Scott Price is Assistant Professor of Piano, Piano Pedagogy, and Coordinator of Group Piano at the University of South Carolina. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Bowling Green State University, he has studied with Jane Magrath, Thomas Hecht and Virginia Marks. He has performed at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Conference, Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy, and has given performances and seminars at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas TX, the University of Oklahoma Seminar for Piano Teachers, the North Dakota State Music Teachers Convention, the South Carolina State Music Teachers Convention, and the Bowling Green State University Summer Music Institute. He has served as repetiteur with Lyric Opera Cleveland, and as music director for Lyric Opera Cleveland's Educational Outreach program. He has been a faculty member of the Cleveland Music School Settlement and the Bowling Green State University Creative Arts program. Dr. Price is Co-Editor of Piano Pedagogy Forum.
Scott Price
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
sprice@mozart.sc.edu
803.777.1870
In dealing with the subjects of science and music, it is logical to speak first about the art form that I love most - music. What is music? It is many things to many people - self-expression, life, catharsis, art, faith, religion, love, etc. Music is an experience that is redefined by every person at every point of contact. Music has the ability to draw disparate peoples and cultures together into a community that transcends verbal expression. In the musical arena, there can be no lies or deception. We see each other in our true spiritual forms and celebrate our diversity in a way that is impossible in the tangible world.
Music is an art form that allows us to transcend common existence and glimpse the possibilities of fulfilled potential - if only for a brief moment in sound. These marvelous experiences can arrive without warning and leave without explanation. The human musical intuition seeks validation in a world that speaks in concrete and technical language. Therefore, musicians often feel threatened by extra-musical disciplines that value painstaking methodology in the definition and evaluation of the intangible realm. Science explains and proves those things which we don't fully understand. It slowly brings the intangible world into tangible existence. It seeks to qualify the magic of the musical experience. Science takes a many-faceted musical experience of multi-dimensional proportions and creates from that experience a textbook diagram of forensic details. Many musicians valiantly fight against a discipline that attempts to bring our values and beliefs into a realm where they can be dissected and analyzed. If we know there is a scientific explanation to the "Eroica Symphony," is there any need for an actual experience of this work when it can be explained in a series of mathematical equations? If the mystical forces of music are explained through scientific method and technology, is there any need to practice and create new music when the world has explained the answer? Science is the enemy of art - or is it?
Rather, science is the quiet and attentive lover of art. The sciences of anatomy, architecture, geometry and chemistry all were present as Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The sciences of physics, chemistry and acoustics all are present in the creation of musical instruments. Audio and recording technology, electronics, and communications technology have given music a new voice in untold ways and venues. The sciences of medicine, psychology and sociology support the continuance of musical practice and education. In fact, all of the sciences support music in one way or another and allow musicians to give voice to the spirit in that transcendent magic known as the musical experience. In fighting science and new technology, we may find ourselves fighting against the forces that aid us in the continued practice of our art.
A curious thing has recently developed in the relationship between the sciences and music. Practitioners of the scientific disciplines are finding that musical experience has positive influence on the development of the mind and thinking processes. Scientists are finding that musical experience has positive influence on the health and healing of our fellow men. In many areas, the musical experience is increasingly considered to be a crucial component of human development, health, life, and well-being. In a very exciting and unexpected way, science is becoming the champion of the musical disciplines.
Arts funding and education continues to be undermined and undervalued in this country. The continuing debate over budget cuts in the National Endowment for the Arts is only one example. In a musical discipline where one must devote a major portion of life to the mastery of skill or knowledge, it is difficult to devote as much time to fund raising and arts support. The valiant championship of music by patrons, arts organizations, and private industry, have won great battles in the furtherance and support of the arts. Unfortunately, we live in times where the general public, donors, and taxpayers, are forced to think of their lives in terms of basic subsistence. The efforts of sponsors, and efforts of the scientific and musical communities, are not enough in the fight for musical existence in the present sociopolitical climate. When considering the exciting findings of the scientific community, and the continued excellence in musical achievement in this country, the general public still has to think of budgets and taxes. They must consider their own survival and often have one very fair and valid question for the musician: "Why is it important for me that you do what you do and why is it important that I support your work?"
It is to the credit, in large part, of the scientific community that we can now give to the general public, the answers that they demand in a timely and current language. The scientific disciplines are now able to help musicians voice the answers to concrete questions with carbon steel answers. What the musical community has always known through intuition, philosophy and education, the scientific community is now supporting with concrete data. When the general public asks us the question "Why?", we now have many answers, both steely and holistic, beginning with "Studies have shown..."
In a sense, a new and vitally intriguing energy is being pumped into our profession from an unexpected source. Our own discipline is being outfitted with a new exterior while suffering no damage to its integral core. We are already witnessing a quiet explosion of interest in the effect of music on the human condition. From one perspective, the new findings of the scientific community can be coupled with the knowledge and skill of the musical community creating new possibilities for education, performance and research.
So, the next time a new study arrives at conclusions that support music and music study, it may be worthwhile to extend a kind word of thanks and respect to a non-musician who explored the values and possibilities available in our world of magical experience. Perhaps it is also worthwhile to take a bit of time and return the favor by actively participating in their research. In a new millennium, music can be brought, as a necessary gift, to everyone without the need for a justification of governmental proportions. Perhaps we are moving quickly toward a time when music is conceived and practiced by everyone as part of a new quadrivium.
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|---|