adena portowitz

Research findings confirm positive links between music education, scholastic achievement, and social adaptability, especially among at-risk and special needs children. However, few studies explain how this process occurs. This article presents a didactic approach, which suggests practical ways of enhancing general learning skills while teaching music. Conducted with young children with severe learning difficulties aged 4—10, the MISC-MUSIC (More Intelligent and Sensitive, or Socially Compliant Children) program (Klein, 1996) interconnects the following three components: (1) the content of the music lessons; (2) the creation of educational frameworks that nurture quality, active teacher—child interactions (mediated learning environments), and (3) the choice of relevant, general learning skills (cognitive functions) to be fostered during the music lesson. The article explains the theoretic premises of MISC-MUSIC, cites examples of how this approach was implemented, and reflects on the effectiveness of the program.

Introduction Many studies have documented Mozart's influence on Beethoven's early works.1 More recent research suggests that Mozart's legacy continued to influence Beethoven throughout his life.2 Indeed, Beethoven confessed to the Abbe Maximilian Stadler on February 6, 1826, "I always counted myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart and shall remain so until my last breath."3 While Mozart's influence is apparent in many areas of Beethoven's music, this study focuses on Mozart's mature fortepiano concertos, and more specifically on the first movement of his Concerto, K. 453, as a source of inspiration and a possible model for the first movement of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, Opus 58. We know that Beethoven was familiar with Mozart's Fortepiano Concertos, K. 466, 491, 503, and 595.4 While I have found no explicit mention of K. 453 in Beethoven sources, circumstantial evidence suggests that Beethoven knew this concerto as well. Mozart particularly cherished and jealously guarded K. 453, as he confessed to his father in a letter written May 15, 1784: "The concertos in E-flat [K. 4491 and G [K. 4531 are in the hands of none other than myself and Fri. von Ployer."5 Perhaps indicating its warm reception in Vienna, it is one of the six concertos that were published during Mozart's lifetime.6 Following Mozart's death, his students continued to perform his fortepiano concertos regularly, and even after 1800 they appeared on concert programs twice as often as concertos composed by any other composer except Beethoven.7 With regard to K. 453, a set of manuscript parts dating from c. 1800 survives in Melk, supporting the probability of a performance of the work during this time.8 In light of this evidence, Cuthbert Girdlestone's comparison of the expression of Mozart's K. 453 and Beethoven's Fourth is all the more intriguing. Calling attention to the subtle and intimate expression of K. 453, he notes: "It is one of Mozart's most ethereal concertos, with a pastoral strain ... and it takes us close to the most ethereal of Beethoven's concertos ... in G." Girdlestone further wonders if "Beethoven's choice of G Major for the expression of this inspiration is not due to this concerto ... We would go further and see in Beethoven's work a spiritual offspring of Mozart's."9 Having established circumstantial evidence indicating that Beethoven may well have been familiar with this concerto, it is my intent to address the following questions: (1) in what ways and to what extent does the first movement of Beethoven's concerto resemble the first movement of Mozart's, while differing from it in other respects? (2) are there artistic goals that can explain why Beethoven chose K. 453 as a model for his own movement?10 Comparisons and Contrasts of Compositional Correlations A careful study of both movements reveals some compositional correlations between musical elements that reinforce the expressive affinity recognized by Girdlestone. Most notably, the structural layouts, as well as the meticulous deployment of specific details, suggest that the two composers may have shared a similar compositional conception. On the broadest level, the formal plans of both movements feature G Major tonalities, Allegro tempos, cut-time time' signatures, and concerto-sonata forms (see Table 1). Of comparable lengths, the movements also exhibit similar proportions, a significant indicator of style. We know, for example, that all of Mozart's concertos retain similar proportions, and that they differ substantially from those found in concertos of his contemporaries." In these movements, the first Solo is the longest section, followed by the recapitulation in the third Solo. The first Ritornello is the next weightiest section, while other Ritornellos remain relatively short. The development area, Solo II, is the only area that substantially differs. Whereas Mozart's development section is relatively short and contains fewer keys, Beethoven's is nineteen measures longer and harmonically more complex. …

This study evaluated the impact of a music program designed to foster cognitive development and social esteem among high-risk elementary school children. Addressing the central question of how music education may help children develop general learning skills, the research design interconnected between three components: (1) the content of the music lessons; (2) interactive, educational frameworks (mediated learning environments); and (3) specific learning skills to be fostered during the music lessons. All of the participants ( N = 81) attended the Jaffa Institute Child-Care Centers. Children in the experimental group ( n = 45) partook in two to three hours a week of music enrichment (music appreciation, performance, creativity) conducted within mediated learning environments over a period of 2 years, while children in the control group ( n = 36) did not. Pre and post assessments evaluated the development of cognitive skills (Raven, Complex Figure Tests) and social esteem (Fitts). Results indicated significant differences between the groups in the development of the targeted cognitive skills.

