 | The long-awaited New Thoughts on Piano Performance (Researching at the Interface between
Science and the Art of Piano Performance) edited by Cristine MacKie, Director of the London International Piano Symposium (LIPS) is now in print. The book presents a collection of chapters based on papers delivered at the 2013 and 2015 LIPS meetings. How to obtain a copy of New Thoughts on Piano Performance (2017) I have a book chapter in this volume titled "From Sound to Structure: Synchronising Prosodic and Structural Information to Reveal the Thinking Behind Performance Decisions", a compilation of my thoughts on the interaction amongst music structures (musical coherences) inherent in the score, interpreted by the performer, and projected in and recovered from a performance dating back to 2005 and including material presented at the 2013 LIPS Symposium. Many more chapters listed below. |
Announcement from Cristine MacKie:
The London International Piano Symposium (LIPS) is delighted to announce the publication of New Thoughts on Piano Performance, edited and compiled by Cristine MacKie, Director of The London International Piano Symposium.
For further details go to www.londoninternationalpianosymposium.co.uk
New Thoughts on Piano Performance (2017) is a London International Piano Symposium publication, which presents interdisciplinary research, the overarching goal of which is to expand the frontiers of knowledge in the field of piano performance, by exploring the interface between skilled artistry and scientific research. It is a work of central importance to those musicians who are seeking to achieve elite performance, as well as researchers, pedagogues, clinicians, and all those who are passionate about the piano and its future development.
In this collection of fifteen essays by distinguished international researchers and performers, issues which have rarely been addressed, and which should be a vital part of the education of pedagogues and performers are presented here.
Among these issues are: that the value of musical training, is a powerful source of intellectual stimulation and cognitive development in children; that the role of the body is foremost in the production of sound at the piano, yet remains the most neglected issue in the education of performers; that obsessive practice is not the way forward; that the memory may be enhanced by developing a mental map in the course of preparing a work for public performance; showing that recordings can exert particular influence as salient historical documents of performance practice; that understanding the correlation between a particular musical work and the visual art that inspired it, may bring greater understanding of the meaning of, and deeper insight into the work for the pianist who is preparing to perform the piece; defining issues such as sound, touch and timbre, which are a phenomenon with both a subjective as well as physical dimensions; that musical performance is shaped more by the mind and body behind the instrument than by the score in front of the person; and last, but not least, ways in which technology can be used to increase our understanding of the body as the instrument, and the conveyor of expression.
CONTENTS
Biographies
Preface
Part One - The role of the body in Piano Performance
1. ‘Biomechanical and Physiological Aspects of a Holistic Approach to Piano Technique’
Felipe Verdugo
Part Two - Anxiety in Piano Performance
2. ‘Can Improvisation Alleviate Performance Anxiety? An Exploration Amongst Musicians of Different Genres’
Eleanor Hodgkinson
Part Three - Beyond Obsessive Practice: Technologies Past and Future
3. ‘Beyond Obsessive Practice: Technologies Past and Future’
Xiao Xiao
Part Four - Recordings Past and Present: Of Value to the Performer or Not?
4. ‘Musing on the Past: Historical Recordings as Creative Resources of Piano Performance’
Georgia Volioti
Part Five - Sound Production:Tone, Touch, Colour, Sonority, Loudness and Timbre
5. ‘Exploring Real Time Sonic Adjustment in the Performance of Notated Music: Audio-Haptics, Space Acoustics, and the Variable Timbre of Piano Sound’
Victoria Toztkova
6. ‘Expressive Performance Parameters in the Production of Piano Timbres’
Michel Bernays
Part Six - Science Meets Art in Piano Performance
7. ‘From Sound to Structure: Synchronising Prosodic and Structural Information to Reveal the Thinking Behind Performance Decisions’
Elaine Chew
8. ‘Mirror Neurons: Imitation and Emulation in Piano Performance’
Cristine Mackie
Part Seven - Musicology: Useful or Otherwise in Piano Performance?
9. Chopin’s ‘Barcarolle Op. 60 and the Realization of Ornaments: Searching for Patterns, Models and References’
Cristina Capparelli Gerling & Josias Mactchulat
10. ‘Mompou’s Theory of Sonority: Expression for Interpretation at the Piano (l’Expressio per a l’ Interpretatio al Piano)’
Raenelda Mackie
11. ‘Finding Goya in the Goyescas: A Love Duet in Six Movements’
Diana Dumlavwalla
Part Eight - The Advantages of a Musical Education
12. ‘Music Training and Cognitive Development: A Study with Music and Non-Music Students’ Carlos Dos Santos-Luiz
Part Nine - Technology and Creative Performance
13. ‘Performance Cues for Music “With no plan”: a Case-study of Preparing Schoenberg’s Op. 11, No. 3
Zélia Chueke & Roger Chaffin
14. ‘The Pianist’s Body as Instrument: Performer - Controlled Electronics as a Collaborative Catalyst in Patrick Nunn’s Morphosis’ (2014)
Zubin Kanga
15. ‘How to Play the Piano: Dynamic Cross-Domain Expression, Notation, Technology and Performance’
Richard Hoadley