John Kenneth Adams serves as Professor of Piano and Piano Literature at the University of South Carolina. A graduate of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, he studied with Mary Newitt Dawson. During this period he also studied with Carl Friedberg and with Joanna Graudan at the Aspen Festival. He holds both the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Yale University School of Music where he was a student of Bruce Simonds. While a student there, he won the Julia Lockwood Prize in piano and performed twice as soloist with the Yale Symphony. A Fulbright Award followed to the Royal Academy of Music, London where he studied with Hilda Dederich. During this time, he also studied at the Casals Festival in Zermatt, Switzerland. He also studied extensively with Frank Mannheimer, and with Ilonka Deckers-Kuszler in Milan. Professor Adams has performed around the world, including concerts at Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Weill Recital Hall in New York City. He is particularly well known in South America, where he performed over 150 concerts in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Colombia under the sponsorship of the United States Information Service. He has also performed many concerts for the same organization in Spain, Italy and Turkey. His concerts in America include many recitals for the Matthay Association and the Mannheimer Festival. He was recently guest artist for the Minnesota Music Teachers Convention in Saint Paul, and
also for the Minneapolis Women's Club. He also performs frequently in South Korea where he is known for his master classes and lectures. In South Carolina, Professor Adams is well known for his many radio broadcasts for the SC Educational Radio Network, and for his series of Piano Portraits presented across the state. In 1986-87 he performed all the piano music of Debussy in five recitals. A member of the French Piano Institute in Paris, he has written three articles on the piano music of Debussy for the Piano Quarterly. Professor Adams has had student winners in many prestigious competitions including the MTNA Young Artist Competition, the Dimitri Mitropoulos Scholarship Foundation, and the Rotary International Fellowships. At the University of South Carolina he has had 20 students perform with the University Symphony as winners of the Concerto Competition. His students have also frequently performed with the South Carolina Philharmonic. In May, 1997, John Adams gave masterclasses at the National Conservatory in Sofia, Bulgaria. In July, he returned for his third visit to the French Piano Institute in Paris, performing there on the "Soirees musicales" and also gave recitals in Cortona, Italy and in Cirencester, U. K.
John Kenneth Adams
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
803.777.6426
jadams@mozart.sc.edu
Plato was noted for saying that if you want your pupils to appreciate the beautiful, then you must present them with something beautiful to observe, with the ensuing dialogue between master and student unfolding the path to self-discovery. Obviously all of us who teach piano want our students to play with an appreciation and understanding of how to create the enormous range and expressive power possible on our instrument of choice. It is through this process of observation and ensuing dialogue that we begin to learn just how our students are actually experiencing the learning process. At the same time, we are giving them the opportunity to explore our own creative world. I think keeping a delicate balance between these two very different worlds, ideally that of the questioning student and the nurturing master, is the real secret in developing the high level of trust and respect so necessary for a true learning experience. It can also be the catalyst for stimulating the students' emotional development, which in turn will lead them towards new goals in musical taste and feeling.
BEGIN BY TRYING TO FIND THE CENTER...
The question of "where to begin" challenges us as teachers over and over. For me, it is really a question of "centering" the student, the art of trying to place the student in the center of the learning experience, so they can learn exactly where they are in relation to what they are trying to do. It is, in some ways, like looking at the iceberg; we only see the tip of it, but we know that the vast reserve of it is totally hidden from view. We have to slowly pull back the curtain that hides that part of the student we have yet to know, and in doing so, formulate our plan of action. In doing this, we have to respect the fact that time has become so compressed in modern life that it often seems impossible to slow the learning process down to a more measured pace. If you teach privately, you battle all the pitfalls, especially time limitations imposed on students by school and extra-curricular activities. Those of us who teach in higher education battle a whole different set of problems, chief among them the ability to move the student through the various levels at a reasonable pace, and also ensure that they play well-prepared examinations and recitals. Time is our most valuable commodity, and how we use it will determine to a great degree the success of our teaching.
The first few times I hear a student play I try to glean the very best they are offering, ignoring as much as possible those things that I find annoying. So much is observed in these moments. For one, natural musical instincts can carry so much weight in themselves that they override many of the more bumpy detours. You can determine such important factors as the level of confidence, overall technical ability, response to rhythm and form, and most importantly, emotional involvement. At this point I feel the most important objective is to point out what you like best in their playing, and how you say this is going to be a real cornerstone of the developing relationship. Everyone thrives on praise, and all of us have many complex emotions built up during previous learning experiences, so praise what you can and avoid presenting a long lists of faults, as this only allows you to pontificate over your views at the expense of the student's adjustment to a new environment.
AIM RIGHT AWAY FOR THE BIG POINTS...
