ZeneZen, Creative Piano Pedagogy

This study aims to investigate in detail The ZeneZen Creative Piano Pedagogy . This research, which is an example of a case study, is a qualitative study in which descriptive research methods and techniques are used. For the research, both professors were interviewed. The interview was conducted within the framework of an unstructured interview form designed on 4 main lines of approach: methodology, application, difficulties, and its impact on other areas. The data obtained were analyzed by descriptively. As a result, it is seen that the ZeneZen pedagogical approach created for piano education is quite different from traditional piano education as an approach in which many elements are applied as opposed to only teaching and practicing piano works. In this approach, music and also silence are considered holistically, auditory, visual, bodily, and internal sensations are blended, and students learn to explore and communicate their imaginations and inner worlds through the piano.


Introduction
As in life, development and progress in all areas of education demand a creative impulse that needs to be supported. 'If students are to satisfy their needs in the information age, educational systems will be required to go beyond didactic transmission models to the development of more creative forward-thinking forms of education' (Hosseini, 2011(Hosseini, , p. 1807).
Lee deals with a creative education method consisting of 5 steps: the idea, its discovery, its digging, its manifestation, and its development. 'The common premise for applying the five-stage teaching is the encouragement of learner's freedom and willingness, and the teaching mode should be preceded as the principle of teacher's love and guide' (Lee, 2013, p. 47).
Having a sense of freedom during the learning process raises the student's creativity, providing a balanced combination between knowledge and imagination. Contrary to positivism, creative learning is developed in the framework of the constructivist approach, as the individual is the person who learns through their actions. 'As a guiding philosophy for encouraging creative thinking in music, constructionist approaches tend to celebrate student-centered learning and favor the social and collaborative nature of education' (Webster, 2016, p. 28 The tonic sol-fa method, also known as 'movable do' is the technique used to sing solfege in the Kodály teaching method. 'Solfege singing can be combined with hand signs, body movements and playing musical instruments for children's musical pedagogy' , p. 1259. 'Solfege singing with body movements in the Kodály teaching method practiced by early childhood educators is said to be able to increase preschool children's memory, kinesthetic abilities and singing skills' (Luen, Ayob, Augustine, & Wong, 2019, p. 812).
The Kodálian lesson plan also called the Kodály trilogy of Ps, is developed in three phases: preparation, presentation, and practice. Houlahan and Tacka (2015, p. 41) described these phases in detail as follows: Preparation 1) Prepare the learning through kinesthetic activities.
2) Prepare the learning through aural activities.
3) Prepare the learning through visual activities.
Presentation 1) Present the solfege syllable or rhythm label for the new sound.
2) Present the notation for the new sound.
Practice 1) Incorporate the new element (now identified as a familiar element) into the practices of reading.
2) Incorporate the new element (now identified as a familiar element) into the practices of writing.
3) Incorporate the new element (now identified as a familiar element) into the practices of improvisation.
After the "new element" has been discovered, the activities in the last section are the part where the processed knowledge transforms into new forms. 'At this stage, the now-familiar concept is reviewed by finding it in other materials and using it in new ways. It is during this period of experimentation that improvisation and composition challenge students to integrate the new concept into their existing musical framework' (Boshkoff, 1991, p. 31).
'According to Klára Kokas, the basic tenets of modern pedagogy are, on the one hand, the artistic and scientific value in a given material and, on the other hand, the material itself providing creative opportunities for the children...It is not enough to impart knowledge in music education; the educator has to be a partner in the child's discovery of new experiences' (Király, 2016, p. 28, quoted by Kokas, 1972). Klára Kokas, a disciple of Kodály, developed a pedagogy that can be expressed as an experience-centered extension of the Kodály approach. 'It is based on the idea that the best method to guide children towards the absolute perception of music is through activity, movement, listening and creative work' (Çağlak Eker, 2020, p. 761). In addition to the use of voice, which is the cornerstone of the Kodálian approach, she developed a perspective in which all the activities are performed through body movement. 'Besides singing, movement plays an important part in the activities of the human organism' (Kokas, 1969, p. 125).
