Teaching Repertoire

[David Urquhart-Jones]

Given that the artistic masterpieces of the past, expressions of the human condition that are both timeless and profound, are unique ways of knowing and acknowledging our common humanity, should they have a pre-eminent place in the teaching repertoire?

Yes,yes,yes,yes.......................... But.......................

A significant proportion of the ‘classical’ keyboard repertoire used in the private studio survives only because it has been handed down through the generations from one teacher to the next. The comfort of familiarity and undoubted pedagogical integrity have bestowed upon it the hallowed glow of tradition.

Is it time it takes to take stock of this artistically obsolete repertoire; time to conduct a ‘spring clean’ to make room for material that is more relevant to 21st century musical life.

[Michael Maxwell Steer]

You were kind enough to add comments on Sonnets to Orpheus in December, so I should apologise for the glacial pace of reply. The work has not found the response Id hoped (what does?) but I felt that by using what Peter Dickinson has called 'style modulation' it got to some unique feeling-areas. Most people listen & respond to music's surface/s - they hear a certain choard-language & think it must be jazz or whatever because they havent another category - and thus they miss what was intended to be an evocation of certain feeling states.
In a former life I was a film composer, & thus evoking emotions throu choice of idiom is what I understand better than anything. But I think average music listener doesn't have the sophistication to see that distinction between the 'shadow' and the emotional reality of a sound language.

Anyway. Having now visited your space I would comment that I long ago discarded the kind of music you mention from my teaching. Perhaps because I have experience as a BBC radio producer, I have an instinctive sense of what kind of music each pupil is happy with & have evolved a 'gold' repertoire that really works for kids. What I find a prime motivator is familiarity, so tunes like Pink Panther, The Entertainer, Yellow Brick Rd all work wonders – as does Einaudi.
My experience is that this makes it easy to lead children into traditional repertoire.
This morning a little lad whom I have persuaded to learn a piece by Benda, after one by Heller, told me “I dont like classical music, but I like the pieces you give me.' Sadly nothing will stop boring teachers prescribing boring music. It's the nature of that particular beast!

[Louise]

Much food for thought here. Does it depend on pupils' ages? Children generally like to practise what they want to play, and it's usually tonal; fee-paying parents are happy to hear a tune. (This translates into most audiences.)

From adolesence on we are more adventurous, and can relate contemporary music to art, literature and historical context. But I don't think we can do away with traditional content, both because where we've come from musically explains where we are either by evolution or rebellion, and because technique gained mastering traditional instrumental repertoire is still necessary for New Music - or any music.

[sam saunders]

I agree that teachers have to find a way to the pupil. Any way in is the right way, in my view.I don`t think that the "classical" repertoire is obsolete at all, but there is certainly no point in teaching what the teacher appreciates with obliviousness to the pupils interests.I don`t understand why a teacher would do this. ..Just ad -libbing here...it would be a bit like only giving a guest in your house the food that YOU like as opposed to finding out what foods they enjoy. Seems to me that a lot of teachers are engaged in force feeding their own taste. "I`ll try yours","maybe you`d like to try mine?"is the best way .
Now, when you have someone who enjoys their lessons, you can widen their appreciation. You have to get to this point though and the teacher should certainly not EXPECT that the pupil will follow imposed taste.
Sometimes,as I experienced, it can be the old stuff that can bring in another dimension.If you get the presentation right, anything can be exciting and revolutionary.When recorders became a bit jaded with the kids in my teaching, we switched to crumhorns and things for a while to get a buzzzzzz!!!!
But this fits in with my educational philosophy..I don`t like the "sit down and learn this" approach at all.I absolutely detest classroom teaching and it`s forced learning regime. In any area of education best results are obtained when the pupil WISHES to learn something.Every time.

Best to all,Sam

[David Urquhart-Jones]

Hello Louise, Michael and Sam,

Thank you all for the constructive and insightful responses to my observations about teaching repertoire.

Michael, your comment upon the role which choice of idiom plays in the evocation of emotion is echoed in Louise’s reminder that children feel most comfortable when there musical activities happen within a tonal environment - an environment in which the contemporary musical vernacular still resides. The tension/release effects of functional harmony, analogous to the dynamics of human emotion, together with the accoustic and cultural properties which have informed the pitch collections upon which most ‘folk’ musics are based have ensured the longevity of the tonal domain.

I was very interested in what you had to say about Einaudi, Michael. I have never been much attracted to minimalism. What, would you say, did your pupil find interesting about the Einaudi Piece? I must confess that I know very little about Einaudi and am grateful for your introduction. Although labeled as a minimalist, what little I have heard of his music is both melodious and beautifully textured. Perhaps I could give one answer my own auestione by saying that what I have heard is well within the canons of the(tonal) language in which most contemporary musics are expressed.

You are quite right, Sam. The classical repertoire (shall we say, ‘ the common practice repertoire’) is certainly not obsolete. Skinner has said that the ultimate test of quality is survival. Masterworks from the past are ‘classics’ in this sense and speak of the human condition across time and space as powerfully (sometimes, perhaps, more powerfully) as they did at the time of their composition. Nearly all of the music examination board syllabuses, however, include pieces from past stylistic eras (mainly 18th and early nineteenth century) that are no longer commonly found in ‘classical’ music concert performances. These pieces often have a useful pedagogical purpose. For instance, as an introduction to stylistic idioms of the past. What better introduction to the Sturm und Drang of classical style than the Clementi sonatinas, or Heller studies as an introduction to the piano repertoire of the great romantic virtuosi. These works do not present the technical difficulties or stylistic insights necessary to the performance of, for instance, the Waldstein sonata or the Liszt Study in Db.

We work in a stylistically crowded musical space. The implication for teachers is to provide learning experiences in which all important styles are experienced. Traditionally, the music teaching enterprise has tended grant a low priority to major stylistic trends of the last 100 years (certainly not the case with Michael, Louise or Sam). It seems too that the art of improvisation, once so highly regarded among those skills thought to be essential to musicianship, no longer plays a significant part in the music education of our young people.

Is it not remarkable that one of the most influential styles of the last 100 years, namely jazz; a styles in which improvisational skills are a sine qua non has been omitted from the content of so many teaching curriculae.

I love the term ‘gold repertoire’, Michael and agree that familiarity (relevance to contemporary musical life?) is of crucial importance in choice of repertoire.

Your observations on the part that age plays on predilection for particular musical experiences is instructive, Louise. So too is the importance of mastery of the technical skills required for performance of music master works.

Repertoire which represents all establish musical styles is essential to the building of a solid technique. Repertoire skewed in favour of jazz , for instance. could allow students to depend too much on their favourite 'twiddly bits'

David