Among recent approaches to Classic music, one of the most revealing is the investigation of expression via topoi. Pioneered by Leonard Ratner, and developed by leading musicologists specializing in 18th-century music, this system identifies characteristic figures and styles that conveyed specific meanings to 18th-century audiences via processes of association. These implications resulted from intimate contacts with everyday musical activities in worship, entertainment, dance ceremonies, the military, hunt, and outdoor events. Familiarity with such characteristic topoi and styles enables listeners and performers today to reconstruct the original venues of communication between composers and their audiences. Serving as case studies, this paper explores the expressive content of two concertos intended for aristocratic women performers in Salzburg: the Concerto for three keyboards in F, K. 242 (1776), written for the Countess Antonia Lodron and her two daughters, Aloysia and Josepha, an...

This article reports on the practice and evaluation of a music education model, In Harmony, which utilizes new technologies and current theories of learning to mediate the music learning experience. In response to the needs of twenty-first century learners, the educational software programs Teach, Learn, Evaluate! and Impromptu served as central components of the program’s curriculum. Moreover, drawing on educational theories that value general learning skills as prerequisites to scholastic achievement, the In Harmony program provided a context in which students could improve their working memory, self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility. The model was adopted internationally in Bloomington, IN and Jaffa, Israel, and featured individual tasks administered through computer software, as well as group music composition activities. By incorporating computer technology within the program’s design, and targeting the above-mentioned learning skills, we sought to strengthen the impact of ...

Music has long played a role as an ambassador for peace and understanding between cultures. Yet, there is little research that gauges how creating music aids in the development of cross-cultural awareness. Given today’s tense political climate post-9/11, further investigation of the role that music can play in fostering cross-cultural awareness is needed. Using a sociocultural constructionist framework, this study investigated how 22 youth (12 girls and 10 boys) from the United States, in communication with youth in Tel-Aviv, Israel, analyzed and composed music steeped in traditional Hebrew, Arabic, and Western traditions using the computer program, Impromptu. Participants took part in pre-tests and post-tests to measure their awareness and respect for Israelis at the start and end of the study using the Cross-Cultural Awareness Drawing Task (Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005). Using qualitative techniques, the researchers analyzed the written reflections of participants on their music compo...

As a part of a larger international mapping exercise to examine students’ motivation to study music as compared to other school subjects, this article reports data drawn from a sample of 2257 Israeli students (primary to high school). Questionnaires were based on the expectancy-value theoretical framework by examining students’ perceptions of values, competence and task difficulty. Mixed-design ANOVAs were used to examine differences in students’ motivational beliefs across school levels, between music and non-music learners, and between girls and boys. Results of the analyses showed two major issues distinctive from the comparison of the eight-country analyses: (a) the lowest perceptions of task values and competence beliefs for any country among non-music learners in the upper level grades, and (b) a significant developmental increase in task difficulty for music as compared to other school subjects. In addition, the results of the Israeli data revealed that music learners attache...

Johann Christian Bach (1735-82), eighteenth-century composer par excellence, was one of the most respected musicians of his time. Overshadowed by the achievements of the later Classical composers, and totally forgotten during the nineteenth century, he reemerged as a composer of significant stature during the twentieth century. Focusing on his contribution to music history and his close relationship with Mozart, this renewed interest resulted in numerous scholarly studies, culminating in Ernest Warburton’s monumental 48-volume publication, The Collected Works of Johann Christian Bach. Reflecting on these changing fortunes, we may ask ourselves what the factors were that led to a reassessment of Bach’s contribution to the Classical style; what ways these factors were related to Mozart’s high regard for Bach; and why modern Mozartiana has included a revival of Bach’s music. Addressing these issues, this article opens with a biographical survey, illustrating the context of Bach’s life ...

