Didactic qualities of piano pieces for children by Miłosz Magin (1929-1999)

Abstract

Miłosz Magin was a renowned Polish pianist and composer. He was born in Łódź, studied in Warsaw, was a prizewinner of several international piano competitions, successfully concerted all over the world and in 1960 he finally settled down in Paris. His compositional output covers numerous piano pieces, orchestral, chamber and vocal works, as well as a ballet. Pieces for children constitute an important and relatively large part of his oeuvre. The article discusses five cycles of miniatures (38 pieces in total), dedicated to pupils at the elementary level of piano learning: Obrazki z Polski (1982), Miniatury polskie (1982), Kółko graniaste (1987), Karnawał lalek for four hands (1990) and Zaczarowane zabawki (1996). The pieces have didactic qualities and play the two roles: they gradually introduce a pupil into the world of music and they help to master the piano technique. They develop, in particular, fingers’ dexterity, chordal and arpeggio technique, precision while realization various rhythmic structures, mastery of large leaps on the keyboard. Performing Magin’s music sensitizes to the timbre of pitches in different registers, to changeable dynamics, original harmony, bitonality, phrasing, articulation, agogic and proper interpretation. His compositions develop children’s imagination and familiarize them with diverse timbres of the piano. They are little masterpieces, put into a terse form of a miniature.