Music Listening 101

My Pre-Twinkle Level Suzuki students have a daily listening assignmeng, to listen to their Suzuki Book 1 CD everyday.  I even gave out a colouring sheet with 100 stars so they could colour in a star for every day of music listening to achieve the "100 Days of Twinkle Little Star Listening" Award.  Dr. Kataoka also recommends that piano teachers listen to quality piano music as well, lest they start sounding like their own students. I read somewhere that she recommends Rubenstein; I like his playing for the rich, buttery tone so smooth.

I`d like to write about active listening to other great piano performers from throughout the ages. I attended a Royal Conservatory of Music Teacher Professional Development Seminar today and one of the excercises we did as a group as part of the Pedagogy Session presented by Dr Christopher Hahn was the Ìnspiration Through Recorded Performance listening excercise. He played recordings of selections from RCM repertoire (Grade 9 to ARCT Levels) and we had to identify the name of the composer, the name of the work (with opus, K, Hob, BWV number etc), the name of the pianist and describe some outstanding features. Here is a synopsis.

1. Bach Invention No 1 in C Major, played by Angela Hewitt
Outstanding features: Clear voicing, precise tempo, sparkling clarity. Hear the imitation in the voices, driving rhythm, nuance in the structure.

2. Bach Prelude in D BWV 850, played by Wilhelm Kempf
Outstanding features: He is best known for playing Beethoven and Schubert. Precise bass line like a sewing machine, yet fast feathery light and continuity in the right hand. The left hand pulse is secure, dance-like and lyrical.

3. Haydn, Sonata in C Major hob 1560 3rd Movement, played by Lang Lang
Oustanding features:  Animated, dynamic contrast, untamed, exciting and dramatic. It reminded me of background music to an animated cartoon, a deer darting about in and out of the forest.

4. Beethoven, Sonata in G minor opus 49 no 1, played by Glenn Gould age 20
Outstanding features: clear melody, LH supportive, discreet, long phrasing, lyrical and very melancholy. Makes your heart ache a little bit.

5. Schumann, Scenes from Childhood, Countries and Far Away Places, played by Benhold Mosievich
Outstanding features; slow and controlled, hesitation, robato like. The classic way of performing with the LH slightly preceding the right hand. A singing melody and rolling accompaniment.

6. Shumann, Scenes from Childhood, Countries and Far Away Places, played by Fanny Davis, 1861 - 1934. She was a student of Clara Schumann, often described as a wild woman yet when she played many would describe her as the spectre of Clara Schumann, playing with discipline and assertiveness.
Outstanding features: a bit confused texture,  triplet rhythms are odd and inconsistent, non-sentimental and robotic. Perhaps we were too enamoured with the previous performance and interpretation.

7. Clementi, Sonatina in G op xx no 2, played by a 6 year old prodigy
It was very cheerful, but we had to be forgiving of the slowing down for the trill and the hammering three repeated quarter note motif when we discovered his age.

I really like this format of active listening and the group discussion. My notes are taken from the collective collaboration. Perhaps I could engage this type of excercise at the next masterclass; we could listen to a recorded performance or discuss the performance live by the students present.