Transcript Political and pedagogical strategies

Incorporating performance research
into post-secondary music curricula:
Political and pedagogical strategies
Richard Parncutt
University of Graz, Austria
Aaron Williamon
Royal College of Music, London
Presented at Performance Matters!, Porto, Portugal, September 2005
Changing contexts of music academies
Academic context


pressure  degrees, research
parallel development of performance research
Political context


transparent „mission“
cost efficiency
Social context


changing demands on musicians/educators
flexibility of job markets
A possible aim
Improve „efficiency“ of music academy?
Pedagogical efficiency = output / input
 Input = time, effort, costs
– invested by teachers, students, state

Output = musical achievement of graduates
– enjoyed by society (that pays the taxes)
– but not by graduates (more competition, not more jobs)
A possible way forward


Music graduates are poorly informed about relevant
performance research
Long-term effect of such knowledge on performance is
unknown
What is the optimal ratio of performance to
scholarship in the curriculum?
– depends on career aims of individual student
– depends on history, orientation and culture of
institution
– could be determined empirically
Approach of this talk

Survey promising research
– What is interesting for music students?

Address practical and political issues
– Why not currently taught?
– Anticipated effect of introduction
– Strategies to encourage introduction
Enriching the curriculum
Possible academic courses:











Music history, music theory/analysis (as currently taught)
General introduction to music psychology or music performance research
Physics, physiology, psychology of own instrument
Efficient practice
Expression (structure, emotion)
Improvisation
Performance anxiety
Music medicine and general health
Relevant educational and developmental psychology
Student-teacher interaction (empirically based)
Psychological basis of theory/analysis/composition
Should these be electives for all students?
If so, for what proportion of program?
Frequent objections 1: Course content
Foreign ideas and other teachers interfere with teaching!
 It‘s about ideas, not “truth”.
 Students should learn to evaluate ideas.
 Eminent performers typically had many teachers.
 Students have rights and intellectual freedom.
Analytic thinking inhibits spontaneity!
 Analytic thinking is confined to practising.
 Many eminent performers promote analytic approaches.
We never learned or needed that stuff!
 No specialist keeps track of developments in all relevant fields.
 Students may become better musicians than their teachers.
 Beethoven had no Bachelor‘s degree 
Frequent objections 2: Pedagogical tradition
Why change a successful pedagogical tradition?
 Improve balance between procedural, episodic and semantic elements.
 Social context is changing: every generation of music students is exposed
to new influences and has new expectations.
A strong teacher-student relationship is important.
 Contact time can include applied research and co-teaching.
 Students respect teachers who are open to outside influences.
Practice time is important (cf. expertise research).
 Optimal amount is clearly less than 100% of curriculum.
 Practice time is physiologically and cognitively constrained.
 Quality = focus + diversity
We cannot foresee the benefits of proposed courses.
 Evaluate a trial course.
 Trust other experts.
Strategies



Engage with director and administration
Understand democracy‘s pros and cons
Argue that
– maintaining excellence requires innovation
– music students need support in analytic thinking






Promote interdisciplinarity
Optimize course content
Inform and involve teachers
Empower students
Introduce new courses gradually
Expand and diversify teaching staff
Engage with director and administration
… to build understanding and support for


academic courses in general
music performance research specifically
Understand democracy’s pros and cons

Music:
– performers > academics, theorists, composers
Origins:
• performance as primary aim of music academies
• myth of genius performer

Musicology:
– historical > systematic & ethno- musicologists
Origins:
• 19th-century positioning of musicology within humanities
• myth of art/music historians as aesthetic arbiters

These imbalances
– are classic cases of entrenched majorities and minorities
– no longer have academic or social justification (are anachronistic)
Maintaining excellence requires innovation



take advantage of currently available means
be pro-active
preserve tradition and continuity
– complement, don’t overthrow
– balance tradition and innovation
Music students need support in analytic thinking

