allowing their children freedom to decide whether to do formal practice or more free improvisatory musical play'. ...... [clarinet â piano], because he liked it more;.
Dissertation
The Role of Public Performance – Impact to the development of identity in music, intrinsic motivation, performance preparation, and performance anxiety
Francisco Cardoso
December 2007
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Per formance in Context .................................................................................... 6 1.2 Research Aims ................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Outline of the Thesis.......................................................................................... 9 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 11 2.1 Musical Identities ............................................................................................ 11 2.1.1 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 11 2.1.2 Parents........................................................................................................ 13 2.1.3 Teachers ..................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Motivation ........................................................................................................ 15 2.3 Per formance Preparation ................................................................................ 18 2.3.1 Mental Preparation ..................................................................................... 19 2.3.2 Practice ....................................................................................................... 21 2.4 Per formance Anxiety....................................................................................... 24 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 27 3.1 Research Methods ........................................................................................... 27 3.2 Research Design .............................................................................................. 28 3.3 Research Population ........................................................................................ 30 3.4 Teachers Questionnair e Design ...................................................................... 33 3.5 Parents Questionnaire Design ......................................................................... 37 3.6 Pupils Questionnaire Design ........................................................................... 41 3.7 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 45 3.8 Ethical Issues ................................................................................................... 46 REPORTING RESULTS.......................................................................................... 48 4.1 Backgrounds .................................................................................................... 48 4.1.1 Teachers ..................................................................................................... 48 4.1.2 Parents........................................................................................................ 52 4.1.3 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 55 4.2 Instrument Selection ....................................................................................... 57
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4.2.1 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 57 4.2.2 Parents........................................................................................................ 59 4.3 Parental Involvement ...................................................................................... 60 4.3.1 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 60 4.3.2 Parents........................................................................................................ 61 4.3.3 Teachers ..................................................................................................... 65 4.4 Teaching Styles ................................................................................................ 66 4.4.1 Teachers ..................................................................................................... 66 4.4.2 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 67 4.5 Pupils’ attitudes to music learning.................................................................. 68 4.5.1 Instrumental Lessons .................................................................................. 68 4.5.2 Instrumental Teacher .................................................................................. 69 4.6 Parental attitudes to music learning ............................................................... 70 4.6.1 Music Education ......................................................................................... 70 4.6.2 Perceived Musical Potential and Career Progression ................................... 71 4.6.3 School ........................................................................................................ 73 4.7 Practice ............................................................................................................ 73 4.7.1 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 74 4.7.2 Parents........................................................................................................ 77 4.8 Per formance .................................................................................................... 79 4.8.1 Pupils ......................................................................................................... 79 4.8.2 Parents........................................................................................................ 89 4.8.3 Teachers ..................................................................................................... 99 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................ 113 5.1 Regularity in Per for mance ............................................................................ 113 5.2 Musical Identities .......................................................................................... 115 5.2.1 Impact of previous performative experiences to pupils’ IIM ..................... 115 5.2.2 Role of Parents to the development of an Identity in Music ....................... 117 5.2.3 Role of Teachers to the development of an Identity in Music .................... 121 5.3 Motivation ...................................................................................................... 121 5.3.1 Accumulated performative experiences..................................................... 121 5.3.2 Pupils’ perception of success and failure ................................................... 122 5.4 Per formance Preparation .............................................................................. 123 5.4.1 Mental Anticipation and Preparation (MAP) ............................................. 124 3
5.4.2 Mental Rehearsal ...................................................................................... 125 5.4.3 Physical preparation (practice) .................................................................. 126 5.5 Per formance Anxiety..................................................................................... 128 5.5.1 Impact of previous performative experiences to Performance Anxiety ...... 129 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 130 6.1 Per formance/Identity Model ......................................................................... 130 6.2 Impact to Instrumental Learning and Teaching .......................................... 131 6.3 Future Research ............................................................................................ 132 6.3.1 Teachers Identity ...................................................................................... 132 6.3.2 Motivation ................................................................................................ 133 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 134 APPENDIX: ............................................................................................................ 140 Teachers Questionnair e ...................................................................................... 140 Parents Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 150 Pupils Questionnair e ........................................................................................... 160
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Raquel, my beloved wife, for being there all the time.
I would like to thank Nigel the precious help and the support given all the time. Your positive feedback was always encouraging.
I would like to thank Cristina the priceless help and all the support at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa.
I would like to thank Maria João Antunes (UA) the help on deciphering correlation results.
I would like to thank Clara the helping disposition, and Sandra all the discussion provided, especially at lunch time.
Finally, I would like to thank all music schools, teachers, parents and pupils the participation on the survey.
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Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Per formance in Context In the 19th century, music and musical performance in the Western tradition suffered a profound transformation changing from a more shared, inclusive musical context to one that increasingly valued solo playing and virtuoso technique (McPherson & Gabrielsson, 2002). ‘Musicians’ were no longer those who were able to play an instrument for fun and amusement, nor were their best qualities seen as their ability to improvise according to a particular style. From that time on, the title ‘musician’ would mainly apply specifically to those able to play fast notes and, technically or musically highly demanding pieces of music. The emphasis shifted from a comprehensive musicianship to prominence on technique and interpretation. Similarly, the status and role of a performance changed. The inclusive kind of performances, where the audience were expected to participate somehow, singing, dancing, or playing; changed to a more detached relationship between the performer, his music and the audience. The role of the audience became more passive, and their only two duties were now: to show admiration and appreciation, or conversely, to show displeasure and criticism for the music and the performer(s). Along with these changes in musical performance, came the inevitable changes in music teaching. The oral tradition in music teaching that had served musicians until then, decreased rapidly. The emphasis on the development of technical skills, fed by the explosion of instrumental treatises, method and exercise books, became the new approach to music education. (McPherson & Gabrielsson, 2002). It was now necessary for musicians to practice technical exercises and virtuosistic musical difficulties for long periods of time each day. Conservatoires were established to encourage technical virtuosity, teaching preferentially those aspiring to professional standards, rather than amateurs (Ritterman, 2002). Performance training became an important activity in conservatoires, and consequently concerts and other public performances started to be granted almost exclusively for professional musicians (Lawson, 2002).
