Piano Education: Purposes and Ways

Olga Hasanoglu

Piano Department, Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey

In this research, I attempted to foresee the future of some activities involving the piano, relying on examples from its present and past conditions and on statistics from different countries. The main issues that worry pianists and pedagogues today are many, such as the decreasing interest of the concert-going public, a “sportsman-like” approach towards performance by the interpreters, absence of meaning and depth in their interpretations, the beginners’ impatience towards practice and very low levels of initial and intermediate education in many countries. These factors lead us, the community of professional pianists, to a highly pertinent question: will our profession survive or will we end up without work and most importantly without inspiration and demand? Much of my work is devoted to analysis of the societal attitude towards music in general and the state of pianistic education in Turkey. Also, the fabric of piano repertoire must be compared with modern ideas and thinking and the characteristics of a national approach of the performers from different cultures. The results of such analysis show that piano activity tends to spread to many new areas in the world and has very different types of impact on human evolution.

Keywords: piano education; statistics; music schools; conservatories; Turkey