Contemporary piano piece for an audition

rigaudon
Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:33:57 +0000

Considering the many discussions on the music major site about the difficulties involved when a performance major wants to switch to a different teacher for private lessons and the fact that ksenia did not express a desire to change teachers, I am surprised that this suggestion to get a new teacher would be made so lightly. If I understood correctly, ksenia is going to be a college senior this year. It seems kind of late for a move to a different piano studio and might even impact negatively on teacher recommendation needed for the graduate program application. There must be some less extreme way for ksenia to get some experience in contemporary 20th century piano music. I like Mezzo’sMama’s idea of asking teacher about referral to another teacher to supplement lessons with some additional work on 20th century repertoire (rather than “questioning” the teacher, perhaps better to use the rationale that this is expected for the graduate programs and needed for auditions). I also think ksenia could benefit from some reading and listening in the area of mid-late 20th century piano repertoire to get some background knowledge and familiarity with the various composers and works, which is why I suggested a book/cd.