How Do You Choose Your Repertoires For PTNA Piano Competition?
2017/09/13 | コメント(0)
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How do you choose your repertoires for your stage? Here are the brief interviews of 6 piano teachers who won the Teachers' Award at the PTNA Piano Competition 2017.1. How important it is to choose pieces for the competition?
Koki Shimizu thinks that 80% of the success might rely on the repertoires. As the PTNA Piano Competition asks for 4 periods from Baroque to Modern, he believes it important to choose pieces which bring good balance and contrast between them, and above all, which enhance students' personalities and characteristics.
Once Mari Kumagai gets to know the required repertoires, she tries to think what to recommend to each student and how to teach them. As she would like to consider and shape up the plan by herself first, she does not rely on seminars or analysis booklets immediately. Choosing repertoires is such an "interesting" moment for her.
At first, Reiko Mochizuki makes research of all the scores and tries to play them. Especially, Baroque pieces are different between editions in regards of articulations and dynamics, she considers carefully which to select for the particular pieces. She believes that the choice of the edition is as important as the performances.
Once Mari Kumagai gets to know the required repertoires, she tries to think what to recommend to each student and how to teach them. As she would like to consider and shape up the plan by herself first, she does not rely on seminars or analysis booklets immediately. Choosing repertoires is such an "interesting" moment for her.
At first, Reiko Mochizuki makes research of all the scores and tries to play them. Especially, Baroque pieces are different between editions in regards of articulations and dynamics, she considers carefully which to select for the particular pieces. She believes that the choice of the edition is as important as the performances.
2. The important points of selection
Reiko Mochizuki chooses pieces for students that fit into their personalities, sounds, and their preferences. Sanae Nagamoto offers singing pieces for students who have strong drive of expression, fast pieces for those who have strong techniques, musical and technical pieces for those who have both capabilities. Koki Shimizu has no difficulty in choosing one piece that fit into each student, out of 3-4 pieces in each period. However, he thinks further to make good balance between 4 periods, for instance, a faster piece from modern period and a slower piece from another period.
3. How to combine pieces of 4 periods? How to prepare beforehand?
It is allowed to skip grades at the PTNA Piano Competition. Koki Shimizu recommends pieces according to students' performance levels, not their ages. He says it leads better achievements (or results) when he offers challenging pieces to students that require a lot of elements to learn until the day of the performance.
Kumi Kameya tries to combine pieces with both singing and moving elements. It is often the case that teachers select pieces for students, but it would be more idealistic that teachers talk with students and their parents which pieces to play among variety of choices. In any case, reading and comprehension skill is essential in order to choose any pieces they want.
Sanae Nagamoto thinks preparation is important. At her piano studio, she offers bigger pieces in the previous season (autumn to winter), so that students would feel easier to select competition repertoires in spring. For example, students who studies works of Burgmuller in the previous year feel easier to play required repertoires of the grade B.
Kaori Takizawa also prepares in advance. She encourages her students to nurture basic performance skills in daily lessons, which allows them to cope with any repertoires that competitions ask for. For intermediate to advanced students (the grade C and above), she recommends them to study solfege and analysis, as well as to listen to live concerts or recordings, etc. so as to choose pieces by themselves.
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