces around which can not only widen up the student’s knowledge, but also become a new inspiration.
From my literature review I would like to outline ideas by Neuhaus (1958) and McPherson, (2005) which I found to be useful guides for teaching and learning. Our task as teachers is to help each student to become an independent, strong personality. We have to enable our students to find their own personal touch, interpretation, repertoire, musical and technical solutions rather than only repeating what was said by the teacher. An artist needs not only to be well educated technically and able to create musical interpretations with intelligence and fine taste, but they must also be brave enough to look at music differently, search for new ideas in music despite it being performed a certain way for centuries. However, that being said, must still respect the score and its composer. As stated by Neuhaus (1958) there are “three fundamental elements: the work performed (the music), the performer and the instrument. Only a complete mastery of these three elements (and first of all, the music) can ensure a good artistic performance.”
I would like to outline also the importance of chamber music. Based on my own experience and my collected data, I have come to the conclusion that participation in chamber ensemble is essential to the student’s development as a musician. As stated by Professor Tawaststjerna during our interview “There are many great things which a pianist can learn from participating in a chamber ensemble that will be very useful for his or her solo playing, such as the feeling of balance, listening and learning from other musicians.” Meanwhile while playing chamber music the Period of incubation, which Csikszentmihalyi, (1997) outlines as one of the most innovative part of creative process, expanded as there are more people, more ideas and more space to experiment. At the same time one sees what kind of difficulties other musicians encounter and how they overcome them. Moreover, one hears the sound of a different instrument and tries to communicate with them or imitate them by finding a similar touch and sound on the piano. Chamber music is also helpful to get a feeling in space (balance) and feeling in time.
7. Conclusion
In the final chapter of this research paper I would like to answer the research question – How can piano teachers in higher education guide their students to become an artist? – based on collected data.
Piano teachers in higher education could guide their students to become an artist by teaching them creativity and the ability to get inspiration from different sources. It is important to organize one’s working hours so that there is not only practicing time, but also time for listening, reading, communicating, and so on. Life consists also of other things than music, and one can say that the more one has experienced in life the more one can probably express in the arts. Meanwhile it is also important to emphasize the importance of daily practice and to focus on technical development.
An artist is a person who is not only well educated in his or her field, but also a courageous personality who is not afraid to face difficulties, or to seek new knowledge and ideas. A musician’s journey starts from the first day with the instrument right through to the last sound.
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9. Appendices
First interview questions
1) Please tell me about your earliest memories of the piano.
Are there any particular childhood events that motivated you to pursue music?
2) You are coming from a musical family, how do you think your family inspired you to become a musician?
3) What does it mean for you to be an artist?
4) Do you remember how your musical taste has changed over the years and did something affect that?
5) You were studying in Helsinki, Vienna and New York, in world famous institutions with exceptional piano teachers. How did your teachers or the institutions guide you to become an artist?
6) How did you guide yourself and how did other things like recordings, concerts, lectures, books and similar sources help you?
7) During your studies abroad you had the possibility to hear world famous pianists, could you please tell about a few of them who made the biggest impression on you? Did those performances affect your musical goal and/or practicing.
8) Do you remember the time, maybe even a specific event or time period when you started to search your own musical personality? In other words, when did you realize that you are developing from a student to an artist? What inspired you to start this journey?
9) What kind of challenges did you have to overcome to become an artist? Did you have any doubts?
10) What kind of advice about searching your inner artist would you give to yourself as a youngster?
11) Could you please tell about your chamber music experience? How did that affect your playing and do you think it is important for every musician to play chamber music?
Second interview questions
1) When did you start teaching and why?
2) How do you meet the needs of several very different students?
3) How does your approach differ with students of different ages (from 19 to 28 years old)?
4) How is your teaching similar to or different from your former teachers?
5) What does it mean to you to teach students to become artists?
Do you think artistic and musical qualities are innate or teachable?
6) How do you help your piano students become artists?
7) How do you help your students to develop their musical taste?
8) In your opinion, what is a professional crisis? How do you help your students to overcome it?
While playing chamber music, each member has to be aware of these two things all the time, because if one plays too loud or too soft or suddenly speeds up or slows down, the ensemble might collapse. Once you master these two feelings with your chamber partners you also start to apply it in your solo repertoire which leads you to get more rich and mature interpretation. From my perspective I also would like to outline that it is useful to play chamber music not only with various instrumentalists, but also with singers. Each pianist spends hours practicing so that their melodies are ‘singing’, a task that is difficult to achieve with piano hammers. However one can learn a lot by playing with singers, analyzing how they phrase their melodies.
