Piano teaching: between tradition and future The Netherlands, 2011, society and politics are changing, government funding declines or disappears, and the position of arts practiced by amateurs and professionals is under pressure. As piano teachers we want to preserve and share our conservatorial achievements, but is there future enough for these traditions? Piano repertoire, education methods and students mentalities are developing constantly. Conservatories change their curricula; associations and institutes offer courses and symposia. We are heading a future with possibilities, but also a future with pitfalls. This will be a story about balancing between cultural entrepreneurship in times of difficult circumstances and being true to yourself. In a few sentences I want to tell you from which experiences I am reporting you. After my studies classical piano in Utrecht, Netherlands I worked as a piano and music teacher in the private practice, alliances, and funded music schools. At the moment I work for the ArtEZ conservatories, also in the Netherlands. There I train young pianists in teaching methods, and work as accompanist with the classical singers. As a performing pianist I mainly work with singers on art songs and in chamber music. In music theatre productions I can be composer, musical director, instrumentalist, singer or actor. At the end of this lecture I present you three issues for the future. These issues may ask for a long-term solution and probably they are not unique for the situation in Holland. Maybe the solutions are found here in Luzern by learning from various situations in other countries. To understand the importance of the three final issues we have to dig al little in history, beginning with our own history at the piano. YES/NO? First I want to ask you some questions. It is possible to a give positive answer to more than one question. Like being in school you can raise your hand when your answer is positive. -Who started, as a child, with a private piano teacher? -Was he or she a member of the family (parent, sibling, aunt or uncle)? -Who went to a prep course (what was the content of this course)? -Who started at a funded institute for music education? -Who experienced piano lessons in a group situation (memories)? -With whom lasted this shorter than a year? -With whom lasted this longer than a year? 1
As trainer on the job in music schools these are the questions I often ask teachers. Striking is that still a considerable amount of music teachers, teach in the same way they received their own first lessons. You could describe their type of working as a small instructive one-way master class without public. The teacher tries to bring up the pupil as his clone. The own personality and learning style of the pupil are secondary. The next history is about music education in the Netherlands Music lessons at regular schools in the Netherlands became booming after the Second World War, the period that we call the reconstruction. Government funded music institutes for all kind of amateurs were founded. People with low incomes benefited from special funding, and this all was part of the post-war philosophy that art should elevate all people. From the mid-eighties of the last century lots of schools were privatised, or merged with other art institutes, because of the expenses. There was a significant growth of small private initiative and music teachers alliances to compete with the public institutes. The concept clock hour divisor was being implemented. Clock hour divisor means the average number of students you have to teach in one clock hour in your training schedule. At many institutes the clock hour divisor went up to 3 and 4, or even 6 pupils for the first three years of education. Mostly the level of this divisor was the consequence of the local political situation. More group lessons were the consequence: especially in the first years of instrumental education. Group lessons can have a lot of advantages. Children learn from each other, which is very natural. A group lesson should be a creative, playful and discovering activity, which most children like a lot. And of course there is the economic didactic advantage. Disadvantages can be the dealing with different levels and having less attention for individual obstacles. Group lessons are more intense for a teacher; they ask other qualities in teaching, more organization and preparation time, and more energy. VS 2
Some teachers who don t feel equipped for this part of the job choose to split their time in short individual lessons within the group, without involving the students in each others processes. Other teachers work overtime without getting paid. Group lessons are not new at all, as the left image shows. And we know of contemporary programs in the US and South Korea where teachers and students use digital pianos with earphones and work in groups of 20 students. I want to show you a 10-minute video of another type of group lessons in the US. It starts with an interview, but I skip that. Julie Knerr teaches music education at the University of Oklahoma, and she has a private practice as a piano teacher. Her pupils come twice a week, once for an individual and once for a private lesson. A group lesson lasts 45 minutes in which for example she addresses technical issues, theory, rhythmical training, ear training, improvisation, performing, etcetera. I would like you to have a look at this video from three points of view: 1 Are the educational skills Julie Knerr demonstrates something you should expect from every piano teacher? 2 Should conservatory students be trained for this? 3 Is this process of working preferable in your situation, whether you work at an institute or as a private teacher? video Was it clear enough? Who can reflect at the first question? Who can reflect at the second question? Who want to reflect at the third question? Our program for piano lessons is not only to learn reading notes and to hit the keys in a proper way. For example: when you describe an elephant to a blind person you don t only describe its trunk. To show you how broad our profession is I want to confront you with the Nine National Standards for Music Education from the American organisation NAfME (National Association for Music Education) 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. 4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. 5. Reading and notating music. 6. Listening to, analysing, and describing music. 7. Evaluating music and music performances. 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. 9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 3
These standards don t say that we have to teach our students in all the 9 standards ourselves, but we as teachers and musicians have the responsibility for offering them a complete impression. To achieve that we can send them to colleagues and courses, inspire them to visit performances and exhibitions to guide them through a complete program. We don t only train our students to become well-playing pianists; we don t need that much competition. We need music lovers, listeners who download our recordings or, much better, visit our concerts and share our interests for the arts in general, with a warm heart for the piano. YES/NO? Some questions about your own choices -Whose choice as a child for the piano has been a conscious one? -Who chose the piano simply because there was one at home? -Who started playing the piano because another member of the family played? -Who started with another instrument first? -Who had to play, so didn t choose voluntarily? -Who had insistently to ask for it? -Who of us started studying at an elder age, around your twenties or even later? -Are you aware of these motivations of your own students? Back to the Netherlands, something about pillars The philosophy of the elevation of the people didn t reach all the ones