From assimilating new technology to keeping track of changing government regulations and exam requirements, there has been plenty to learn in 2020. But this summer I had a different kind of learning experience.
It began in May with an email from my friend Tracey Connell suggesting I might be interested in a collaborative project with Polish publishing house Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (PWM Edition), which was commissioning piano teachers from France, Italy, Germany, Japan and the UK to film a short series of promotional tutorial videos supporting their range of educational piano music. Would I like to feature in the English films?
Confined to working from home, it seemed odd to even consider spending two days shooting videos in London. But I sensed that taking part in the project might give me something to shift my focus in a positive direction. My excitement grew when an enticing box of music arrived from Krak w. Each contributor had been asked to select five publications or pieces to discuss in their films. I decided to go for children's music by Feliks Rybicki and Krystyna Gowik, Paderewski's popular Minuet in G, Bądarzewska's Maiden's Prayer and a couple of the easier Chopin preludes.
The next task was to write the scripts. I was midway through doing this when another email arrived, this one announcing that the venue in London had fallen through. Would I be willing to fly out to Poland and film there for a few days instead?
What an opportunity! But this being 2020, a considerable amount of time was spent poring over COVID statistics and foreign office advice before, a few weeks later, arriving at Luton airport and boarding an almost empty plane to Kraków.
Journey of discovery
The next few days passed in a slightly surreal blur. There were new experiences aplenty, and I received the warmest of welcomes. Poland is a wonderful country, offering an intriguing mixture of familiarity and exoticism, from fabulous architecture to curious soups and – unforgettably – black pepper flavoured vodka.
I learnt that PWM Edition was founded in 1945 as Poland's state music publisher. Today, PWM thrives as an independent company with a catalogue of more than 1,000 titles but receives additional funding to support the promotion of Polish music. To that end, our filming took place at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice, roughly an hour's drive from Kraków.
The Penderecki Centre is a stunning facility, a modern monolith surrounded by fields, situated on the edge of the small village where the great composer himself lived until his death earlier this year. It houses two state-of-the-art performance halls, as well as residential quarters for artists and around a dozen practice rooms, each housing a grand piano. I was joined there by the French and Italian contributors (Ernestine Bluteau and Maddalena Giacopuzzi), the producer, the filming crew and representatives of PWM Edition. For the next three days this became our home-from-home.
What makes this music so special?
A common topic of discussion among piano teachers this year has been the question of what to focus on while graded exams have largely been in abeyance. How fascinating, then, to explore the educational piano music of a nation with a strong pedagogic and performance tradition, but which has developed away from the hegemony of our UK assessment schemes. As one might expect, there are commonalities of approach, but intriguing differences too.
Polish piano music has its national characteristics, including dance rhythms and an infusion of melody whose roots in folk music are often tangible. But as a piano teacher, one of the most fascinating challenges of these pieces is that their technical and creative content demands a rethink of some of my ideas about curriculum, progression and pedagogy. Take for example Janina Garścia's tantalising Teasers for Piano. Aimed at young elementary players, these ten delightful pieces explore the complex relationship between duplet and triplet time values, undoubtedly depending on a ‘sound before symbol’ approach, while the same composer's Musical Pictures for the Youngest focuses on the use of alternating fingers for repeated notes.
Similarly, the educational pieces of Feliks Rybicki and Krystyna Gowik explore areas of technique and understanding that perhaps wouldn't appear in a UK curriculum at so early a stage. But why not? Bargielski's A Flea Market for intermediate players ventures into free improvisation, with aleatoric elements. And Juliusz Łuciuk's gorgeously presented Children's Improvisations for Piano, aleatoric and atonal in its content, had me scratching my head at first. Here we seem to have entered a parallel educational universe, veering more decisively from the typical UK exam-influenced approach. I can think of students who will love these discursive detours.
Closing reflections
Music is undoubtedly one of our most creative pursuits, so it should not surprise us to find such variety in the way it is taught, learnt, developed and experienced. Perhaps we all need the occasional reminder not to constrict music education with any kind of straightjacket. Exploring the Music from Chopin's Land scheme pushed me to personally reflect on much of my own teaching, refreshing my view that there really is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ curriculum, and stimulating me to pursue a more creative and bespoke approach with each student.
The Music from Chopin's Land repertoire will certainly be playing a bigger role in my own students’ lessons over the coming months, and I recommend you have a look at this extraordinary piano teaching resource for yourself.
Andrew Eales's writing can be found at www.pianodao.com
Explore the Music from Chopin's Land resources, including Andrew Eales's videos at fromchopinsland.pwm.com.pl
