Female Pianists Research Articles

Why do I like Schumann more than Chopin? A Physiological Analysis of Pianists' Affinities for Composers

Understanding students' physiological characteristics is essential in piano teaching. However, how can teachers in the field know what music suits their students physiologically? This paper explores a new theory in sport science called, "the Four-Stance Theory" to provide teachers with a simple yet practical method to understand students' physiological nature. A survey-based experiment with 20 research participants (10 male and 10 female pianists) was conducted. Research participants were physically tested for their physiological "Stance Types" to see if pianists' physiological characteristics can predict their preferences for certain composers' music. Chi-square tests of independence showed that Stance Type can indeed predict what type of composers they favor (p < .05); further, this simple 10-minute physical test could also predict what types of composer's works they feel most technically comfortable to perform (p < .01) and feel are easier to understand (p < .05). These results indicate that this remarkably simple method could effectively discern pianists' physiological nature and predict which composer's music suits them physiologically. The authors envision that this 10-minute test could be useful for bringing physiological preparedness to both teachers and students.

Analyzing Music Performance Anxiety Within the Scope of Gender in Pianists

Music performance anxiety, or MPA, is a condition experienced by many musicians in performance where performers are self-critical while performing music. Although previous research has established the need for a high level of specificity in researching this topic due to the wide range of factors that impact this condition, few studies have attempted this high level of specificity by combining the study of MPA with two factors: gender and instrument. Thus, this study sought to investigate how gender affected MPA in one instrumentalist group, pianists, paving the way for more effective solutions for MPA targeting the unique traits of the group investigated. A survey was conducted with a variety of participants across the United States in which varying number scales were utilized across four survey sections; these sections addressed a various number of common MPA symptoms, including both those concerning the physiological aspects of anxiety and the psychological. Findings revealed that the relationship between gender and MPA was significant in pianists across all aspects of anxiety, as females tended to have more anxiety symptoms overall. However, this relationship’s characteristics were only unique to pianists in the physiological aspect of MPA, as contrary to previous studies nonspecific to this instrumentalist group, female pianists were more likely to experience physiological symptoms of MPA. While results yielded about the psychological aspect of anxiety did show significance in the impact of gender, this relationship was similar to those found in other MPA studies nonspecific to pianists.

Exploring the Relationship: Gender Perceptions and Motivation in Pursuing Professional Piano Careers

The Self-Determination Theory creates a framework for the study of human motivation and personality in which the social environment affects one’s motivation and psychological needs. Intrinsic and identified are the most autonomous forms of motivation for the pursuit of a professional career, which requires great perseverance and practice. These traits typically are intertwined with personal identity, sense of self, and intrinsic motivation. However, this may be hindered by gender perceptions. Currently, the amount of professional female musicians is decreasing in numerous countries. Gender perceptions relating to piano specifically and their relation to motivation is unclear at this point. In this study, the effect of gender perceptions (in the form of gender role self-concept and intrinsic value in music) of female pianists regarding competence on six different forms of motivations, especially identified motivation, as per SDT, will be explored. Participants (N=26) completed a survey with two validated scales; bivariate correlation and linear regression analysis tests were administered. Between “equal gender perceptions” (being uninfluenced by either gender stereotype) and identified regulation, female participants were found to have strong positive correlations while male were found to have small to medium. Regarding “feminine gender perceptions,” female and male participants were found to have strong large positive correlations. Regarding “masculine gender perceptions,” there were no responses from female participants and male participants were found to have small positive to medium negative correlations. The findings reveal that competence is a large predictor of intrinsic motivation and indicates that gender perceptions could be an obstacle.

