Desired Artistic Outcomes in Music Performance

Gilvano Dalagna, Sara Carvalho, Graham F. Welch

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429619465
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Música

Desired Artistic Outcomes in Music Performance is about empowering musicians to achieve their professional and personal goals in music. The narrative argues that developing musicians should be supported in conceptualizing and achieving their desired artistic outcomes (DAO), as these have been recognized as key elements in a successful career transition in and beyond their studies in higher education. The text explores the nature of DAO and illustrates how higher education students can be enabled to explore and develop these. The book draws on the findings from a range of exploratory studies which:

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• Bring to light connections between contemporary topics in music, such as artistic research and career development;

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• Contribute to existing discussions on innovative pedagogical approaches in higher education in music; and

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• Offer theoretical models to support the broad artistic and professional development in young musicians.

This is a text grounded in theory and practice, and which draws on case study examples, as well as historical perspectives and coverage of contemporary issues regarding employment in the music industries. The book will be of particular interest to aspiring music professionals and all those working in the areas of Music Education, Performance Studies and Artistic Research.

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Rethinking music performance

The role of desired artistic outcomes

Introduction

In a recent lecture, John Sloboda (2018) said that higher education music institutions should rethink their pedagogical practices urgently; otherwise they would ‘close their doors’ in a near future. Although this comment seemed to be quite polemic for the students who attended this lecture, it was also supported by empirical evidence that has indicated a steady decline in audiences for Western art music concerts, particularly in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. This evidence emerged from regular surveys conducted by the US National Endowment for the Arts, whose results revealed a 30% drop in the last 25 years in attendance at classical concerts, opera and ballet. In Sloboda’s lecture, the author mentioned that this level of decline is also perceived in many other countries and it is specific to Western art music and jazz. The surveys conducted by the US National Endowment for the Arts highlighted that in 1992 the largest age group in the classical music audience was 35–44. In 2002, the largest age group was 45–54, i.e., implying that these were likely to be the same people, just older. These numbers can also be explained by the increasing diversification of art forms in classical venues. Specifically, in the United Kingdom, surveys have revealed that there just are not sufficient audiences to sustain the frequency of the existing concert programmes (Sloboda & Ford, 2013).

Probably, the reasons behind this scenario are highly diverse and include political, historical and economic arguments, which could be possibly rejected by many contrary voices. However, one of the interpretations for these numbers is, according to Sloboda and Ford (2013), a historical understanding shared by practitioners¹ concerning music performance in the Western art tradition. The author argues that there is a trend in the field to overvalue the score and constrain the possibilities regarding the relationship between the performer and the audience (Sloboda, 2013).

Apart from this, there were other worrying data presented by Sloboda in the same paper that also seeks to explain the lack of engagement of contemporary audiences in concert halls: a perceived ‘barrier’ that restricts communication between performer and audience in Western art music concerts, closely related to the performers’ lack of capacity to achieve their artistic goals (Minassian, Gayford & Sloboda, 2003). The authors surveyed 53 musicians engaged in high level classical performance and found that, on average, less than 40% of their public performances were self-rated as optimal. This means that more than 60% of participants recognized that they did not reach their artistic intentions on stage. The authors were also able to discover, statistically, that performances judged as optimal were those when the performer was emotionally engaged with the music, had a clear intention to communicate (usually an emotional message) and believed that this message was received and understood by the audience.

The perspectives proposed by Sloboda and colleagues criticize the current paradigm of music performance as adopted in several higher education music institutions, which overvalue the demonstration of abilities and the supremacy of the musical text. The authors assert the importance of understanding performance beyond interpretations of the score, or the demonstration of technical skills. In other words, there is a need to think of performance as a multidimensional and communicative event where the focus is not just on reiterating, reconstructing or reproducing past musical works (Fischer-Lichte, 2004; Small, 1998).