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Today the situation is still much the same. In Western classical tradition, specialist music schools still base their instrumental teaching predominantly upon one-to-one lessons. Schools expect their pupils to become mainly music performers or at least they are trained having that goal in mind. The teachers’ work is pressured by public examinations, fast acquisition of technical skills, and the pressure to perform a considerable and increasing repertoire each year, which usually leaves little or no time to develop performance experiences. Students’ learning conditions (one-to-one lessons and individual practice) still ‘are quite opposite of what they are ostensibly being prepared for: a public performance’ (Davis & Pulman, 2001:251). 1.2 Research Aims As a music teacher, I frequently reflect on whether or not public performances could have more educational value beyond the way they are currently used by most instrumental teachers. In addition, a number of systematic, informal observation of instrumental teachers’ uses of, and attitudes to public performance, as well as the educational results arising form such performances, in terms of pupils’ motivation, achievement, ability to cope with performance anxiety, and musical identity; influenced my decision to investigate on this subject. In this study, all participants were currently involved in instrumental teaching or learning. In total, 42 pupils, 43 parents, and 44 instrumental teachers were included in the final research population. Questionnaires were completed by all three groups of participants. The questionnaires used both closed and open-ended questions and the resulting data was then quantitatively analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Further qualitative analysis was carried out using One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests, looking for effects in terms of the quality of sample distribution; using One-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), looking for effects in terms of significance between variables; and using Pearson’s rho, Spearman’s rho, and Kendall’s tau_b, looking for effects in terms of correlation between variables. The focus of the analysis was to investigate how all the participants (pupils, parents and teachers) interacted and reacted in specific situations within the various contexts of public performance. A further aim of the research was to try to identify any patterns in the use of praise, motivation techniques, self-beliefs, practice, teaching styles and performance anxiety, and how these patterns influenced pupils’ musical development.
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As result of this research, instrumental teachers working in specialist music schools may better understand the phenomenon of public performance and its impact to pupils’ musical development. This research could also inform parents about the effectiveness of their role and the impact of their involvement to their children’s musical development. 1.3 Hypotheses The hypotheses will be: • The quality of accumulated performance experiences may change pupils’ identity in music, self-beliefs, internal motivation, performance preparation and ability to deal with performance anxiety. • The increasing amount of performative experiences may foster pupils’ performative skills and consequently their musical development. It is a common place to say that learning process, in general, affects pupils’ self-beliefs, sense of identity and motivation. However, what is the contribution to it of a specific activity like performing in public? All its characteristics, the emotional charge surrounding each public performance, the expectations that others close to the child generate, and the uniqueness of the performative act in western tradition; all these transforms those moments into very special occasions for children. Furthermore, the after-performance feedback from teachers and parents, and more importantly the selfevaluation of what happened, recalling the good and bad things, and weighting them, all these might contribute to a change in ones’ self-perception. As the music education of an individual continues, previous experiences, both positive and negative, start to pile up. These accumulated experiences, we believe, may change pupils’ self-beliefs with respect to music and their abilities. More, it may begin to effect their motivation, and their patterns of behaviour before the performance. Additionally, in an over-simplistic way, it could be said that learning happens only when pupils are given enough chances to repeat the appropriate steps until understanding flashes in their head or until procedures become automatic (Sloboda, 1985). Thus, theoretically, to learn the so-called ‘performative skills’, pupils need to have performative opportunities that will enable the skills to be acquired. However, it is important to keep in mind that public performances are very complex events, and the rules that apply for learning in general may not apply in this case.
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1.4 Outline of the Thesis In chapter 2, I will present a review of the essential literature for the research. First, literature related to musical identities will be presented. Second, the focus will be on the essential literature related to motivation and third, a review of the literature available on performance preparation, both mental and physical. Finally, the literature on performance anxiety, especially that one more focused on students, will be listed. In chapter 3, I will report and discuss the research methodology. First, I will present and discuss the research design, followed by a description of the research population. Third, I will discuss the design of the three questionnaires for teachers, parents, and pupils and this will be followed by a discussion of how the data analysis will carried out. Finally, some ethical issues will be discussed. In chapter 4, I will report on the results of the research. First, I will report the backgrounds of pupils, parents and teachers and discuss the process of instrument selection and parental involvement in the learning process. Then, the results on teaching styles will be presented and I will report on the results on the pupils and parents’ attitudes to musical learning. Next, I will report the results on physical preparation to performance, which includes parents and pupils’ attitudes to practice and related patterns of behaviour. Finally, I will report on respondents’ attitudes to performance. This includes reporting their performance patterns, their attitudes and beliefs to performance, pupils’ mental anticipation of performance and reactions after success and failure, and parents and teachers’ parenting and teaching styles before and after the performative experience. In chapter 5, I will analyse and discuss the results in the light of the hypotheses stated previously. First, I will discuss the impact of regularity in performance to musical development and then the impact of the quality of accumulated performance experiences to the development of an Identity in Music (IIM), intrinsic motivation, mental and physical preparation to performance, and performance anxiety. Finally, in chapter 6, I will present a number of conclusions arising from the research and propose a model that includes all the findings analyzed and discussed in chapter 5.
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Then, I will discuss the impact of the findings to musical learning and teaching. Finally, I will suggest topics to further investigation on public performance.