Recent Research on Beethoven," sponsored by the Department of Musicology at BarIlan University and organized by Professor Bathia Churgin, was the first Beethoven conference ever held in Israel. The conference was given in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the passing of Professor Pinkhos Churgin, founder and first president of BarIlan University, and was honored by the presence of Sieghard Brandenburg, director of the Beethoven-Archiv in Bonn, who delivered the main paper on the topic, "Vocal elements in the Third Movement of the Ninth Symphony." In his richly documented paper, Brandenburg surveyed the varied sketch sources for the Ninth Symphony. He pointed out the intermixture of sketches for both the Ninth and Tenth Symphonies, and the fact that several sketches intended for the Tenth Symphony were taken over into the Ninth. Among early ideas for the Ninth Symphony was the incorporation of vocal parts into the third movement. The vocal character of the Adagio is further indicated by the term "cavatina" found in the sketches, and cavatina-like features that remain in the final version. Early ideas for the movement include the special use of timpani in the final measures and the juxtaposition of tempos, which were originally adagio and allegro. Evidence also exists regarding an underlying programmatic idea for the third movement. Brandenburg further informed participants of his latest discoveries in the Lobkowitz Archive (Prague), where he found Beethoven's corrections in a copy of the first edition of the Eroica and the manuscript parts for the wind parts of the Fourth Symphony. The papers delivered by local scholars testified to the breadth of Beethoven research in Israel today. Bathia Churgin revealed some of the many complexities that have confronted her while preparing the forthcoming critical edition of the Eroica Symphony for the new edition of Beethoven's collected works. She first dealt with a description and evaluation of the authentic sources, the most important source being the copyist's score with Beethoven's correction (since no autograph has survived). She pointed out that the first edition was "riddled with errors," only some of which were corrected in later impressions and the reprint edition of Steiner and Haslinger. Her second focus was on compositional changes in the authentic sources, the most important being the repeat of mm. 150-51 of the first movement in the earliest impression of the symphony. The existence of nineteen sketches for this passage just before the first ending, ten of which were given by Nottebohm, show that this unit was problematic from the beginning. The third concern pertained to the problems of editing, especially those involving incorrect slurs and dynamic marks. The standard text, in fact, has hundreds of errors. Most striking is the slurring in the sources of the new theme in the development and the coda of the first movement, which differs almost entirely from the standard version. Churgin stressed that variation in slurring and simultaneously conflicting slurs are important features of Beethoven's style and should not be "corrected" by modern editors. She concluded by foreseeing that the new edition could have a dramatic effect on the sound of the music. Roger Kamien of The Hebrew University called attention to many significant similarities between the slow introductions of Beethoven's second Symphony and Mozart's Prague Symphony, K. 504: both are similar in length; both subdivide into three sections; and both utilize many of the same harmonic progressions, enharmonic procedures, and basic contrasts between major and minor modes. These striking parallels seem to point to conscious modelling on Beethoven's part. Beth Shamgar, Bar-Ilan University, explored large-scale effects in Beethoven's Quartet in E-flat major, Opus 127, that embody or point the way toward values important in Romantic music. Special attention was paid to different kinds of Romantic gestures pertaining to Beethoven's treatment of tonality: third relationships and the absence of dominant or energizing modulation; the use of large stable tonal blocks separated by relatively circumscribed modulatory areas; and the presence of tonal recall to unify the quartet. …

