Piano as an instrument and partner in the process of training performers

Abstract

Within the framework of this article, the author raises the problem of using the piano as an instrument (the concept of separation), as well as as a partner (the concept of unity). It seems necessary to begin with a confrontation between these two schools of interpretation, first questioning the position of separation; then exploring the conditions for the possibility of creating unity with the instrument. These two studies will lead to a cross-conclusion: abstraction is not something like the instrumentalization of interpretation, rather, it is the effect of the transition from the game to other instruments, namely to the instruments of recording studios, which serve for sound recording and editing. As for the unity of the instrument and the performer inherited from the romantic piano culture, it is possible only if there is a certain amount of analysis and distancing – it is at this price, in accordance with the general concept of piano pedagogy, that it can be effective. This double conclusion then forces us to rethink the place of playing a musical instrument in the implementation of interpretation. Thus, within the framework of this article, the dialogue that arises between the score in the form in which it is read and the gesture in the form in which it is reproduced, as well as the function of the musical instrument underlying this device, is questioned.