Mary J. Tollefson
Department of Music
University of Wisconsin at La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601
608.785.8409
tollefso.mary@uwlax.edu
When a discussion of college group piano occurs with colleagues, I have often found that we all seem to be fighting an uphill battle regarding student motivation and success rate. More specifically, music education majors who are required to take a piano proficiency often approach the course (or courses) as a proverbial "hoop," with the attitude to do whatever is the minimum only to get on with the rest of the requirements for their degrees. In the beginning, all students tend to be hopeful and eager to learn piano, but by the end their main desire is to pass the proficiency. Since many of us who teach these courses are pianists, we often wish students could be more interested in improving and acquiring skills at the keyboard (less concerned about doing the minimum to pass the piano proficiency), that their musicianship would be readily perceptive in their piano playing as it is in their primary instrument studies. How can we rethink the approach to group piano to make students more interested in attaining the most desirable goals rather than the minimum standards? Based on casual observations of students and some current research, two topics seem worth considering: the practicality of keyboard skills being taught and the use of more formal evaluation procedures. First, many students seem to lack interest in practicing beyond the minimum requirement because the practicality of the skills seems so far removed from the college keyboard classroom situation. This became apparent to me when I realized that only one of the major ensemble directors at our college ever used piano skills in rehearsals as the director. Students do not observe piano skills being used regularly in the college ensembles, the one role model most similar to their future career in music education. How are music education majors supposed to understand the benefits of having piano skills when they go out to the secondary or elementary schools? Second, the keyboard skills class would benefit from a variety of ways of testing piano skills. Assessments might include self-evaluation, checklists and more reliable evaluation forms. If evaluation drives instruction, can the evaluation procedure be more clearly defined (for both student and teacher) and, furthermore, allow for the student to make "real life" choices that may come up in a future classroom situation (beyond the keyboard skills course!).
In an effort to be more practical in my keyboard skills class, 893 state music educators completed a survey regarding their college piano proficiency and how these skills were used in their classrooms. As one would expect, 90% of music educator respondents said they used the piano in the classroom; furthermore, 96% of respondents who completed a piano proficiency used the piano in the classroom. Obviously, the piano proficiency requirement does have a positive impact on current music educators. One of the questions asked in the survey was how music educators used their skills in the classroom. Many choices were given (see the following). Some respondents reported using all skills in the classroom (anywhere from 29% to 90%).
My question begins with the following: if these skills are all being used in the classroom, why do students not perceive them as important during their undergraduate college courses? I believe the answer lies within the completion of an assignment in the group piano class. For example, most group piano texts address harmonizing and playing folk tunes at the keyboard in a variety of piano accompaniment styles. Will the classroom music teacher accompany a folk song in the classroom? While this is more likely to occur in the general music classroom, 90% of the music teachers responded that they had done so in their current job situation. How similar is the accompaniment of folk songs in the classroom situation to the performances done in the undergraduate music education course? How close can we get to a realistic situation in the college group piano classroom? One approach is to have students learn to sing and play simultaneously. Additionally, can the student stand, sing and play (How many general music teachers do you know that sit behind the piano)? While there are multiple pianists performing in the group piano classroom, does the student have a solo performing opportunity to accompany a class of singers (i.e. fellow keyboard students)? Goals might be more approachable if piano performance in the college group piano course is more similar to the classroom use, rather than simply being able to play an accompaniment to a folk song for a quiz or exam.
A second example is score reading. Seventy-seven percent of respondents in this survey said they play two or more parts from multiple staves in the classroom. Obviously, this is a keyboard skill that needs to be taught in the classroom. What I have found, however, when questioning my college group piano students is that many cannot picture a situation where they would do this (obviously choral students have a good idea). So my students and I began to discuss what kind of situation we would be using score reading. While I am sure there are many others, here are the primary uses that the students decided were a possibility in their future career: learning a score (personal use) and rehearsing (modeling parts, playing parts not present in the rehearsal and keeping the ensemble going by giving entrances). Should practicing score reading in college courses reflect any or all of these functions? One way I have found to make score reading more practical in class is to allow students the opportunity to rehearse a score in front of the rest of the class. The student must choose specific parts to rehearse, must to be able to model at least two parts simultaneously at the keyboard, model the articulation of one part at the keyboard and play all entrances when the section of the score is finally played by all "instrumental" or voice parts (sometimes this works where the other students get to practice their transposition of an instrumental part as well). Students who have even minimal piano skill suddenly take great interest in the course, show some confidence in their ability and begin to see an advantage to rehearsing from the keyboard rather than on their own instrument. This is not going to work for every rehearsal situation in their future, but I do find the students more accepting of how their keyboard skills may be beneficial in their futures.
