Toward Piano Teaching Evaluation Based on Neural Network

With the rise of piano teaching in recent years, many people participated in the team of learning steel playing. However, expensive piano teaching fees and its unique one-to-one teaching model have caused piano education resources to be very short, so learning piano performance has become a very extravagant event. The factors affecting music performance are varying, and there are many types of their evaluation such as rhythm, expressiveness, music, and style grasp. The computer is used to simulate this evaluation process to essentially identify the mathematical relationship between factors affecting music performance and evaluation indicators. The use of computer multimedia software for piano teaching has become a feasible way to alleviate the contradiction. This paper discusses the implementation method of piano teaching software, the issues of computer piano teaching, the computer teaching as one-way knowledge, and the lack of interaction. The neural network (NN) model is used to evaluate the piano performance and simulate teachers to guide students through their exercise. The performance of the proposed system is tested for the piano music of “Ode to Joy,” which is different from the collection of NN training samples, and is delivered ten times by another piano teacher, student A (piano level 6), and student B (piano level 5).

Multimedia Recognition of Piano Music Based on the Hidden Markov Model

Piano performance is an art with rich artistic elements and unpredictable performance skills. It is an important carrier for playing beautiful piano sounds. The generation of musical tension and expression of piano performance is a vivid display of piano performance skills. In piano performance, we should pay attention to the cultivation and flexible application of performance skills. In order to ensure the richness and artistry of piano performance, it is fully based on the artistic characteristics of piano performance. Through in-depth analysis of the principle of the hidden Markov model, it is applied to the multimedia recognition process of piano playing music. In the process of obtaining the template, the fundamental frequency of the piano playing music differs greatly, and the piano playing music appears during the performance process. For the problem of low recognition rate, this paper proposes a multimedia recognition method for piano music. Finally, the analysis of experimental results shows that the method proposed in this paper has a 16% higher recognition rate than the traditional method, and it has a certain value in the multimedia recognition of piano music.

Ternopil branch of the Musical Institute named after Mykola Lysenko as a cultural and educational center of Ternopil (1st half of XX century)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the historical and cultural background and the main aspects of the formation of professional piano performance in Ternopil in the late nineteenth - first half of the twentieth century on the example of VMIL branch activity. Methodology. The methodological basis of the publication is historical-stylistic and comparative approaches, methods of historical-cultural discourse (according to V. Cherkasov). The formation of professional piano performance is considered in terms of musicological and stylistic approaches in broader cultural, educational, and musical-pedagogical contexts. The problem of studying the regionalism of music and performance centers and schools as a dynamic historical and cultural phenomenon is actualized. A thorough study of the history of regional piano educational centers and performing schools has been the subject of a number of musicological studies. In particular, the works of N. Kashkadamova, T. Starukh, L. Mazepa, and others are dedicated to the piano art of Lviv, its artistic education, and cultural institutions. Scientific Novelty. Based on the study of scientific and archival sources, we can see that the educational and pedagogical traditions of the Higher Music Institute named after M. Lysenko as the first Ukrainian professional center and its branches in Eastern Galicia have continued in the activities of pianists, teachers, and performers in Ukraine and abroad, mainly Western Of Ukraine. Attention is focused on the opening and initial stage of the branch of the Lysenko Higher Music Institute (VMIL) in Ternopil, in particular, on the activities of piano teachers. Based on historical, comparative, and individual approaches, the role of individual performers, composers, and teachers as the founders of piano performance in the region is highlighted. Thus, the novelty of the article is to trace the initial stage of the formation of piano performance in Ternopil in the late nineteenth - first third of the twentieth century. as a process of transition from the amateur period to academic performance and professional music education. Conclusions are made about the decisive role of the branch of the Higher Music Institute named after M. Lysenko (VMIL) in Ternopil and its founders, in particular, Iryna Krykh (Lyubchakova) and Yuri Krykh, in the development of music education and performance in the region. Keywords: musical culture of Western Ukraine, end of XIX – first half of XX century, piano performance, Higher Music Institute M. Lysenko (VMIL), pianists, performers and lecturers of Ternopil.

