Professor from Canada held unique master class on piano technique at ASU

12 April 2019 Department of Information and Media Communications
On April 11, Altai State University hosted a master class by Ph.D. in Piano Performance (University of Montreal), Professor at Lakehead University, Dr. Evgeny Chugunov. The event was dedicated to the prevention of pianists’ professional injuries.

This unique educational lecture entitled “Piano Technique at the Intersection of Science and Practice” was held within the walls of the flagship university of Altai Krai on the initiative of the Center for Culture and Education of ASU.

“As part of the master class, I touched upon not only the prevention of pianists’ professional injuries, but also the topic of the piano technology development, which is little known to the professional community of musicians in Russia. This topic is based on the theory of levels of motion construction of an eminent Russian scientist, neuropathologist, physiologist N.A. Bernstein, as well as on the method of the American piano teacher, lecturer and founder of a special approach to playing the piano, the creator of the Taubman Institute of Piano Dorothy Taubman,” Evgeny Chugunov said. “According to statistics, 75 percent of orchestra musicians develop occupational hand diseases at some point. This is largely due to the fact that the generally accepted methods of learning to play the piano are imperfect and we, the musicians, do not take into account the achievements of psychophysiology and biomechanics, which can actually protect us from professional injuries in the profession. These and other questions were raised within the framework of my master class.”

Larisa I. Nekhvyadovich, Director of the Center for Culture and Education of ASU, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Design at ASU, noted that the event was organized as part of a series of professional educational programs for students and lecturers of the university, as well as all those interested in creative areas of training.

“A master class on piano technology is the beginning of our cooperation with the specialist from Canada. Evgeny Chugunov agreed to continue participating in the distance educational course. We have also reached an agreement on student exchange, ” Larisa I. Nekhvyadovich concluded.

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