scholarly journals The conditions for learning musical interpretation in one-to-one piano tuition in higher music education

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-131
Author(s):  
Carl Holmgren
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Piano Students ◽  
Conditions For Learning ◽  
Musical Interpretation ◽  
One To One ◽  
High Level ◽  
Western Classical Music

Research has indicated that one-to-one teaching in higher music education in Western classical music typically favours technical over interpretive aspects of musicianship, and imitation of the teacher’s rather than the student’s explorative interpretation. The aim of the present study is to investigate students’ and teachers’ understandings of how musical interpretation of Western classical music is learned in this context. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with six piano students and four teachers in Sweden were conducted and hermeneutically analysed using haiku poems and poetical condensations. The analysis found that the conditions for learning musical interpretation centred upon students achieving a high level of autonomy, as affected by three key aspects of teaching and learning: (1) the student’s and the teacher’s understandings of what musical interpretation is, (2) the student’s experience of freedom of interpretation as acknowledged by the teacher, and (3) (expectations of) the student’s explorative approach. As none of these aspects were reported as being explicitly addressed during lessons, there might be a need for both teachers and students to verbalise them more clearly to support piano students’ development.

scholarly journals Associations Between Music Training and the Dynamics of Writing Music by Hand

2020 ◽  
pp. 102986492097214
Author(s):  
Aurélien Bertiaux ◽  
François Gabrielli ◽  
Mathieu Giraud ◽  
Florence Levé
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Music Notation ◽  
Musical Score ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Musical Structures ◽  
Music Recognition ◽  
High Level ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Western Classical Music

Learning to write music in the staff notation used in Western classical music is part of a musician’s training. However, writing music by hand is rarely taught formally, and many musicians are not aware of the characteristics of their musical handwriting. As with any symbolic expression, musical handwriting is related to the underlying cognition of the musical structures being depicted. Trained musicians read, think, and play music with high-level structures in mind. It seems natural that they would also write music by hand with these structures in mind. Moreover, improving our understanding of handwriting may help to improve both optical music recognition and music notation and composition interfaces. We investigated associations between music training and experience, and the way people write music by hand. We made video recordings of participants’ hands while they were copying or freely writing music, and analysed the sequence in which they wrote the elements contained in the musical score. The results confirmed experienced musicians wrote faster than beginners, were more likely to write chords from bottom to top, and they tended to write the note heads first, in a flowing fashion, and only afterwards use stems and beams to emphasize grouping, and add expressive markings.

scholarly journals Linking musical metaphors and emotions evoked by the sound of classical music

2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562199123
Author(s):  
Simon Schaerlaeken ◽  
Donald Glowinski ◽  
Didier Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Empirical Method ◽  
Mixed Effects Models ◽  
Musical Meaning ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Generalized Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Perceptual Characteristics ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Western Classical Music

Musical meaning is often described in terms of emotions and metaphors. While many theories encapsulate one or the other, very little empirical data is available to test a possible link between the two. In this article, we examined the metaphorical and emotional contents of Western classical music using the answers of 162 participants. We calculated generalized linear mixed-effects models, correlations, and multidimensional scaling to connect emotions and metaphors. It resulted in each metaphor being associated with different specific emotions, subjective levels of entrainment, and acoustic and perceptual characteristics. How these constructs relate to one another could be based on the embodied knowledge and the perception of movement in space. For instance, metaphors that rely on movement are related to emotions associated with movement. In addition, measures in this study could also be represented by underlying dimensions such as valence and arousal. Musical writing and music education could benefit greatly from these results. Finally, we suggest that music researchers consider musical metaphors in their work as we provide an empirical method for it.

scholarly journals Interdisciplinary Interaction between Music Education and History: Shaping the Musical Preferences in Classical Music of the 20th Century

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerneja Žnidaršič
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Control Group ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
Contemporary Classical Music ◽  
Interdisciplinary Interaction ◽  
Western Classical Music ◽  
Experimental Group

The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether an experimental programme, based on interdisciplinary interactions between music education and history and the implementation of arts and cultural education objectives, could influence pupils’ interest in Western classical music of the 20th century. The programme was designed on the basis of collaborating with music education and history teachers at two Slovenian primary schools and a Slovenian composer. Classes of pupils, aged fourteen and fifteen, were divided into an experimental and a control group. According to the outcome, the pupils in the experimental group showed a higher level of interest in contemporary classical music after the experiment than their peers in the control group. Furthermore, the pupils in the experimental group reported having listened on their initiative, to more classical compositions after the experiment than the pupils in the control group had.