Female Pianists of the Zagreb Region at the End of 19th and in the First Half of the 20th Century, in Light of Contemporary Pianism and Piano Pedagogy

Female Pianists of the Zagreb Region at the End of 19th and in the First Half of the 20th Century, in Light of Contemporary Pianism and Piano Pedagogy

A Preliminary Exploration Of The Social Value Made By Chinese Female Pianists In The Democratic Revolution Movement In The First Half Of The 20th Century

A Preliminary Exploration Of The Social Value Made By Chinese Female Pianists In The Democratic Revolution Movement In The First Half Of The 20th Century

How to dress to impress: The effect of concert dress type on perceptions of female classical pianists

Audiences expect music performers to follow tacit dress codes for the concert stage. In classical music performance, audiences favor performers in formal dress over casual dress, but it is unclear what constitutes appropriate formal attire. A perceptual study was designed to test for different interpretations of suitable concert dress. Four female pianists in three contrasting black outfits (long dress, short dress, and suit) were video-recorded performing three musical pieces, and the audio was dubbed throughout for audio consistency. Thirty listener/viewers rated the clips on musicality, technical proficiency, overall performance, and appropriateness of dress. Performances in the long dress were rated significantly higher than in the short dress or suit. The short dress was consistently rated lowest, whereas the suit received more complex responses. Follow-up interviews confirmed listener/viewers’ unconscious bias toward untraditional formal attire and their tendency to objectify the performers. They were unblinded to the purpose of the task and were able to reflect on the tangible implications of concert dress, stage manner, and physical appearance on their evaluations. Future studies should harness the potential for experiential learning, or “learning by doing,” to expand future music professionals’ critical evaluation skills.

First Report of Awake Craniotomy of a Famous Musician: Suprasellar Tumor Surgery of Pianist Clara Haskil in 1942.

Clara Haskil (January 7, 1895-December 7, 1960) was one of the most famous female pianists of the 20th century. In her life and work she set new standards in piano playing. However, her career was beset by poor health and the adversities of two world wars. In her lifetime Haskil had three major disorders: juvenile scoliosis requiring treatment in her adolescence, a tumor of the sellar region requiring surgery at age 47 years, and a traumatic brain injury causing her death at the age of 65. Her medical history illustrates the development of surgical methods and rehabilitation in medicine before and after World War II. At an early age, she spent a year in a nursing home for orthopedic diseases due to scoliosis. In 1942, when she was 47 years old, she displayed the first symptoms of a suprasellar brain tumor: headache and hemianopsia. The famous surgeon Marcel David performed surgery on her without general anesthesia while Haskil mentally played a Mozart piano concerto as a neuronal representation to control her memory and mental abilities. Only 3 months after that operation she played a Mozart piano concerto at a concert that began her career as a great interpreter of Mozart. Her neurologic rehabilitation was remarkable and highlighted new methods in the field. In 1960, she traveled to Brussels for a concert. In the train station she stumbled on the stairs and hit her head on one of the steps. Skull fracture and intracranial hematoma were diagnosed. Doctors tried to operate on her but she lost consciousness and died. Haskil created new styles in piano playing, and her medical history offers indications of new concepts in neurosurgery.

