Doctor of Musical Arts Dissertations
Student perceptions of contemporary music: Learning and performing commissioned piano works
Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
Department
Contemporary Music
First Advisor
Solungga Liu (Advisor)
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Menard (Committee Member)
Third Advisor
Ryan Ebright (Committee Member)
Fourth Advisor
Steven Cady (Other)
Abstract
The use of contemporary music in music teaching is no new topic, with the literature covering it dating back at least to 1950. Two important approaches available to piano teachers who wish to provide their students with a well-rounded education are assigning contemporary pieces to their students and commissioning pieces for them. While there is literature available detailing the benefits of each approach, there is a lack of scholarly works that investigate how the experience of learning commissioned pieces affects students’ perception of contemporary music in comparison to that of learning published contemporary works. The purpose of the research conducted for this document was to investigate how learning newly commissioned pieces affects collegiate piano students’ perception of contemporary music. To accomplish this, three pieces were commissioned for three undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. The students participating in this study also learned selections from Lera Auerbach’s Twenty-four Preludes for Piano, Op. 41. These are contemporary pieces published in 2006 by Musikverlag Hans Sikorski GmbH and Company, with difficulty levels ranging from easy to difficult. The students and their piano Teacher were interviewed regarding their experiences learning and performing both sets of pieces. The analysis of the interview responses showed that the students’ perception of contemporary music changed after learning pieces composed for them. At the beginning of this research, they perceived that all contemporary music is confusing and distant, but after learning the commissioned pieces, they perceived that some of it can be enjoyable and accessible. They also perceived the commissioned contemporary pieces to be more enjoyable than the published ones, resulting in increased enthusiasm for contemporary music. In addition, two of the three students perceived that the benefits of learning commissioned pieces are greater than those of learning published contemporary works, making commissioned compositions uniquely suited for introducing piano students to contemporary music. Such benefits included the possibility of having a piece tailored to students’ needs and skills, the opportunity of preparing an original performance of a piece free from any preconceptions, and the opportunity to communicate closely with the composer. As a result of these benefits, they perceived commissioning new works as an efficient tool for introducing piano students to contemporary music.
Recommended Citation
de Oliveira, Jonathan Taylor, "Student perceptions of contemporary music: Learning and performing commissioned piano works" (2022). Doctor of Musical Arts Dissertations. 47.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/dma_diss/47