Sound Recording As a Factor of Evolution of the Piano Performing Style in XX Century

Роль звукозаписи как источника и катализатора изменений, произошедших в фортепианном исполнительстве в XX веке, мало исследована в отечественном музыкознании. Цель автора — восполнить данный пробел, раскрыв влияние звукозаписи на развитие фортепианного искусства. В центре внимания — репертуарные предпочтения, возможности и подходы исполнителей; анализ производится в рамках предложенной периодизации звукозаписи (ранней, классической, цифровой). В эпоху ранней звукозаписи трансформация исполнительских средств связана с временны´ м аспектом. Период классической звукозаписи характеризуется стремлением к идеальному исполнению в студии звукозаписи, что обусловлено технологическими открытиями в области обработки звука, становлением типа пианиста-интерпретатора и возникновением типа исполнителя-постмодерниста. Идеалы качества эпохи цифровой записи привели к формированию высоких стандартов концертных исполнений, а развитие компьютерных технологий — к появлению новых исполнительских техник. В статье представлены основные стилевые тенденции, возникшие под влиянием звукозаписи, обозначены основные проблемы современного исполнительства. The role of the sound recording as a source and catalyst of changes that took place in the piano performance in the XX century is researched rather little in the native musicology. The aim of the author is to fill this gap by examining the influence of the sound recording on the piano performing style. In the spotlight there are performing techniques, repertoire preferences and interpretative approaches which are analyzed within the framework of the suggested periodization of the sound recording — early, classical, digital. In the days of early sound recording, transformation of performing techniques is connected with the temporal aspect. The period of classical sound recording is characterized by the desire of an ideal performance in the studio of sound recording, owing to technological discoveries in the area of sound processing, and emergence of such types of musicians as pianist-interpreter and postmodern performer. The ideals of quality of the era of digital recording led to formation of high standards in concert performance, and development of computer technologies created new performing techniques. The article presents the main stylistic trends which appeared under the influence of sound recording, and outlines the main problems of the contemporary performance.

Reproduction performance means of the piano work texture program (on the example of the cycle “Shevchenko’s Suite” by B. Liatoshynskyi)

The article is devoted to revealing the peculiarities of the texture program performance reproduction of a musical work. Based on the consideration of the textural program as a sequence of changes in the musical performance during the process of developing the form of the work, the performer-pianist must build the appropriate means of performance: artistic and technical ones. An important role here belongs to the author and the editorial remarks, the content of which, however, is quite conditional and requires individual performance correction. The topicality of the chosen topic lies in the need for in-depth consideration of the problems of musical texture and its attributes in the piano-performance specification. The purpose of the research is to identify the performance component of the piano work textural program, to propose an algorithm for its analysis on a specific example of B. Liatoshynskyi’s cycle. The methodology: the article uses a set of general scientific and special musicological approaches for developing the content of the stated topic. Among them are the following methods: systematic and structural method, it is aimed at revealing the essence of the phenomenon of the musical work textured program; a deductive method, it determines the course of research in the direction from a general part (textural program of a musical work) to a special (specificity of textural performance during a piano work) and a specific one (textural programs of plays of the cycle by B. Liatoshynskyi); genre and stylistic types of analysis from the point of view of reproduction of these phenomena in textural programs; texture analysis as a kind of musicological analysis; performance analysis, which is aimed at identifying the features of the textural attributes of the work under consideration. The results of the study show that the process of a piano work performance in the direction of its full interpretation is inseparable from analytical observations on the texture program and its attributes. The set of analytical and performance-technical procedures has as its ultimate goal the act of performing a piano work, in which the composer’s intentions are reproduced by means of the individual style of the pianist. The novelty of this study is the extrapolation of ideas about the piano work textural program on the interpretive activities of the performer. Embodying own understanding of the textural process and its attributes in the interpretation, the performer demonstrates personal version of the work sound image, revealing the means of the drama and composition art features. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using its provisions and conclusions in the courses “Musical Interpretation”, “Analysis of Musical Works”, “History of Piano Performance”, as well as in classes specializing in “piano” for bachelors and masters of the higher educational institutions of art and culture of Ukraine. Conclusions. Thus, the concept application of the piano work “texture program” in relation to the activities of the performer-interpreter raises a number of issues related to the means of the performance center: dynamics, articulation, agogics, in their vision by the musical composer and directly the performer. In this context, the identification and implementation of the piano work textured program gives the key to the disclosure of its ideological and artistic content, a clear understanding of the drama and form features, implemented in the act of performance.

