An analysis and evaluation of beginning piano methods used in Korea
Zusammenfassung
Western music was introduced to Korea in the late nineteenth century by foreign missionaries, mostly Americans. During the thirty-six years of Japanese annexation (1910-1945), piano study began to be available for the select few who were influenced by western culture. The piano method for beginners in these times was the one by Ferdinand Beyer: Vorschule Im Klavierspiel, op. 101, which was published around 1850 in Germany. This method was introduced into Korea through Japan. From the time that Korean music publishing companies began publishing this century-old German method during the 1950s, until quite recently, the Korean version was the authoritative and only piano method in Korea.
When American and European piano pedagogy and piano methods were introduced in the 1970s, mostly by Korean musicians who studied abroad, the problem of the century-old Beyer method was raised among Korean piano educators. In an effort to improve and modify the Beyer method for the benefit of children, the Beyer for Children and the Beyer for Young Children were published during the 1970s. Finally, the most improved Korean piano method, the New Se-Kwang Beyer was published in 1987.
As background information, this study includes a brief history of Western music, keyboard instruments, and music education in Korea. In order to learn how the new Korean piano method evolved from the old German one and to identify the contributions of American piano pedagogy and Korean originality to this process, an in-depth analysis and careful evaluation of the Beyer piano methods were made in the light of American piano pedagogy.
As a result, this study shows many weaknesses of Korean piano methods such as a lack of teaching philosophy, systematic process of organization and sequencing of methods, instructional methods and reinforcement. For the improvement of Korean piano methods, the Korean authors could benefit from a serious study of American piano pedagogy and beginning piano methods.