Abstract
ABSTRACTTwenty-nine pupils (aged 8–15) took part in an improvisation test and an experimental vs. control group teaching session. The aim of the improvisation test was to explore whether participants had knowledge about the use of expressive cues to convey basic emotions in improvisations. Assessments of the improvisations by four adjudicators indicated that most pupils in this sample could convey happiness, sadness and anger effectively in improvisations, providing a useful starting point for expressive music performance, which was examined in the experimental study. The experimental study investigated whether discussion of musical character is effective for improving pupils’ expressiveness, by comparing outcomes with a control teaching session that focused on accuracy and technical fluency. Participants’ performances of a ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ musical excerpt pre- and post-teaching were assessed by four adjudicators. Results indicated that the experimental teaching had been significantly more effective for improving expressiveness in the ‘sad’ extract than control teaching.
Highlights
This study is the first in a larger project that aims to develop and test instructional strategies for facilitating pupils’ learning of expressive performance of Western classical music
The experimental study investigated whether discussion of musical character is effective for improving pupils’ expressiveness, by comparing outcomes with a control teaching session that focused on accuracy and technical fluency
The improvisations were first assessed on musical content (MC) and the use of expressive cues (EC)
Summary
This study is the first in a larger project that aims to develop and test instructional strategies for facilitating pupils’ learning of expressive performance of Western classical music. Several studies have investigated strategies for teaching tertiary students and adults performance expression Lisboa et al 2005; Persson 1994, 1996; Woody 2000, 2001, 2002a, 2002b, 2003, 2006a, 2006b), little is known about effective strategies for teaching primary and secondary school pupils expressive performance. It is important to develop a systematic pedagogy for facilitating pupils’ learning of expressiveness (see Laukka 2004; Williamon 2014; Woody 2000) and the reported study has been designed to contribute towards this goal
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