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Chapter Two
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter I will present and discuss the main literature related to performance and performance preparation. 2.1 Musical Identities 2.1.1 Pupils The issue related to the way pupils see themselves through music has been explored in recent research. MacDonald et al., cited in Hargreaves et al. (2003) propose the concept of Musical Identities. According to the researchers, this concept exists in two main forms, namely Identities in Music (IIM), which are defined as ‘the ways we see ourselves within the cultural domain of musical life itself’; and Music in Identities (MII), which are defined as ‘the ways in which we use music as a means of developing other aspects of our personal identities’ (gender, national, or others) (p.153). In specialist music education the conventional identity in music or the self-concept pupils develop as ‘musician’ is, according to Lamont (2002), usually centred on ‘instrumental performance skills – whether one can play a musical instrument’ (p.45). This might suggest that pupils’ self-concept as ‘musician’ is inextricably linked to performance and performative self-beliefs. Thus, performative experiences may change the way pupils see themselves thru music. This is in accordance with Hewitt’s findings (2004), in which previous performing experiences were found as possibly being ‘powerful influences on how students see themselves as performers’ (p.51), and is consistent to Hallam’s (2006) view, in which children’s musical identity seems to be developed according to the amount of positive experiences in music. Parents’ influence on the development of children’s musical identity was also investigated. Sloboda & Howe, cited in Sloboda (1994) investigated the early signs of exceptionality among children. They found that ‘children begin instrumental lessons for reasons other than their own choice’, and that in some cases the decision to start 11
instrumental lessons was not even discussed with children, because parents assumed that ‘it was a good thing for all their children to do, regardless of ‘ability’’ (p.163). Researchers found additionally that ‘children of non-musicians were more likely to be praised for their early accomplishments so that they tended to acquire an early sense of themselves as ‘musician’ and ‘special’ (p.164). Teachers’ influence on the development of children’s musical identity was also investigated. According to Lamont (2002), teachers’ different attitudes to pupils of different levels of achievement, ‘play a role in reinforcing differences in musical identity’ (p.46). Bray, cited in Lamont (2002), investigated extensively pupils’ changes in musical identity as they improved their GCSE qualifications. The results of this investigation suggest that ‘children’s musical identities develop at school between the ages of 5 and 14 years, and that these will be shaped by the traditional defining activities of ‘professional’ musicians’ (p.46), like public performances. The development of pupils’ musical identity follows to a patterned sequence. O’Neil (2002) investigated the development of the self-identity of young musicians, carrying out two studies. In the first, examined the discourses of four adolescent female musicians (aged 17-18 years) used when describing what it meant to them to be a musician, and in the second, young musicians were interviewed prior to and immediately following their final year music recitals, a compulsory requirement for their degree. O’Neil found that ‘as children and adolescents negotiate a sense of self and identity in relation to music, they respond in ways that sustain and perpetuate these differences. Once established, these categories appear resistant to change and disconfirmation, and they convey a constraining influence on young people’s musical engagement and understanding of what it means to be a musician’ (p.79). O’Neil found additionally that ‘children’s self-beliefs play a key role in their subsequent performance ability and evaluations of their performances over and above their actual ability’ (p.81). Finally, one facet of the construction of the ‘self’ as proposed by O’Neil, is that our feelings of continuity and consistency result from look back on our behaviours and experiences, looking for ‘patterns and repetitions that provide us with the impression of continuity and coherence’ (p.91).
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2.1.2 Parents Extensive research focused on the different beliefs and attitudes to music learning, that parents with different musical backgrounds have. Usually, the typical distinction made by researchers is between Musician and Non-Musician parents. Mills (2003) describes Non-Musician Parents as follows: ‘Parents tend to see performance as something that relates only to western classical music. They never learned to play an instrument as a child, although they greatly wish that they had, and are very dependent on the advice given to them by the expert who teaches their children to play the instrument’. (p.325) Interestingly, in the study by Sloboda & Howe, cited in Sloboda (1994), it was found that ‘outstanding students generally had parents who were not themselves performing musicians’, while average students ‘were more likely to have come from families where one or both parents earned their living as a musician’ (p.164). Additionally, the researchers found that non-musician parents ‘tend to be supportive but nondirective, allowing their children freedom to decide whether to do formal practice or more free improvisatory musical play’. Musical parents, in contrast, ‘tend to view their children’s accomplishments in the light of known standards to be attained’. They ‘are less likely to praise early achievements and are more likely to impose a rather rigid or structured practice regime’ (p.164, 165). Finally, researchers confirmed ‘the vital importance of a high level of parental support and encouragement’. Almost all parents of successful musicians ‘devoted large amounts of time, effort, and money to their children’s musical activities’. Parents’ involved themselves having ‘regular meetings with the instrumental teacher, providing specific incentives to undertake practice, and in a large minority of cases being present throughout a practice period, helping the child to structure the practice activity’ (p.166). In another investigation on the careers of outstanding musicians, Manturzewska, cited in Gembris & Davidson (2002), examined the characteristics of family background. It was found that ‘the family background constitutes the most influential factor for a musical career in the realm of classical music’. Some of the characteristics of the outstanding musician’s home environment were ‘praise and rewards for small successes, a positive
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emotional atmosphere for musical activity, and willingness to invest considerable time and effort in musical activities’ (p.22). This is confirmed by another study by Davidson et al. (1997), which investigated the role of parental involvement in their children’s musical development. Researchers found that ‘the most successful children had parents who were most involved in their lessons, receiving regular feedback from teachers and being present in the lessons’. In contrast, ‘the parents of children who were least successful were the least involved in their children’s lessons in the early years of playing an instrument’. Additionally, the parents of specialist learners ‘were most involved in music although they were not performing musicians’ (p.198). Another study by Borthwick and Davidson (2002) investigated the influence of family context on the development of musical identity in children. Data was obtained from interviews with both parents and children in a qualitative study of 12 families. They found that, those ‘parents with musical skills were much more demanding of their children in the setting of goals for musical achievement in their children’. ‘The families with one or two parents seeing themselves as musicians expected their children to achieve a higher level of musical accomplishment and involvement than the families with parents who saw themselves as non-musicians’, while non-musician parents ‘seemed to want to give their children the opportunities they had missed in their own childhood’ (p.64). In addition, the researchers found many indications that the ‘musician parents wanted the opportunity for their children to experience greater musical achievements than they attained themselves’ (p.65). Finally, the researchers found that parents discouraged their children from thinking about making music a professional career, since professional music was seen by them as ‘low in financial reward and professional credibility’ (p.67). However, as McPherson (2001) found out, family involvement declines ‘between the first and third years of learning’. 2.1.3 Teachers Research confirms that teachers’ attitudes and beliefs affect pupils’ development of identity in music. Smith (2005) found that ‘teachers with strong beliefs about the changeability of musical ability could reasonably be expected to approach their
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instruction differently from those espousing views of fixed talent’ (p.46), affecting consequently their identity. Teachers’ beliefs are reflected in the ways they interact with their pupils. Sloboda & Howe, cited in Sloboda (1994), found that ‘for those children who later achieve performance excellence, the earliest years of instrumental learning are characterized by an atmosphere of pleasure and enjoyment’. First teachers ‘were described with such adjectives as warm, friendly, fun, loving, and encouraging’ (p.164). The relevance of personality traits is confirmed also by Wink, cited in Pembrook & Craig (2002), which investigated the personalities of successful educators. It was found that ‘personality is an important function in a teacher’s achievement’ (p.795). Pembrook & Craig, (2002), summarized in figure 1, the personality traits indicated in several studies as typical of effective educators (p.796).
