Shiguang Cui, a Chinese composer, ingeniously combined western musical compositional techniques with Chinese traditional compositions. The purpose of this research is to uncover how his style changed from his earlier pieces, specifically the Shandong Folk Suite, to his later piece Pianofoster. There is no research or recordings of either works in the United States. In fact, the only research of Shiguang Cui’s piano works that can be found in the United States is his Piano Concerto No. 2. Most recorded research remains in China. Chunying Fu and Yanli Li contributed master’s dissertations on Shandong Folk Suite, but both of them lack a detailed analysis of Western compositional techniques. There are only a few research materials for Pianofoster, even in China. This paper will offer an in-depth study of both works with detailed analysis for both Chinese and Western compositional techniques, as well as how Cui’s style of composition changes between these two works. This research paper explores the musical elements, cultural influences, and evolving style in both Shandong Folk Suite and Pianofoster. Cui incorporates elements from both Western and Chinese traditional music, including imitations of Chinese traditional instruments, narrative and musical connections to Shandong folk songs and dance. This detailed discussion, along with provided examples of these two works from different periods of Cui’s compositional careers clearly demonstrates the path of his compositional development and his progressive incorporation of Chinese and Western elements. The paper presents detailed information about Shandong Folk Suite and Pianofoster in four chapters, in order for performers to have a more nuanced interpretation of the pieces. Chapter I introduces Cui’s career, including representative works from each period. Chapter II presents a stylistic analysis of Shandong Folk Suite with music examples. Chapter III gives a stylistic analysis of Pianofoster, exploring how the composer blends Eastern and Western compositional techniques. Chapter IV compares Shandong Folk Suite and Pianofoster to show how Cui’s compositional technique developed and changed. This project promotes the study of Cui’s works for pianists. His creative blend of Eastern and Western techniques for pianists should not be overlooked in the standard canon of contemporary repertoire.

Ping Gao is regarded as one of the most important Chinese pianist-composers of his generation. Born in Chengdu, China in 1970, he is currently a composition professor at Capital Normal University in Beijing and a guest professor at China Conservatory. Gao’s music combines contemporary Western compositional techniques with Chinese traditional elements. In this project, the author has chosen to study and record three of Gao’s piano works: Night Alley (2006), The Autumn Pond (2012) and the piano suite Daydreams (2019), totaling approximately 38 minutes of music. The written portion of this project will provide introductory information about the composer, as well as observations about the incorporation of Chinese traits into his contemporary compositional style. When applicable, the paper will outline some of the elements of Chinese music and provide suggestions about learning and performing these pieces from a pianistic perspective.

This project focuses on Samarkand Pictures, a cycle for solo piano composed by the Uzbek composer Dilorom Amanullaeva. She currently serves on the faculty of the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan in Tashkent where she received her musical education. As Uzbekistan was once a part of the Soviet Union, there is no doubt Amanullaeva was influenced by Russian and Soviet composers, but traditional Uzbek melodic inflections and unique rhythmic patterns can be found prevailing in her writing. The recorded part of the project will include approximately thirty minutes of playing. The written commentary includes a chapter about the composer’s biography and compositional style, and also the historical background of the recorded compositions. Most importantly, the commentary features a guide for performers that is based on the interpretational choices I made when recording this cycle. One of the main purposes of this project is to diversify the modern piano repertoire. With this project, I intend to promote Dilorom Amanullaeva’s piano works and advocate for women composers in classical music in general.

Lowell Liebermann (b.1961) is one of America’s most frequently performed contemporary composers. He has written a large number of piano pieces and his works are often featured in major competitions and doctoral dissertations. Liebermann’s relationship with the piano began early in life and he considers it to be his principal instrument. His understanding of the strengths and limitations of the piano makes his keyboard creations powerful, expressive, and virtuosic. Although many of his pieces have been performed, his Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 82 has not yet found a large audience or used as the subject of in-depth discussion. It is the author’s hope to stimulate performances of this work through a descriptive analysis and performance guide. This research document begins with a concise biography of the composer, including the composer’s early musical experiences, his education in academia, and his composition career. The second chapter provides a review of the composer’s major works. The third chapter provides a descriptive analysis and performer’s guide, with insights into Liebermann’s expectations of the performer. The present study includes a lecture recital, found online at https://youtu.be/Uf-SpK8cIr0?si=usxy5_AaWu7VoKP4