Musicians and artists
holistic, intuitive, qualitative, „right brain“

Nonmusicians and researchers
analytic, logical, quantitative, „left brain“
e.g. Brandler & Rammsayer (2003)
Everyone needs both sides of this coin
 Music students need extra support in analytic thinking
Promote interdisciplinarity
Risk crossing big, difficult boundaries



humanities
sciences
practice
Regard as necessary:


specialism
openness, respect, curiosity
And as unnecessary:

specialist knowledge outside specialism
Expand mission statement accordingly
Optimize course content




have researcher-performers teach
illustrate all theory with familiar musical examples
balance lecture and workshop styles
evaluate: monitor and respond to student priorities
and ways of thinking
Outside the course:
 adapt research content to teaching needs
Inform and involve academic staff
Inform by:



posters
launching events
accessible literature
Involve in:



performance research (planning, execution)
associated teaching
research advisory committees
- especially heads of departments (keyboards, strings…)
Academic staff should:


feel ownership of and identification with research
take over promotion of research and teaching
Empower students

course evaluations
 mechanisms for requesting
courses
 mentor’s reports
 student evaluation of program
 “design your elective” option
Introduce new courses gradually

Year 1 or 2 (or later):
– general introduction
• music psychology
• music performance research

Year 2 or 3 (or later):
– specialized options
• primarily directed at non-researching performers
• may be prerequisite for doctorate
Expand and diversify teaching staff
Scenario 1


director applies for new position
find suitable person
Scenario 2

change curriculum
 temporary staff to teach new units
 evaluate
 apply for permanent staff
Strategies



Engage with director and administration
Understand democracy‘s pros and cons
Argue that
– maintaining excellence requires innovation
– music students need support in analytic thinking






Promote interdisciplinarity
Optimize course content
Inform and involve teachers
Empower students
Introduce new courses gradually
Expand and diversify teaching staff
END OF
PRESENTATION
The following slides (on the possible
contents of individual courses)) were
not shown at the conference in Porto for
lack of time
Sound before sign

Psychological background: language acquisition
– hear, understand, imitate, improvise, write, read, share
– role of social interaction

Historical context
– improvisation died out in 19th century

Pedagogical context
– modern music teachers feel inadequate, don’t improvise with
students

Strategies
– start early (plasticity), one skill at a time, improv. against accomp.,
notate improvs., multiple representations
Improvisation

Psychological valid learning sequence
– imitate  improvise  notate  transcribe

Balance
– group / individual improvisation

Approach
– set limits (dynamics, articulations, pitches, durations)
– expression first: syntax through semantics
– combine structural elements with musical skills

Psychological theory of creativity
– knowledge, risk, evaluation, motivation, flow
Structural communication
Students can‘t express how they express!
 Structure: phrasing, meter, melody, harmony
 Good theories: simple and applicable
 Expression and accentuation
 Immanent versus performed accents
 Principle: performed reinforce immanent
 Meaningful analysis of repertoire
Emotional communication
Students have little analytical knowledge of:
 Cues
– size/variation of: tempo, dynamic, articulation (attack /
duration), timbre, durational contrast, intonation/vibrato

Redundancy and ambiguity of message
 Relation to structure
 Effectiveness of feedback training
Performance anxiety
High incidence, low awareness / treatment:
 Optimal arousal versus panic
 Personality, mastery, situation
 Perfectionism and control
 Treatment
– physical (relaxation)
– cognitive (realism, desensitization, restructuring)

Yoga, hypnotherapy, Alexander technique
Music medicine
High incidence, low awareness / treatment:
 Common problems
– chronic tension, reduced elasticity of muscles
– pelvis, lower spine, back of neck
– specific to instrument, technique, repertoire, physique

Student musicians need:
–
–
–
–

knowledge (relevant anatomy, physiology)
strategies (exercises, sport, nutrition)
treatments (active interventions, avoiding overload)
information specific to children (for teaching)
Why important?
– Prevention is better (cheaper, more effective) than cure!
Physics, physiology and psychology of piano
Students know surprisingly little about:
 Relevant mechanics, acoustics, physiology
 Timbre
– key velocity, noise, pedals, balance, onset timing

Fingering
– constraints: physical, anatomic, motor, cognitive
– dependencies: expertise, interpretation

Structural and emotional communication
– with limited expressive possibilities
Efficient practice
Diversity of approaches:

Study and analysis of scores
 Mental and physical practice
 Metacognition, organization, goal orientation
 Intrinsic motivation
 Listen to recordings and concerts
 Many short sessions with breaks
Student-teacher interaction (Painsi)

Research
– child’s, teacher’s, parent’s attributions of success and failure

Results
– teachers don’t discuss failures or feel responsible
– girls attribute more than boys to uncontrollable factors

Strategies
– attribution training, self-efficacy, stress management,
motivational feedback

Aims
– realism, confidence, motivation, progress