Date of Award

Fall 2019

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Art

First Advisor

Scott Price

Abstract

The Guia Prático, Álbuns Para Piano is a collection of fifty-nine piano pieces distributed in eleven albums that reveals not only the active role played by Heitor Villa- Lobos in music education in Brazil during the 1930s and 1940s, but also his unique compositional style. The purpose of this study is to provide a list of the fifty-nine piano pieces of the Guia Prático, Álbuns Para Piano by level of difficulty and with stylistic annotations. This study is also intended to equip piano teachers with information so they can practice informed pedagogy with their students and to expose students to multicultural experiences in their piano training.

Jane Magrath’s The Pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature and the Celebration Series of the Royal Conservatory of Music are the grading systems used as reference sources to assist in placing the fifty-nine piano selections from the Guia Prático, Álbuns Para Piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos in order by level of difficulty. A comparative listing of pieces is provided by the author in the description of each selection of the Guia Prático, Álbuns Para Piano to indicate an approximate level to The Pianist’s Guide and to the Celebration Series.

Information on the publisher and year of publication, length and duration, meter, tempo, key, form, rhythm, harmony, melody, technical challenges, and stylistic features are provided in this document to assist the reader in gaining performance insights into each selection. Stylistic annotations highlight information on cultural elements present in these piano works based on extra musical associations such as folksong, poetry, dance, tales, and popular narratives. They also explain the ways in which the titles of the pieces are reflected in the music; the incorporation of musical genres and dance styles; and folk tunes that are still currently learned in childhood, along with less popular songs from specific regions of Brazil.

Finally, the author of this study provides a leveling reference from early intermediate to early advanced that approximates The Pianist’s Guide and the Celebration Series. The comparison between leveling systems is intended to assist teachers in placing pieces from the Guia Prático, Álbuns Para Piano at the appropriate level for their students.

Rights

© 2019, Verena Benchimol Abufaiad

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