Figur e 1
2.2 Motivation Motivation is central to performance achievement, because the development of necessary skills to perform (auditory, motor, expressive, reading and stage skills) is a very complex task. In Clarke’s (2002) words, music performance ‘represents a striking human achievement and is the result of a massive investment of time and effort’ (p.59).
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Three longitudinal studies, Blackwell et al, 2003, Robins & Pals, 2002 and Trzesniewsky & Robins, 2003, all cited in Dweck & Molden (2005), investigated students across difficult transitions. All three studies underline the role, which selftheories of intelligence play in motivation. The authors concluded that pupils ruled by different theories of intelligence (incremental theory vs. entity theory) developed different attitudes to learning and effort, made different kinds of attributions after failure, and adopted different kinds of strategies to cope with failure and setbacks (p.124, 125). • Incremental Theory of Intelligence (IT): o Effort seen as having a positive effect o Failure attributed to lack of practice o Work harder and practice more after failure • Entity Theory of Intelligence (ET): o Effort seen as having a negative effect o Failure attributed to lack of ability o Avoid practice and avoid the subject after failure The importance of the adoption of incremental theory was also underlined by Niiya et
al., cited in Dweck & Molden (2005), who studied the impact of failure and success on students’ self-esteem. They found that ‘those who had received entity priming showed significantly lower self-esteem following an experience of failure, while ‘those who had received the incremental message showed no difference in self-esteem as function of the feedback they had received’ (p.128, 129). In the field of music education, the advantage of adopting an incremental theory was also studied. Smith (2005) carried out an investigation on educational goals (taskoriented v. ego-oriented). In this study, surveys were administered to 344 undergraduate music students (USA), and 268 music education majors. It was found that ‘if [pupils] believed that musical ability was malleable and amenable to change through effort and effective practice strategy (IT), then [pupils] tended to be increasingly in doing so (taskoriented)’ (p.48). Teachers also seem to influence the adoption of incremental or entity theories by pupils.
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In the series of six studies by Mueller and Dweck, cited in Dweck & Molden (2005), the impact of the quality of teachers’ feedback was studied in relation to the development of entity-like and incremental beliefs. The results suggested that ‘praise that judged intelligence and praise that focused on effort evoked different theories of intelligence’, and ‘affected pupils’ intrinsic motivation’ (p.134, 135). Intelligence praise fostered entity theory in children and, failure tended to reduce pupils’ intrinsic motivation. Effort praise fostered incremental theory, and failure did not appear to affect pupils’ intrinsic motivation. Similar investigations were made to study the impact of parents’ feedback, with similar results. Hewitt (2004) carried out an investigation on students’ attributions of sources of influence on their perceived control beliefs in relation to solo performance in music. In this study, 14 undergraduate music students in the second year of an undergraduate music degree aged 18 to 37, participated in interviews carried out by the researcher. It was found that ‘receiving positive comments from their tutor significantly influenced their own’ ability beliefs. Finally, in terms of students’ ‘effort perceptions, tutor influence was believed to be a major factor’ (p.53). In the initial stages of music learning, parents and teachers play a significant role in sustaining children’s motivation to learn and practice. Several studies support the importance of their role. In a large-scale investigation by Davidson et al., referred in Davidson (2002), researchers ‘interviewed 257 children between the ages of eight and eighteen who had instrumental lessons and performed with varying levels of achievement, with regard to the role that parents and teachers played’ (p.96). The results demonstrated that pupils’ decision in giving up learning a musical instrument was commonly triggered by insufficient parental support. Wigfield et al., cited in Maher et al. (2002), investigated children’s competence beliefs across the elementary school years. They found that ‘both teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of students’ competence have been linked to students’ own expectancies’. In addition, they consider that ‘teachers can help students to increase their expectancies by helping them develop the necessary skills to succeed on a particular task’ (p.356). In addition, McPherson (2001) carried out an investigation on self-regulation in children’s musical practice. In his study, 27 families agreed to participate by,
