Advanced Musical Performance: Investigations in Higher Education Learning

Ioulia Papageorgi, Graham Welch, Ioulia Papageorgi, Graham Welch

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317185253
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

To reach the highest standards of instrumental performance, several years of sustained and focused learning are required. This requires perseverance, commitment and opportunities to learn and practise, often in a collective musical environment. This book brings together a wide range of enlightening current psychological and educational research to offer deeper insights into the mosaic of factors and related experiences that combine to nurture (and sometimes hinder) advanced musical performance. Each of the book's four sections focus on one aspect of music performance and learning: musics in higher education and beyond; musical journeys and educational reflections; performance learning; and developing expertise and professionalism. Although each chapter within its home section offers a particular focus, there is an underlying conception across all the book's contents of the achievability of advanced musical performance and of the important nurturing role that higher education can play, particularly if policy and practice are evidence-based and draw on the latest international research findings. The narrative offers an insight into the world of advanced musicians, detailing their learning journeys and the processes involved in their quest for the development of expertise and professionalism. It is the first book of its kind to consider performance learning in higher education across a variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, popular and folk musics. The editors have invited an international community of leading scholars and performance practitioners to contribute to this publication, which draws on meticulous research and critical practice. This collection is an essential resource for all musicians, educators, researchers and policy makers who share our interest in promoting the development of advanced performance skills and professionalism.

PART I
Musics in Higher Education and Beyond

Chapter 1
Western Classical Music Studies in Universities and Conservatoires

Harald Jørgensen

The Institutional Context: Diversity and Similarity

There are more than 1,000 higher music education institutions that educate musicians within the Western classical music tradition, and we find them on all continents. Even though we tend to look at them as a relatively homogenous group of institutions, there are also distinct differences.

First of all, we have two basic traditions that may suggest that there exist different teaching and learning cultures, i.e., the European conservatoire tradition and the US school of music tradition. Conservatoires within higher music education have primarily regarded the education of professional performers as their major mission, while schools of music have a broader scope where the education of music teachers has had a more dominant role than education of performers. However, most conservatoires today tend to have a wide range of programmes, and many schools of music have outstanding performance programmes, so the traditions are developed and blurred, with a wide range of educational policies and practices within both traditions.

Similarities and differences within this large group of institutions and effects on teaching and learning are sparingly addressed by research. An exception from this is a small but important body of research on aspects of institutional culture. Two studies in the United States, by Kingsbury (1988) and Nettl (1995), give descriptions of life in a conservatoire and in five university music schools, and focus on dominant values and practices within the institutions. A study of an English conservatoire addresses its learning culture(s) (Perkins, 2011). These are the practices through which people learn, and the study concludes that the nature of the conservatoire’s learning culture(s) is four-fold: Cultures privileging the development of specialised performers; culture(s) of networking; culture(s) of musical hierarchies; and culture(s) of vocational position-taking, where students appear to come to know where they fit both in the conservatoire and in potential future professional fields (Perkins, op.cit.). A broader institutional scope is addressed by Papageorgi and colleagues (2010b, 2010c). Here, students in a university school of music and two conservatoires in the UK revealed different attitudes towards performance, academic knowledge and teaching as a career, apparently related to different institutional cultures and learning environments. The three institutions’ ability to encourage and develop a supportive community of learning was also perceived differently by the students. Differences in institutional cultures were also supposed to have important consequences for socialization and occupational identity construction among undergraduate music majors from three US universities (Austin et al., 2012).

Another study demonstrated similarities between the two basic traditions. From her study of teaching and learning in a school of music and a conservatoire in the US, Landes (2008) concluded that students in one of the institutions could be transplanted into the other and get along because of similar shared meanings and rules of participation in both schools. However, the two institutions had a similar requirement of musicianship for admission and Landes concluded that students from more anomalous institutions would have a more difficult time making the transition.

Other institutional characteristics that may influence teaching and learning differently in these institutions are their degree of autonomy (i.e., will autonomous institutions develop another context for teaching and learning compared to institutions that are part of larger organisations?); artistic basis (how is teaching and learning influenced by a context where music is one of several art forms? See Blom, 2012.); combination of pre-college and higher music education students and programmes in the same institution (how is teaching and learning influenced by a context that includes students in all age groups?); size (is teaching and learning influenced by the number of students in the institution?); standard of housing and equipment (for instance, what about sound levels in practice rooms, see Phillips and Mace, 2008); and funding (will better funding and equipment give better teaching and learning?). Only a handful of studies have addressed these issues.

My conclusion is that we must be careful when we generalise research results and discuss results in relation to the specific institutional context where the research has been carried out.

The Musical Context: Western Classical Music

Except for a few conservatoires that specialise in a musical genre (mostly jazz or folk music), Western classical music dominates in the majority of higher music education institutions (e.g., Wang & Humphreys, 2009). From this, we would expect that research has addressed the many aspects of this genre that influence teaching and learning. We have an abundance of studies of Western classical music as a historical and theoretical phenomenon, and much of this is vital for teaching and learning about the tradition. There are, however, other issues that are not addressed, issues that deal with Western classical music as content for teaching and learning and as supplier of attitudes and values to the institution. What is the balance between music by dead and living composers in our teaching and learning, or between national and international outputs? How is teaching and learning influenced by personal, institutional and cultural values, behaviours and expectations in relation to this overwhelmingly large tradition? How is solo, chamber and symphony repertoire included in teaching and learning? Can the deep study and learning approaches required by this tradition, so dependent on written music and a faithful rendering of a score, limit the time and effort of music students to develop other skills that can expand their musical foundation and influence their future job situation?

