One of the problems in contemporary piano education is that although techniques improve day by day, listening skills still have much potential for improvement. Nevertheless, research on listening skills during introductory level piano pedagogy is sti...
One of the problems in contemporary piano education is that although techniques improve day by day, listening skills still have much potential for improvement. Nevertheless, research on listening skills during introductory level piano pedagogy is still limited on simply writing down notes, and there is yet no comprehensive research on the development of listening skills. Given this situation, this writer intends to point out a desirable method of piano pedagogy through reviewing the Integration Theory of Kim Young-Sook, a professor on piano pedagogy.
In particular, this paper will try to find out how the concept of "Artistic Listening" skills, described by Kim Young-Sook, can be applied in real life teaching. The theoretical basis of Integration Theory is, first, "artistic listening," the basic and fundamental learning according to the theory. Gordon’s Audiation and Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics constitute the second and the third. The fourth is György Sándor’s Technique and the fifth is Music Direction, also by György Sándor.
Through an overall understanding of the Integration Theory, this research was mainly focused on improving ‘artistic listening’ skills, a concept explained in a much accessible manner by Kim Young-Sook, a piano pedagogist, of Gordon’s Audiation. Freidrich Kuhlau’s Piano Sonatine Op. 55 No.1, 1st movement and Muzio Clementi’s Piano Sonatine Op. 36 No. 1, 1st movement were chosen as the actual teaching plans. The steps and methods of teaching was based on "Piano Pedagogy and Artistic Listening" by Kim Young-sook. Sufficient training on listening the basic fifth degree, third degree, sixth degree, seventh degree, and eighth degree intervals, whole tones, semi tones, harmonized tones, melody, triads, dissonance, harmony, and the individual parts was focused in the first piece, Kuhlau’s Piano Sonatine Op.55 No.1, 1st movement; and in the second piece, Clementi’s Piano Sonatine Op.36 No. 3, 1st movement, a rather holistic and realistic teaching plan was thought of.
After reviewing the Integration Theory, and conducting research on a step-by-step and specific teaching plan with "Artistic Listening" as a core concept, a conclusion was reached: musical perfection can also be reached through education on listening, only with basic fundamentals. Music started with the most basic tones, and only when the relation and structure between these tones are solved together, can emotions and performance be one, and this is the goal of music education. Therefore, beginner level piano education must start with listening education, and this necessitates endless effort on the part of the piano teacher. Finally, through listening, students can enjoy imagining through music, be creative, and improve their thinking skills, and, in the end, may understand the beauty of the sound of the piano.