Scott Price is Assistant Professor of Piano, Piano Pedagogy, and Coordinator of Group Piano and Piano Accompanying 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 creator and co-editor of the on-line piano pedagogy journal "Piano Pedagogy Forum."
Scott Price
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
803.777.1870
sprice@mozart.sc.edu
Editorial note: The following article is part of a series detailing progress in the creation of a Master of Music degree in piano accompanying at the University of South Carolina. It is the editor's hope that this series may serve as a resource for other academic units involved in this process.
Upon my appointment at the University of South Carolina in the Fall of 1996, I began my duties under the assumption that I would be serving in the capacity outlined by my letter of hire: "Your primary teaching emphasis will be in the area of Piano Pedagogy with the likelihood of some class piano and some graduate and undergraduate advisement. A mutually agreed upon teaching assignment will ultimately be determined by you, me, and the member so the piano faculty."
As is usually the case, many of these things proved true only in theory. Upon my arrival, I found myself teaching an applied studio, coordinating and teaching in the group piano program and teaching courses in piano pedagogy. In addition to these responsibilities, my duties later expanded to include supervisor of keyboard graduate assistants, coordinator of undergraduate piano pedagogy, and coordinator and teacher of undergraduate and graduate piano accompanying. With these duties came the responsibility of revising the undergraduate pedagogy degree, substantial work toward the revision of the graduate degrees in piano pedagogy, creation of an undergraduate emphasis in piano accompanying and creation of a Master of Music degree in piano accompanying. As most of you have already guessed, the sentence "A mutually agreed upon teaching assignment will ultimately be determined by you, me, and the member so the piano faculty" in my letter of hire never quite happened. I can assure that I am now somewhat older and infinitely more wise.
Having done a major survey and revisions of the degrees in piano pedagogy, I felt ready and capable of moving forward on the degrees in piano accompanying. My primary area is not in piano accompanying although I earned an emphasis on my undergraduate performance degree and later served as a coach and accompanist for Lyric Opera Cleveland. I am also indebted to Anne Epperson at the Cleveland Institute of Music for her guidance and experience as I was completing my Master's degree in performance at that institution. Anne has a very strong program and I used my professional experience, and my time under her tutelage, for reference and perspective.
That said, my first task was to undertake a survey of graduate accompanying programs in the United States. The survey included a cross-section of educational institutions including, private schools, conservatories, and state institutions. Of nineteen schools surveyed, seventeen responded.
The results of the survey showed two general types of accompanying degrees with similar core coursework and varying tracks of specialization. While there appears to be a general consensus as to what skills are necessary in the core course sequences, the areas of specialization are partially dictated by the expertise of accompanying faculty, needs and resources of the institution, and restrictions of university and state government on credit hours, limitations in graduate assistant awards, and creation and approval of new degrees.
The first ype of accompanying degree is of a more general nature requiring a specific number of accompanying courses, literature and/or chamber music courses, an applied lesson component, and one or two accompanying recitals as the terminal degree requirements. These courses are combined with the standard research and music theory/history requirements. The second type of degree carries the standard accompanying courses with the required recital component. Outside of these requirements, students are able to follow a desired vocal or instrumental accompanying degree "track" allowing them to specialize in their areas of interest. The vocal "track" generally includes courses in song/opera literature, diction, and other related subjects while the instrumental track focuses on instrumental/chamber literature, and intensive duo and ensemble coaching. Both types of degrees require a language proficiency which is crucial to the success of students choosing accompanying for a career.
The creation of a new accompanying degree must be juggled with a healthy perspective gleaned from a survey of degree programs, and some very frank advice from experienced colleagues, and with existing resources, unit support, and university and government regulations. At the University of South Carolina, I am blessed with having many of these resources already in place including most of the appropriate courses, two staff accompanists, graduate assistantship positions in piano accompanying, a keyboard faculty who are all involved in chamber music and piano accompanying, and the support of the applied division. I realize the unheard-of luck in having these resources in place and make offerings to the appropriate deities on a daily basis! With these resources in place, the developmental direction of our Master's degree becomes apparent. We are in a position to offer a degree combining core accompanying courswork with room for specialization into instrumental or vocal accompanying tracks.
I have taken the advice of my colleagues and will support the master's degree at the undergraduate level with a degree emphasis in piano accompanying. I spoke with a number of undergraduate pianists about the subject and they were unanimously in favor of exploring this option. The University of South Carolina School of music presently requires that all undergraduate pianists on music scholarship perform one hour of studio accompanying service per week in an assigned applied studio. We also require, as do most schools, several courses in ensemble or accompanying practicum where a student performs service in an applied studio for a grade. Our undergraduate piano accompanying course is already in place and we recently reinstated an advanced course in sight-reading and keyboard skills for undergraduate pianists. Unfortunately, these courses were not part of a regular rotation schedule and we have found our students being required to perform service for which they receive no regular instructional support.
The degree emphasis "Bachelor of Music in Performance: Emphasis in Piano Accompanying" has been devised to remedy this problem. With accompanying courses being stipulated as required electives and coupled with standard and required courses, interested students receive the following accompanying background and experience upon graduation:
Students desiring the proposed emphasis must also complete the foreign language requirement or proficiency through in French, German, or Italian with a grade of "B" or better. When factoring in scholarship service, the degree emphasis is intensive yet comprehensive allowing for the best possible chances of future scholarship or free-lance employment. This degree emphasis will go before our undergraduate committee for debate during the week of September 6, 1999 followed by revision (as necessary), and debate by the full faculty before being forwarded to the University of South Carolina Faculty Senate.
With the creation of the undergraduate piano accompanying degree emphasis, curricular support is levied for the development of the master's degree. While the master's degree has been completed and is being formatted to conform with state government policies and guidelines, it has yet to be debated in the graduate committee. This will take place during the current academic year. The chronology of these events will be detailed in upcoming issues of Piano Pedagogy Forum.
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