Katson, soitan, läpielän : pianistisia kokemuksia prima vista -soittamisesta

Abstract

The phenomenon of prima vista is studied as an empiricalphenomenological question in a piano playing situation. Eight pianists' individual experiences in prima vista playing are described in detail, in order to establish the structural qualities of the experience. The topic question is: What are the qualities and general themes that describe pianistic prima vista as a phenomenon? Over a period of half a year I visited prima vista piano lectures at the Sibelius Academy to observe, record, and videotape lessons. As a result of the process a special prima vista situation was prepared, together with a prima vista teacher, in order to collect the data at these lessons. Seven piano students, and one pianist specialized in accompaniment, were selected as participants. They were asked to sight-play Vittorio Rieti's "Elegia" at least five times in succession. The performances were videotaped and a discussion was conducted with each player after the performance. The data constituted documentation of individual processes with this piece "Elegia," as well as the observations and documentation of the prima vista piano lessons. The analysis of the data was based on the phenomenological model of Clark Moustakas (1994). In phenomenological reduction, the task is that of setting aside prejudgements and opening the performance with an unbiased, receptive presence. Descriptions of individual sight-playing processes were a starting point, whereby the ultimate aim was an integration of such experiences towards a structural description of all the individual processes into a group or universal structural description of the experience. The results center upon approaches to prima vista as experienced qualities of space and time, both as a musical skill and as a body-phenomenological question. The discussion argues for the multiplicity of individual avenues for getting in touch with a new piece of music. The results suggest that the phenomenon of prima vista can be described as two separate phenomena: first, prima vista as a living-through experience of music and, secondly, prima vista as a playing-through experience of a musical piece.