Piano education in China is a complex phenomenon shaped over the past century by many factors: China’s rich history of musical traditions, the influence of missionary piano teachers, the establishment of government-formed music conservatories, rapid changes in a political top-down approach, and the contributions of Russian piano teachers. Globalization and China’s rising economic status in the last four and a half decades have led to more Chinese pianists studying abroad and bringing their education back home. Once a foreign import, the piano is now played by more children in China than anywhere else in the world, and young Chinese pianists are frequently recognized on the world’s most competitive stages. As musicians compete on a global scale and international exchanges grow, understanding piano education in China becomes increasingly important.Three renowned teachers shape today’s piano education in China: Dr. Zhe Tang (唐哲) at Shanghai Conservatory, Dr. Ling Zhao (赵聆) at Central Conservatory, and Dr. Vivian Li (李穗荣) at Xinghai Conservatory. After studying in both China and the West, they train some of China’s best young pianists who are recognized on the world’s most competitive stages. This paper shares the teaching methods and philosophies of Tang, Zhao, and Li through comprehensive interviews and lesson observations. It aims to enhance the teaching and performance of pianists, while offering valuable insights into piano education in China. The document explores Tang’s methods to inspire characters in the music and achieve balance in timing and sound, Zhao’s techniques to position and move the hands and fingers for effortless control, and Li’s approaches to manipulate natural arm weight to create a variety of tones and sounds. Their teaching presents useful ideas for how to effectively communicate music and guide students to become passionate and independent musicians. Techniques taught by Zhao and Li—such as the finger standing stably on the key, grabbing with the hand, and differing approaches to the high finger technique—encourage pianists to investigate the function of different body parts, the interconnectedness of tension and relaxation, where strength should come from, and how to best support weight with ease. Additionally, Tang, Zhao, and Li describe the unique aspects of piano education in China.

Among various kinds of piano repertoire in history, the piano repertoire for the left hand alone is a very special category. Though left-hand piano works have the same high artistic value as other piano repertoires, they have been largely ignored and are rarely performed or even played by pianists. Since the 19th century, more and more composers have written music for the left hand, and there are over one thousand pieces composed for the left hand alone, including original solo works, transcriptions, chamber music, and concertos. I had never studied any left-hand repertoires and had minimal knowledge about these pieces before I sustained an injury to my right hand. After intentionally learning, practicing, and performing some left-hand works, I felt like I had been opened up to an entirely new world. I strongly believe that studying those works is essential and provides many benefits for pianists to develop left-hand technique. This research document will be divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 will be an introduction, with brief background information on piano music for the left hand, and an explanation of why composers wrote such works. The history of the development of left-hand compositions, a list of important left-hand pieces, and composers, as well as pianists who influenced the development of left-hand piano composition, will be discussed. In Chapter 2, I will explore five selected left-hand works that are rarely played, including Wanghua Chu’s Prelude for the Left Hand (Man Jiang Hong), Frank Bridge’s Three Improvisations for the Left Hand, H. 134, Max Reger’s 4 Spezialstudien, WoO III/13, Paul Wittgenstein’s “Meditation” and “Du bist die Ruh” from his School for the Left Hand, vol. 3. Providing background information on each composer and composition and identifying the difficulty level of each piece. Using examples from the score, I will focus on the musical and technical challenges involved in learning these works and provide my suggestions for their performance. Chapter 3 will offer advice about how to start learning and playing left-hand works, drawing from my own experience. Chapter 4 will conclude by summarizing information from previous chapters.

This research paper explores the works of two contemporary Chinese composers: Shuai Zhang's "Three Preludes" and "The Joys and Sorrows of Love and Life," and Wanghua Chu's "Jasmine Flower Fantasia" and "Man Jiang Hong – Prelude for Left Hand." It introduces the composers with their personal and academic background, as well as the sources of influence to their compositions. A descriptive analysis of the composers’ selected works is provided and discussed in detail, examining formal structure, harmonic language, rhythmic and melodic characteristics, and other compositional elements of highlighted sections of the pieces. Finally, a performance guide for pianists is offered on noteworthy segments of each piece and provides detailed interpretations and suggestions of techniques and challenges.

