The interaction between analysis and performance in the piano lesson: an educational scenario

Abstract

The present research intends to present the profits of inserting analytical thinking in the piano lesson, in a mutually beneficial dialog between the analytic and performative process. The purpose of the study is to introduce analysis in the piano lesson as a way to move beyond the cultivation of performance skills and encourage the development of comprehensive musicianship. To do so, it proposes two educational scenarios, each one including activities and practices with specific goals that can be applied to the piano lesson. These scenarios are designed in accordance with a regulatory framework that is deduced from the vivid ideas and arguments by contemporary theorists of musicology of performance, who advocate the importance of mingling the fields of analysis and performance, in order to produce more valid analytic and interpretative results. Also, the research is based on the educational theory of CLASP by Keith Swanwick and is influenced by certain individual educational aspects and models about the organization and goal setting of the teaching design. The study continues with the exemplary implementation of the suggested regulatory framework for the construction and presentation of the two educational scenarios, designed for a beginner and an intermediate student respectively, which aim at introducing analytical thinking in given activities of the piano lesson.