This process of centering is going to be an unpredictable period, hence one might be wise in not trying to tackle too much at one time. It is always sobering to realize how few major changes can be made in a short amount of time. What you can do is change attitudes and develop stronger work habits. Things work best when you try to identify as quickly as possible two or three main objectives that can be accomplished with the student in a reasonable amount of time, three months seeming a good time objective. High on this list of objectives is the level of physical comfort at the keyboard. Observe the picture your students present while playing. What type of posture do they assume? What type of hand do they have? Are shoulders relaxed? Does obvious physical tension stick out, or do they play fluently with a high level of co-ordination? Are they missing notes, yet getting some sense of the music, or just getting the notes but not making much music along the way? It impels us at this juncture to make a stab at identifying the two or three things that appear to need immediate attention, and let the rest ride along as before, to be addressed later.
For instance, a student may read reasonably well, cover the keyboard with a fair amount of confidence, and have some good natural instincts to bring to the music. If you have taught a while you might smile and say to yourself "this person sounds like a pretty good student!" But it might also be obvious that the student forces tone, exerts pressure into the key long after it is necessary, only plays with fingers, constantly blurs the pedal, and never takes a breath. Technically, addressing all these points might be difficult in a semester, but even two or three key points of this nature might make a splendid start. I make it a rule in my teaching to never address a musical or technical point with a student without offering a salient illustration . The illustration will be best remembered by the student if you put the "handle" of personal observation on it. It also serves the purpose of removing the idea from the area of the abstract into the more everyday world. For example, one of my teachers once told me that I couldn't play a passage fast enough because I was letting too much weight down into the keys. He made the point that if I were desperate to catch a train, and it was already beginning to move away, I certainly wouldn't make it if I was weighed down by too much luggage. Hence, the moral: throw the bags away and run for the train.
In long decades of teaching I find that few students have any rational idea how the body actually functions at the keyboard, and this remark applies to students on every level. Even the most simple explanation of the fact that to merely get your hands into position on the keys has forced you to turn your hands in a position that is not normal for them can come as a big revelation. This small observation can lead you into a dialogue on the principles of rotation. Or, the fact that you might be glued to the bottom of the keys after a big chord may have deterred you from realizing that you need only hold on with the fingertips the instant you hear sound , thus sparing your forearm the agony that only leads to tendonitis. Perhaps this observation might provoke a discussion on the physics surrounding the fact that force expended in one direction has to exert equal force in the opposite direction. Ask the student how they think they can get rid of the force pushing back against their arm. Resultant answers can be illuminating! Since they are sitting at the piano, ask them to push the piano away from them. This request will immediately galvanize their attention! There will be such a force pushing back against them that they will understand immediately what you are referring to.
As for blurred pedal, it is never too late to attack the principle of syncopated pedaling. Take a simple triad and walk it up the scale, applying the rule that after you have struck the first chord (applying the pedal after you hear the first chord sound) you lift the pedal as you hear the "edge" of the new sound occurring with the next triad, and then, in that split second, put the pedal back down, causing one chord to melt into the next. I have rarely had a student leave the studio not being able to accomplish this in one short exercise at the keyboard. Poor pedaling is really just bad listening. A resulting dialogue about the proper type of shoes that facilitate sensitive pedaling ought to prove amusing in light of current fashions. For instance, if the student can't feel the pedal under them with sensitivity, they will likely jerk it down, then jerk it up. The big goal is to feel the pedal like a lever, with the foot in constant contact.
CENTERING STUDENTS IN THE RIGHT REPERTOIRE...
Selection of repertoire is one of the most challenging aspects of the centering process, especially in the very early stages of working with a new student. You must place before them the pieces that will best let them explore the main concepts you are presenting them with. This must sound quite simplistic, but in truth, more mistakes of judgment are made in the selection of repertoire than in any other area of teaching. If there are a lot of problems to be addressed, I find it useful to assign quite a few shorter works. For instance, an entering college level performance major may have already had the experience of a major sonata or concerto, but in the process of learning them, may have been pressed to confront all the challenges presented. Or, as is often the case, they really haven't played a lot of repertoire, concentrating instead on two or three advanced works that might give them lots of motivation, but at the same time perhaps were really too challenging for them. To center such a student, I would probably give them a couple of Preludes and Fugues by Bach that could be learned quickly, a couple of Moszkowski Etudes, carefully selected to underline the technical problems you want to explore, perhaps one movement of a classical sonata, and a romantic work of moderate duration that you feel would fit their current emotional maturity. In other words, I would expect the student to have sufficient skills to handle all of this so that they would develop the comfort level necessary to play the pieces under pressure at the end of term. It is also my job to sell the student on my choices, as they can easily feel that they have already passed this level, and need a bigger challenge. Now is the time to broaden their horizon by slowly but surely convincing them that new concepts and ideas will refine their musicianship and allow them to polish things to a higher degree.