Székely states that the characteristics of Klára Kokas's pedagogy are the following: 'Creativity development through music -not music education in a classic way, but rather personal development with music, therapy, empathy, absolute attention, improvisational shape-changing dances, motional-verbal-visual representation, spontaneous self-expression, association to music, folk song and name singing, circle games, the importance of imagination in education, free choice of partner or technique, complex art pedagogy, qualitative and absolute classical instrumental music, transfer effect, trusting and intimate atmosphere' (Székely,2021, p. 4). 'Kokas's pedagogy makes bodily experience the key in fostering children's explorative, open mindset: both in the individual sense (creative presence) and for the collective (creative attunement)' (Vass, 2018, p. 23). Kokas's pedagogy not only reveals the power of self-expression and the individual's inner world through music but also develops imagination and creativity expressed by the use of the body. 'Music education can also germinate children's feelings and help them experience the beauty of music in social and cultural life to enrich their imagination and creativity, promote children to learn to use the mind to feel and discover beauty, and express and create beauty in their own way' (Jin, 2019(Jin, , p. 1062. 'According to Klára Kokas's world view and child-centered pedagogy, as a music teacher and music psychologist, she built her method on creativity, human and interpersonal relationships, child-centered approach, personality development, and attention to others. These aspects are characteristic of the reform pedagogical methods -art pedagogical elements like music and dance -additional values of the Kokas method' (Székely, 2020, p. 2). In this approach, music listening is an active experience which acquires a deeper meaning where children are ies.ccsenet.org International Education Studies Vol. 15, No. 4;2022 taught how to listen to the music. As Tiszai points out: 'The unique method of Klára Kokas facilitates a deep musical understanding through the repeated listening of selected short high-quality classical masterpieces. Participants share their emotions by the freely improvised movements of their body, which Kokas defines as dances. A close analysis of these dances reveals that participants' movements are often synchronized with more than one significant characteristic of the musical piece they are listening to ' (Tiszai, 2016, p. 8).
'It also beneficially develops socialization, association, communication, coordination skills and abilities, aesthetic sense, empathy, and concentration. In other words: holistic education. The accent is on personality development and self-expression through musical inspiration' (Székely, 2018, p. 117).
ZeneZen, a new approach in teaching piano performance and the subject of this research, is the reflection of all these approaches and integrates them into piano education. Regarding instrumental education not being limited to just the instrument itself, Kodály says the following: "To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand" (Estrella, 2019).

Method
This is a qualitative study in which descriptive research methods and techniques were used. A qualitative research 'is a scientific study based on the discovery, understanding, and interpretation of various events and phenomena in their environments as a result of a detailed examination' (Tıkaç, 2015, p. 360).
This research, which investigated ZeneZen Creative Piano Approach, is an example of a case study. "A hallmark of a good qualitative case study is that it presents an in-depth understanding of the case. To accomplish this, the researcher collects many forms of qualitative data, ranging from interviews to observations, to documents, to audiovisual materials" (Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. 96). Study is an example for the revelatory case from single-case studies. 'This situation exists when an investigator has an opportunity to observe and analyze a phenomenon previously inaccessible to scientific investigation' (Yin, 2003, p. 42).
In order to collect the necessary data for this research, Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák, the experts who created the approach that is the subject of the research, were interviewed. 'Expert interviews are a widely-used qualitative interview method often aiming at gaining information about or exploring a specific field of action' (Döringer, 2021, p. 265). Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák, professors of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, work together and apply this approach they have developed, among other trainings they provide. In addition, they explain and practice this approach in many important music schools in other countries.'The theory-generating expert interview holds an analytical and interpretative perspective in order to outline interrelations in the empirical data and to develop theoretical approaches' (Döringer, 2021, p. 267).