(Re)Considering the Priestess: Clara Schumann, Historiography, and the Visual

(Re)Considering the PriestessClara Schumann, Historiography, and the Visual April L. Prince (bio) In memoriam K. M. Knittel Revered and celebrated, Clara Schumann has long held a place of prestige within musicology. She stands out as an anomaly among female pianists of the nineteenth century, having achieved extraordinary accolades from the very outset of her career and maintaining a phenomenally long and prolific public presence. Shaped foremost by Berthold Litzmann’s and Nancy Reich’s biographies, the scholarship on Schumann most often turns to her own words regarding her place within the musical tale of the nineteenth century.1 Her explanations very [End Page 107] often correspond to one of the most dominant historical narratives within musicology: a story that extols the instrumental, autonomous musical work and its composer and, in so doing, celebrates the serious listening experience.2 This understanding has, since the nineteenth century, been a way to measure musical worth and value by privileging mindful (masculine) over bodily (feminine) interactions with music.3 In a historical era fixated on establishing gender differences, wherein music played a crucial role, it is curious that a female pianist developed into one of the preeminent symbols for this masculine aesthetic. Schumann’s attachment to this ideal is perhaps most evident in her revered title of “the priestess,” which emphasized her saintly “devotion” to the musical work and the “quiet dignity” of her performances.4 This label, itself originating during Schumann’s lifetime, attempted to regulate her sexuality and femininity in seemingly benign terms: she became the appropriately domesticated other or the desexualized and disembodied conduit to the composer or his musical work. Given the circumstances, with social forces desperately working to transform the public taste into one of a “cultivated” bourgeoisie, interpretations that attempt to disavow or regulate her gender are hardly surprising.5 What is surprising, however, is that modern scholars continue to regulate Schumann’s gender similarly to that of the nineteenth century. As Reich argues at the outset of her biography, “[Schumann] is viewed even today as her nineteenth-century contemporaries saw her—as a saint or ‘priestess,’ as a dedicated wife, mother and musician.”6 Ludim Pedroza also notes this constancy: [End Page 108] The “priestess,” as Clara Schumann was labeled by Liszt and other contemporaries, has been recognized as the harbinger of the self-denying pianist-interpreter. Accounts of public reactions to Schumann’s performances seldom allude to ecstasy, rapture, or fainting episodes. . . . Up to this day [emphasis added], her public persona remains an emblem of sobriety, nonsentimentality, rationality, and objectivity; not surprisingly, on account of her unwavering commitment to preserving the integrity of the musical work and to upholding the composer’s intentions, Schumann’s name continues to be associated with the Werktreu ideology.7 As both Reich and Pedroza outline, we still attach Schumann to a nineteenth-century ideal that demanded the performer defer to the musical work; this belief, at its core, empowered (and continues to empower) the musical structure that the bourgeois male sought so desperately to secure. Categorizing Schumann as an “emblem of sobriety, nonsentimentality, rationality, and objectivity” allowed (and continues to allow) her musical legacy to exist purely within the mindful, “masculine” realm, privileging her repertoire choices and engagement with the musical structure over all other aspects of her performative persona. So while it is clear that both critics and Schumann herself cultivated this kind of performing ideal, it cannot be ignored that this characterization became a way to obfuscate almost entirely the presence of the feminine in music and of Schumann herself. This perception, to use Pedroza’s words, “self-denies.” In this kind of historiographical mindset, the bodily (the feminine) becomes off-limits, and we seemingly ignore the contradictory evidence it might reveal. Schumann’s performing career, in effect, is narrowed to celebrate her as primarily an emptied agent or “executant.” By reducing the power of her visual, bodily, feminine presence, however, we ignore important aspects of her performance identity (or identities) that could perhaps engage differently with this historical narrative. In an effort to consider Schumann’s story from a perspective that asks us to think in more dialectical terms, this article reconsiders her historiography by...

Characteristics of Professional Pianists’ Psychophysiological Responses and Playing Time during Concerts

Characteristics of Professional Pianists’ Psychophysiological Responses and Playing Time during Concerts Bannai Kurara, Imanishi Taira, Oishi Kazuo Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the psychophysiological responses and playing time of professional pianists during concerts. The participants were two female pianists. The Features of Agari Experience Questionnaire (FAEQ) was used to assess their negative psychological reactions during an actual performance and their heart rate (HR) was recorded to evaluate their physical reactions during a performance. The results suggested that, in 12 pieces of music played by the two pianists, the playing time in two pieces became longer during the actual performance than during practice, whereas it was similar for two other pieces during the actual performance and practice. The other eight pieces became shorter during the actual performance than during practice. We calculated how much the playing time changed during an actual performance compared to during practice (i.e., the playing time change rate; PTCR). A correlation analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between the PTCR and HR, but the PTCR was negatively correlated with the FAEQ (r = -.63, p< .05). These findings suggest that the playing time became shorter when negative psychological reactions were higher, although the playing time was not affected by the HR. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijmpa.v5n2a1

Modernism's Handmaid: Dexterity and the Female Pianist

Representations of female pianists in early twentieth-century literature often link the instrument with a burgeoning self-expression. Miriam Henderson in Dorothy Richardson’s Pointed Roofs (1915) finds both substance and solace in her morning practice, while Lucy Honeychurch in E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View (1908) eventually learns to live as fearlessly as she plays her Beethoven sonatas. In Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out(1915), the reticent pianist Rachel Vinrace briefly acquires autonomy as she free-wheels through dance tunes on a ship’s piano, and the gathered audience find themselves ‘tripping and turning’ to her music. 1 Yet Rachel’s position is telling: she finds verbal communication more difficult, and music provides a hermetic seal rather than a means of communication. Fellow passenger Miss Allan warns her, somewhat gnomically, that music and the English novel ‘don’t go together’ (VO 295), and Rachel is dead by the novel’s conclusion, unable to link the social gift of her piano-playing with the possibility it offers her for personal expression. 2 Other works from the period are more explicit about the dangers of the female pianist in modernist culture: in James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914), the ambitious Mrs Kearney jostles her piano-playing daughter into an uncomfortable spotlight. Here we find an anxiety about the female musician as a public spectacle, and a fear of the porous boundary between the amateur and professional. Willa Cather’s short story ‘A Wagner Matinee’ (1904) presents a particularly unsettling meditation on a similar theme. The story’s narrator takes her elderly aunt to a chamber

