Exploring pedagogical strategies for piano sight-reading

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2020.19816

Keywords:

Piano sight-reading, Pedagogical strategies, Experiment, Generalized linear models

Abstract

In a piano sight-reading (SR) experiment, 27 undergraduate students had their SR measured. It tested the hypothesis that transposition (control group) would be a pedagogical intervention better than rhythmic training and the use of four-handed repertoire (two experimental groups). The individual errors were collected from three tests in three difficulty levels (27 students x 3 tests x 3 levels), generating a total of 243 observations. Although students improved their performance by 30%, none of the pedagogical interventions had any significant effect (p=0.96). The results were: a) practicing reading in the bass clef, the rhythmic aspects more than the melodic ones, and the left hand more than the right one, brings more benefits to the piano SR performance; b) isolated SR strategies has little effect on students development; c) using a hybrid curriculum matrix with three or more significant predictors seems to be the most appropriate way to develop a SR competency.

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Author Biographies

Marcelo Almeida Sampaio, University of State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Doctorate in Music from Federal University of Mina Gerais (2017), with a sandwich-doctorate from the Institute of Education of University College London (UCL) in England, on pedagogical strategies for the development of piano sight-reading. He is a professor at the undergraduate and Professional Masters in Musical Practices at the State University of Minas Gerais. He works professionally as a collaborating pianist and chamber music.

Patrícia Furst Santiago, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Patrícia Santiago is Doctor and Master in Music Education from the University of London. Teacher of the Alexander Technique from the Constructive Teaching Center in London. Specialist and graduated in piano from the School of Music of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Retired, she taught postgraduate and undergraduate courses at the UFMG School of Music, having worked in the area of Music Education. She worked as a teacher at the Foundation for Artistic Education and at the Núcleo Villa-Lobos de Educação Musical in Belo Horizonte. He published Creative Processes in Music Education: a tribute to Hans-Joachim Koelrreutter (2015), Musicalization in the Regular School: training teachers and children (2016), Body and Music Education (2017) and PianoBrincando (1993, 2000).

References

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Sampaio, Marcelo Almeida. 2017. As Estratégias Pedagógicas Para a Leitura à Primeira Vista Ao Piano. Doctoral Thesis, Belo Horizonte: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. https://repositorio.ufmg.br/handle/1843/AAGS-AQQHE2

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Published

2021-06-14

How to Cite

Sampaio, Marcelo Almeida, and Patrícia Furst Santiago. 2021. “Exploring Pedagogical Strategies for Piano Sight-Reading”. Per Musi, no. 40 (June):1-18. https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2020.19816.

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