In these interviews, which were held to examine the ZeneZen Creative Piano Approach in depth, although the instructors are evaluated as experts, they can also be qualified as elite with their globally recognized identities as members of an important institution. In this context, it can be said that this paper sets an example for expert and elite interviews. 'Elite individuals are considered to be influential, prominent, and/or well-informed in an organization or community; they are selected for interviews on the basis of their expertise in areas relevant to the research' (Marshall & Rossman, 2006, p. 105).
Interviews in the research were conducted via e-mail. Due to the busy schedule of the participants, the predetermined unstructured interview form was sent to them by e-mail. A joint mail group was created with the participants and they answered the questions jointly. The data were analyzed descriptively, and mostly direct quotations are included for 'to provide an orderly description of rich, descriptive detail' (Patton, 2015, p. 853 quoted by Lofland, 1971 and as the opinions of the experts/creators of the approach are considered very important.

Findings
In this section, the findings of the interviews conducted within the scope of the research are given in context of methodology, application, difficulties, and its impact on other areas. First of all, the views of the participants were directly conveyed, and then the themes and sub-themes obtained from the speeches were presented in tables.

Questions About the Methodology of the Approach
• What is the basic philosophy of the ZeneZen approach that you have developed as a piano pedagogy and its connection with Kodály and Kokas pedagogies? (What are the learning steps of the ZeneZen approach?) Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "Our pedagogical approach is called "ZeneZen", which is also the basis of our philosophy. ZeneZen is a play on words: "Zene" means music in Hungarian, and "Zen" refers to meditation, or more specifically, meditation at its highest level. Since zen is not attached to any religious or philosophical view, for us the meaning of zen is -a life lived with music. The full path to zen is a path to experience, the practice of music, and a way of teaching that goes beyond words. "The main point of Kodály's concept is that it places artistic education, especially music, in the center of children's education. With its systematic structure, active music-making, singing, and musical skill development leave space for the reception of artistic content, as well as for further individual development. The basis for the reception of musical content is the emotional experience, which is followed by the recognition of the aesthetic value of the musical piece. This is where the carefully planned, logically built and exigent skill development leads to." (Kokas, 1977b, p. 8) Kodály's principles -namely the regular, singing-based music education that is rooted in folk music using relative solmization that is started in early childhood, and practiced in a group environment -can manifest itself in several possible ways in music pedagogy. One such road is the Kokas-pedagogy. Kokas Klára gave her students the chance to encounter original Hungarian folk songs as well as the highest quality masterpieces. The focus of her teaching was a free movement created by children, imagination, as well as synchrony of musical and literary content. Kokas-pedagogy is not only music pedagogy but is successful in supporting the harmonious development of the personality as well. It also has transfer effects on many non-musical skills and allows students to experience creativity on multiple levels, in the form of a creative action that strengthens the self. We, who grew up with this education, only began learning a musical instrument after one or two years of music, or solfege lessons (depending on the type of school we attended). By then we were a little familiar with the "theoretical world" of music. We knew the different keys, the notes' absolute names, and their places on the pentagram, as well as the solfa names and the basic rhythms; and we acquired all of this knowledge via singing. ies.ccsenet.org International Vol. 15, No. 4;2022 This was a huge advantage in our instrumental education, since the ground was already prepared, and we were able to advance and learn musical pieces much faster. Thanks to our singing practice, we were able to play in a much nicer and expressive way on the piano.
We are very grateful for this education, but we also have to admit that this road -barring a few exceptionsoften proved to be very dry and dull because of its rigor, and its theoretical, systematic approach. Moreover, separate solfege and instrumental lessons were unknown to our foreign students, since in other parts of the world the instrument teacher also teaches music theory, sight-reading, and musical styles. We had to change, and we had to change our pedagogical tools in order to be able to help our students, who will be the music teachers of the future.
