The development of special psychological and physiological characteristics of a future piano accompanist

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Higher state education institute of musical and dancing studies «Gaetano Braga» of Teramo

Keybord instruments and percussion department

The development of special psychological and physiological characteristics of a future piano accompanist

Makhinko I.O., мaster student

Formation and justification of the relevance of the problem

The strategy of the development of modern musical education is connected with the introduction of innovative transformations into its content and should rest upon solving of the tasks, which concern the quality preparation of a future musician, and this demands the perfecting of musical and technological ways of its realization. A successful preparation of a piano accompanist is closely connected not only with mastering and developing of technical skills, but also with the development of a range of psychological and physiological characteristics, such as attention, musical memory, mobility of reaction, moderation and will, empathy, pedagogical delicacy and advertence.

Any professional activity promotes various requirements to psychological and physical forces of a person. If the existing system of psychological and physiological characteristics of a personality corresponds to these requirements, then this person is able to execute his/her activity on a high level. Thus, in the musical performing activity the integral structure of the personality of a piano accompanist, where both musical and psychological-physiological characteristics become one of the necessary and essential components, is formed.

Analysis of recent research and publications

The problematic sphere of the effective development of psychological and physiological characteristics of a personality is rather wide, and views of psychologists, educators and musicians on its solving are very varied.

The peculiarities of the development of psychological and physiological characteristics of a personality and their role in the professional activity are envisaged in the works of psychologists K. Platonov, L. Vygotskiy, K. Gurevich, E. Iliyn.

K. Platonov views a personality as a dynamic system, which develops in time changing the contents of the comprising elements and connections between them preserving the functions. In this system the author distinguishes such substructures as: directivity, experience (knowledge, abilities and skills); individual characteristics of different forms of reflection (sensation, perception and memory) and united features of behavior (temperament and character) [7].

E. Metner, A. Alekseev, D. Teplov, D. Kirnarskaia, L. MacKinnon, G. Neigauz, O. Askarova, V. Petrushin, A. Toropova, S. Savshinskiy, L. Iaroshevskaia and others also appealed to the research of psychological and physiological characteristics of a personality in the work of a musician and an educator.

D. Teplov accentuates the leading part of musical memory as one of the main psychological characteristics of the personality of a future musician.

An English researcher of the problems of musical memory L. MacKinnton considers that «musical memory as a separate type of memory does not exist. What is usually understood as musical memory is in reality a cooperation of different types of memory, which each person has. The researcher thinks that visual memory is just an addition to other three types of memory which musicians use» [4, p. 19-21].

A. Alekseev attends the development of memory as one of the main psychological and physiological characteristics of the personality of a future musician. He considers it essential «for the musician to have developed at least three types of memory - auditory, which is a basis for the successful work in any sphere of musical art, logical which is connected with the understanding of the content of a piece of music, the consistent pattern of the development of the thought of a composer, and kinesthetic which is very important for a piano accompanist» [1, p. 35].

The peculiarities of the work of a piano accompanist are envisaged in the studies of G. Moore, E. Shenderovich, Algernon H. Lindo, O. Askarova and E. Zelenkova.

G. Moore attended particularly to the development of such psychological and physiological characteristics of a future piano accompanist as mobility of reaction and inventiveness in the unexpected situations.

The purpose of the article is to disclose the problematics of special psychological and physiological characteristics of the personality of a future piano accompanist and to specify their role in the future successful professional activity.

The main material of the study

The work of a piano accompanist is a creative process and its success is determined by various conditions the basis of which is soul condition and psychological and physiological characteristics. Full professional activity of a piano accompanist presupposes the presence of a complex of psychological and physiological characteristics of a personality among which we distinguish: attention, musical memory, mobility of reaction, moderation and will, empathy, pedagogical delicacy and advertence.

Attention is the basis of musical executive activity of a future piano accompanist. Different parameters of attention such as mental ballast, switching and its distribution are closely connected with individual peculiarities of the nervous system, abilities of a person, experience of work in this kind of activity. People with strong nervous system, who have the stamina of nervous cells, have the ability to retain intensive attention during the longer period of time. Those people who have the mobility of nervous processes can easily switch their attention from one object to another.

