A influência da prática de música de câmara na pedagogia da pianista Helena Sá e Costa

Abstract

The present dissertation THE INFLUENCE OF CHAMBER MUSIC PRACTICE IN PIANISTA HELENA SÁ E COSTA PEDAGOGY aims to demonstrate the value of chamber music practice during the training of a musician, the role of this practice as a motivational factor in music education and its impact on learning a musical instrument. All these aspects will be related to the artistic and pedagogical path of the pianist Helena Sá e Costa (Porto, May 26th 1913 – Porto, January 8th 2006), as well as her influence on her disciples in chamber music practice. Referencing one of the leading Portuguese piano pedagogy landmarks of the twentieth century, I intend to demonstrate the true importance of chamber music existence at all levels of the country’s music schools. The methodology used for this research consisted of an empirical research, which aims to investigate the importance of chamber music work in training young music students, noting the value and impact of Helena Sá e Costa’s chamber work with her disciples. For this purpose, I used a quantitative approach through surveys anda a qualitative approach with interviews. Ten interviews with former students of Helena Sá e Costa were made, as well as surveys placed to music teachers and piano students from Academia de Música de Vilar do Paraíso, school where I teach at the moment. The surveys aimed to find out the significance, according to teachers and students’ perspective, of chamber music practice in a music student’s training. The interviews with disciples who contacted directly with Helena Sá e Costa included questions related to her practice of chamber music and how this influenced, in some way, her pedagogy. This study’s findings point to the fact that chamber music is a discipline that can positively affect students’ motivation for music teaching-learning process, as it develops intrinsic motivation and encourages students’ interest, awareness and musical effectiveness. As well as the perspective of Helena Sá e Costa’s disciples, she was absolutely an adept of the inclusion of chamber music discipline in the curricula of music official courses, and also making sure that each one of her students had the vision and felt the value of this work in their training as musicians.

Date of Award	28 Nov 2016
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sofia Lourenço (Supervisor)