Transcript Musical Expression in the High School Choral Classroom

Music educators and students agree that
expression is a critical component of a musical
experience…
(Brenner & Strand, 2013; Lindström et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2013; Scott, 1915; Trivedi, 2004; Woody, 2000 &
2006).
Conflicting views regarding
what musical expression is
and
how it takes place
have made it difficult to understand.
musical expression is…
a mechanical response to printed material
based on decisions made regarding
musical functions
such as bowing patterns, dynamic markings or tempo
suggestions
(Broomhead, 2005; Davies, 2004)
musical expression is…
an emotional response to lived experiences
and events drawn forth by an interaction
with the musical text
(Brenner & Strand, 2013; Lindstrom et al., 2013; Scherer, 1987; Stanislavsky, 1989; Woody, 2006)
musical expression is…
the combination and translation of
technical skills, interpretation, creativity and
personal experiences
(Brenner and Strand, 2013; Woody, 2006)
Students…
• consider expressivity more important than
technical skill or stage presence
(Lindström, Juslin, Bresin, & Williamson, 2003)
Recommend using
• metaphors and felt emotion
(Lindström, Juslin, Bresin, & Williamson, 2003; Woody, 2006)
• figurative language and imagery
(Bishop, Bailes and Dean, 2013; Sheldon, 2004)
Music educators…
aural modeling
remains
the most commonly
used approach
for musical expression
because
they believe it is “the
most direct”.
(Brenner & Strand, 2013)
Unique to singers...
• facial expression, vocal timbre
and the use of lyrics
• They are more likely than
instrumentalists to recommend
teaching techniques that
encourage “felt emotion or
extra-musical meaning”
(Woody, 2000).
Purpose
To explore the experiences of
high school choral directors and singers,
in order to understand the ways in which
musical expression manifests in the
choral classroom setting.
Research Question 1:
How do choral directors and singers
conceptualize musical expression?
Research Question 2:
How do choral directors and singers
practice musical expression?
Research Question 3:
How do choral directors and singers come
together to create a single ensemble
expression?
A qualitative approach in the phenomenological tradition
• textural and structural descriptions of experiences -what
was taking place and how it was understood (Moustakas, 1994)
• ways in which the phenomenon may be experienced
through aspects of body, time, space and relation to
others : Lived World Experience (Van Manen, 2015)
Four high school choral directors and their ensembles
• Male and Female
• Mid-late career teachers
• Claim to prioritize musical expression
• Rehearsed 3-5 times per week / 200-250 minutes per week
Four focus groups of high school singers (one from each ensemble)
• 4-6 HS Singers from each ensemble
• Male and Female
• At least 1 year experience with the ensemble/ choral director
Observations of choral rehearsals (video/audio recorded)
Interviews
•
Open-ended, semi-structured
•
Video Stimulated Recall (vSRI)
(Colprit, 2000; Hafeli, 2000; Nguyen, McFadden, Tangen, Beutel, 2013; O’Brien ,1993)
•
Focus Groups (Berg & Lune, 2012)
Video recorded
observation of
choral rehearsal
Video recorded
observation of
choral rehearsal
Video recorded
observation of
choral rehearsal
Preliminary
interview with
choral director
Video SRI #1
with
Video SRI #2
with
choral director
choral director
Video SRI #1
with student
focus group
Video SRI #2
with student
focus group
Preliminary
interview with
student focus
group
24 interviews and 12 observations
• Student Focus Groups: 1130 significant statements, 75 meaning
clusters
• Choral Directors: 900 significant statements, 55 meaning clusters
• meaning clusters narrowed to themes
• textural and structural descriptions
• four choral conductors
• twenty high school choral singers
• each of the four ensembles as unique units.
choral directors
conceptualize
Choral Directors
“Over-arching piece”- Phoebe
“Brings us beyond the page”- Celeste
“Private in Public”- Sam
“Head-long collision”- Sebastian
An intersection, marriage between
composer intent and a singer’s emotional experience
Translation and re-telling of understandings, interpretations of
the musical score
of the musical
“ intention ofunderstanding
the composer
to translate
understanding of the text
to retell that
composer intent
”
story from the text
“
composer is trying to get across
singer is
feeling
intersection
meaning and your sensual experience line up
”
composer's
singers conceptualize
Choral Singers
Convey and understand meanings
Convey, understand, release emotions
MEANING
…the relationship between the
song and the words and the
meaning to the singer.
