The college students are one month away from the EAC Fall Piano Recital. Some of them have never played in a hall before much less on a beautiful instrument. There is a sense of excitement mixed with a certain amount of uncertainty in the studio. Nearly everyone has moved past the nitty gritty at this point in the semester. We can finally begin to focus on what they want to say—on speaking together with the composer.

To that end, we have started a studio project involving adjectives. We are collecting and categorizing adjectives to create a reference to aid pianists in describing and understanding the character within repertoire. A student and I got this idea from a wonderful reference handout (now dog-eared and very, very faded) by Maurice Hinson which consists of an entire page full of adjectives.

Over the years, through discussions and activities, countless students and I have discovered and explored musical emotion and character using this little sheet. My favorite activity has always been one in which one student must choose adjectives to devise a mood in which another student must play a scale, arpeggio, progression, short improvisation etc.

One evening, during a partner lesson, we all giggled when a 15 year old girl seemed to channel Beethoven. Her description went something like this- Playful but never giddy with a mere hint of brooding. Of course this activity is loads of fun. But on the serious side, not only do students really have to know their musical elements, they must also conceive of the sound they want in their heads while at the same time listening out into the room. Artistry is at the fore.

To further our forward motion in the interpretive, each student is also in the process of listening to 4 – 5 performances of their recital piece and then describing and comparing them on a handout. They are asked about what they liked and didn’t,  the details of repeated sections, dynamics, and expression, and how they think the artist used musical elements to convey a personal view.

At first this is very difficult for some. I have had students schedule root canals rather than complete this activity.  Some resent the time it takes, some fail to see the value or possibilities in learning about a piece away from the keyboard, some are threatened by the musical viewpoints of others, some simply have no experience thinking that deeply about music. But, those who put their whole selves into this activity begin to discover the wonder that is interpretation and their own beautiful voices.

When students have something true and real to say through a piece, fear takes a back seat and there is room for the recital experience to be a positive one. When an audience member or colleague comments in an insightful way about the performance—say they appreciated the way it was playful with a hint of brooding—any mishaps along the way fade right into obscurity.

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