The Music of Nobuo Uematsu in the Final Fantasy Series ed. by Richard Anatone (review)

Abstract

the original text, and over time, the tradition of teaching books has grown. Television became a medium for communicating with a wider audience through masterclass broadcasts and interviews with players. Nowadays streamed events and online masterclass resources by pedagogues are the norm—although not necessarily by leading concert artists. In more recent times, performers have tried to capture the psychological aspect of performance preparation in their writings and blogs. Researchers have studied how the brain is able to learn, memorise and sight-read as well as explore the dynamics of performance anxiety. This aspect of performance is now regarded as being of equal importance as the technical and musical demands of the music. In 1909, when the Studienbuch was written, little was known of the impact of the mind on performance and learning, and consequently the book shows a simpler, although rigorous, approach to learning. As an historical document, the Studienbuch has great value. Some of the practices described have become unfashionable or have been shown to be contradictory to original intentions. However, the book contains much wisdom and practical advice, valid for being written from a performer’s viewpoint. For the student wishing to broaden their knowledge of earlier styles of playing, the book serves as a window onto an age where the study of music was not influenced by digital advances. This is an illuminating publication that benefits from the addition of the extra sections outside of the main translation and serves to present a fascinating glimpse of the inner-workings of the mind of a pianist from a by-gone era.