Another important point which came up during my interview with Professor Tawaststjerna is that the teacher’s task is not only to teach the student how to play, read and interpret music, but also to be aware that another element of success is psychological well-being. The teacher has to help their student to believe in themselves and trust their own ideas. In order to keep the student inspired and creative, it is important to support and motivate them. This is achieved by not only providing constructive criticism, but also by focusing on positive elements of their playing. This will ensure a good atmosphere and enthusiasm on the part of the student and hopefully also cultivate a genuine love for their craft. Similar ideas have been written by Csikszentmihalyi (1997). According to him, it is important to be positive about the creative process itself because that is what keeps us motivated and how we develop our creativity. As he states “The first step toward a more creative life is the cultivation of curiosity and interest, that is, the allocation of attention to things for their own sake.<…> Unpleasant thoughts flash into awareness, forgotten regrets resurface, and we become depressed. Taking refuge in passive entertainment keeps chaos temporarily at bay, but the attention it absorbs gets wasted. On the other hand, when we learn to enjoy using our latent creative energy, we not only avoid depression but also increase the complexity of our capacities to relate to the world.” At the end of this chapter I would like to emphasize the most important artistic quality which I came up based on my research is the feeling of time. Professor Tawaststjerna has heard many performances from school age students up to the greatest musicians. He outlined that the difference between a good and excellent performance is feeling of time. By “feeling of time” I mean a good grasp of rhythmic features of the work and a clear understanding of the overall atmosphere. This is great advice to every musician and challenging at the same time. How does one practice and develop a feeling of time? Here we have to be creative and inventive in practice methods and include practicing not only in front of piano, but also working on our musicality. Here are some techniques for developing a better feeling of time. First of all it would be very useful to sing or conduct your pieces (Kochevitsky, 1996; Gordon, 2001; Merrick, 1968; Neuhaus, 1958). In this way the musician is practicing away from the piano but at the same time is able to see the piece in their mind’s eye and plan how it should ultimately sound. In other words, by singing or conducting the piece the student can make a plan of the entire piece, rather than concentrating on small parts. Another way to develop this feeling of time is to record your student, listen and analyze it together, giving your student a chance to experience his or her performance from a listener’s perspective. In that situation the student can hear and give him or herself feedback (McPherson, & Zimmerman, 2011). This time the student can observe his or her performance objectively and hear how they deal with timing and the general plan of the piece.
In this research different methods of teaching were discussed and it is advisable to use a mixture of all of them as well as to search for and create new ones. In order to guide your student to an independent artistic life, the teacher has to be a good example of creativity in action, always following new ideas and learning new things. To have a teacher who provides this example will always be inspiring and motivating.
4.3 Data analysis
In order to collect the information from the interviews correctly I made an audio recording of the interviews (with the permission of the professor). After the interviews were completed, I transcribed them in parts to ensure that I did not miss any important facts or ideas. My transcribing method was thematic analysis which involves encoding the qualitative information into themes (Boyatzis, 1998). I have taken themes which were discussed during the interviews and collected the information according to them.
4.4 Ethical issues
Before interviewing the professor, I provided him with a consent form allowing him to decide whether or not his name could be published. Furthermore, he had the option to discontinue his participation in my project at any time. Before the final submission of this report, Prof. Tawaststjerna received the complete text and has had the chance to read and modify it. With the professor’s permission I have chosen not to hide his identity because professor Tawaststjerna is a widely known piano professor and there are many young pianists who are interested to hear advice from such an experienced musician. I knew that such an approach poses some risks. For example when a person knows that their name will be published they might be less open about their experience or too careful with their words to the point of banality. Furthermore they might change their mind about participating in project. However I still decided to take this risk in order to provide the readers with an interesting person whose ideas and experience would be worth reading.
All the data collected during my interviews was destroyed after the completion of my research.
The context
1. Introduction
2. Literature review
2.4 -2.6
3. Theoretical Framework
4. Methods
5. Findings
5. 4-5.6
5.7-5.10
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
8. References
8. References
9. Appendices
6. Discussion