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This book uses existential ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre to provide a philosophy of college piano performance teaching which includes awareness of freedom, abandonment and responsibility as a prerequisite for student-teacher interaction. To set the stage for the interaction the study uses Sartre s philosophy, illustrated with concrete examples from the world of piano teaching and performing, in order to describe what it means to be human. The author applies Sartre s writings about literature to support the idea of an engaged performance, relating it to existential psychoanalysis, making the performer and audience member realize freedom through choice, while addressing ideas of abandonment and performance anxiety. Sartre s philosophy is used to identify the roles both teachers and students play in the college environment as people and as performers. The study, with the help of existentialism, describes the interaction between the different elements: teacher, student, performer, and human being, and provides a better understanding of the complexity of the pupil/professor relationship in the college piano performance program.

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Dr. Julia Mortyakova is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, New York University and the University of Miami. She has performed piano recitals throughout the United States and abroad, and presented her various research interests at numerous conferences. She invites you to visit her website at www.juliamortyakova.com.

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