–Ash
…it's how you
interpret a song and
what it means to you
and how you express it
out loud in your
singing. – Gabrielle
You can be connected to a piece emotionally or intellectually.
You don't just have to read the music. You have to feel what's
the meaning behind the music.
-Faith
EMOTION
…it's the ability to convey your
emotions through your voice and
your singing.
–Lawrence
…emotion through music,
and just bringing out what
you're feeling, and using
music as a vessel to do that.
–Alphonse
It's all the intent that
you put behind a song
and the way that you
present, the way you
outwardly portray the
intent and emotion in
your mind that you're
thinking. –Angelina
choral directors and singers practice
Choral Directors
Choral Singers
Considerations
Engagement
Emotional response to music
Composer intent
Student experiences:
Conditions
Engagement
Environment
Obstacles
assumptions
general well-being
preferences
vulnerability
Practices continued…
Choral Directors
Choral Singers
Approaches
Make Meaning of:
Musical Contexts
Formal Elements
Texts
Approaches
Make Meaning of:
Musical Contexts
Formal Elements
Texts
Embodiment
Embodiment
Vocal Quality
Spontaneous and Intentional ways
Associations • Personal Connections • Imagination and Imagery
come together
to create a singular ensemble
Choral Directors
Choral Singers
Individuality & Unification
Individuality & Unification
Dialog
Dialog
Establish Environments
Collaboration
Mimicry & Contagion
Eye Contact
Role of sections
Relationships
Choral Directors
I want them to know that they can try
whatever they want to and there’s no fear,
no worry, no judgment …Creating the
space takes time and it’s about creating
and maintaining relationships that are I
think respectful, a two-way respectful
relationship.
–Phoebe
Part of our preparation always in class is
um, what you know- the questions- Kind
of that list of typical musical theater
questions- “Who are you singing to, where
are you, what is it about?... they’re not
being told what they’re singing aboutthey’re being asked to think about what
they’re singing about and relate it to
something they actually have experience
with.
–Sam
Choral Singers
Sharing about the piece specifically gives you a lot of
ideas about how to interpret the song, and then
moving into performance and expression, your
interpretation is in your face… Those distinct pieces
and talking about them and having these
democratic discussions makes us feel like we're all
on the same playing field and we're all in it and
working towards a performance rather than
“Celeste” having an interpretation that she wants us
to match. We all feel like we're in it together.”
- Zenya
…this is good because it lets us
put our own thoughts in it, I
guess. Because it's hard to be an
individual in an ensemble
expressing something, when you
kind of need to be uniform at
the same time.
- Lilou
“PATAGONIA PREP SCHOOL”
…you give them the analogy of
the life situation in which you
use each of those voices…it gives
a kind of picture…The shortest
shortcut to getting a big kind of
beefy warm un-nasal round
sound is to give them a
character, just like you were a
drama coach…
-Sebastian, director
You could describe twenty technical
things that describe what that should
be, but saying “Russian-sounding” pulls
it all together and gives it more of an
emotional meaning rather than kind
of mechanical. There's a different kind
of sound that you would associate with
the two things. It adds a whole history
and back stories behind it that you
don't get by just saying deeper, fuller
tones.
-Hermione, singer
Becoming an ensemble…
It's a higher way of really interpreting the
music, because you see it through your
own eyes and then you get the chance to
see it through somebody else's, and see
how they really feel about the piece. Faith
…it’s like notes on a piano like there is one
note but then when you make a chord there
are notes playing at the same time which
makes it sound better than just this one
note so everyone has these different
emotions and when they all come together
it sounds like, really kind of beautiful I
think. –Noah
It matters not as much
the difference between
people's
interpretations, but as
long as there is an idea
of one underlying
sense of purpose,
that's what brings
everyone in together,
to form a group. It's
kind of like politics. –
Ash
Establish Rehearsal Environments
Select Repertoire
Rehearsal strategies
• Warm ups and room configuration
• Affect vs Accuracy
• Democratic approaches to making meaning
• Building relationships
Role of the choral director:
or
Music Education
• Suggested practices (pre-service /PD)
• Musical expression in other ensemble settings, general music, &
composition
• Musical expression in other cultures
• Video Stimulated Recall Interview for Research and Assessment in the Arts
• Flow Theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Custodero, 2002)
Psychology & Neurology : emotion; expression; memory; therapeutic benefits
Aesthetics: Meaning Making
Complete set of slides, and references can be found at
www.andreamaas.com
Or email Andrea Maas:
[email protected]