These and many other questions that address the Western classical music tradition and its influence on teaching and learning, and, eventually, on the type of musicians we educate, have hardly been addressed by research. Available studies are by Kingsbury and Nettl who addressed the impact of the dominating Western classical genre, Nerland (2007) who addressed how teaching is influenced by personal and professional values, Kedem’s study from 2011 of how a student became a participant in a specific instrumental tradition, and Hunter (1993) and Chu (2002) who looked at concert repertory in selected institutions in the US. The project by Welch and colleagues that addressed students in classical, popular, jazz and Scottish traditional musicians in several UK institutions is the only one with a comparative approach (see Creech et al., 2008a, 200b; Welch et al. 2008). It gives important information about how these different genres impact on students’ attitudes, musical values and approach to learning. A study of how students’ background, especially their background (or lack of background) in the classical tradition may influence their experiences in the higher education institution is presented by Moore (2012). With these exceptions in mind, my conclusion is that important teaching and learning aspects of the dominant Western classical musical genre have been neglected as an area of study.

Programmes and Courses

Most institutions offer several programmes, for instance in performance, composition, and conducting. The education of music teachers is also a prominent programme in many institutions and programmes in music technology are being developed. What is the aim of the programmes? How does it contribute to the mission of the institution? What are the basic musical, educational and social values that inform the programme? What are the basic activities, skills and modes of knowledge developed in these programmes? How are they related to external contexts, especially the job market?

These questions, and their relevance for teaching and learning, are mostly neglected by research. When programmes are addressed, the studies are primarily descriptions of content. In addition, the dominant programme in many institutions, the performance programme, is not addressed at all as far as I know. The content of a performance programme, for instance the balance between performance courses and theory and history courses, obviously differs from institution to institution. The total time offered for performance courses and activities also differ. We have, however, no empirical studies of these differences and their potential effects on teaching and learning, and no philosophical discussion of them in relation to the ultimate objective of these programmes, i.e., to educate musicians for a continually changing society. How do programmes address learning and teaching tasks that develop students’ skill to cope with anxiety and stress, to prevent injuries and health problems, to manage a portfolio career and so on? Are these skills addressed in programmes and courses, or are they floating around in the hidden curriculum?

When we move to specific performance courses, the situation is not much better. The content of courses and their relevance for the programme is not addressed by research, except for some studies that describe courses in selected keyboard skills (functional keyboard skill, sight-reading, harmonization, etc.).

My conclusion is that questions that can bring us into the core of these programmes and courses and give perspective on their relevance in the education of musicians are mostly ignored by research. Such probing has a potential for teaching and learning through a better overview and more confirmed attitudes.

The Students and Learning

Each year, there are probably more than 100,000 young people who apply for admission to a higher music education institution and several thousands are admitted. Many of them are willing to travel around the world to get into the institution where they want to study. How can we take care of their learning and develop them as musicians?

First of all, we can be aware of their individuality. Research on issues like personality, self-esteem and identity has revealed a great variety of characteristics, reflections and behaviours among music students. Some studies have compared groups of students in relation to introversion and extroversion. These studies indicate that music education students in England and the US in general are more extroverted than performance students (see for instance: Kemp, 1982; Steele & Young, 2008). While this result may support myths about differences between groups of musicians, a comparison of the personality structure of classical and jazz students did not support popular expectations of differences between the two groups (Fisch, 1982). Creech et. al. (2008a) found, however, that while classical students emphasized notation-based skills and analytical skills, non-classical students attached greater importance to memorising and improvising. A study of Danish music students indicated that ‘rhythmic’ students (involving improvisation and electrically amplified instruments, primarily associated with pop, rock and jazz) had significantly higher sensation seeking scores than classical students (Vuust et al., 2010).

A study that addressed German violin and double bass students did point to a difference in relation to dominance (tendency to aim to reach the top of a given hierarchy) and affiliation (tendency to seek the company of other people). Here, Langner (2002) found that the best violin students showed more dominance and less affiliation behaviour than not-so-good violinists and double bassists. A study of Turkish music education students found that these students scored high on openness, conscientiousness, extroversion and agreeableness and low in neuroticism, all of this perceived to be very promising for a future career as music teacher (Cevik, 2011).

Only one study has compared a personality-related trait in students in different countries. Brand (2004) studied the self-esteem of music education students in the US, Australia and China, and concluded that Chinese students showed a significantly lower self-esteem (feelings of self-worth and self-respect) than their Western counterparts. When we consider the large number of international students in most of today’s higher music education institutions, research that deals with possible differences due to national and cultural diversity and tradition is highly needed.

Higher music education is a time when performance students develop and refine their identity as musicians. Students who enter institutions where performance is the foundation and who engage in performance activities develop a self-concept as professional musicians (Kadushin, 1969). A study of students’ self-assessment of skill and expertise revealed that ‘female musicians, other-than-classical musicians and undergraduate musicians may be more prone than male, classical and professional musicians respectively to having less positive attitudes towards aspects of their own performance skills and expertise’ (Papageorgi et al., 2010a, p. 57f). This study also indicated that female and undergraduate students had a larger gap between ‘ideal’ and ‘perceived’ musical skills and expertise, an observation that calls for attention from teachers and the institution. How students negotiate thei...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword
• Series Editors’ Preface
• Preface
• PART I MUSICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND BEYOND
• PART II MUSICAL JOURNEYS AND EDUCATIONAL REFLECTIONS
• PART III PERFORMANCE LEARNING
• PART IV DEVELOPING EXPERTISE AND PROFESSIONALISM
• Index