L’Orphéon du caricaturiste: Regards sur la pratique musicale dans les périodiques humoristiques illustrés français (1832–1930) (review)

Reviewed by: L’Orphéon du caricaturiste: Regards sur la pratique musicale dans les périodiques humoristiques illustrés français (1832–1930) Keri Yousif Vernois, Solange. L’Orphéon du caricaturiste: Regards sur la pratique musicale dans les périodiques humoristiques illustrés français (1832–1930). Paris: Editions Champion, 2009. Pp. 324. ISBN 978-2-7453-1922-7 Solange Vernois charts caricature’s parody of music in L’Orphéon du caricaturiste: regards sur la pratique musicale dans les périodiques humoristiques illustrés français (1832– 1930). Vernois’ choice of music follows the art form’s increasing role in the nineteenth and early twentieth century as a microcosm of the period, music’s diverse practices and practitioners representative of social hierarchies, stereotypes and mores. As Vernois demonstrates, music, in contrast to painting or sculpture, had the added characteristic of being simultaneously a “high” and “low” art, encompassing a growing population of professional and amateur musicians: Rossini, Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz, children, women, street performers and travelling musicians. Vernois’ focus on the time period 1832–1930 corresponds to this popularization of music. The time frame also coincides with the renaissance and explosion of caricature and the illustrated press in France. Like music, caricature served as the voice of the period. From Daumier to Gill, artists used the medium to record and critique contemporary society, entertaining their audience with a visual repertoire of portraits-charges and social and familial scenes. Pairing music and caricature, Vernois maps both musical trends and the greater social attitudes and habits they embody. Vernois’ work is divided into three sections. The first, “Le Défi de la transcendance,” features caricature’s portrayal of musical celebrities, tracing, for example, reactions to Wagner, Berlioz, the tenor Rubini, the singer Adelina Patti and the conductor Lamoureux. Section two, “La Chute d’Orphée ou la musique au quotidien,” delves into music’s prosaic side, exploring the illustrated press’s parody of piano lessons, family celebrations and noisy neighbors. The final section, “Au Diapason de l’humour: la réconciliation du matériel et du spirituel,” examines hybrid visual, verbal and/or aural genres, such as drinking songs, the café-concert and les physiologies, documenting the collaborative roles of the caricaturist and the chansonnier in the parody of music. While the focus of Vernois’ work is caricature, she supplements her visual corpus with citations from critics and specific songs, giving her readers a fuller portrait of music and its social construction. In her chapter on women and music, “La Pratique trop féminine du piano et du chant,” Vernois deftly moves from Flaubert to Marie d’Agout to period critics to the caricaturists Mars, Daumier and Bertall, referencing a long list of newspapers, as well as contemporary sources. Her analysis of caricaturists’ portrayal of professional female pianists, young girls’ musical instruction and music and marriage reveals a web of social conventions and sexual desire. For caricaturists, the piano functions [End Page 155] as a visual and symbolic instrument for the shifting melody of gender politics in nineteenth- and twentieth-century France. The richness of Vernois’ work stems from her extensive research and knowledge of the illustrated press, caricature and music. Commendable for its analyses of caricature’s parody of music, L’Orphéon du caricaturiste is an excellent resource for literary, music and art historians. The breadth of artists, images and newspapers cited creates a sort of mini-encyclopedia. This aspect of the work is reinforced by an annotated bibliography of periodicals that lists dates of publication, publisher, address, format and political bent. Vernois also includes a general index and an index of caricaturists, the latter of which allows readers to search and compare images by artist. As is often the case with French caricature—the plethora of images overwhelming even the best memory—viewers recall a specific caricature but cannot remember the source or perhaps the artist. Vernois’ Orphéon du caricaturiste alleviates such confusion, providing detailed and comprehensive documentation and description of the illustrated press’s parody of all things musical. Equally important, her survey is contextualized, each image examined as both an individual representation of musical practices and as part of a larger visual body of...

