We take the piano as we know it for granted. We consider it a finished product. But in fact, the piano has always been in a continuous state of reinvention.
On Tuesday, we launched Reinventing the Piano, a 5-session online music course. Dr. Dan Trueman—fiddler, pianist, and composer at Princeton University—teaches this open course, with a focus on modern experimental music. He frames it around the piano, while unpacking the seemingly common instrument to tell us the tumultuous story of modern music and instrument-building.
More specifically, Dr. Trueman will teach us about the wildest piano augmentations, compositions, and paradigms to come out of the western tradition. The course ranges from theory, to technique, to (digital) instrument building, and back. It even covers historical and alternative tuning systems. In his words,
We’ll look at how the piano’s design touches on a range of diverse topics: where musical scales come from and how the piano’s design impacts creativity; the expressive relationship between various keyboard instrument designs; the extraordinary range of color that emerges when we listen closely to how various intervals can be tuned, and in turn the choices we need to make when tuning a keyboard instrument. We will also consider how the piano can be reinvented, both acoustically and digitally.
Interested learners can watch all Reinventing the Piano lecture videos and participate in our forums for free. Anyone looking to submit creative projects or receive feedback on their work can sign up for Kadenze Premium Membership (a $10/month subscription). Upon successful completion of this online music course, premium members receive a verified Statement of Accomplishment. Kadenze and Princeton both endorse the Statement as proof of your effort and success in the course.
The post New Online Music Course – Reinventing the Piano appeared first on Kadenze Blog.