Introduction: Expressing and communicating emotions is one of the main functions of music. Learning the skills involved in this communication is a central part of training performers; the study of ...teachers' and students' conceptions of appropriate ways to improve expressiveness can be considered a priority task for psychoeducational research. The aim of this study, therefore, is to: (1) validate an instrument for assessing such conceptions; (2) learn how teachers and students of higher levels of music education rate different teaching-learning strategies of emotional expressiveness in music; and (3) to compare these ratings between the two groups. Method: For this purpose, 229 persons (170 students and 59 teachers) from the Music Conservatory of Madrid completed a questionnaire about improving expressiveness. Four different strategies for teaching and learning expressiveness were included. Results: There were certain statistically significant differences between groups in their preferences for different strategies. The most important differences, however, were found in within-group comparisons: the strategy based on the use of technical instructions received the best ratings, whereas modelling was the strategy with the poorest ratings. These effects were independent of gender and age. The theoretical factor structure had excellent fit to the data (CFI=0.95). Discussion and conclusions: In conclusion, the two groups differed in their conceptions about the best strategies for training in expressiveness, but they agreed on their preferences for one strategy or another, with particular preference for the use of technical instructions. The possible pedagogical implications of these differences are discussed, and this questionnaire is recommended for use in educational settings.
•Focus redirected to the embodied dimensions of creative connection building.•Embodied actions and connections shown as catalysts of group cohesion, intersubjectivity, creative connectivity and ...pedagogical transformations.•Points toward the need to reconceptualise music education and music teacher training.•Evidences the value of experience-centred pedagogies in facilitating creative, probing habits of mind.
Education experts emphasise the growing pedagogic urgency to cultivate exploratory, creative habits of mind. As contemporary scientific inquiry has revealed, a major obstacle in this process is the predominant view of creativity as powered by the intellect. We addressed this concern by looking at embodied forms of creative connectivity. Our study focused on the Kokas pedagogy: an experiential extension of the Kodaly principle of music education. We explored the adaptability and the transformative potentials of this pedagogy in the context of music teacher education. Based on the qualitative analysis of the first student cohorts’ reflective essays (13 altogether), we studied students’ sense making of the otherness of the pedagogy. In particular, we looked at the key tensions students documented, and investigated students’ reflective construction of their own responses to these. In doing so, we hoped to capture the choreography of students’ meaning making of their experiences. Furthermore, we looked at the transformational power of students’ immersion in the pedagogy: the extent to which it inspired them towards a fundamental change in perspectives, inciting a pedagogic metamorphosis. Our analysis revealed that the challenges reported by students were often overcome through participatory, creative experiences of being and becoming. Thus, the inherent features of the pedagogy offered the tools to respond to the transformational opportunities it presented. Going beyond the context of music education, our study shows the significance of experiential, embodied connectivity between teachers and students in paving the way towards the transformation of the personal, professional and institutional habits of mind.
Music performance anxiety (MPA) affects amateurs, students and professional musicians. We aimed to analyse MPA among students of music performance in a higher education academy in Lithuania. A sample ...of 258 music performance arts students of the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy participated in this study. The Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI) was used for assessment of MPA. High MPA was associated with less concert activity, poorer perceived performance self-efficacy, and lower academic achievement grades. We did not find gender effects on MPA. Results revealed that 20.2% of the students reported difficulties in coping with MPA. Our findings inform music educators about the need to address MPA and coping with MPA in the process of teaching.
A growing literature highlights the need to develop communication partner–based interventions for individuals with dysarthria. Identifying listener characteristics that facilitate speech ...understanding is a necessary step in designing communication partner interventions. Musicianship enhances speech understanding in adverse listening conditions such as speech-in-noise. This preliminary investigation explored whether this advantage translated to understanding dysarthric speech. Adult listeners with and without musical training experience transcribed dysarthric speech productions. Phoneme intelligibility, word intelligibility, and the type of transcription errors (insertion, substitution, deletion) were compared between the listener groups. Although no differences were observed for overall phoneme and word transcription scores, a significant interaction between listener group and transcription error type was observed. This finding suggests the potential for distinct listening strategies and abilities between listeners with and without musical training experience. These preliminary results support larger scale efforts to investigate the elements of musical training that can be leveraged to develop listener-based interventions.
A virtual ensemble is a digital musical product that uses multiple recordings edited together to form a musical ensemble. Creating virtual ensembles can be a way for music educators to engage ...students through online music-making. This article presents eight steps for creating virtual ensembles in music education courses and classrooms. The steps are (1) identifying objectives and desired outcomes, (2) selecting repertoire, (3) developing learning resources, (4) creating an anchor for synchronizing, (5) choosing a recording method, (6) setting up a collection platform, (7) editing in postproduction, and (8) distributing the product. As online music production becomes more prevalent, projects like virtual ensembles can provide creative and exciting experiences for music teachers and students, whether produced in the classroom or through remote means on the Internet.