A piano accompanist, who has developed attention and who can operate it, has a range of privileges:

- The technical execution is very precise, there are no mistakes and carelessness;

- The execution appears to be comprehend and logical due to the ability of deep penetration into the structure of harmonic successions;

- Musical and auditory performance before the beginning of the execution is characterized by precision. The inner hearing of the work which is executed is well- developed;

- A big range of attention allows to distribute it on several objects while accompanying a soloist.

The defects of the execution result, as a rule, not from the fact that a musician worked on it not enough, but from wrong methods and techniques of work. Imperfect execution is the result of bad quality of work, but not its insufficient quantity. The quality work is always rapt attention, including its mental ballast and good switching.

Good musical memory presupposes memorizing of a piece of music as well as its lasting preservation and highest possible reproduction even after a long period following the memorizing [8]. Studying a new piece of music a piano accompanist uses such types of memory as kinesthetic, visual, auditory, logical and emotional. Depending on the individual abilities, every musician will base himself upon a more convenient type of memory.

A preliminary analysis of a piece of music with the help of which active memorizing of a material occurs has tremendous importance for the development of memory of a future piano accompanist.

Understanding and the analysis of a piece of music is very important for its memorizing. The action of memorizing information is firstly formed as a cognitive action, which is later used as a means of voluntary memorizing. The work on the analysis of a piece of music is the initial stage of the development of voluntary logical memory of a future piano accompanist.

In modern psychology actions of memorizing of a musical text are divided into three groups:

- Concept grouping. The main point of this technique lies in the division of a piece of music into separate fragments, episodes, each one representing a logically completed conceptual unity of a musical material. Intelligent memorizing, which is realized in accordance with each element of a musical form, should develop from the particular to the whole gradually combining small parts into big ones.

- The revelation of concept supporting points which determine the foremost series of executive movements in case of forgetting during the performance.

However, the anticipatory remembering of supporting points can negatively redound upon freedom of the execution. The use of the technique of concept grouping work works on the initial stages of studying of a piece of music. After it has been learnt it is needed to primarily attend to the integrity of its artistic image.

- The process of concept correlation. Fundamentally this technique is about the use of intellectual operations for the comparison of some characteristic peculiarities of tonal and harmonic schemes, vocal execution, melody and the accompaniment of a piece of music studied.

In the conservatories and art schools a piano accompanist often needs to work in several branches at once: to accompany the choir groups, play musical instruments with large amount of students with different levels of preparation. Physical and informational work load does not give a piano accompanist an opportunity to study note material thoroughly and requires mobility in executive problems solving.

Such a component of artistic abilities of a piano accompanist as anticipation, which serves as a means of forestalling and foreseeing of certain events, is also an important mechanism. This psychological and physiological characteristic of a piano accompanist helps to create an idea about a possible change of executive intentions of a soloist in the situation of a cooperative performance and contributes to the rapidity of reaction on the unexpectedness of the artistic situation.

Personal and professional growth is always connected with the volitional activity. One can see a display of volitional activities of such characteristics of work as persistence, purposefulness, perseverance, courage and determination, independence and initiative, composure and moderation. Volitional activity lies in the fact that a person can be ascendant of him, retard involuntary impulses and enhance those, which he considers desirable.

One of the most essential moments of will is the realization of freedom of one's own actions and experience of responsibility for the decisions made.

One can refer the following to the main displays of will:

- Moderation which appears in the ability to control oneself in the condition of negative emotions of irritation, anger, fear and despair;

- Persistence appears in the ability to endure lasting work tension on the way to the goal achievement. Persistence shows itself in the resistance to failures which usually discourage a person;

- Independence appears in laying the reliance on personal intelligence, knowledge, intuition making a decision.

The most important thing is trust to oneself and personal decisions. A high level of independence gives a person a sense of self-reliance, while self-distrust can appear in suggestibility, insufficient strength of personal positions and beliefs relating to any questions.

Volitional features mentioned above can be developed unequally and they depend on personal characteristics of a future piano accompanist. Training of volitional features occurs only in the process of practical activity. The ability to retard undesirable impulses and to enhance desirable ones is the essence of volitional behavior. The possession of this ability is connected with the work of imagination and the capacity to see the consequences of personal actions in the remote life perspective.

