Content area
Abstract
Since the 1960s, interest among college music educators has grown in ideas associated with Comprehensive Musicianship (CM). CM stresses the integration of all music experiences—creating, performing, critical listening, and analysis—for a strong musical foundation. Such an approach aligns with the thinking of educators like Dewey, Lewin, and Gardner.
Today, many piano teachers concentrate on a “product-oriented” approach, emphasizing technical accuracy and memorization of assigned pieces, with little connection to music history and theory coursework. This fragmentation does not foster students' musical maturity and independence.
This study provided source materials and teaching strategies as a model for developing CM in college-level piano majors. These strategies, based on the Robert Pace method, were developed to demonstrate the value of group conceptual learning.
Four chapters, presenting works of J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Grieg, and Schoenberg, consist of: (1) Historical Background; (2) Analysis for Performance; and (3) Teaching Strategies. They were designed to enhance student awareness of different styles and to present interesting and useful topics for performers and teachers. The teaching strategies, developed according to Gagne's principle of “general to specific,” contain Sample Repertoire, Suggested Lesson Schedule, and Sample Lesson Plans. An extended discussion demonstrates the role of the teacher in presenting the material through group discovery learning and involving students actively.
Four group piano pedagogy experts conducted a formative evaluation to examine whether or not the materials were useful and realistic as a group instruction guide. The experts approved of the work as a whole and suggested some revisions.
Throughout the study the author presented several advantages of student-centered group instruction: (1) peer-interactive environment; (2) problem-solving through discovery learning; and (3) additional lesson time with less redundancy, allowing for critical listening, ensemble performance, improvisation, and sight-reading. It became clear that the goals of music education—broad musicianship and musical independence—could be effectively achieved through a student-centered approach using group dynamics in an interrelated course of study. Such an approach might be applied throughout the curriculum in diverse settings to produce more creative performers and music educators. Experimental research was recommended to statistically ascertain the value of this approach.
