Publications
Article | Expertise and self-assessment in creating arrangements for solo piano: an exploratory study
Alfonso Benetti, a researcher at INET-md, is co-author of the article "Expertise and self-assessment in the development of solo piano arrangements: an exploratory study" recently published in OPUS, the Electronic Journal of the National Association for Research and Postgraduate Studies in Music (ANPPOM).
The objective of this study was to examine the criteria used by pianist performers-arrangers-improvisers in creating solo piano arrangements and observe the influence of expertise on executing this task. Initially, 18 pianists, divided into three groups with different levels of expertise (elite, intermediate, and beginner), conducted a self-assessment based on recordings of original arrangements prepared for this study. Subsequently, their statements were analyzed following the model proposed by Laurence Bardin (1977), involving the categorization of relevant topics mentioned by the pianists themselves. The results indicated that the elements relevant to the evaluation of performances were related to tempo, structure, melody, harmony, interpreter’s intentionality, sonority, instrumentation and performer’s behavior when performing the pieces. Tempo-related factors had a similar impact on the evaluation of pianists from all three groups, while aspects related to sonority and the interpreter’s intention showed greater divergence among them. In conclusion, the study found that self-assessment among pianists with different levels of expertise revealed common factors. However, participants with higher levels of expertise tend to focus more on abstract aspects, whereas technical elements are more dominant among the others.
Both the journal and the article (in Portuguese only) are available in open access on the ANPPOM website.
