Educational applications of scientific research on music
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Transcript Educational applications of scientific research on music
Educational applications of scientific
research on music performance
Richard Parncutt
University of Graz, Austria
Invited presentation at the International Symposium on Psychology and Music Education (PME04), Padova, Italy, November 2004
Some issues
Academic pressure on music academies
Changing demands on musicians/educators
Flexibility of job markets
Cost efficiency versus structural conservatism
Communication education psychology
Intuitive versus logical thinking
Aim
Improve efficiency of music education
Efficiency = output / input
Input = students‘ time and effort; costs
Output = musical or educational quality
Some inadequately taught topics
Improvisation
Expression
Performance anxiety
Music medicine
Physics, physiology, psychology of
performance (own instrument)
Efficient practice
Student-teacher interaction
Common Objections and Answers
O: We never learned or needed that stuff!
A1: Our students will be even better than we are.
A2: Beethoven had no Bachelor‘s degree.
O: Foreign ideas interfere with teaching!
A1: It‘s about ideas, not “truth”.
A2: Communicate with other teachers.
O: Analytic thinking inhibits spontaneity!
A1: Music theorists are music lovers, too.
A2: Analytic thinking is confined to practice.
Approach
Survey of practically promising research
Practical and political issues
– why not currently taught?
– anticipated effect of introduction
– strategies to encourage introduction
Sound before sign (Jost, McPherson)
Psychology of speech acquisition
– hear, understand, imitate, improvise, write, read, share
– successively & interactively
European history
– improvisation died out in the 19th century
Modern teachers
– feel inadequate, don’t convince parents or play with students
“Sound before sign”
– start early (plasticity), one skill at a time, improv. against
accomp., notate improvs., multiple representations
Teaching improvisation (Lassnig)
Order
– 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 (Friberg)
Students can‘t describe 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 (Juslin)
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 (Wilson)
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 (Gasenzer, Erlitz)
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
Why important for students?
– Prevention is better than cure!
Physics, physiology and psychology
of piano (Troup, Holming)
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 (Barry)
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
Analytic versus holistic thinking
Brandler & Rammsayer (Psychol Mus 2003):
Musicians
- verbal memory; holistic/intuitive
Nonmusicians
- series, classifications, matrics, topologies; analytic/logical
Nature/nurture
- unclear, irrelevant
Implication:
Musicians need support in analytical thinking
Implications
Compulsory units for all students:
improvisation
expression
performance anxiety
music medicine
physics, physiology, psychology of performance (own
instrument)
efficient practice
psychology of music teaching
Bachelor‘s: 3 ECTS/unit = 12% of course
Aims of individual units
Formulate musically relevant aims, e.g.:
Physics, physiology, psychology of piano
– minimize cognitive and physical load
– realistically achieve interpretive goals
Changing the system
Politics: majority rules or minority rights?
- Musicology: historians versus systematic, ethnomusicologists
- Academy: performers versus academics, theorists, composers
How did it get like this?
- Musicology: 19th-century faculties of humanities
- Academy: performance as genius
Solution: arguments not opinions
- Cite research
- Quality = focus plus diversity
Example
- Musicology in Graz (planned): 6 modules
Getting academic staff
Change curriculum
New units: temporary staff
Success of curriculum new permanent staff
Quality & international orientation of staff:
may teach in English or French
Musical interdisciplinarity
Humanities
Sciences
Practice
Necessary:
- specialism
- openness, respect, curiosity
Not necessary:
- specialist knowledge outside specialism
Thank you for your attention
and special thanks to all who helped with the
Italian translation!
Maddalena Forti
Luigi Frezza
Silvia Boccato
Bintou Traoré
Silvia Risato
Nicoletta Chiggio
Matteo Mattarello