Instructor: Dr. Louis Goldstein
Office: M317 Scales Fine Arts Center
Phone: 759-5368
Office hours arranged by appointment
Course Requirements
1) Read Gillespie, Five Centuries of Keyboard Music.
2) Attend class and participate in discussions.
3) Primary Project: Create a listening journal. Listen to piano music, take factual and subjective notes on the music you listen to, and organize your notes into a file. Methods of organization and the contents of note taking will be discussed in class. The sources of your listening will be the required list, selections from class presentations, the textbook, and items you discover while following your own interests.
4) Secondary Project: Piano Pedagogy. Select four books that appeal to you from the piano pedagogy holdings in the main library (primarily MT 220). Write brief statements describing their contents and why they are of interest to you. With one of your selections you should test the suggestions of the author and report your impression of the method and the results. This project will be colated and distributed to the class.
5) One factual exam covering material such as: what are the opus numbers of the Beethoven Sonatas, what are the Kochel numbers for the Mozart Sonatas, how many French Suites did Bach write, etc.? All questions will be given in advance.
6) Four times during the semester a one paragraph reflection will be required. The topic sentence will express one thought or one feeling important to you and relative to something heard or read in the Piano Literature course experience. The remainder of the paragraph will relate why it is important to you. Your personal opinion is required for this assignment. Reflections will not be graded, but are strictly required in order to maintain your grade.
7) An oral report concerning a topic of special interest in your listening journals will be given at the end of the semester.
8) Final project: turn in two solo piano recital programs together with program notes indicating how the selections form a coherent whole, while providing enough contrast to maintain audience interest. One program will cover at least three historical periods; another will focus on only one period.
Course Objectives
1) To become familiar with the entire range of literature composed for the piano, and to identify specific areas of particular interest.
2) To assess the range of materials concerning piano literature and pedagogy available in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library.
3) To assess the availability of assistance in these topics on the world wide web.