N.K. Medtner writes: «The control over substance is acquired only when it is acquired over oneself» [5, p. 60-61]. Self-cultivation is not less important than working with a piece of music: patience, will and the ability to concentrate. Haste, hurry and the wish to do everything at once leads in the end only to hopeless fatigue and despair. Faith in success and, what is more, the success of solving a difficult task are positive factors stimulating creative activity of a future piano accompanist [8].

A piano accompanist should possess moderation, artistic skills, be a psychologist and a mentor. Before a performance or an examination it is important to harmonize a student, to support emotionally, to give the right tempo. During the examination it is better not to pause and show dissatisfaction even with facial expressions. Empathy, pedagogical delicacy and advertence are the qualities required in any pedagogical activity. Love for a student enlivens a hearty attitude of a teacher as well as a piano accompanist to him, defines his tolerance and wisdom, the ability to see a particular action from a certain perspective, the capacity to emphasize all good and kind things which are inside, helps in teaching to manage his flaws.

In the XXI century the problem of empathy - the ability to empathize and sympathize - became one of the central problems in psychology and pedagogy. Empathy is the opposition to detachment, selfishness and induration of a soul. In the class of solo singing a piano accompanist is the closest helper of young singers after a teacher. The work of a piano accompanist with vocalists requires from a pianist love for voice as one of the most delicate musical instruments, knowledge of singing technique, and understanding of peculiarities of vocal art, knowledge of opera and chamber repertoire as well as executive delicacy in cooperative music creation. technical psychological physiological characteristic piano accompanist

A piano accompanist can control rhythmic and intonation aspects of a studied piece of music as well as the accuracy of vocal position, that is why he is able to lead the classes with a soloist on his own, but he should understand that he is a conciliator between a teacher and a student and he does not have the right to interfere with exceptional monotechnical moments.

In musical educational institutions, as a rule, a piano accompanist should work with students of different levels of preparation that is why kindness to a musician-beginner is a basis of cooperative creative activity. It is easier for a student to open his creative potential in conditions when he knows that he can count on the support of a piano accompanist.

In the period of preparation of a piece of music a soloist and a pianist have a range of stages in their cooperative work: multiple repetitions of the whole piece of music and its parts, stops in the most difficult episodes, testing of different tempos, the analysis of a piece of music, coordination of dynamics. A piano accompanist works thoroughly with the pianoforte part during the rehearsals but during the performance at a concert or at an examination he is a creative partner of a soloist.

Conclusions and prospect for further researches of direction

Thus, the development of special psychological and physiological characteristics of a personality is a basis of a successful professional becoming of a future piano accompanist. In accordance with modern requirements to the professional musical education this means the orientation on the preparation of a professional of the level which is characterized by a complex of professionally necessary psychological and physiological characteristics of a future piano accompanist.

Among special psychological and physiological characteristics of a future piano accompanist, we distinguished the development of attention and the ability to focus it not only on the piano part but also on the melodic line of a soloist. The development of musical memory, which is based on the prior analysis of a piece of music, promotes to deeper conceptualization and perception of it. Moderation and will play an important part during public performances. Empathy as well as pedagogical delicacy and advertence are a basis of a successful creative cooperation of a soloist and a piano accompanist both during the rehearsals and studying a new piece of music and during the public performances.

References

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3. Kirnarskaia, D.K. (2004). Psikhologiya spetsialnykh sposobnostey. Muzyikalnyie sposobnosti. [Psychology of special abilities. Musical abilities]. Moscow.

4. MacKinnon, L. (2009). Igra naizust. [Playing by heart]. Classics-XXI.

5. Medtner, N.K (2011). Povsekdnevnaya rabota pianista i kompozitora. [Daily work of a pianist and a composer]. Moscow.

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7. Platonov, K.K. (2013). O sisteme psikhologii. [About the system of psychology]. Book on Demand Ltd.

8. Savshinskiy, S.I. (2004). Rabota nad muzykalnym proizvedeniyem. [Working on a piece of music]. Moscow.

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