Recently, due to the growing interest in artistic research, music performance has also started to be recognized in higher education music institutions as not only the interpretation of scores, but as an opportunity to problematize musical works, thus offering a critical and creative moment through which new epistemic and aesthetic properties emerge (Assis, 2018). This perspective can somehow be understood as an artistic answer to the customary paradigm previously described, drawing on the reports of the US National Endowment for the Arts. However, this paradigm shift is not sufficient to reverse the trend in the data presented through these reports, because the former is still focused on the presentation of musical works rather than the social and communicative event in which they are embedded. In a world that is increasingly oriented by simulacrums (Bauman, 2010), where audio-visual recordings have defined a pattern of excellence, the way to achieve the shift proposed by Sloboda may be in approaching music performance not only as a moment to present music per se, but as a social event that can also generate different sub-products (e.g., CDs, teasers and DVDs) and contribute towards a social transformation. In such an event, a broad and multidimensional narrative that covers other elements rather than solely music is materialized and shared. Such an autonomous event values the rapport² established with the audience through the materialization of an artistic narrative that articulates multiple properties (e.g., repertoire, stage, instruments, advertising, visual resources, dress code, audience and future recordings). More than performing in real time, the contemporary performer is seen as a ‘material thinker’ (Carter, 2004): someone that explores the whole event, with all its properties and sub-products, to materialize their artistic narrative. This perspective places performance as a pedagogical moment that increases our stock of knowledge and enriches our worldviews through a type of communication based on rapport. In this type of performance, desired artistic outcomes (DAO) may play a special role.

Based on this claim, in this chapter we propose a perspective on music performance which is more DAO-centred than score-centred; a perspective that understands performance as moments of materialization of multidimensional artistic narratives, rather than only interpreting or problematizing musical works. The pertinence of this view is based in ontological, educational and professional perspectives.

This chapter is organized in four main parts: (i) general issues regarding performance and music performance in particular; (ii) music performance in higher education music institutions; (iii) music performance in music industries; and (iv) music performance as a career path. Each one of these parts discusses performance from a different point of view that informs a final discussion on the importance of rethinking music performance in the light of DAO.

Initially (in the first section following), a multidisciplinary review of approaches to the concept of performance, and music performance in particular, are discussed. Based on the perspectives presented, the chapter discusses some historical practices and future directions regarding music performance teaching in higher education music institutions (in the second section following). The next part of the chapter (in the third section following) discusses some of the recent transformations in the live and recorded music performance industries. This discussion is informed by current perspectives on the music industries, with a special focus on the sector of music performance. In this sense, issues like the reduction of popularity and funding for Western art music concerts and art music institutions, the proliferation of musical genres, the absorption of music into the media, and the rapidly changing technological landscapes of YouTube, Spotify and beyond, are explored.

Based on all these aspects, a discussion on possible career paths related to this particular sector of music industries is also presented (in the fourth section following). The chapter ends with a reflection on existing mismatches between the pedagogical practices adopted in higher education music institutions and the current demands of artistic careers in the music performance industry, bringing to light the possible role played by DAO in this process.

In order to clarify this, an explanatory model that synthesizes the ideas discussed is also presented. Such an argument does not aim to be exclusive, but rather to enrich the current debate concerning music performance, providing refined (and not necessarily new) perspectives on the same phenomenon.

Conceptual issues

General perspectives on performance

The concept of performance has become popular in such areas as the arts, sports, literature and social sciences. As a result of this cross-disciplinary popularity, a consensual and multidisciplinary definition for performance is likely to be quite complex. Strine, Long and Hopkins (1990) referred to this complexity as being a ‘sophisticated misunderstanding’ that is promoted by participants who are concerned with the articulation of a critical position regarding performance, instead of overthrowing different perspectives. This dialogue has enriched a plural conceptualization of performance.

Notwithstanding such plurality, Carlson (2010) argues that three visions on this phenomenon have been appointed as central in this debate: performance as culture³ (analysed mainly by anthropologists), performance as social behaviour (analysed by psychologists and sociologists) and performance as language (analysed by linguists). Moreover, the emergence of performance as a form of art (discussed by artists) in the 1970s opened a field for the discussion of such perspectives in artistic practices (Carlson, 2010). All these perspectives have somehow shaped the current understanding of the pedagogical and artistic practices of music performance in higher education music institutions.

