"I wrote the pieces in the winter of 2004 as commissioned works for the Jaques Dalcroze Institute in Brussels, a music school with a rhythmic focus for children up to the age of 19. The piano students had to play an exam every year, in which they also had to play a new piece that they had only known for a short time. In 2004, students could choose from this piano book.
The only condition was that it had to be playable for different age groups. I myself then set myself the 'music school piano' par excellence, the upright house piano with practice damper pedal, as a condition.
As can be seen, the pieces become increasingly difficult as the book progresses, although this does not happen in a straight line. Difficult does not always mean 'technically complicated', but rather demanding in terms of listening to the acoustic phenomenon in question (e.g. Free Climbing, nine; p.23). In any case, the experimental character, especially of the first children's song variations, is to be found more in the treatment of decays than in sound production. (Touch) dynamics thus become the first criterion for the temporal progression of the music and rhythm, rather than metre.
I believe that "Für aufrichtiges Klavier" cannot be read/played exclusively from a piano pedagogical approach, but can also be an introduction to the listening worlds of 'New Music'. (This is why I also suggest the pieces to piano teachers, pianists and 'new music' teachers/interested parties).
I also consider the pieces to be suitable for concert performance."
Brussels, 15 October 2004
The only condition was that it had to be playable for different age groups. I myself then set myself the 'music school piano' par excellence, the upright house piano with practice damper pedal, as a condition.
As can be seen, the pieces become increasingly difficult as the book progresses, although this does not happen in a straight line. Difficult does not always mean 'technically complicated', but rather demanding in terms of listening to the acoustic phenomenon in question (e.g. Free Climbing, nine; p.23). In any case, the experimental character, especially of the first children's song variations, is to be found more in the treatment of decays than in sound production. (Touch) dynamics thus become the first criterion for the temporal progression of the music and rhythm, rather than metre.
I believe that "Für aufrichtiges Klavier" cannot be read/played exclusively from a piano pedagogical approach, but can also be an introduction to the listening worlds of 'New Music'. (This is why I also suggest the pieces to piano teachers, pianists and 'new music' teachers/interested parties).
I also consider the pieces to be suitable for concert performance."
Brussels, 15 October 2004
The entire piano book was recorded with pianist Stéphane Ginsburgh on a real (out-of-tune) music-school upright piano in 2005. Listen to it with the soundcloud link here under.
