Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name
Janet Donohoe
Session Format
Oral (max. 15 minutes)
Abstract
Anyone who plays an instrument can tell you that reading classical music can often feel as complicated as struggling through a dense philosophical reading. Trying to play a classical piece with the correct attitude, tempo, and dynamics can be difficult let alone paying attention to crescendos, trills, and other notations in the piece. It is especially frustrating when you think you have performed a piece as it should be played only to have someone point out that the performance was not good enough since you did not play it with the right “attitude” or lacked the correct “touch”. In their mind, the composer’s notations should be strictly followed anytime someone sits down to play a piece of music. But, is that the right approach to have towards classical music? Should the interpretation of music be confined to composer’s notations alone? Or, is it possible for music to have a voice outside of what the composer has indicated? This question is one that is debated within the field of Hermeneutics with regards to texts. The study of Hermeneutics is concerned with how we approach texts in order to understand them. While there are several hermeneutical methods, I want to focus on the methods developed by Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher and Hans-Georg Gadamer. In this paper, I will be making an argument for how Gadamer’s hermeneutical method could be applied to interpreting and playing classical piano pieces. By explaining traditional methods of approaching piano pieces, the reader will see how similar this is to Schleiermacher’s own way of approaching a text. For both traditions, the author (or composer) is elevated over the writing (or piece). In contrast, Gadamer’s method places primal significance on the text instead of the author. Applying Gadamer’s method to classical piano pieces, pianists would allow the piece to “speak to them” instead of only strictly following the dynamic symbols.
Keywords
hermeneutics, Schleiermacher, Gadamer, music, classical music
Award Verification
1
Presentation Year
2017
Publication Type and Release Option
Event
Included in
Interpreting Classical Music According to Schleiermacher and Gadamer
Anyone who plays an instrument can tell you that reading classical music can often feel as complicated as struggling through a dense philosophical reading. Trying to play a classical piece with the correct attitude, tempo, and dynamics can be difficult let alone paying attention to crescendos, trills, and other notations in the piece. It is especially frustrating when you think you have performed a piece as it should be played only to have someone point out that the performance was not good enough since you did not play it with the right “attitude” or lacked the correct “touch”. In their mind, the composer’s notations should be strictly followed anytime someone sits down to play a piece of music. But, is that the right approach to have towards classical music? Should the interpretation of music be confined to composer’s notations alone? Or, is it possible for music to have a voice outside of what the composer has indicated? This question is one that is debated within the field of Hermeneutics with regards to texts. The study of Hermeneutics is concerned with how we approach texts in order to understand them. While there are several hermeneutical methods, I want to focus on the methods developed by Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher and Hans-Georg Gadamer. In this paper, I will be making an argument for how Gadamer’s hermeneutical method could be applied to interpreting and playing classical piano pieces. By explaining traditional methods of approaching piano pieces, the reader will see how similar this is to Schleiermacher’s own way of approaching a text. For both traditions, the author (or composer) is elevated over the writing (or piece). In contrast, Gadamer’s method places primal significance on the text instead of the author. Applying Gadamer’s method to classical piano pieces, pianists would allow the piece to “speak to them” instead of only strictly following the dynamic symbols.