These were the experiences that inspired us and led us to aim for something new, more colorful, more child-centered, and more varied while maintaining our heritage and traditions. Our aim was not to separate movement, solfege, and piano, but to let them strengthen each other, and to exploit the possibilities that are inherent within them as they are combined. We also wanted to keep the intimate format of small group classes, as we prefer the creativity, cohesive force, and trust fostered by such classes." • In our course, we do not share and teach well-established rules and musical instructions that always work, but we set out to look for our inner child and to take in the miracle of music with a pure, innocent soul through the piano pieces. We do not offer ready-made "recipes" to our students. Instead, we try to lead the classes in a way that the students themselves should understand, and get a feel for the inherent beauty, excitement, creativity, harmony, tale, mood, personal point of view, ideas, challenges, difficulties, main points, and phenomena which occur in a musical piece… so that later they can pass it on to their students in their teaching, in their lectures or concerts.
Kodály, referencing Robert Schumann's advice to music students, described the following characteristics of a good musician: 1. a well-trained ear, 2. a well-trained mind 3. a well-trained heart, and 4. a well-trained hand.
He believed that all four parts must develop together in constant equilibrium. When one lags behind the others or goes ahead of the others, there is a problem.
ZeneZen is the class in which all of these four components are in an adequate balance, and in which each of them is taught hand in hand, progressing simultaneously. Each ZeneZen lesson consists of three main parts, independent of the duration of the class.
1) The initial body awareness exercises, the creative singing, and the movement improvisation = well-trained heart -(preparation) 2) The following solfege and music theory part of the class brings awareness to a conscious level = well-trained ear and mind -(presentation) 3) And finally, the knowledge and experience of these two are combined at the piano = well-trained hands -(practice).
ZeneZen is principally a group lesson.

Questions About the Application of the Approach
• How does the working process of the approach progress? How is the lesson plan formed?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "We choose a different piano piece for each topic, and approach the given theme through that piece, by unraveling its most significant musical characteristics and problems through various singing and movement exercises. The three main parts of our course are built up as follows: Section 1: • Greeting with body awareness exercises, warm-up, attention games, creative, free games using melodies and rhythms from the actual piece.
• Creating silence. Experiencing full attention and inner concentration before starting the music listening.
• Receptive and active music listening. Repetitive listening to the musical piece, and its active and creative integration: improvisational free dancing to the music that might lead to the creation of movement composition(s) eventually.
• Optional: Presenting the dance piece developed either alone or with peers, as a solo composition, and its narrative explanation, verbal account.

being motivated by each activity. Additionally, the three main parts of the lessons or the sub-activities of the units, can appear in a different order, depending on the situation. For instance, a beautiful closing moment of the class can be a group dance while listening to a chosen piano piece.
Although the piano is at the center of our course, the pathway to the instrument, and the musical piece is often longer, and more winding, than the goal itself. One often wouldn't even think, how rich a small piano piece can be. But this road can become ever shorter and can make the encounter with the piano more intense and profound. The participants in this 1h/1,5h long lesson can learn not only from us, and from each other, but from their own experience. Our students might open up, and get inspiration for studying a piece, for practicing, or for their future teaching." • Is there specific training material? Or is it possible to study on any piece played by the student?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "We use musical material from the same traditional books of Hungarian piano education that we grew up with. Along with these, pieces that were written for music education, contemporary composers' pieces that were written for children, and the 6 volumes of Mikrokosmos by Bartók are always present on our musical palette. Besides these works, we constantly expand our repertoire, as we would like to get our students to meet with and become fond of the most diverse styles at the most varied levels of difficulties, since music listening is the essence of our course. Our love for these musical pieces and the world that we have discovered through them provide an inexhaustible source of inspiration for our teaching." • As part of the approach, what kind of practice is being done to improve the power of artistic expression, such as phrasing?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "The road leading to artistic expression is as long as piano learning itself. It is a process that does not stand alone, since, without musical knowledge, understanding of music theory, solid handling of the instrument, emotional background, sensibility, and freedom of self-expression, artistic expression would not be possible. Without all of this, students are taken by a compulsion to "prove something", which in better cases may be overcome, but otherwise, will always remain an obstacle to creative playing.