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videotaping their children’s practice. McPherson found that ‘children who made least progress tended to express more extrinsic reasons for learning, while children who made rapid progress were more likely to express intrinsic reasons’ (p.172). Differences were also found about pupils that developed intrinsic motivation and those who had not yet developed it. Deci & Porac, cited in Maehr et al. (2002), investigated human motivation and found that ‘when students are intrinsically motivated, they are more likely to seek out and master challenges, which satisfy their need to be competent and self-determining’ (p.361). Interestingly, the development of intrinsic motivation is fostered by accumulated optimal experiences. Optimal experiences, according to Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory (O’Neill & McPherson, 2002), ‘requires a balance between roughly equal levels of perceived challenge and skill in a situation that involves intense concentration, which means that activities are seen as pleasurable when the challenge is matched to the person’s skill levels’ (p.35). Hewitt (2004) concluded additionally that ‘successful performances were believed to develop an increased sense of self-confidence’, and ‘believed to influence selfperceptions of ability’ (p.50, 51). It was found also that ‘positive comments [from teachers] about playing, helping students to believe that they had received high-quality guidance’ had positive influence in student’s confidence. In addition, Austin, cited in O’Neill & McPherson (2002), investigated the impact of competitive and non-competitive goal structures to musical development and found that ‘repeated failure [in performance] tended to diminish musicians’ sense of self-efficacy and self-determination’. Musicians ‘would derive greater pleasure and benefit from performing more frequently and in settings that (a) balance emotional risk with support from teachers, parents, and peers, and (b) provide for detailed instructional feedback beyond numerical indicators of musical greatness’ (p.42). 2.3 Per formance Preparation Several studies reveal that the preparation for performance should include both mental and physical activities. According the investigations by Lehrer and by Lehmann, cited
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in Papageorgi et al. (2007), performers’ preparation for performance, should include physical and psychological activities. Bartel & Thompson’s investigation, cited in Barry & Hallam (2002) suggested that some professional musicians ‘adopt specific strategies to prepare [themselves], such as playing through as if in performance conditions, recording or videotaping themselves’, although the benefits of such strategies remain inconclusive. Finally, Partington, cited by Connolly & Williamon (2004) studied the preparation of highly skilled musicians before public performance, and found that ‘highly skilled musicians give a central role to physical and mental strategies that enable them to feel confident and ready to perform’. The researcher noticed that highly skilled musicians developed ‘preparation routines’ to performance. One or two days before a performance, ‘performers deeply immersed themselves in musical, physical, and mental preparation aimed at allowing them to perform at their best’. On the day of the performance, in order to prepare themselves mentally, ‘some strove to feel exited and ready to perform, yet not too anxious’ (p.231), and this involved a ‘systematic, patient effort to nurture and maintain a state optimal for concert performance’ (p.232). Inversely, Hallam (2001) carried out an investigation on the development of metacognition and performance planning strategies in musicians from novice to professional level, interviewing “twenty-two professional musicians and fifty-five novices’ about their practice, and ‘tape-recorded novices learning and performing a short piece’. She found that among novice musicians ‘there was little evidence of specific ‘performance’ preparation (p. 27, 35). 2.3.1 Mental Preparation Mental preparation is necessary to achieve success in performance, because according to Gabrielsson (1999), whose article summarizes the findings from numerous studies, music performance demands a permanent structured flow of mental representations. These diverse representations can be inter-related, non-musical ideas, images, memories, feelings, concrete events, body movements, abstract narrative, scenes, or just patterns of sound organized into rhythmic/melodic/harmonic schemata. Additionally, Sloboda (1985) in his book refers to expert performance as ‘playing through a well learned piece completely on ‘auto-pilot’, devoting their conscious 19
attention to something else’ (p.96). However, what seems to be easy and ‘intuitive’ when skilled musicians perform, is rather the result of the automation of an extremely complex, multi-modal performance plan, which is a mentally time-structured representation of spatiomotor, cognitive, emotional, aural, visual, and proprioceptive schemata. The importance of a performance plan is also emphasized by Davidson & Scripp (1992). They refer to the performance plan as allowing skilled performers: 1. to guide their performance through a constant shift of awareness attention along the net of mental representations, establishing simultaneously diverse levels of awareness among them; and 2. to ‘continuous monitoring of actions and goals during practice’ and performance, enabling the performance of large amounts of information accurately (p.394). Thus, performers (and pupils) need to do something to guarantee that the performance plan with all the information needed to perform correctly it is not affected by anything. Research on mental preparation prior to performance proposes some different kinds of mental preparation activities. Hewitt (2004), found that ‘previous performing experiences were believed to play a significant role in shaping how performers saw themselves in terms of confidence, ability and effort in the immediate run-up to the’ next performance, and students tended to give importance to the situational relevance of these prior experiences (p.50). Jorgensen (2004), cites several studies where experienced performers refer the importance of considering ‘the audience’s perspective and how the audience will perceive the performance’ during practice (p.95). Weinberg (cited by Connolly & Williamon, 2004) underlines the importance of doing ‘mental rehearsal’ activities, because those ‘can be particularly effective during the early stages of learning, when novel insights and ideas about the task can be formulated, and during the later stages to reinforce cultivated performance strategies’ (p.226).