A four-month research period into the practice of free music improvisation in Brazil during February-June 2014 allowed intriguing insights into how musicians think about, play and teach the music ...practice that is referred to as 'free improvisation.' An overview of the term 'free improvisation' with some historical context on its development will be provided to aid the reader to better situate the ethnographic study of 50 Brazilian improvisers during 2014. The ethnography was carried out by the author who speaks fluent Portuguese, using a participatory action research (PAR) framework, with the main aim of enquiring whether or how the practice of free improvisation is taught in the Brazilian higher education system. The research was set at several higher education institutions in Brazil, which included the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), The Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), The University of São Paulo (USP), The Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), The Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), with two shorter, single day visits to The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal (UFRN) and The Escola Livre de Música in Unicamp (ELM). Before providing a summarised interpretation of some of the interviewed improvisers, I will examine the improvisational spirit, this improvisatory worldmaking approach (the 'jeitinho brasileiro') that is often considered to be integral to the Brazilian way of life. I conclude the article by linking the skills of listening, so essential in the practice of free music improvisation, to the work of French composer and pedagogue Alain Savouret and his concept of the 'virtuosity of the ear.'
There is a growing interest in alternative forms of pedagogy for students in K-12 settings. Free improvisation, a relatively new and unfamiliar genre, offers potential as an ensemble for teachers to ...provide in order to offer more egalitarian and creative music experiences for their students. The purpose of this multiple case study was to determine common elements of instruction among four university free-improvisation instructors in order to inform K-12 music education. Pauline Oliveros, Fred Frith, Ed Sarath, and David Ballou were interviewed and observed in order to find common elements among their teaching. Data collection included transcripts from interviews and field notes, recordings, course materials, and other documents, such as course syllabi, university catalogues, texts, and press material about the pedagogues. The common themes that emerged among the four pedagogues included an array of unique teaching exercises, facility with nontraditional vocabulary, the establishment of a safe and egalitarian teaching space, lack of evaluation, leader as guide, comfort with spontaneity, and pedagogue as performer/improviser. The conclusion offers ideas for implementing these ideas in K-12 and music teacher education.
Music teaching lies at the intersection of policy, research, and practice. An awareness of policy context and how policies affect teachers is essential for those in the music education profession. In ...particular, such an understanding can allow teachers to better adapt to and implement policies so that they might maintain and grow their programs and feel more satisfied in their jobs. This review of literature investigates scholarly literature published in music education research journals with implications for teachers’ classroom practice and their professional lives. It includes studies of resources, organizations, and educational reform, teachers and teaching, institutions and actors, and access, in addition to descriptions of policy. Implications for teachers related to policy awareness, access for all students to a variety of musical activities, and music education advocacy are discussed.
Conceptions of musical understanding Hallam, Susan; Papageorgi, Ioulia
Research studies in music education,
12/2016, Volume:
38, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Music can be understood in many ways. This has important implications for music education. The research reported here explored how groups of people conceptualise musical understanding and what they ...believe supports its acquisition. In this study 463 participants completed two statements: “Musical understanding is” and “You learn to understand music through”. Understanding music was viewed as complex and multidimensional with two overarching themes: personal musical understanding in context and understanding as process, with 10 main sub-themes of understanding: communication, kinaesthetic, emotional, personal, knowledge about music, critical evaluation, musical elements, analysis and comparison of music, internal representations, and creating music. Understanding was believed to be acquired through love and enjoyment of music, physical responses, emotional engagement, analytic processes, active engagement with music, education or guidance in formal or informal contexts, exposure to music, and listening. A model is set out illustrating the different ways in which it is possible to understand music and how these various understandings can be attained and supported.
This study looks at children’s music making in a public setting designed for society writ large. Although known to most children in the city, the subway presents a unique environment, both ...structurally predictable yet sonically dynamic; it is in continuous transition. Adopting Winnicott’s psychoanalytical perspective, we make a case for viewing children’s spontaneous music making as a tool for comfort and engagement, specifically through the use of musical material as transitional objects and musical behaviors as transitional practices. Data were collected over three weekends on two subway lines in New York City. Seven to 10 field observers traveled in groups of two or three; each filled out a protocol form for every episode of children’s music making observed, indicating musical qualities, sources, and contexts. These categorical descriptors and accompanying field notes were later used to construct more detailed qualitative narratives. With a total of 69 episodes, the authors found that music making was present in children from infancy to middle childhood (approximately age 10). Findings showed musical behaviors were influenced by adult interaction, and generated by resources in the environment. Over 81% of observed episodes contained vocal behaviors; movement occurred in almost half (48%). Musical materials were mostly invented. The most frequent function was “to comfort and entertain self,” comprising over 50% of those observed, and was linked to solitary interaction. Communicating with others accounted for another third of the reports.
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