It is known that everybody who works in the arts or teaches art, has to possess a strong artistic expression to be able to pass on their knowledge, and to be able to understand, sense, and even feel the thoughts and emotions of the student. It is impossible to imagine a piano teacher, or any music teacher who exists in music, and who deals with music, teaching in a dry style, following strict principles, deprived of emotions, in an impersonal manner. Teaching music is an art in itself, and let's not forget either that every pianist had at least one piano teacher in their lives who awakened in them the love for music, and the desire towards piano playing. What does this mean? It means that one of the main triggers of artistic expression is the teacher: their creativity, personality, and inspiring self. In our courses, we try to give as much space for self-expression to our students as possible. We try to encourage their creativity and inspire them to feel their own emotions freely (without being afraid of making mistakes) since music is that channel beyond words, through which we can learn much more about each other and ourselves than one would expect. All of this intensive time spent together really helps to develop a musical and artistic interpretation. Since all of the starting activities in the ZeneZen classes are Kokas-based, one of the most powerful changes compared to traditional piano teaching is precisely the music listening combined with movement activities that improve the stylistic sense. We will dance, then analyze, and then sing the piece that we would like to learn. Naturally, this can be enhanced with various games. Different styles evoke different characters in our minds. Why couldn't we imagine ourselves wearing period dresses, at a historic scene, living and feeling the stories that we invented? These things will all contribute to the recognition of stylistic differences, and to the ability to apply this knowledge at the piano when playing the same piece." • Within the scope of this approach, what kinds of studies are carried out to improve technical and musical skills?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "This question actually summarizes the previous answers. Musical skills and technical skills are always interdependent. The correct technique often supports the musical interpretation, and vice versa, the musical idea calls for, and informs, the technical solution.
Naturally, to be able to understand and take in all of this, students first must master the necessary technical knowledge. Just as we learn choreography in dance, or movement in sport, we must also teach our fingers how to move. We have to train them to be stronger, more sensitive, and thereby more confident on the keyboard. At the same time, we have to try to practice more playfully, without stress and pressure to perform. It's no coincidence that we say piano-playing and not piano-working.
Finally, we have to remember that practicing the technique should not be for the sake of practicing itself, but it should always serve the quality of the musical performance. (It is interesting to note that the meaning of the ancient Greek word 'teknikos' is 'artistic, skillful').
In our ZeneZen courses, we draw on solfege and on Kokas's ideas in teaching general concepts in music and piano technique (touch, legato, leggiero, octave and chord technique, small technique, etc.). For example, it is much easier to feel a slow legato motion, if, in addition to imagining the tune and the tempo with our inner ear in advance, we also imagine the quality and character of the tune and the notes, or if we feel the weight of our steps in slow motions, the way we put our feet on the ground, or how two steps are connected."

Questions About Difficulties
• Is there an attitude specific to technical problems in the piano within the scope of the ZeneZen approach?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "As we said before, we first need to clarify what we mean by piano technique. The best way to put it, perhaps, is that it is the practical knowledge and usage of the instrument that allows us to express our ideas and emotions naturally at the piano without physical blocks or inhibitions, so that no obstacle might come in the way of the high-quality interpretation of the piano pieces.
Piano playing in a physical sense is hard muscle work, in other words -it is a sport. However, the technique is not only physical training, where the goal is to become ever stronger, faster, and more skilled. The technique always has to serve the musical interpretation and expression. Learning the correct technique is a prerequisite to being able to play piano pieces without inhibitions and blocks.