The second approach I would like to discuss is more variety in assessing piano skills. Whether it is applied music or the college group piano course for music education majors, there is always uneasiness about how to grade students. I believe this problem can be relieved to some extent by examining how we deliver feedback in the classroom and how we set up evaluation procedures for testing. Feedback in the classroom must reflect the expectations for assessment. When you introduce an assignment, does the student understand the goal beyond learning notes and rhythms? For example, if the piece "Scherzo" by Kabalevsky is assigned, are articulation and dynamics introduced as well? While some students may be comfortable with playing blocked chords in tempo during the first time this piece is introduced, there are always a few students in the class who can play the piece as written. Ask these students to play the piece:
Teacher: "The second beat of each measure is to be played staccato. Can
you demonstrate how the second beat should sound?"
Student plays the second beat staccato, but the lengths of each eighth
note are different.
Teacher: "Great job on separating the staccato notes. However, both
notes should be equal length. Try it again, this time making the
eighth notes exactly the same length."
Student plays the second beat staccato, and now the lengths of the eighth
notes are the same.
Teacher: "Yes. Now the eighth notes are separated and the same length."
Addressing another student, "Can you demonstrate as well as the
last student did?
By including some feedback such as this, the students now understand that more is expected beyond the notes and rhythms. Furthermore, less advanced students have had another opportunity to hear the piece played by someone besides the teacher. Finally, if you include opportunities for solo performance by other students in the class, addressing more issues, the students suddenly become aware that they may be called on next and should be prepared. As the repertoire and other music increases in difficulty, limit the number of measures you introduce in class, but make sure that students demonstrate a polished performance of a few measures, giving students a clear idea of what the ultimate goal is for the whole piece.
Because the student is more aware of the goal for an assignment in keyboard class, both teacher and student need to clearly understand how the student's performance will be assessed. Since the teacher has discussed musical aspects as well as notes and rhythms, all of these ideas will contribute to the grade. One way to be completely clear is to use a checklist that can be assessed "Yes" or "No" (the musical aspect is or is not present). Some examples of the most obvious statements on the list would be the following:
To discuss the use of checklists more thoroughly, see Michael Benson's article in Volume 4, No. 1 of Piano Pedagogy Forum.
Another way to keep the student involved in meaningful tasks during group piano class is to provide opportunities for self-evaluation. While practice is more structured in the instructional process, I have observed students practice by playing through the piece several times, hoping that the performance will eventually improve. In an effort to teach students to be more effective, a self-evaluation form is a possibility. My self-evaluation form has three parts: articulating positives, identifying a weakness, and how to improve that weakness for the next performance. To make sure students are aware of their strengths, I ask them to identify three specific, positive ideas regarding their performance. Positive comments can be as simple as "I never stopped throughout the performance." Second, the student identifies a weakness, which will also be the goal for next performance. The goal must include five steps in a procedure to improve the weakness. Many students will choose "be more accurate" as their weakness. By requesting five steps in the procedure to improve accuracy, students are challenged to get beyond simply playing through the piece and hoping for the best. While the teacher cannot be around for daily practice, this self-evaluation has provided the opportunity for students to articulate ways to practice, such as practicing at a slow tempo with a method for gradually increasing speed and practicing in small sections until they can play each section numerous times accurately and without mistakes.
Finally, combining assessment and practicality, students are given the opportunity to choose how they would like to use their keyboard skills in a project. Four choices are offered: accompanying an instrumentalist or vocalist, rehearsing a section of a choral score, rehearsing a section of a chamber piece and composing accompaniments for beginning instrumental or vocal method exercises. Students arrange for the needed soloists or small ensemble (often they use other students in the class) and determine how they will present the project to the class. All students must be prepared to announce their project to the class (the piece, the composer, the soloist or ensemble members if it is not class members). Along with playing at the piano, the student has other responsibilities. For instance, if the student decides to accompany a clarinet soloist, he must tell me where the soloist will stand in relationship to the piano, tune the clarinetist prior to the performance, and acknowledge when the soloist is ready (must be observable by a nod, etc.). The student needs to find a project in which he or she is most confident; for instance, a less advanced student might not want to rehearse a fugal section from Handel's Messiah. Because I know not every student will be able to play every accompaniment out in the real world, students are allowed to work on simplifying introductions and interludes for the best performance possible. Because junior high and high school solo and ensemble contests are extremely popular in Wisconsin, this assignment has proved to very productive for the students and me.
While the ideas provided here may not work for each person's teaching style, they are offered as alternatives to current traditions in college group piano instruction for the music education major. In an effort to improve student interest and success, the curriculum must learn to reflect how piano skills will be used beyond the classroom. Furthermore, if students see a relationship between how material is presented and how it is assessed, the importance of keyboard skills for a future musician and music educator should become more relevant and sustain students' interest.
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