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2.3.2 Practice Although as Ericsson et al., cited by Woody (2004) stated, ‘practice activity in not inherently motivating’ (p.19), even for the most accomplished performers, practice is of maximum relevance for instrumental learning and performance preparation. Several studies reinforce the importance of large amounts of practice to performance achievement. One such study by Sloboda, ‘investigated five groups of young people ranging from those who had given up music after less than two years to those who were receiving a specialist musical education with a view to professional careers in music’ (Davidson, 2002:94). They found a correlation between the amount of deliberate practice and the quality of performance and music examinations. Those who practiced less generally achieved less. O’Neil (2002) cites one other previous investigation of her own, about their young musicians’ daily routines to music and practice. The study involved 60 young musicians (aged 12-16 years) with different levels of performance achievement. O’Neil found that it was ‘the extent to which practice was considered important that contributed to the amount of time spent practicing and not the extent to which the young musicians felt successful and living up to their own and others’ expectations’ (p.83). The practice pattern can be influenced by the proximity of important events like public performances or exams. The same study by Hallam (2001), referred above, found that as examinations approached, ‘both advanced students and novices increased the amount of practice’ (p.35). Other studies reinforce the importance of the quality of practice to achievement. Chaffin et al., cited by Chaffin & Lemieux (2004) observed (videotaped) the practice of a concert pianist as she learned the Presto of J.S.Bach’s Italian Concerto. Results suggest that ‘a central characteristic of effective practice is the mental effort and concentration that is involved’, that ‘for maximum effectiveness, the length of practice sessions must be tailored both to the task in hand, and to the energy required’, and that ‘practice must be goal-oriented with problems being identified and eliminated in every session’ (p.25).
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Williamon & Valentine (2000) carried out an investigation on deliberate practice. In this study, ‘twenty-two pianists classified into four levels of skill, were asked to learn and memorize an assigned composition by J.S. Bach. All practice was recorded on cassette tape. At the end of the learning process, the pianists performed their composition in a recital setting’. The ‘resulting performances were evaluated by three experienced piano teachers’ (p.353). The researchers found that within the context of learning and memorizing one piece, practice appeared to consist of three stages, all with the same duration. In stage 1, pupils tended to overcome the technical difficulties of the piece. Stage 2 was devoted to technical fluency and to musical and communicative elements of performance. In stage 3, pupils tended to anticipate the upcoming performance, practicing from memory, and employing longer practice segments. Additionally, researchers concluded that the quality of performance of pupils that achieve stage 2 earlier tended to be higher. One relevant aspect concerns the ability to use metacognitive tools in their practice. Metacognition refers to the learner’s knowledge about learning itself, and metacognitive skills are concerned with the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of learning, including knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses, and available strategies. Gruson, cited in Sloboda (1985) investigated the practice of forty piano students taking lessons and three professional concert pianists. The practice sessions were audiorecorded. It was found that ‘repeating a single note is unhelpful because the aim of rehearsal is to build up fluent integrated performance units of several notes’. Repeated errors ‘are unhelpful because they tend to reinforce inappropriate motor patterns’ (p.92). Gruson found also that ‘skilled [performers] have a repertoire of rehearsal strategies which serve them well right through the acquisition of a new piece’ (p.93). McPherson (2005) also carried out an investigation on the relevance of metacognition to skill development. This study, was based on individual interviews and the administration of musical tasks, and involved 157 children and their parents, from grades 3 and 4, and aged between 7 and 9. All children were learning music in specialist schools and music tuition also included ensemble rehearsals and individual instrumental classes. McPherson found that ‘better players possessed more sophisticated strategies for playing their instrument very early in their development, and these players were the ones who went on to achieve at the highest level. Importantly, these were the players
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who knew when and how to apply their strategies (especially when asked to complete the more challenging musical tasks), and possessed the general understanding that their performance was tied to the quality of their effort (particularly effort expended in employing appropriate strategies to complete individual tasks)’ (p.27). Parental involvement in practice seems to be absolutely relevant, when pupils do not have sufficient resources to practice alone. Pitts et al. (2000) carried out an investigation about pupils’ practice. In this study, three children (3 case studies) aged 9 and 10, were video recorded in their homes at four to six week intervals, usually by parents. These case studies revealed the complexity involved in practice. In all cases practice seemed not to be pleasurable, even for the pupil expressing a determined and committed attitude to it. In addition, revealed that teachers must systematically teach practice strategies, and that parents’ appropriate support in practice must be learned. Sloboda & Howe, cited by Creech & Hallam (2003) studied high-achieving students in a specialist music school. They found that high-achievers ‘benefited from the support and encouragement of parents who may not have had any formal knowledge of music, but who did take responsibility for helping with home practice and encouraging their children to gain and maintain good practice habits’ (p.32). Additionally, Borthwick and Davidson (2002) found that ‘parents generally imposed practice regimes on their children to ensure that they practised their instruments daily. They allocated time ‘slots’ solely for playing’ (p.65). Brokaw, cited by Creech & Hallam (2003) studied practice involving beginning band students. The researcher found that ‘the amount of time spent by parents in supervising home practice is even a better predictor of successful achievement in the initial stages of development’ (p.32). Finally, McPherson (2001), found that ‘the standard advice about practice given to students [by instrumental teachers] was to work for 15-20 minutes, 5 days per week, and that this should consist of repeating pieces and exercises until a degree of fluency is reached’. However, results suggested that 90% to 91,9% of pupils spent their practice time ‘playing through a piece or exercise only once’. This helped to conclude that beginning instrumentalists practice less because they ‘have not assimilated the types of 23
strategies that lead to more effective self-evaluation and monitoring of their own progress’ (p.174). Parental involvement in practice was mainly expressed by passively listen to their children. Some parents involved themselves actively by guiding (selecting what exercises or pieces children should play), or by teaching the child. 2.4 Per formance Anxiety Public performance is usually associated to high anxiety levels. Wilson (1997) defines performance anxiety as ‘the exaggerated and sometimes incapacitating fear of performing in public’ (p.229). Several researchers investigated on the subject, some of them proposing cues to control it to optimal levels. Ryan (2005) carried out an investigation on performance anxiety among child musicians. In this study, 173 children ranging from grades 3 to 7 completed an anxiety inventory for children at 2 different points in time: during a regular school day and on the day of a major school concert. Researchers found that state anxiety was significantly higher on the day of the school concert. Hallam (2001), found that ‘amongst novice students, 90 per cent reported being nervous on the day of the examination but a minority (38 per cent) reported nervousness occurring for several days in advance. Others (10 per cent) reported no nerves at prospective performance, and some were exited’ (p.37). LeBlanc et al. (1997), investigated, 27 volunteers from a local high school band (grades 9 to give ages12). In this study, heart rates were monitored in rehearsal and performance conditions. Results suggested that ‘the presence of an audience was associated with greater performance anxiety’ (p.494). According to researchers, one of the major implications of this study goes to music teachers. They ‘should be aware of the potential for stress in performing for an audience, and they should try to prepare their students for the audience experience in a way that will minimize student anxiety’ (p.495). However, anxiety is not always negative to performance. Kokotsaki & Davidson (2003) cite the Yerkes-Dodson Law, which states that ‘optimal performance is stimulated by intermediate arousal (or anxiety) levels, and that neither low nor high anxiety levels enhance performance in any way’ (p.46). Steptoe (1982) referred to the tension needed for a good performance as a ‘generalized state of moderate physical excitement’ (p.538). 24
