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.
Bachelor of Music in Performance: Emphasis in Piano Accompanying
In the last issue of Piano Pedagogy Forum, initial surveys and plans for the development of degrees in piano accompanying at the University of South Carolina were discussed and outlined. Since that time, several actions and plans have been developed by the piano faculty and have been reviewed and passed by the music faculty.
The music faculty of the University of South Carolina School of Music passed the proposal for an undergraduate emphasis in piano accompanying. The proposal was forwarded to the Courses and Curricula Committee of the Faculty Senate and will be voted on by the general faculty during the Spring semester 2000.
The successful implementation of this degree will provide our piano performance majors with a healthy concentration in beginning piano accompanying skills coupled with a fair amount of accompanying experience. Currently, all piano performance majors on scholarship at the University of South Carolina are required to perform up to one hour of studio accompanying and up to two hours of rehearsal per week in an applied music studio. Students are required to perform this service for each semester that they receive scholarship money. In addition, piano majors are required to enroll in two semesters of the course MUSC 130R Ensemble Accompanying in which they are assigned to an applied music studio where they perform up to one hour of ensemble accompanying per week. Lower division students are normally paired with lower division students and upper division with upper division. Both of these accompanying experiences often involve performances as part of weekly studio classes, undergraduate performance seminars, and possibly undergraduate junior and senior recitals as appropriate. The coordinator of piano accompanying works closely with faculty and students to ensure that appropriate loads and assignments are made. No system works perfectly and some complications and tempers do occasionally flair although most problems seem to be solved in a mutually beneficial manner.
The students are now supported with course work in sightreading and keyboard skills, as well as class/coaching sessions in basic piano accompanying skills. The degree emphasis is as follows:
General Education Requirements - 42 cr. hrs.
Major Requirements - 90 cr. hrs.
Total Semester Hours Required - 132
GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Writing (passed with a grade of C or higher.) (6 cr. hrs.)
ENGLISH 101, 102 (3 cr. hrs. each)
Foreign Language and non-music Electives (10-11 cr. hrs.)
(FRENCH, GERMAN, or ITALIAN language proficiency through 122; passed with a grade of B or higher)
Numerical and Analytical Reasoning (6 cr. hrs.)
MATH 122 or 141, plus one course selected from MATH (higher level), PHILOSOPHY 110, COMPUTER SCIENCE, STATISTICS; OR two courses from the same field selected from PHILOSOPHY 110-111, STATISTICS, COMPUTER SCIENCE
Natural Sciences (7-8 cr. hrs.)
Two courses selected from ASTRONOMY, BIOLOGY, GEOLOGY, MARINE SCIENCE, PHYSICS
Humanities and Social Sciences (12 cr. hrs.)
History-3 cr, hrs., Fine Arts other than music-3 cr. hrs., 6 cr. hrs. of choice
MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
Theory/History Core (25 cr. hrs.)
MUSC 115, 116, 215, 216 Music Theory
MUSC 117, 118, 217, 218 Sight Singing and Ear Training
MUSC 353, 354 Music History
One course selected from MUSC 560-564 Music History Topics Courses
Applied Music (usually 32 cr. hrs.)
MUSC 211 barrier jury examination at close of 4th semester
MUSC 411
Junior recital (half), Senior Recital (full)
Ensembles (8 cr. hrs.)
2 major, 2 accompanying, 2 chamber, 2 of choice
Required Courses (14 cr. hrs.)
MUSC 268 Keyboard Harmony and Sight Reading (1 cr. hr.)
MUSC 269 Beginning Piano Accompanying (1 cr. hr.)
MUSC 269 Beginning Piano Accompanying (1 cr. hr.)
MUSC 333 Basic Choral and Instrumental Conducting (2 cr. hr.)
MUSC 518 Form and Analysis (3 cr. hr.)
MUSC 558 Piano Literature I (3 cr. hr.)
MUSC 559 Piano Literature II (3 cr. hr.)
Music Electives (11)
At least 9 credits must be selected from:
MUSC 543 Song Literature (3 cr. hr.)
MUSC 545 Survey of Opera (3 cr. hr.)
MUSC 578 Pronunciation for Singers (3 cr. hr.)
MUSC 579 Pronunciation for Singers (3 cr. hr.)
MUSC 100-Recital Class (6 semesters with a grade of "S") (must attend 10 seminars per semester
With accompanying courses being stipulated as required electives and coupled with standard and required courses, interested students receive the following accompanying background and performance experience upon graduation:
The full implpementation of this degree emphasis will require some restructuring of faculty loads and some shuffling of course work currentlyon rotation. At this time, these changes reflect minor restructuring of the piano area and should not cause any problems with existing faculty loads and/or course rotation schedules. We are very fortunate that the course work, accompanying experiences and service requirements were, for the most part, already listed in the undergraduate course catalog. We believe that the creation of this emphasis provides interested students with a strong academic and performance background, and heightens their chances as they apply for graduate assistant positions at the University of South Carolina and other insitutions.
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