When theory and practice meet: Avenues for entrepreneurship education in music conservatories

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-369
Author(s):  
Margarita Lorenzo de Reizabal ◽  
Manuel Benito Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Entrepreneurial Spirit ◽  
Professional Success ◽  
The Hague ◽  
Classical Musicians ◽  
Western Classical Music ◽  
Music Entrepreneurship

In the field of higher music education conservatories, and more specifically in the so-called ‘classical music’, the first steps towards research regarding entrepreneurship are being taken, although the main obstacles to overcome are still at a conceptual level (to define what is entrepreneurship in this field, what the profile of a musician entrepreneur is, what exactly is understood when we talk about an entrepreneurial identity referred to Western classical music) and on a referential level (research is scarce on the professional identity of classical musicians, on motivation that leads to professional success, on employability of a musician in the 21st century). At the same time, thought and analysis are lacking on how music education addresses entrepreneurial spirit and how conservatories for higher education in Western classical music could provide their students with the necessary capacities to become professional entrepreneurial musicians. This article aims to explore the state of entrepreneurship of classical musicians and analyse what challenges and barriers are found in particular in this subfield. In order to clarify the key concepts, the most relevant and recent literature in entrepreneurship education has been reviewed. Searching for avenues for entrepreneurship education in music conservatories, theory and practice have been merged by applying the literature findings to some practical considerations raised at the International Conference on Music Entrepreneurship recently held in The Hague, together with the personal experience in the specific context of higher music education conservatories.

Relationship, Rescue, and Culture

2015 ◽  
pp. 566-581
Author(s):  
Eric Shieh
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Social Program ◽  
Simon Bolivar ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Strategic Implementation ◽  
Cultural Colonialism ◽  
Western Classical Music

In recent years, Venezuela’s anti-poverty El Sistema program (officially named the Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar) has roared onto the international music scene, offering a rare, large-scale example of the participation of music education in social policy. Yet El Sistema’s socioeconomic effects are neither assured nor fully understood, much less easily adaptable abroad. Reading El Sistema’s complex engagements with an eye to how it works as a social program, the author examines in particular its decentralization and capacity to function as a space of care, its discourse and structures around creating a space of “rescue” for youth, and its curricular focus of Western classical music. While these areas raise several cautions, including charges of deficit thinking and cultural colonialism, the program’s own tensions and negotiations also suggest paths for strategic implementation. In this, El Sistema offers music educators and policymakers some possibilities for entering critically into oftentimes familiar practices.

scholarly journals Classical Music and the Subject of Modernity1

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN BUTT
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Western Classical Music ◽  
Tonal System

This lecture presents the text of the speech about classical music and modernity delivered by the author at the 2007 Aspects of Art Lecture held at the British Academy. It discusses the development of notation and the tonal system and suggests they seldom engaged with western classical music. The lecture also explores the works of Lloyd Webber and the views of Tina Redford about music education and teaching methods.

Voyagers in Sound: On the Smooth and the Striated in Musical Interpretation and Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1437-1464
Author(s):  
Caleb Faul
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Performance Practice ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Musical Interpretation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Western Classical Music

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari frequently discuss Western classical music, referencing such diverse traditions as medieval polyphony and 20th century modernism. In their work, however, they have an intense focus, common among philosophers, on composition, with very little consideration given to performance. Nevertheless, I find that their work resonates with questions of performance in important ways. In this paper, I bring Deleuze and Guattari’s work to bear on the practices and processes of musical interpretation and performance, transposing into this musical domain the concepts of the smooth and the striated that they explicate in A Thousand Plateaus. The basic claim is that there exist smooth and striated methods of interpreting and performing music and that these concepts allow us to articulate afresh important differences in performance practice. Ultimately, I claim that the smooth is perhaps the privileged term, but that a good performance necessarily includes both smooth and striated elements.

