Piano Teaching: Requirements, Realities, Aspirations

The profession of piano teaching encompasses a broad range of talents and skillsets requisite for effective dissemination of knowledge. I shall speak of the necessary qualities for teaching, practical considerations and associated issues for maximal success of both teacher and student. This is not an all-encompassing, nor prescriptive outline of piano teaching. However, it provides […]

Chapter 2: Issues with Classical Pedagogy – Examinations, Theory Harmony, Improvisation

There are institutional, individual and perceptual issues at all levels of classical music. The rectification of these issues may lead to a keener understanding of music theory, and a proliferation of classical improvisation at amateur and professional levels of performance and education. I shall deal with those issues which may be resolved through the integration […]

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Partimento

The history of Partimento and its usage is a much-developed area of scholarship. In this chapter I have dealt with what the Partimento tradition was, and what partimenti are. Studying the rise of partimenti, the lineage and the fall of Partimento methods are also of considerable interest (Sanguinetti, 2012; van Tour, 2015; Gjerdingen, 2018). The […]

Aesthetics: Considerations For the Determination of Musical Value

Stecker (2003, pp.322-323) calls for further research to uncover an evaluative model, where “various prima facie considerations are all relevant to, but do not entail, a particular assessment”. He mentions how assessment based on these considerations “is one of the unsolved problems, not only in the epistemology of aesthetic value judgements, but in ethics and […]

Così Fan Tutte: Context, Philosophy and Musico-Dramatic Relationships

Così fan tutte was composed during somewhat of a compositional drought for Mozart. He had written only 4 major works in 1789, the year prior to the premiere of this opera (Steptoe, 1988, p.71). This, as well as Mozart’s financial difficulties and reputational difficulties for Da Ponte, meant that much was dependent on Così fan […]

Analysis: Haydn Andante and Variations in F minor, Hob XVII:6

Written in 1793 in Vienna “between his two stays in London” (Ax, 2012), the ‘Andante with variations in F minor’ “underwent several revisions” (Sisman, 1993, p. 193). It was an “alternating strophic-variation set in six parts” intended to be a movement of a sonata (Sisman, 1993, p. 193). This was later changed to a reprise […]

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Analysis: Don Giovanni no.15, trio ‘Ah! taci, ingiusto core’

We join Donna Elvira in Act II at her balcony, scorning herself for still loving the notorious philanderer, Don Giovanni. Meanwhile, the Don has set his eyes on his next conquest, the maid of Donna Elvira. To be successful in this latest exploit, he must lure Elvira away. Don Giovanni and Leporello exchange outfits and […]