Reclaiming the Body: Gender Politics and Embodied Meaning in Piano Performance and Pedagogy

This study examines the impact of the mind-body duality and its gendered metaphor on the lived experiences of historical and contemporary female pianists. Specifically, it explores how the principles of mind-body dualism have constructed gendered practices in piano performance and pedagogy that have both marginalized female pianists and engendered distinct embodied relationships to music. The study draws upon research from other disciplines, such as phenomenology, theories of embodiment, feminist theory, psychoanalysis, and Embodied Music Cognition, to examine how these gendered musical norms resulting from mind-body dualism functioned as forces of social inscription. This research, therefore, suggests that the body’s lived interactions with music, as well as an individual’s experience of musical meaning, are not entirely neutral but are at least partially socially constructed. In examining these factors, the study aims to highlight persistent issues of gender and embodiment within contemporary piano scholarship. Additionally, it proposes strategies for remediating these issues in the current field of piano pedagogy by advocating for improvements to the existing systems of music education and by offering suggestions for expanding cultural perspectives of musical value to encompass those derived from lived embodied experience. By offering these suggestions, the study aims to empower piano pedagogues to make more informed and equitable pedagogical choices, ultimately benefiting both female students and the broader student population.