Adaptación de unos dedos biónicos en una paciente con doble amputación de extremidades superiores

A case report of bilateral upper limb amputees describing improvement in basic activities of daily living is presented. A 42-year-old female pianist suffered distal necrosis of all limbs and partial amputation of them due to pneumococcal sepsis in 2003. Her left upper limb was prosthetized with a myoelectric prosthesis (infracondilean amputation). In the transmetacarpal amputation of the right upper limb, a neocommissure between the 1st and 2nd metacarpal was performed, used to grip small objects. After, it was prosthetized with bionic fingers. The adaptation of bionic fingers has improved her functionality in bimanual tasks and has increased her independence for the basic activities of daily living.

Working musicians: exploring the rhetorical ties between musical labour and leisure

This essay explores the implications of a common but rarely examined trope about music, leisure and labour. The idea that music should appear effortless – that its execution should not require work – has shaped critical and consumer interpretation in a wide variety of historical settings. The trope of effortless music suggests that music is an outgrowth of one’s individual genius, heritage or social identity rather than a product of one’s labour. Close attention to the work involved in learning and performing music can expand our understanding of the multiple ways in which music creates value, and the historical ways in which the dialectic between conception and execution in modern capitalism have paralleled the distinctions between composition and performance in the Western music scholarship. Two historical case studies from the late nineteenth and early twentieth‐century US provide the evidence for my argument. I examine the overlapping discourses of musical effort and work in the world of female parlour pianists in the middle‐class home and among academic folksong collectors and some of the southern musicians whom they courted as informants. I conclude by suggesting what music history might look like if we chose to place the work of learning and performing music at the centre of the story.

Dixie: fallen diva

The following series of journal entries reflects a female pianist’s journey through her university teacher education degree. She is guided by her artistic and performing learning experiences as a professional musician when conflicted by her shift from performer to teacher identity. During writing, she suffers dilemmas around family, teaching, creativity, motherhood, performance, and musicianship. The trauma of being raped guides the direction of her life. In the end, she finds that journal writing becomes an active learning tool that heightens her awareness about her career decision to pursue teacher education.

Working in music: the pianist

We investigate the careers of 908 alumni of an international UK conservatoire, including 211 pianists. During the last five years, 82% of alumni worked only in music, and 7% only outside music. Women performed less and taught more. The tendency for pianists to perform less, and teach more, than other alumni has diminished. However, female pianists who graduated since 1990 have performed less than male pianists, particularly in recent years. The article adopts an approach that may be used to compare the careers of musicians graduating from conservatoires in different countries, and with different specialisms, and offers some benchmarks against which such comparisons may be made. Conservatoires that know the careers of their alumni, how these are changing with time, and how they compare with those of other institutions, may adjust their curriculum to support their future alumni—or use it to influence the shape of future alumni's careers.

Woman to Woman

The phrase “woman to woman” implies that relationships between women have particular qualities and levels of understanding that value the female perspective (Gilbert &amp; Scher 1999). This case study describes my experience as a female music therapist and pianist working for four years with Sarah (pseudonym), a physically challenged, intelligent woman who is non-verbal. Salient aspects of the improvisational music therapy sessions were use of self as music therapist, building a collaborative relationship, working with subtle and non-verbal responses, interpretive flexibility and musical transparency. There were also dimensions of the therapeutic process that enlarged the musical relationship such as silence, “being heard and seen”, comradeship, mutuality, being in connection, ambiguity, vulnerability and inner resources. The psychology of women literature focuses on gender and its influence on women's development in regards to race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic standing, age and able-bodiedness. The analysis of 103 one-hour sessions was informed by the feminist and psychology of women perspectives of growing into relationship, movement in therapy and the power to empower (Hadley &amp; Edwards 2004; Jordan 1997; Lawrence &amp; Maguire 1997; Miller &amp; Stiver 1997; Rolvsjord 2004).