Czech composer, Václav Tomášek (1774-1850) belongs to a generation of late classical composers overshadowed by their contemporaries like Mozart and Beethoven. However, Tomášek’s work both as a composer and a pedagogue was influential to the subsequent generation of Romantic composers, and his pieces are an important bridge between the late Classical period and early Romantic. More substantial attention has been paid to Tomášek’s vocal compositions in the English language literature. Tomášek’s Eclogues for piano are excellent representative works of this transition between classical and romantic. They employ classical formal models which are meant to recall Greco-Roman poetic origins and do not contain complex harmonic language. These pieces are not strictly ‘classical’ works and should be considered early character pieces for the piano. Indeed, later Romantic composers, like Franz Liszt, also used the Eclogue as a form, evoking a bucolic pastoralism. Tomášek’s Eclogues are therefore important early templates of this form and should be considered by pianists for inclusion on concert programs. This project provides performance suggestions along with the recording which have not been recorded before, help performers program these overlooked pieces.

History has long been stamped with the name of Carl Czerny in the domain of piano pedagogy, due to the substantial number of didactic piano exercises that Czerny produced. As a result, Czerny’s “canonic” pedagogical works have overshadowed other unrecognized piano études. At the turn of the nineteenth century, the cultivated form of concert études entered the output of almost every pianist-composer, and yet traditionally, attention in piano pedagogy has centered on études by Czerny, Burgmüller, Liszt, Schumann and Chopin. More recent research pays tribute to études by other composers, such as Clementi, Cramer, Hummel and Moscheles. The current lack of documentation and analysis of piano études written by female pianists is undeservedly a great loss to pedagogy and keyboard literature. Not only do these études give modern musicians a glimpse into the pianism and professionalism of the earliest accomplished women pianists, but the varieties in their études also form a comprehensive training method that ranges from the intermediate level to the advanced level. The virtuosity and brilliance of the advanced études deserve to be considered in league with other long-standing piano études that have already been glorified and performed throughout history. The purpose of this pedagogical study is to shed light on these hidden treasures of études which are invaluable pedagogical resources. To concisely demonstrate the varieties of pianistic techniques, this analysis will focus solely on two collections of études: Eight Übungsstücke (1823) by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805 – 1847), and Six Concert de Études Op. 11 (1881) by Agathe Backer Grøndahl (1847 – 1907).

Alexina Louie (b. 1949) is a highly respected Canadian composer who has received numerous prestigious awards. The present study focuses on her pedagogical works for young pianists: Music for Piano (1982), Star Light, Star Bright (1995), and Small Beautiful Things (2016). All three sets, written in different periods of her compositional career, reveal Louie's highly artistic musical style adapted to her strong interest in piano pedagogy. Music for Piano, intended for intermediate-level pianists, has four individual pieces, taking two to three minutes each, representing Louie’s early compositional style. Star Light, Star Bright, for intermediate-level pianists at a slightly lower level than intended for Music for Piano, consists of nine short character pieces inspired by the stars and planets and other phenomena of the solar system. Small Beautiful Things is technically less challenging than the other works. It consists of eleven-character pieces with titles from everyday life that are designed to appeal to young musicians. The first chapter is an account of Louie's educational background and how mentors influenced her development as a pianist, composer, and teacher. The chapter also documents Louie's strong interest in teaching, which led her to compose piano music with pedagogical intent. The second chapter describes the compositional elements of Music for Piano, examining Louie's uses of various Asian elements, minimalism, notational innovations resulting in rhythmic freedom, and Impressionistic timbres and sonorities. The third chapter assesses Star Light, Star Bright, showing the overall palindromic structure of the set while discussing the content and pedagogical value of the individual pieces. The fourth chapter focuses on how the pieces of Small Beautiful Things help young pianists to develop basic techniques and musicianship. Overall, the discussion reveals not only the musical and expressive qualities of Louie's works for young pianists, but also their value for cultivating both technique and musicality.