Do piano pieces, alone, serve to improve artistry, or does a piano student need to study separate works in preparation to master repertoire? Why were there so many opuses of different Czerny studies, compared to piano studies currently composed? How are the Viennese and Romantic schools of piano technique different from each other? Can teaching pieces serve as studies? Are etudes automatically included in piano methods? Why would the subject of "Etudes as Repertoire" not have taken place during Czerny's time? Discover this and more with this slide presentation. And, please chime in with comments. A talk prepared by Lola McIntyre, pianist & pedagogue, to the Holland Piano Teacher Forum, local chapter of Michigan Music Teachers Association and National Music Teachers Association.

1. Etudes as Repertoire
Presented by Lola McIntyre, M.M.
Classical Pianist & Pedagogue
for
Holland Piano Teachers’ Forum (HPTF)
and their student pianists of the Holland Piano Club
Local Chapter of the Michigan Music Teachers Association (MMTA)
& Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)
Hope College | Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts
John and Dede Howard Recital Hall
October 5, 2015 | 7:45 pm

2. Etudes as Repertoire
In Czerny’s day, this lecture would not have taken place
The suggestion a perfomance work would serve as both
a study and as concert repertoire, had not yet evolved

3. Purpose
To gain a historical perspective of piano technique
To list techniques which are most common within a period
Suggest those techniques which point to the development of piano technique
as we know it, today
To frame the technical benefits of traditional studies and etudes used to enhance
artistry of the piano repertoire
To offer suggestions of pieces with strong pedagogic purpose, which could also serve
as a study to improve technique and artistry at the piano
To define which pieces & studies are most desirable for the Holland Piano Club
Competition 2016 (Handout in second half of lecture)

4. Outline
I. Historical Perspective of Piano Technique
II. Pieces With Purpose
III. Annotated List of Repertoire/Studies/Etudes
IV. Takeaways, Questions, Answers & Discussion

5. What is a piano etude?
What is it Not?
• Why so many Czerny Studies?
• Piano is growing in popularity
• People had more time to practice
• Iron frame was not yet invented or patented
• The repertoire was not as vast as today

6. Etudes as repertoire
Viennese School of Playing Pianoforte
Repertoire and studies were separate from each
other
Clementi/ Czerny:
Finger isolated from
negative effects by hand
and arm
Etudes & Studies
Bach Toccata
Mozart Rondo
Repertoire

7. Etudes as Repertoire
Liszt
Chopin
et. al.
Etudes & Studies
Chopin’s
Etudes Opp. 10 & 24
Liszt’s
Transcendental, Paganini
& more
Repertoire
In the Romantic Era Chopin and Liszt composed
Etudes as Repertoire
Studies were supplemented to aid artistry

8. Liszt & Chopin
“Liszt was the first to suggest that each finger
movement was connected to the arm and that
changes in rhythm and expression were inextricably
linked to the musician’s inner rhythm
Chopin stressed the need to blend hand, wrist,
forearm, and arm movements in order to get a richer
sound.The arm should have some freedom; joints and
muscles should not be stiff. Chopin saw technique as
an integral part of music.”
Renaud, Lucie.“Piano Technique: Evolution or Revolution?” La Scena Musicale,Vol. 5, No. 5.
February 1, 2000.

9. Why so Many Czerny Studies?
What was going on historically?
Factories, mechanization are efficient, productive
wonders of the day
The industrial revolution was reaching a pinnacle by
the 1820’s.
Publishing was a growing industry
Concert pianists and composers were busy
It makes sense the repertoire came first, then one
tried to examine the mechanics and drill efficiencies

10. Viennese School Pianoforte Playing of
the 1820’s
20 treatises were written in the 1820’s
Elbows close to body
Little motion of torso, arm, hand wrist
Hummel - Grand Etudes in E & Bb Minor, Op. 125
YouTube Search: Christina Kobb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INh84SP6DiA
Viennese style technique begins near 3’20”

11. Piano Technique of the Romantic
Era (Chopin)
Chopin Style is basis for Russian School of Piano
Technique
Third finger is the fulcrum (support/point of rest)
Other fingers hang naturally next to the finger
which plays (no ‘positions’)
Chopin’s melodic writing = longer fingers on
black keys with thumb and little fingers hanging
and touching keys by their tips