If, on the other had, the student is a college student still pushing to get to the late intermediate - early advanced level, as is the case with so many music minors and music education students, I would first of all incorporate keyboard harmony into the curriculum, presenting them with a series of exercises that present the principal basic chord progressions, first and foremost, the ability to play I - IV - V - I in four voices, (with correct voice leadings), modulate to the dominant, and then return to the principal key . If this proves useful to the student, I take them through a whole series of keyboard harmony exercises by Nadia Boulanger, inherited from my college theory teacher Virginia French Mackie. If their rhythm is deficient, the collection of 300 Kunz Canons (Ricordi) are greatly satisfying, and at least thirty or forty of these should be mastered before approaching even the simplest piece in counterpoint. These canons are perhaps the strongest ally you will have in establishing true contrapuntal independence of the hands. Early Czerny exercises are important links, and for learning pieces in all the keys, "Lyric Preludes' by Gillock are hard to beat. If you can find a copy of "Rondolettes" by Bernice Bentley, or the Diller-Quaile duet books, (I believe both of these are out of print), your day will be brightened. In other words, lots of variety, don't spend too much time on any one thing, and always finish up with a piece that the students obviously likes. Save the best for last. Once you have centered the student on this level, you can approach a bigger piece, but with the understanding that it is going to be learned slowly over a long period of time. All of the aforementioned works lead comfortably up to the level of the less complicated pieces in Schumann's "Album for the Young", short pieces by Cramer and Mendelssohn, and the rich sonatina literature.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO APPEAL TO THE EMOTIONS UNTIL..."
I think the emotional area in teaching is the most difficult to address, and I also feel that it is much more difficult in our current age. Nadia Boulanger was found of saying that no one had the right to appeal to the emotions until the intellect had been thoroughly satisfied. That is certainly a lofty goal, with more than a grain of truth about it. If you have done your groundwork meticulously enough in the earlier stages of learning, then the student"s technical problems will have stabilized and will hopefully hold up under pressure. If you have done as much as possible to look at music from all its formal aspects, then the next big step is to see that they enter into the music on a satisfying emotional level. As the student heads in the direction of public presentation, perhaps a recital, competition or examination, the emotional impact of the music needs to be constantly in the forefront. Of course, there are some big talents who blaze forth at this point and rise to the challenge for the most part on their own, having natural gifts of communication that just can't be taught. But I would venture the opinion that the vast majority of our students need a big dose of emotional development, so that they can begin to trust their emotions under the strain of public exposure, and to "reach down deep" to create a personal statement.
In helping students reach for this higher goal of music making, I find that after the initial learning period everything in the interpretation has to to refined down to its essential broad strokes so that the big line remains in the forefront. Observation is now totally on the elements that will make the piece most intelligible to the listener. At this point, I take the average listener's viewpoint , acting like I have never heard the piece before, have no idea about the character, no idea about its technical difficulties, and am not aware of how much of a struggle it has been to learn it! What I am most concerned with is how much is registering on my own emotional response meter, whether the student is making me listen to them at the exclusion of everything else. Matters of tempo, balance, phrasing, tone color, all the many things worked out throughout the learning experience, have to be adjusted at this point, with the viewpoint that what sounds fine in the studio might sound quite different in a larger space. This is where the "comfort zone" mentality kicks into action. The atmosphere of performance has to be created, so that the student is not practicing at this juncture, but rehearsing. There is a big psychological difference between the two. As so many good teachers say at this time, "you have to MAKE it happen!" One of my professors use to refer to it as "this THING that has to come out!" Perhaps the most vivid explanation of this was given by the great actress Helen Hayes on one of her many visits to our campus. When asked by a student how she managed to soar to such great heights as a performer, she answered that it was because when she performed she felt her technique under her like a great platform she could plant her feet on. And by technique, she implied the sum of her learning experience.
WHAT IS GOOD TEACHING...?
Good teaching means lowering the anxiety level by remaining calm, never assuming students know many answers, not having unreasonable expectations, and always conducting the lesson as a dialogue. It also means learning to solve complex issues with the simple tools of basic musicianship. You can't solve complexity with complexity. When you have centered your student, you can then take the time that is necessary to start helping make choices in matters of taste and refinement. You have also come a "miracle mile" in developing a learning environment that ensures communication and mutual respect. I have found over the years that having high expectations is a goal that has to be carefully cultivated. If one applies too much pressure the student may fold prematurely. If, on the other hand, you approach teaching as a long range project, with intermittent pauses for positive feedback and evaluation, then the student will begin to build up some kind of personal history that leaves an identifiable trail of accomplishment. It is very easy in this "feel good" society we live in today to become glib about accomplishment. Real accomplishment is never won easily. Learning to play an instrument is just about as difficult an occupation as anyone could dream up, and it is our responsibility to make the experience a "life experience," letting the students determine what they will eventually do with these skills . After all, you are helping them to learn that hard lesson that one has to walk through a bit of fire and water to get a glimpse of Paradise.
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