scholarly journals Teaching Aesthetics – A Case Study of One-To-One Tuition in Popular Electronic Music in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 257-278
Author(s):  
Eirik Sørbø ◽  
Andreas Waaler Røshol
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Electronic Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Educational Framework ◽  
One To One ◽  
The University

Research regarding informal learning over the last few decades has shown how popular musicians acquire skills and knowledge through informal learning, suggesting new methods for formal music education compared to the structures of western classical music. Today, the realm of popular electronic music education faces some similar challenges that popular music education initially did; new ways of informal learning, and a different and diverse knowledge base for the students entering popular music programs. Related to these challenges is the question of how to teach one-to-one tuition in higher electronic music education, and this article seeks to address this challenge. We present a case-study of the practice of a teacher at the University of Agder in Norway that teaches electronics in one-to-one tuition, where the research data is based on interviewing this teacher and his students. An important aspect of the practice in question is the process of listening to and discussing the student’s original recorded music. We discuss some of the challenges of one-to-one teaching in electronic music education, and argue that this particular teaching approach accommodates some of these challenges. Bringing in the educational framework of Biesta, we argue that this form of teaching practice also facilitates subjectification by addressing both uniqueness and expression. Further, we argue that this practice, which focuses on the teaching of aesthetics instead of technicalities, combined with the development of the students’ unique artistic expression can open some interesting possibilities related to addressing subjectivity in higher music education. One of these is how the students need to articulate both the objectives and aims within their music, and the objectives and aims of their music, which in turn develops a terminology to talk about and beyond aesthetics.

Bridging the gap: Harp teachers on teaching orchestral playing

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-225
Author(s):  
Lia Lonnert
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Young Age ◽  
One To One ◽  
Complex Knowledge ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Western Classical Music ◽  
Shed Light

Although orchestral playing is a dominant practice within Western classical music, and one that many students participate in from a young age, some students do not have adequate opportunities to participate. Since harp students often come to orchestral playing later than other instrumentalists, harp teachers are concerned with enabling their students to learn orchestral playing in a relatively short time. For this study, six orchestral harpists who are also teachers were interviewed. The findings show that harp teachers intentionally taught orchestral playing during one-to-one lessons, aiming to prepare their students to continue learning within the orchestral context. They aimed to bridge the gap between lessons and practice, methodically preparing them musically, technically, practically and emotionally for the complex orchestral environment. While students of other instruments might acquire this complex knowledge from extended orchestral experience, student harpists must learn it in a relatively short time. These harp teachers’ descriptions of their teaching practice shed light on how orchestral playing is learned by all instrumentalists.

scholarly journals Expert Western Classical Music Improvisers’ Strategies

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Després ◽  
Pamela Burnard ◽  
Francis Dubé ◽  
Sophie Stévance
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
The Body ◽  
Verbal Protocol ◽  
Recall Data ◽  
Data Collection Strategy ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Concert Halls ◽  
Thinking Processes ◽  
High Level ◽  
Western Classical Music

The growing interest in musical improvisation is exemplified by the body of literatures evidencing the positive impacts of improvisation learning on the musical apprentice’s aptitudes and the increasing presence of improvisation in Western classical concert halls and competitions. However, high-level Western classical music improvisers’ thinking processes are not yet thoroughly documented. As a result of this gap, our research addresses the following question: What strategies are implemented in the course of performance by Western classical music improvisers? To answer this question, semistructured interviews were conducted with five internationally recognized Western classical music expert improvisers. Each participant improvised, and immediately afterward, a retrospective verbal protocol with subjective aided recall data collection strategy was used to elicit the improvising musician’s strategies. After transcription, the interviews were coded and analyzed using NVivo 10 software, with a mixed (i.e., combining inductive and deductive coding) category approach. Our data revealed 46 improvisation strategies that were subsequently organized into five categories: preplanning, conceptual, structural, atmospheric and stylistic, and real time. Pedagogical implications arising from these findings are that (a) learners should be guided toward implementing various strategies and (b) the capacity to switch from one strategy to another according to the circumstances should be promoted.

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