Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Music
First Reader
Dr. George Keck
Second Reader
Dr. Ouida Keck
Third Reader
Dr. Wendy Richter
Abstract
Arkansas proudly stands beside larger states in offering quality piano instruction. Pianists from Arkansas have been successful on the national scene in performance as well as in teaching, and students from Arkansas have been accepted into well-respected music schools and into the studios of renowned teachers worldwide. Piano pedagogy in Arkansas is built upon a strong foundation of well-educated teachers who have raised the level of music education in the state.
In a newspaper article printed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazelle on June 23, 2004, the author found that piano instructors had changed over the last few decades: "The profession has become aggressively professionalized, shedding whatever remnants of amateurism that may have once clung to it." In actuality, piano pedagogy has been professionalized in Arkansas from the early twentieth century. One can be certain that there have been many teachers with very little knowledge of music who have set up studios, but the most influential teachers in Arkansas throughout the past century have been well educated in their field.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Martha L., "Piano Pedagogy in Arkansas During the Twentieth Century" (2004). Honors Theses. 140.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/140