The conceptualization of performance adopted by a considerable body of literature in performance studies is based on a theoretical framework developed in the 1960s and 1970s in the field of anthropology. Some authors in this field recognize performance as a cultural manifestation, which embraces a series of activities, such as theatre, dance, concerts, religious events and weddings (Schechner, 2006; Singer, 1959). This perspective was outlined by Gurvitch (1956), who suggested the existence of performance elements in any social ceremony of daily life. These authors appear to assume that such social and cultural ceremonies, i.e., performances, are activities separated from others by space, time and attitude, or all three combined. In this sense, Singer (1959) asserts that performance is defined by six main features, namely: (i) a definite time span; (ii) a beginning and an end; (iii) an organized programme of activity (a roadmap); (iv) a set of performers who are responsible for communicating a given message (an aspect that is also highlighted by Bauman, 1986); (v) an audience; and (vi) a place and occasion of performance. These same authors emphasize that performance should not be reduced to a text or a programme, but understood as a phenomenon that is based on the articulation of these elements.

Following this line of thought, Alter (1990) suggested a differentiation between referential (to designate the text) and performance (to designate the exhibition of abilities). Such abilities described by Alter (1990) include communication with an audience in a social and limited ceremony, like a music concert. To a certain extent, the ideas proposed by anthropologists minimize the importance of the dimension designated by Alter (1990) as referential and focus on performance as a cultural event whose boundaries are clearly demarcated.

During the twentieth century, sociological and psychological views of performance also started to become popular. Overall, such perspectives recognized that any social behaviour, from arts to politics, could be recognized as a form of performance. As anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists recognize, such behaviour presumes the existence of an act, a scene, an agent and a proposal (Carlson, 2010). Thus, this perspective sees performance as every intentional activity carried out by an individual in a period demarcated by their presence in front of a group of observers who are influenced by them. The recognition of such features has led some psychologists and sociologists to explore the concept of role-playing as a source of conceptual analysis of human performance – the changing of one’s behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act according to an adopted role (Carlson, 2010). This perspective also suggests that the different social roles played throughout one’s life shape the individual. Following this line of thought, sociologists have focused on the interactions that surround social behaviours, while psychologists have tended to focus more on the behaviour itself (Schechner, 2006).

Apart from anthropology, sociology and psychology, linguistics has been another influence that has contributed to the conceptualization of performance. This field has suggested that performance can be viewed as a language, such that linguistic analysis focuses on the communicative act. One of the first authors to discuss this perspective was Chomsky (1965), who proposed that a difference between competences – grammatical knowledge and ideal of language – and performance was the application of such knowledge in a ‘talk situation’. This perspective emphasizes the action, but maintains a concern with the procedural aspects of the language. However, definitions of performance as an autonomous activity, regardless of the competences involved, started to blossom in the 1970s. Austin (1975), for example, suggested that such communication was not necessarily concerned with an abstract idea behind it, but with the resulting effect of such idea on the audience. The same line of thought was illustrated by Van Dijk (1977), who suggested that a key aspect for reaching that effect on the audience is the intention adopted by the performer. The author suggested that intentions are developed through mental representations (i.e., context models), which encompass individual constructions of social context (Van Dijk, 1977). Such mental representations are personal and unique, dynamic, subjective, with some objective features, and based on opinions and emotions that shape the manifestation of the self. The author asserts that a performer creates such a contextual narrative based on the selection of most relevant properties behind it.

Apart from these views, the interest in performance as a form of art blossomed in the 1970s through artists who were reported to be generally impatient with the forms and limitations of pre-established arts (Carlson, 2010). These artists – informed by perspectives from anthropology, sociology, psychology and linguistics – proposed a break with the hegemonic paradigm that recognized performers as a problematic deviation, or even as an aesthetic failure, in the transmission of a given text. This perspective recognized performers as creators of a given contextual narrative (i.e., as asserted by some linguists), rather than interpreters of a given text (Cohen, 1998). Carlson (2010) positioned such artists as connected to movements such as Experimentalism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Bauhaus and Happenings. These movements are reported to have been oriented by visions that place performance as a defined activity, contextually and intentionally produced for an audience...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Note on authors
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Series editor’s preface
• Introduction
• 1 Rethinking music performance: the role of desired artistic outcomes
• 2 Desired artistic outcomes: conceptualization and achievements
• 3 Desired artistic outcomes in music performance: challenges and promotion
• 4 Exploring desired artistic outcomes: performers’ perspectives (part I)
• 5 Exploring desired artistic outcomes: performers’ perspectives (part II)
• 6 Looking for desired artistic outcomes: the artistic research project
• 7 Promoting desired artistic outcomes: the pedagogical project
• Final thoughts
• References
• Index