Median and Ulnar Neuropathies in University Pianists

Peripheral nerve entrapment syndromes of the upper extremities are well documented in musicians. Pianists and keyboard players are at risk for entrapment neuropathies in the upper extremities and are sensitive to mild neurologic deficits. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the presence of median and ulnar neuropathies in both upper extremities of university pianists. Nineteen volunteer male and female pianists (ages 18 to 33 yrs) were recruited from the Belmont University School of Music and the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music. Subjects completed a history, interview, and physical examination, and nerve conduction status of the median and ulnar nerves of both upper extremities was obtained by performing motor, sensory, and F-wave (central) nerve conduction studies. These subjects had normal upper extremity neural and musculoskeletal function based on extensive evaluation, including a history and physical examination. When comparing the subjects' nerve conduction study (NCS) values with a chart of normal NCS values, all electrophysiologic variables were within normal limits for motor, sensory, and central (Fwave) conduction values. However, comparison of median and ulnar motor and sensory latencies in the same and opposite hand demonstrated that 3 of the 19 pianists (16%) had early evidence of median neuropathy at or distal to the wrist. The other 16 subjects demonstrated normal comparison studies of the median and ulnar nerves in both upper extremities.

Finger-Tapping Ability in Male and Female Pianists and Nonmusician Controls

Using fast tapping tasks with each of the four fingers (single-finger tapping) and with two of the fingers used alternately (double-finger tapping), the ability to make rapid tapping movement by the individual fingers was compared between expert pianists and nonmusician controls in both genders. Maximal pinch and grasp forces were also measured to assess strength of individual fingers and whole hand, respectively. Movement of the ring and little fingers was slower than that of the index and middle fingers in both the pianists and controls. The slowness of the ring and little fingers was, however, much less evident in the pianists than the controls in both tapping tasks. The pianists also had smaller intertap interval variability for the index and middle fingers. No pianist-control difference was found for the pinch and grasp forces. Piano training, therefore, effectively changed the ability to move individual fingers rapidly, but not their flexor strength. No gender difference was found in any of the tapping tasks though males had greater strength. Gender thus does not appear to be a factor differentiating the ability to move individual fingers rapidly.

Thumb Pain in an Instrumental Musician

A 49-year-old white female professional pianist and professor of piano at a community music college complains of bilateral thumb pain of 6 months duration. The past summer she began to play golf more intensively than previously and noticed that her thumbs were tender after playing. She says that she first noticed it rather acutely, first in the left thumb only, but soon thereafter it became bilateral. Since the pain became acute 6 months ago she has backed off from playing piano except in teaching. She did not take any medication until very recently when she started to take 1-2 Aleve (naproxen) a day, without noticeable relief. She has used some ice, which seemed more helpful. She consulted her primary care physician, who took x-rays; the results were reported to her as normal. She comes in because she has some upcoming performing obligations and she is concerned that if she resumes playing piano at the level required in preparation for these performances, she might worsen the situation.

023 The Use of Cilostazol in the Treatment of Raynaulds Disease with Digital Ischemia and Tissue Loss

Background: More than three quarters of patients with a connective tissue disorder will develop secondary Raynauld’s disease. This more severe form of the Raynauld’s can lead to digital ischemia, tissue loss and may even result in the need for amputation of one or more digits. Cilostazol is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor currently approved for use in vascular disease of the lower extremities. Case History: In August of 2002 a 62 year old female pianist with scleroderma presented to the wound clinic with a two year history of intractable digital pain secondary to ischemic ulcerations of the index, long and ring fingers of the right hand. She suffered from secondary Raynauld’s disease. Prior unsuccessful treatments included warming the hands, calcium channel blockade, anticoagulation, topical xylocaine and narcotic analgesics. In August of 2002 cilostazol was started at 100mg BID. Wound care consisted of serial debridement, moist wound healing and topical rhPDGF. Results: Four weeks into treatment the patient’s narcotic requirement decreased substantially and the fingers had a pink appearance. The ring finger healed after eight weeks. At three months the patient discontinued narcotic pain medication. Nine months into treatment the index finger had healed and she resumed playing the piano. The long finger finally healed one year after she initially presented to the wound clinic. Conclusion: Cilostazol may be an important adjunct in the treatment of secondary Raynauld’s disease particularly when digital ischemia has developed. Acknowledgements: Funding from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.