Description/Abstract:
ABSTRACT
THE ARTIST-TEACHER AS COLLEGE MUSIC EDUCATOR
Young Sook Kim
This work addresses two current topics in college-level music education: the philosophical questions of an artist-teacher, and analysis of musical works.
The first topic deals with the emotional and psychological question faced by those who have majored in music performance in colleges without any preparation for becoming a teacher, who nevertheless by necessity do teach after graduation, but with a sense of frustration. The cause, nature, and the degree of the pain suffered by this group of musicians is explored, and a solution is offered in terms of a philosophical approach. It consists of instilling in the minds of the performance majors while in college the philosophical preparation based on the understanding of the contribution to humanity by teaching, the sense of gratification by fulfillment of oneÆs aspiration through students, and understanding of the differences in emphasis between performing and teaching. The presentation constitutes Chapter II, Chapter I being the introduction to the entire work.
The second topic is dealt in this work with the belief that an in-depth analysis of a music piece gives an artist-teacher insight into the world of the creator of the music, and thus enables him/her a creative approach in the performance and teaching of the music. When such an analysis is presented to a student by a teacher the student can use the analysis as means of performing music more effectively through a better understanding of the music, rather than by rote. For this purpose, five piano pieces, those by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Yun, are analyzed, each in separate chapters, beginning with Chapter III and ending in Chapter VII. The analysis begins with the description of the background, compiles the measure-by-measure analysis, and ends with the overview of the piece. In doing so, emphasis is given to the personality of the composer, the piece and pedagogical implications.
In the concluding chapter, Chapter VIII, the performance concepts governing the five pieces are described, and a recommendation is offered for better preparation of the artist-teachers. The recommendation is for an inclusion in future of a special course in pedagogy emphasizing the philosophical issues discussed in Chapter II.