HEADLESS MUSICAL SEEDS AND GESTURES WITH ADJECTIVES: AN INTERVIEW WITH KEIKO DEVAUX

Keiko Devaux (b. 1982) is a Canadian composer, originally from British Columbia, who now lives in Montréal. She began her musical career in piano-performance studies as well as composing, touring and recording several albums in independent rock bands. Her concert music is widely performed throughout Canada and Europe. From 2016–18, Keiko was the composer in residence of Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. She joined Salvatore Sciarrino's masterclasses at L'Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, between the years 2017 and 2019. Keiko was commissioned by music@villaromana festival, Florence, to create Echoic Memories. She is the inaugural winner of the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music (2020) and is also engaged in a two-year residency as a Carrefour composer with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (2020–22). This interview was conducted over Zoom in late spring 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dimitris Dragatakis (1914-2001): Advancing his legacy and Concerto for Viola using twenty-first-century digital tools

<p>This project focuses on Dimitris Dragatakis (1914–2001), his legacy, and Concerto for Viola in the twenty-first century. The research examines the following overarching questions within interlaced scholarly and creative components of the dissertation: How can we use twenty-first-century digital tools to promote Dimitris Dragatakis, one of Greece’s most important modern composers, to advance his legacy including, importantly, his Concerto for Viola, and to assist future scholars and performers in accessing information about his life and music? This dissertation discusses the digital tools and processes used to advance the legacy of Dimitris Dragatakis and to promote his Concerto for Viola. These tools and processes include creating and publishing the Dragatakis Archive Digital Database website, recording interviews with the Dragatakis family and leading Dragatakis scholar, and using his Concerto for Viola (1992) as a digital case study. The digital case study demonstrates how twenty-first-century performers, scholars, and archivists might approach advancing the works of lesser-known composers through digital media. In this case study, a new viola and piano performance edition and percussion chamber music performance edition are offered, a new digital orchestra score along with complete orchestral parts is made available, interview material with the violist who premiered the work has been recorded, and the recently unearthed premiere performance recording of the work from the Dragatakis archive has been included in an interactive video created by the researcher. This project also aims to provide a model for future performers and scholars to use to assist future projects beyond this topic.</p>

Dimitris Dragatakis (1914-2001): Advancing his legacy and Concerto for Viola using twenty-first-century digital tools

<p>This project focuses on Dimitris Dragatakis (1914–2001), his legacy, and Concerto for Viola in the twenty-first century. The research examines the following overarching questions within interlaced scholarly and creative components of the dissertation: How can we use twenty-first-century digital tools to promote Dimitris Dragatakis, one of Greece’s most important modern composers, to advance his legacy including, importantly, his Concerto for Viola, and to assist future scholars and performers in accessing information about his life and music? This dissertation discusses the digital tools and processes used to advance the legacy of Dimitris Dragatakis and to promote his Concerto for Viola. These tools and processes include creating and publishing the Dragatakis Archive Digital Database website, recording interviews with the Dragatakis family and leading Dragatakis scholar, and using his Concerto for Viola (1992) as a digital case study. The digital case study demonstrates how twenty-first-century performers, scholars, and archivists might approach advancing the works of lesser-known composers through digital media. In this case study, a new viola and piano performance edition and percussion chamber music performance edition are offered, a new digital orchestra score along with complete orchestral parts is made available, interview material with the violist who premiered the work has been recorded, and the recently unearthed premiere performance recording of the work from the Dragatakis archive has been included in an interactive video created by the researcher. This project also aims to provide a model for future performers and scholars to use to assist future projects beyond this topic.</p>

A comparative study of piano performance programs at university-level institutions in China and the United States: From current faculty members’ and students’ perspectives

This study investigated the perceptions of piano performance programs in higher education from current collegiate students and faculty members’ perspectives in China and the United States. Participants were from representative university-level institutions in the U.S. ( n = 41) and China ( n = 130). They were sent a questionnaire concerning (a) the factors that motivate students to pursue a piano performance degree, (b) the most important educational practices in their programs, (c) the most challenging tasks the students encounter, (d) students’ career goal, and (e) faculty members’ suggestions for prospective students and opinions on improving the piano performance programs. A summary of students and faculty members’ perceptions were outlined and the comparison between the two countries were explored. It is encouraging that not only students gave careful attention toward the applied lessons and performance opportunities in their studies, but also that a large percentage of the students believed they received excellent advice regarding practice strategies and artistry in their applied lessons in both countries. Most of the faculty participants in both countries expressed positive attitudes regarding the piano performance programs in their universities. By providing statistically significant data, this study provides a comprehensive vision for institutions to continue establishing piano programs.