| CODE | MSP1266 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Essential Elements of Piano Technique | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Music Studies | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit is to be considered as an introduction to the techniques used in practising, with the focus on the technical and motoric aspects of piano playing. Piano exercises and studies will be analyzed and methods of practising and mastering technically problematic passages in piano music will be discussed. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit is intended to introduce the student to the basic elements of piano technique as well as to the various methods for solving technical difficulties in the piano works that s/he will be required to study during the Performance Piano study-units. The lecturer will demonstrate how practising sessions should be organized in a logical and productive way. Detailed analytical study of practice sessions will provide the student with further insights into the ways that these can be effectively organized. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to distinguish between the various techniques used for practising technically complex passages in the piano repertoire and to know which method should be used in each particular case. The student will understand how most musical passages can be analyzed from the point of view of technique and will be able to create technical formulae as preliminary exercises for such passages. Complete piano works will also be discussed from the point of view of technique and the student will learn to discern which are the most effective tools to solve technical problematic sections in these works. Other problems related to piano technique and performance, such as muscle strain, fatigue, memory and stage fright will be addressed. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to organize his/her practice sessions in an effective way by applying different methods of practising to technically problematic passages in piano music as well as to complete works. The student will learn to apply the technical formulae discussed to his/her practising sessions. Various methods for warm-up and general technical studies will also be discussed. Main Texts: - Hanon, Charles-Louis. 2010. The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises for the Piano (New York: G. Schirmer). - Ortmann, Otto. 1962. The Physiological mechanics of Piano Technique: An Experimental Study of the Nature of Muscular Action as used in Piano Playing, and of the Effects Thereof upon the Piano Key and the Piano Tone (Canada: Datton). - S谩ndor, Gy枚rggy. 1995. On Piano Playing: Motion, Sound and Expression (Boston: G. Schirmer). |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Prerequisite: Grade 6 (or higher) | ||||||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Practical | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Joanne Camilleri |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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