Young People's Perspective: Understanding Experiential Benefits of Interdisciplinary Performance for Adolescent Pianists

Abstract

Two dissertation recitals and a pedagogy workshop were given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts (Music: Performance) at the University of Michigan. Multimedia elements and narrative were used in both of the performances. The workshop, accompanied by a written document, advocates for incorporating interdisciplinary activities in intermediate group piano teaching and performance settings. The lecture recital, Ragtime Revival: Roots & Offshoots, was presented on March 23, 2021, in Britton Recital Hall without a live audience. This lecture recital explored the genre of ragtime piano music through the lens of the 1960s revival movement led by composers and academics. The lecture compared ragtime revival works to “classic” rags written by composers such as Scott Joplin, Scott Hayden, Arthur Marshall, Eubie Blake, and featured video interviews with William Bolcom and Waleed Howrani, who discussed their works and their experiences composing and performing during this time. The pieces performed were “Brass Knuckles,” a collaborative rag by William Bolcom and William Albright, “The Nightmare Fantasy Rag” by William Albright, “The Serpent’s Kiss” by William Bolcom, two movements from The Animal Rags by Lebanese composer Waleed Howrani, and “The Contemporary Rag” by Kenneth Cooper. The dissertation recital, Lights in the Sky: a multimedia concert inspired by the cosmos, was recorded as a virtual concert in the Duderstadt Video Studio and was first premiered on June 28, 2021, on Zoom to an audience of museum donors from the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. It was then screened before a live audience in Stamps Auditorium and vii premiered publicly on YouTube on July 11, 2021. The program, originally conceived as a live performance inside the University of Michigan Planetarium and Dome Theater but canceled due to COVID-19, included musical selections and curated videos based on the theme of outer space. The pieces performed were The Milky Way: Sonata for Piano 4 Hands, Op. 24 and Pleiades: Seven Musical Moments, Op. 11 by living Estonian composer Urmas Sisask, Etude No. 5 “Arc- en-ciel” from Études, Book 1 by György Ligeti, Prelude No. 12 “Feux d’artifice” from Préludes, Book 2 by Claude Debussy, “Orizzonte” by Missy Mazzoli, and “Alpha Centauri” from Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV) by George Crumb. The pedagogy workshop, Young People’s Perspective: Exploring Experiential Benefits of Interdisciplinary Performance for Adolescent Pianists, was presented on August 6, 2021, in Watkins Lecture Hall. This workshop presented the methodology and findings from a pilot course and research study with intermediate students in an online group piano setting.