A Study of Selected Taiwanese Pedagogical Solo Piano Music of the Twentieth Century

Sonatinas and folk music are often used for pedagogical purposes because of their short structure and simpler technique. Beginning in the nineteenth century, the Sonatina became one of the prevailing genres in piano music written by a variety classical composers that included Clementi, Kuhlau, and Diabelli. Other classical composers such as Bartók and Kodály developed a strong interest in collecting folk music, which they incorporated into their compositions. Taiwanese composers did likewise; they used the Chinese pentatonic and heptatonic scales and other native Taiwanese and Chinese folk elements, and combined these ideas with western compositional materials to create a unique style. In this study Taiwanese history, culture and music are examined, and the biographical background and compositional styles of six Taiwanese composers born from 1900 to 1950 are reviewed. Selected pedagogical solo piano works of these composers are explored and analyzed in terms of form, style, harmony, melody, and required performance technique. From a pedagogical perspective, the classification of different instructional levels is discussed as well.