Previous performative experiences may also affect, or help to control the levels of performance anxiety. Hewitt (2004), found that ‘building up a bank of successful experiences helped pupils to move towards a situation in which the negative influence of nervousness or reticence in public performance would gradually diminish’ (p.50) Kenny & Osborne (2006) carried out an investigation into perform anxiety among adolescents. In this study, 382 young musicians aged 12 to 19 years attending secondary high schools specializing in the performing arts were tested using the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory. It was found that ‘music students who reported a negative performance experience self-reported higher levels of music performance anxiety than those who had not had previous negative performance experience’ (p.108). Evans, cited by Davidson (2002), reported that ‘familiarity with a variety of performing contexts, playing repertoire that is well known and having plenty of performance opportunities were ways of overcoming potential problems with presentation skills’ (2002:99). Davis & Pulman (2001), underlined the key role of having a regular activity as performer (even while learning) to develop performative/presentation skills. They reported the outcomes of a two-year programme undertaken with undergraduates at Barnsley College, where ‘various aspects of performance lessons were brought together through a weekly class/forum, which focused on the demands of a public performance and the strategies required for that event’ (p.251). One of the main results of the programme was the increasing number of opportunities to perform. Results showed also a steady rising of performance standards among pupils. O’Neil (2002) explains, additionally, that ‘children’s understanding of successful performance in the past, present or future, is inextricably linked to the perceived amount of control she or he feels in terms of being able to evade negative anxiety, or overcome its negative manifestations’ (p.91). The anticipation of performance may be one of the most important factors to increase or decrease performance anxiety.
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Papageorgi et al. (2007), formulated a conceptual framework of the way in which a performer evaluates an event depends on 1. their vulnerability to anxiety, 2. their task efficacy, and 3. the environment where performance takes place (figure 1).
Figur e 2
‘This evaluation, in turn, affects the performer’s emotional and psychological state prior to the performance. The Autonomic Nervous System is activated, and, depending on the level of arousal and the control that the performer has over it, a musician can experience either adaptive of maladaptive effects on their performance quality’ (p.100).
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Chapter Thr ee
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the methodology used in research will be discussed. Firstly, the reasons to choose a pragmatic approach and to use mixed-methods will be considered, along with the possible problems that such an approach can present. Secondly, the type of design elaborated for this research will be considered, along with the possible advantages and disadvantages of using it. Thirdly, the research population will be described. In the fourth section, the structure of teachers’ questionnaire will be given in detail. The same will be done with the parents and pupils’ questionnaire in the fourth and fifth sections. In the following section it will be discussed how both types of data (quantitative and qualitative) will be analyzed. Finally, ethical issues referring this piece of research will be considered. 3.1 Research Methods This research encloses a Pragmatic approach. Pragmatism believes that ‘what exist are events that entail the interaction between organisms and their environment’ (Robson, 2003:43). Thus, pragmatists view practice as the driving force of all scientific enterprise. Pragmatists accept that knowledge of human condition is qualitative in nature, but measurements make more precise the qualities seek to clarify and understand (Alexander, 2006). Pragmatic approach is commonly associated with mixed methods of research. Some of the advantages of use mix methods are: ‘give the possibility of generate and test a ground theory; answer a broader and more complete range of research questions; provide stronger evidence for a conclusion through convergence and corroboration of findings’ (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004:21); and provide triangulation with the intersection of different kinds of research methods (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2006). Mixed methods’ critics point out some weaknesses of this approach. The first is that ‘the researcher has to learn about multiple methods and approaches and understand how to mix them appropriately. Methodological purists contend also that one should always work within either a qualitative or a quantitative paradigm’. Additionally, the quest for 27
immediate practical results may contribute to surface changes rather than more ‘structural and revolutionary changes’, which boosts critics to raise the question of usefulness of research (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004:21).
For this particular research topic, a within-stage mixed-method design was chosen , which means that both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in one single phase. However, priority was given to quantitative over qualitative methods in data collection, given that there was an initial hypotheses that was intended to test and confirm (or disconfirm) (Bazeley, 2004). When this is the case, quantitative methods are better tools because are ‘confirmatory’ in nature, and allow researchers to study more precisely the behaviour of variables and ‘assess possible cause-and-effect relationships’ (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004:19). However, the use of quantitative methods raises some issues that have to be considered. First, it might be that the knowledge that helps to raise the initial research questions and hypotheses may not be enough to understand the reality. On the other hand, it might be that the initial propositions may even be wrong just because something crucial is missing, or that the strictness of the chosen variables might produce a barrier to additional information that could be crucial for our understanding of reality. Therefore, in order to complement the data gathered with quantitative methods, and to cope with some of these issues, additional qualitative data was collected and analysed (Schrag, 1992). Expectedly, this combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, will ‘likely to result in complementary strengths and nonoverlapping weaknesses’ (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004:18). 3.2 Research Design The design chosen was a self-completion questionnaire survey. In this type of survey ‘respondents fill in the answers by themselves’ and there is little contact with the researcher (Robson, 2003:236). Three different questionnaires were designed for each of the three different groups (teachers, parents and pupils). Teachers and parents questionnaires were designed mainly with a quantitative orientation, having only two open-ended questions to collect qualitative data, while pupils questionnaire, although had several questions oriented to give quantitative data, it was designed giving more relevance to qualitative data.
