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I have recently begun reading the Fundamentals of Musical Composition by Schoenberg. I have found that learning the fundamentals of composition has helped me understand how better to color the phrasings and interpret the piece as opposed to just playing the piece.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Yes, CPE Bach (and no doubt the rest of his family).

My new teacher (who is a composer too) has been incorporating some comp into my piano lessons. I find it extremely beneficial to better understand the why's and wherefore's behind what a composer wrote.

As far as I know you don't learn "composition" but "composition techniques" and other elements. When I was learning "composition" I was taught that noone can teach one composition, but the various methods around composition...

Learning the methods and ideas behind compositions can be very useful, and same goes for deep analysis of works!

Enlighten me : Could not one consider "in depth analysis" and "composition techniques" more or less as synonymous phrases? In any case, certainly a deep understanding of a work's structure and form informs a study and performance of it more than just "knowing the notes."

Regards,

Yeh, I consider them the same, basically..

If you understand how a piece is constucted, you basically understand how it was composed.

And if you understand that, you might have a better grasp of the phrasing, chord progressions, etc, etc and be able to translate that knowledge into a better performance.

Then there are those players who don't need it, and can just get a piece without all the analysis.

It's not absolutely the same thing.

Analysis of each piece applies to the very piece itself and usually comes with pre-knowlegde of certain methods. I mean it's one thing to get for the first time a Ligeti piece and try to see what's going on, and another to know beforehand his ideas on composition, micorpolyphony and so on, so that analysis is also hinted with a shed of light from those very techniques.

Techniques are linked to the people who (first) use(d) it, but other than that it's not absolutely the same. Mainly because it differs in the way it is shown/taught/etc.

I have found Tovey's Companion to Beethoven's Sonatas useful for understanding many details in playing and it also improved/fostered my own creativity....

Does the Tovey book list out "here are the phrases and themes for the sonatas and heres how he develops them"? Because I would so buy that book.

Yes, it analyzes modulations, development of themes, phrases, repetitions, etc. Bar-to-bar. It doesn't really tell you how to play (like Bailie does for Chopin for example), but through the analysis you get a better understanding of what you are playing and can thus play better... I have only looked at the Pathétique so far though...

Composing has definitely improved my technique because once I get an idea in my head, I am driven to be able to play it so it sounds good and lives up to it's potential. I am learning music theory now and some principles of composition, but I don't think those things have directly improved my technique yet.