Introduction Many studies have documented Mozart's influence on Beethoven's early works.1 More recent research suggests that Mozart's legacy continued to influence Beethoven throughout his life.2 Indeed, Beethoven confessed to the Abbe Maximilian Stadler on February 6, 1826, "I always counted myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart and shall remain so until my last breath."3 While Mozart's influence is apparent in many areas of Beethoven's music, this study focuses on Mozart's mature fortepiano concertos, and more specifically on the first movement of his Concerto, K. 453, as a source of inspiration and a possible model for the first movement of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, Opus 58. We know that Beethoven was familiar with Mozart's Fortepiano Concertos, K. 466, 491, 503, and 595.4 While I have found no explicit mention of K. 453 in Beethoven sources, circumstantial evidence suggests that Beethoven knew this concerto as well. Mozart particularly cherished and jealously guarded K. 453, as he confessed to his father in a letter written May 15, 1784: "The concertos in E-flat [K. 4491 and G [K. 4531 are in the hands of none other than myself and Fri. von Ployer."5 Perhaps indicating its warm reception in Vienna, it is one of the six concertos that were published during Mozart's lifetime.6 Following Mozart's death, his students continued to perform his fortepiano concertos regularly, and even after 1800 they appeared on concert programs twice as often as concertos composed by any other composer except Beethoven.7 With regard to K. 453, a set of manuscript parts dating from c. 1800 survives in Melk, supporting the probability of a performance of the work during this time.8 In light of this evidence, Cuthbert Girdlestone's comparison of the expression of Mozart's K. 453 and Beethoven's Fourth is all the more intriguing. Calling attention to the subtle and intimate expression of K. 453, he notes: "It is one of Mozart's most ethereal concertos, with a pastoral strain ... and it takes us close to the most ethereal of Beethoven's concertos ... in G." Girdlestone further wonders if "Beethoven's choice of G Major for the expression of this inspiration is not due to this concerto ... We would go further and see in Beethoven's work a spiritual offspring of Mozart's."9 Having established circumstantial evidence indicating that Beethoven may well have been familiar with this concerto, it is my intent to address the following questions: (1) in what ways and to what extent does the first movement of Beethoven's concerto resemble the first movement of Mozart's, while differing from it in other respects? (2) are there artistic goals that can explain why Beethoven chose K. 453 as a model for his own movement?10 Comparisons and Contrasts of Compositional Correlations A careful study of both movements reveals some compositional correlations between musical elements that reinforce the expressive affinity recognized by Girdlestone. Most notably, the structural layouts, as well as the meticulous deployment of specific details, suggest that the two composers may have shared a similar compositional conception. On the broadest level, the formal plans of both movements feature G Major tonalities, Allegro tempos, cut-time time' signatures, and concerto-sonata forms (see Table 1). Of comparable lengths, the movements also exhibit similar proportions, a significant indicator of style. We know, for example, that all of Mozart's concertos retain similar proportions, and that they differ substantially from those found in concertos of his contemporaries." In these movements, the first Solo is the longest section, followed by the recapitulation in the third Solo. The first Ritornello is the next weightiest section, while other Ritornellos remain relatively short. The development area, Solo II, is the only area that substantially differs. Whereas Mozart's development section is relatively short and contains fewer keys, Beethoven's is nineteen measures longer and harmonically more complex. …

This article reports on the practice and evaluation of a music education model, In Harmony, which utilizes new technologies and current theories of learning to mediate the music learning experience. In response to the needs of twenty-first century learners, the educational software programs Teach, Learn, Evaluate! and Impromptu served as central components of the program’s curriculum. Moreover, drawing on educational theories that value general learning skills as prerequisites to scholastic achievement, the In Harmony program provided a context in which students could improve their working memory, self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility. The model was adopted internationally in Bloomington, IN and Jaffa, Israel, and featured individual tasks administered through computer software, as well as group music composition activities. By incorporating computer technology within the program’s design, and targeting the above-mentioned learning skills, we sought to strengthen the impact of ...

Recent meta-analysis studies offer growing evidence of positive relationships between music and learning in other subject areas. Calls for further research seek to understand how and why such transfer occurs (Winner and Hetland, 2000; Scripp, 2002). This study hypothesizes that targeting specific learning skills, active in music and in other areas, will tighten the linkage between music education and scholastic achievement. It reports on the initial findings of a pilot study conducted in an afternoon child-care center in Jaffa, Israel involving forty children, aged 6-11. Activities include music appreciation, individual and group performance and interactive computer sessions. The learning skills targeted are: 1) self-regulation; 2) sequential and global perception; 3) the construction of multiple representations; 4) relating simultaneously to multiple sources of information; and 5) the conservation of constancies amid processes of variation. All of the teachers attend introductory w...

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the impact of an,innovative music program designed,to foster cognitive development,and social skills among,high-risk elementary school children. Drawing on constructivists’ theories (especially Feuerstein’s Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability (1988), the research design interconnected between three components: a) the content of the music lessons; 2) the creation of educational frameworks, which nurture active teacher-child interactions (mediated learning environments),

Research findings confirm positive links between music education, scholastic achievement, and social adaptability, especially among at-risk and special needs children. However, few studies explain how this process occurs. This article presents a didactic approach, which suggests practical ways of enhancing general learning skills while teaching music. Conducted with young children with severe learning difficulties aged 4—10, the MISC-MUSIC (More Intelligent and Sensitive, or Socially Compliant Children) program (Klein, 1996) interconnects the following three components: (1) the content of the music lessons; (2) the creation of educational frameworks that nurture quality, active teacher—child interactions (mediated learning environments), and (3) the choice of relevant, general learning skills (cognitive functions) to be fostered during the music lesson. The article explains the theoretic premises of MISC-MUSIC, cites examples of how this approach was implemented, and reflects on the effectiveness of the program.

... This aria includes music in the Turkish style and changes of meter and tempo. See The Letters of Mozart and his Family, 768-69. ... K 191 ABACAD cadenza ABA Minuet K. 211 AB cadenza AC cadenza Minuet ADCB cadenza A K 216 ABAC cadenza ADAB cadenza A Passepied ...