Piano Masterclass Entertains, While Also Teaching
The audience for the Piano Masterclass on Friday, Sept. 14th was treated to both entertainment and education.
“The class is really watching a piano lesson,” said Professor of Music Richard Ratliff. “What you will see is the students playing, me talking to them, as well as the audience and giving a critique of how they perform, the tempo, that sort of thing. It’s more or less an applied teaching thing. You will see one-on-one when the students are on stage, like a public lesson, so the audience can get an idea of what it is or how it is they play.”
The masterclass featured five pianists playing seven pieces from various composers, such as Joseph Haydn, Alberto Ginastera, Edvard Grieg and Claude Debussy, and represented time periods such as 17th century Europe and 20th century America. Ratliff said he chose the variety of composers to show the audience various tempos and styles of playing and to keep a level of informality in the concerts.
“Because it is a public class, if you will, I do use vocabulary like I would in the classroom to my players. Musicians and music majors would understand and be into the critiques. But I think general spectators who are not musicians or music majors may not be so into my stopping to critique and talk about the background of a piece,” he said.
The program began with Haydn, “the Capriccio in G Major,” followed by Ginastera’s “Rondo on Argentine Children’s Folk Tunes” and “Improptu in A-flat.” Claude Debussy’s “Pour le Piano” concluded the first part of the performance before intermission.
Following intermission, the final three pieces, “Concerto in A Minor,” “Premiere Communion de la Vierge” and “Creole Dance,” finished the masterclass.
Two of the pianists, music education major Daniel Watson and music performance and composition major Matthew Bridgham, performed the piano recital.
“I get into it [‘Creole Dance’],” Watson said. “It is an energetic song, so it is hard not to get involved.”
Bridgham played “Premier Communion de la Vierge” as a performance for the piano recital. Although Bridgham played for the recital, he is also known for writing his own music and contributing his own ideas.
“There is an emotional connection to the pieces I play. I am a composer, so it does go along with the territory, but also just because it is my piece as well,” he said.
Freshman music education major Katie Smith attended the event and enjoyed the performance.
“I thought the whole thing was amazing. Watching the pianists play is very inspiring to me and works as a way of encouraging me to work harder to be able to play as well as they do,” Smith said.
Freshman music performance major Bethany Hansen also attended the event.
“Everything is very inspiring, but also intimidating,” she said. “My goal is to play as well as they did, which I know was a lot of hard work for them to get to this point. And I know it will be a lot of work and time for me too, but I am confident it will happen.”
