Master of all I survey

Question Ideas

The survey will be authored in Qualtrics. It even supports JavaScript, so I am hoping to integrate the MDC right into the survey tool. Here are some ideas for questions to include. I will update this post as new ideas occur to me.

What is your gender?

1. Male
2. Female

What is your age? _____

I am left/right handed.

I use conventional fingerings for scales. 

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

I use conventional fingerings for broken chord exercises.

I use conventional fingerings for arpeggio exercises.

I adhere to fingerings suggested by Hanon.

I adhere to fingerings suggested by Czerny.

What is your glove size? Use this chart if you are not sure. (Make sure to print it out at 100% size. Your application may try to scale it. The unscaled image should fit on an 8.5x11 inch piece of paper.)

• < 6
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 12
• 14
• >14

I wish my hands were larger/smaller/neither.

If you have ready access to a tape measure, measure distance around your palm. _____ (inches/mm)

Do you own a MIDI-enabled keyboard? If so, how often do you play it?

What piano method(s) did you use regularly when you were developing your skills as a pianist?

• Hanon
• Specific Czerny?
• 
  

How does the action of your favorite MIDI keyboard (not including a MIDI-enabled acoustic piano) compare to your favorite acoustic piano?

How much do you change your fingerings when playing your favorite MIDI keyboard, compared to playing your favorite acoustic piano?

How much do your fingering choices change from performance to performance of the same piece?

Describe your approach to sight-reading.

What percentage of the time that you spend playing the piano is devoted to each of the following activities?

___ Private practice

___ Solo performance

___ Performance with instrumental ensemble

___ Accompaniment

How much of your practice and performance time is spent sight reading? ____%

How much of your practice and performance time is spent playing prepared pieces? ____%

In the past month, on how many days have you played the piano?

In the past month, on how many days have you performed the piano for a public audience?

How many years have you studied and/or performed the piano on a regular basis?

Overall, I am happy with my finger strength.

In general, I am happy with my reach.

Playing the piano is slightly/somewhat/very painful for me. 

• Very frequently
• Frequently
• Sometimes
• Rarely
• Never

The reach between the following finger pairs are problematic for me. Check all that apply.

• 1-5
• 1-4
• 1-3
• 1-2
• 2-3
• 2-4
• 2-5
• 3-4
• 3-5
• 4-5

Which of the following best describes you?

1. Professional pianist
2. Professional piano teacher
3. Professional pianist and piano teacher
4. Expert pianist
5. Semi-professional pianist
6. Serious amateur pianist
7. Other: _________________________________

Compared to other pianists, how would you describe the size of your hands?

1. Very small
2. Somewhat small
3. Average size
4. Somewhat large
5. Very large

How technically challenging is the music you play most frequently?

How much of your time spent in preparing a piece for performance is devoted to determining the fingering sequence?

1. Less than 5%
2. 5-10%
3. 11-20%
4. 21-30%
5. More than 30%

How do you feel about the following statement: "Learn the printed fingerings before considering alternatives?"

1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neutral
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree

How do you feel about this statement: "Determining effective fingerings is time consuming for me when preparing a technically challenging piece."

1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neutral
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree

As I become more familiar with a technically challenging piece, my fingerings evolve.

For some pieces, I cannot settle on the best fingerings.

Cite examples of pieces in your repertoire for which it was particularly difficult to determine fingerings.

Cite at least one piece, if you can, for which fingering decisions are still in flux for you.
When did you first start practicing this piece?

How often do you seek guidance from others on how best to finger a piece?

How often have you crossed out a fingering suggested by an editor?

How often have you crossed out a fingering suggested by a composer?

Who (or what) do you consult when challenged by the fingering of a piece? (Check all that apply.)

1. Pedagogical texts
2. Other editions of the same score
3. Other personally annotated scores from your repertoire
4. Teachers/mentors
5. Peers (other pianists)
6. Online forums

How much do you typically write on a printed score for a technically challenging piece?

1. A lot
2. A fair amount
3. Some
4. Hardly any
5. None at all

How often do you deviate from editorial fingering annotations printed in a score?

1. Never
2. Rarely
3. Sometimes
4. Frequently
5. Very frequently

Annotation Corpus

Hand legato or fast tempi

Two-hand interplay

Established Repertoire

Bach Inventions and Sinfonias

Well-Tempered Clavier

Hanon's Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises

What does everyone know? What methods do everyone use (daily)?

Obscure (Czerny a la Parncutt)

IRB