it was meant for. The Dutch society was virtuous, righteous, though broadly divided in pillars. Lots of music activities (choirs, orchestras, music unities) were practiced within the own pillar, which was indicated by for example religion, social class or domicile. From the seventies until now individualisation took a big flight. Pillars fell apart bit by bit, and new segments of mentality took shape These mentalities are not easy to indicate, but here are some words which might give you a guess; new conservatives, comfort orientated, upward movables, postmodern hedonists, post materialists, traditional citizens, modern citizens and citizens of the world. A small investigation (Dutch EPTA congress November 2010) proved that most of our pupils come from the segments new conservatives, traditional citizens, modern citizens and citizens of the world. The less represented segment is the comfort orientated. VS What can we do with the knowledge of these segments? We work in a profession that is based on traditional behaviour. Most people, younger and older, are fond of the outer appearances of tradition in a romantic way: old buildings, royal weddings, retro furniture and clothing, red burgundy in crystal wineglasses, nocturnes by Chopin, etcetera. But less and less they want to go 4
through all the effort it takes to achieve something in the profession we put into practice. If we want to deal with our consumers and public in the future, we have to take more effort in understanding them. We can t blame them they don t always understand us. We are the minority; we are the exception in present-day society. But we are also the ones who can build bridges, as artists we are familiar with creative thinking. We have to get off our islands by building the bridges ourselves. YES/NO? The next questions are about your current situation; also more positive answers are possible. -Who teaches at a government funded music school? -Who works as a private teacher (at home, a hired studio or else)? -Who teaches private but in an alliance with other music teachers? -Who has an employment relationship at a conservatory? -Who is for a structural part financial dependent of concert fees or another type of performing? For example accompanying ballet classes, opera rehearsals, or else? -And who has that interesting, versatile life, combining some of the aspects above? -Who also needs to work in a non-musical field to get a reasonable salary? And then a question that asks for an honest answer: Who deliberately went to a conservatory to become a piano TEACHER? 5
The currently developments in the Netherlands Funding for individual music education is declining. The money for cultural education is moving to art projects at primary and secondary schools and community arts. Taxes for private lessons and concerts are rising. Prices of concert ticket also. The political climate in the Netherlands at the moment is not very positive for artists. We have lost a lot of our respect from society. It s not all our own fault, but probably we have waited too long to come with a proper response. Some facts: -A lot of music teachers in the funded branches loose their pupils because their teaching methods are out of date. -The average funding for a pupil in Holland is 400 for one year, but those pupils are mostly from families with better salaries who will make it anyway in society. -A lot of teachers are not well equipped enough to demonstrate the importance of their profession. They lack capabilities to broaden their teaching processes on items as group lessons, school concerts, up-to-date repertoire knowledge, the use of modern media and cultural entrepreneurship. The connection with society is disappearing We are too dependent of government funding Our way of thinking is offer targeted instead of demand targeted More performing musicians graduate then there is work to do At the conservatories instrumental skills prevail too much above orientation on future profession Our public is well educated with high incomes, but small in amount VS What can we do? Open up for the way of thinking of our funders Interfere with the cultural agenda in your community Make yourself visible, as an artist, as an all-round teacher Answer the changing in consumers behaviour Train yourself in other educational processes to be more demand targeted Participate in community art projects Work together in and with regular schools Look for cost saving processes (the most difficult) Not only music teachers allied to institutes are responsible for the legitimation of government funding. Conservatories are responsible for an educational program that suits the current situation in society. 6
There is a need for more accent on art education There should be a full, serious program for music teacher/trainer alongside a full performers program Develop a well thought-out alumni policy with further training and exchange to keep up the level and use the expertise on the job. Appoint teachers who work in art education as teachers/trainers Music education is developing At all levels, music education programs in and with regular education are in need of musicians who have their music skills, but also their educational skills. The next video shows us cooperation between three high schools in Holland, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Dutch Groot Omroepkoor and the Concertgebouw. Inspired by Gustav Mahler s third symphony, high school students wrote their own songs and compositions and were lead to a performance by musicians from a very professional orchestra and choir in one of the most prestigious concert halls in the world. Not only these elected students have the access to this kind of experiences. Luckily, a lot of low threshold programs for ordinary kids are fashionable. Many training programs for musicians are started. The government is putting high cost savings on art, but money for art education for the youth is released. The accent on music education for the younger is postponed from the music schools to regular education. While watching the 3-minutes video, I have some things for you to consider: 1 Which musical or didactical skills can you determine? 2 Do you think conservatories should train students in these skills? 3 Can you imagine yourself as a musician, as a teacher in this type of education? video Can you give me your response on these considerations? 1 (musical leadership, instant composing/arranging, connecting with juveniles, patience, concentration, inspiration, etcetera) 7
Finally the three ISSUES - Balancing into the future 1 What will a private piano practice look like in the future? What will the changes be in the daily activities of a pianist/piano teacher? If government funding keeps declining, shall private teachers crawl back in their houses and studios to attend only traditional piano lessons? Does that mean that the piano will be the instrument of the élite, as in the past? Can we research if there is already diminishment of interest for our instrument? Is there a role for EPTA? 2 What to expect from the conservatories Do we trust that our conservatories will remark the changing balance in our field? Will they adjust the content of their programs quick enough? What would you want to be changed in their educational programs? Do we expect them to involve us because of our experience on the job? 3 The one that worries me: the presence of the piano in current developments The piano is hardly visible in the new educational programs. Because of its size and weight it is not always the most cleverly instrument. Most primary schools don t possess a piano. Are we willing to work with digital instruments to motivate potential pupils to choose for the piano? Will it work? Has anyone a better idea? What will be the benefits in the future for the piano practice for our students, society and we? Thank you for your attention. 8