We have plenty of exercises and games for the improvement of piano technique that can be practiced with children, or with beginner piano players. For example, we have a game that is already a very serious technical exercise, when students have to touch the piano keys with different moods and emotional charges. This will allow for an easier transition in the future when they want to play an ever so light pianissimo melody or a subito forte agitato. By then, they will not only have emotional experiences about these different states, but the expression will also be present in their bodies and their touch, thanks to the Kokas activities. And of course, for a trained hand we need to develop and strengthen our fingertips since, eventually, that is where we make contact with the instrument. For example, it is a very good exercise to squat down from impulse, in a swingy way, and come up in the same way. After that, we can execute this movement without any external help, only with pure muscle work. Once we transfer this bigger movement to the piano, we will immediately feel the difference between hitting the notes with impetus from the fingertips, or pushing down the notes without impetus, from the same spot, and then trying to hold the weight of our hand and arm on our fingertips. It is an unusual exercise and not an easy one, but if it's prepared with movement in a playful way, it can work very well. It is not only useful because it strengthens our fingertips, and because it makes our touch more precise and more secure, but in the process, it also helps to develop a very different contact with the instrument. Suddenly we realize that we hear full and soft notes, that the piano has come to life with sound. This example reinforces our principle that technical solutions serve the musical interpretation." • Is there a practice in the ZeneZen approach for situations such as physical problems or injury? • What is the contribution of the approach to music education? What positive gains have you observed?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "At the end of our course, our students are often able to perform even short beginner piano pieces with the utmost artistic expression. And it is especially heart-warming when one of our students, who perhaps never dared to approach the piano, now plays beautifully, in a completely free manner. Besides this, we have discussed earlier how this approach can help develop the personality and expression of the self. We consider our job well done if we are able to help students discover an inner joy for music, and the ability to express themselves with it." • What is the effect of the approach on the concert performance?
Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák: "The answer to this already appears in a previous question:  (Neuhaus, 1993, p. 22). "It is very good to understand the structure of the piece, hearing all the voices separately and together as one, hearing the different types of rhythms, knowing that all three parts are important and need the same amount of energy.""

Result
As a result of the interview with Katalin Körtvési and Anikó Novák, it was seen that the ZeneZen pedagogical approach created for piano education is quite different from traditional piano education as an approach in which many elements are applied as opposed to only teaching and practicing piano works. In the ZeneZen approach, music and also silence are considered holistically, and auditory, visual, bodily, and internal sensations are blended. ies.ccsenet.org International Education Studies Vol. 15, No. 4;2022 Students learn to explore and communicate their imaginations and inner worlds through the bodily improvisations. According to Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, representative of the approach to learning and experiencing music through movement, in improvisation 'Performance is propelled by developed the students' powers of sensation, imagination, and memory' (Abramson, 1980, p.64). In this context, in the ZeneZen approach, this skill is also reflected on the piano, occuring in utmost artistic expression. Kaikova (2020), in her work investigating the creative potential of future instrumental pianists, emphasizes the importance of creativity and potential creativity, and states that it contributes to the effective preparation process of the future artist and gives them the opportunity to acquire high-level skills and perform successful instrumental and performance activities.
This approach, which is based on the philosophy of Kodály and Kokas, one of the important music teaching approaches, consists of three basic stages -bodily awareness, solfege/theory, and the reflection of these two stages on the piano -and can be applied to all age groups and levels. Emphasizing the importance of bodily awareness in understanding and reflecting on music, Kokas explained this situation as follows: 'they explore -in freely chosen order but in their indivisibility-rhythm, melodic cadences, shifts, in consonance, harmony, responses to each other, their dialogues, their meetings, the entering, the departing, or the harmonious blending of the different parts' (Tiszai, 2016, p.8, quated by Kokas, 2003. Regarding the importance of solfege in instrument training, in the years when Hungarian music education was reorganized, Kodály recommended instrumental music schools to do solfeggio in all classes and stated: 'Those who have learned to sing first, and only then to play an instrument, will catch the "melos" of any music much more quickly' (Ittzés, 2004, p. 137, quated by Kodály, 1946/1969. Also Bela Bartók stated the importance of solfege in his Mikrokosmos Preface as 'all instrument study or training should really commence with the student singing' (2014).
Based on my own ZeneZen experience, I can say that this approach is very effective for solfege training, which remains superficial in traditional piano training, and also for using the body correctly, which is very important for performance. The correct use of the body not only allows the works to be interpreted freely but also provides great comfort technically. As a result of the research, it is recommended that piano educators experience the ZeneZen pedagogical approach and transfer it to their lessons.