12. Chopin’s Influence
Example: Nocturne in F#
REMINDER:“Chopin stressed the need to blend
hand, wrist, forearm & arm movements in order to
get a richer sound.” ~ Lucie Renaud (see earlier slide)
Mold hand to phrase
Release from the shoulder
Elbow free and follows the hand
Finger strokes like it waves bye-bye to the baby

13. 20th Century
to present day
1880 Tobia Matthay
First mention of ‘transfer of weight’ to benefit:
coloristic techniques
fingers supported by the body’s weight
rotation
direction
prehension (graps) of finger tips

14. 20th Century
to present day
Dorothy Taubman Technique
“Artistic playing of the piano repertoire cannot be
separated from technique
The body must serve the artistic intent”

15. Etudes as repertoire
Repertoire as Etude
Definitive Circles Become Less Defined
Vast History of Repertoire &Technical Studies Invites
Careful Pedagogy
Teaching Pieces, Etudes & Studies Serves the Repertoire
And, Repertoire Can Serve Pedagogically

16. Etudes as Repertoire
Repertoire as Technique
We have the entire history of published studies and
repertoire (and all those to follow), from which to
choose

17. In a Nutshell
Pick Pieces With Purpose
Design a Curriculum to Develop Technique ForYour
Students inYour Studio

18. Methods = The Wheel
For easier levels, when we use a method as it was
intended, there is a curriculum in place
Each method is different and supplementing can be
both helpful and motivating to students
For the sake of our Holland Piano Competition 2016,
consider drawing from the method’s technique book
IF the piece stands on its on in a performance
situation. Example: Faber - ARTISTRY MAGIC PIECES

19. Getting Practical
Of great help and importance are etude series’
dividied by levels
KEITH SNELL - Piano Repertoire ETUDES
Drawn from respected, foundational works,
arranged by level and in chronological order
within each book

20. Traditional Technique Curriculum
Art of Piano Pedagogy Facebook Page has over
10,000 members
Group members offered collected wisdom to our
Holland Piano Teachers Forum
Heller & Burgmuller most popular
Teaching pieces from Schumann’s Album for the
Young

21. Leon Whitesell’s Suggested Piano
Technique Curriculum
I always look forward to Leon’s suggestions. He personally invites us to
check out his website. Here’s his ‘curriculum’, which he suggested on our FB
thread in The Art of Piano Pedagogy:
EarlyYears: Burgmuller Op. 100, Czerny-Germer Selected Studies,
Moszkowski 20 Petit Etudes Op. 91, Heller Op. 45
LaterYears: MacDowell 12Virtuoso Etudes, Moszkowski 15
Etudes ofVirtuosity Op. 72, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Rachmaninov,
& the Kabalevsky Preludes!

22. The Art of Piano Pedagogy Facebook Group
Members Suggest:
Bach - Anna Magdalena Notebook, Short Preludes, Prelude from English
Suite in Am
C.P.E Bach - Solfeggietto
Beethoven - Rage Over a Lost Penny, Variations in Cm
Cramer - Etudes (Op. 50) [There are additional opuses.]
Schubert - Impromptu in Eb
Sonata No. 14 D. 783 (III.Vivace)
Schumann - Knight Rupert,Wild Rider, & others from Album for theYoung*,
Albumblatter Op. 124, Toccata Op. 7

23. The Art of Piano Pedagogy Facebook Group
Members Suggest:
Heller* - Etudes (especially E & Dm) [Opp. not specified]
Burgmuller* - Arabesque [Any from Op. 100]
Gurlitt
Chopin* - Etudes, Opp. 10 & 25 (Revolutionary, any), Minute Waltz
Rachmaninoff - Etudes Tableaux
Maykapar - Toccatina
Debussy - Toccata
Kabalevsky - Little Joke
* Multiple mentions

24. Repertoire & Studies for Holland Piano
Club Competition 2016
Annotated Repertoire List
Today’s Handout are rough notes/not for publication
What will work, what won’t work, and why
Historical technique building blocks from era to era
Pieces and references
Sightreading & Brainstorming Session
Lola McIntyre’s Home Studio
Brunch Friday October 23, 2016 9:30 am-noon
BringYour Student Roster
Possible Pieces to Sightread, Share & Discuss Together