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