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The advantages of using self-completion questionnaires is to provide data that is not difficult to read and interpret, because ‘methods and procedures can be made visible and accessible to other parties’, and the information collected can be more readily generalizable (Robson, 2003:232). Questionnaire surveys are also advantageous when research approaches relatively sensitive topics. If other research designs had been chosen e.g observations or interviews, some respondents would probably refuse to participate. Teachers would possibly think that it would be intrusive or be afraid that their teaching might be questioned, and parents would possibly be afraid that their parenting might be questioned. Self-completion questionnaires avoid direct contact with respondents, which is an advantage when these sensitive topics are studied. Additionally to that, anxiety from respondents is reduced, which reduces their emotional bias and increases the number of full-filled questionnaires. On the other hand, questionnaire surveys share disadvantages that must be considered. First, it is very difficult to obtain high response rates, which implies some extra effort from the researcher to collect the desirable number of filled questionnaires, and requires ability to cope with deception. Second, it is very difficult to control the way respondents order their answering to the questions, which may destroy some intentional sequence of questions, most of the times designed with triangulation purposes. Third, the data gathered poses some problems of generalization, because the respondents’ characteristics are impossible to replicate. Finally, data collected is fallible, because the quality of the responses given cannot be controlled, ‘respondents [may] not necessarily report their beliefs and attitudes accurately’ (Robson, 2003:233). More, the researcher can never know what was the attitude of the respondent towards the questionnaire (enthusiastic or tedious), and cannot be sure about the reasons behind the choice of response to a question. Therefore, some actions were taken in order to reduce the possible negative effects derived from the use of questionnaire surveys: triangulation, visual aids, and diversity in questioning. The use of triangulation-questions helped to assess respondents’ consistency and give this piece of research findings some potential to generalization. Visual aids were inserted to avoid mistakes in very similar questioning. Diversity in questioning intended to change the pace of response, keeping the respondent’s interest alive. Finally, in order to assure that this research was reliable, all respondents (of each group) were presented with the same standardized questions. 29
The insertion of open-ended questions in questionnaire surveys, may add something more to the research, because their characteristics are different from closed questions. Open-ended questions ‘provide no restrictions on the content or manner of reply’. The advantages of use open-ended questions are: ‘go into more depth’; ‘clear up any misunderstandings’; ‘encourage co-operation’; ‘allow to make a truer assessment of what the respondent really believes’. The disadvantages of use open-ended questions can be summarized in the higher difficulty to analyse them (Robson, 2003:275, 276; Bazeley, 2004:144). 3.3 Research Population This research is centred in specialist music education in Portugal. Specialist music schools represent the vast majority of organized music teaching in Portugal. These specialist music schools may come from two different groups. First, public specialist music schools (like Conservatoires) are attached to the Ministry of Education and financially supported in total by it. There are only six of these schools in the whole country1 (Lisbon - two schools -, Aveiro, Coimbra, Porto, Braga). Second, there are also specialist music schools that try to follow the same pattern of functioning of public schools, the same curriculum, and contract teachers with the similar musical and professional skills. These are partially financed by the Ministry of Education, have additional income from local governments, and individual fees from students. The research population chosen to the survey come from both kinds of specialist music schools. Population was grouped into three sets: Teachers, Parents and Pupils. The reason behind this decision was that, we believed that understanding teachers, parents and pupils’ perspective about public performance individually, would help to develop a comprehensive view on the subject. The way data was analysed will be explained later. It is important to make a note about the type of samples selected to this study: it was chosen the use of a purposive sample, not a quota or dimensional sample. This means that the samples collected and presented bellow were not intended to fill a representative quota or dimension, but result from proximity of the researcher with the 1
The public specialist music schools of the islands of Azores and Madeira are not under the same jurisdiction (financially, politically and pedagogically) of the continental Ministry of Education. These schools are under the jurisdiction of a local Secretary of Education which dmands specific regulations and functioning. For these reasons, these schools were not accounted for the number above. 30
researched population – music teacher in the Lisbon Conservatoire, former teacher in the other school of Lisbon (Metropolitana), and teacher instructor in the other schools (Linda-a-Velha, Perosinho, Lousada, Viseu and Coimbra) -. This choice has implications for the kind of inferences and the degree of generalization that this study can produce. Obviously, it will be impossible to generalize (in probabilistic terms) the collected samples to the population they represent. However, and according to Robson, ‘data gained from a particular study [may] provide theoretical insights which possess a sufficient degree of generality or universality to allow their projection to other contexts or situations’ (2003:177).
Teachers selected to be respondents filled three conditions: first, they all were instrumental teachers (not class teachers). Second, they taught in specialist music schools in a one-to-one teaching design. Third, they taught pupils aged between 8 and 12 years-old. Data collection procedure: teachers were asked to answer the questionnaire thinking about their 8 to 12 years old pupils. No time was previously fixed to answer to the questionnaire. It was given the right not to participate, and after reading the questionnaire, some teachers refused to hand back the questionnaire filled. Most of questionnaires were handed out personally by the researcher; however, due to distance, nine of the teachers preferred to fill an electronic version of the questionnaire (adobe acrobat form), that had exactly the same characteristics, questions and looks of the original (See Appendix 1). 53 questionnaires were handed out but only 44 completed questionnaires were returned which means that only 83% of teachers responded. Table 1 shows the distribution of teachers’ sample by music schools, where it can be seen that 50% of the teachers teach in the Lisbon Conservatoire and the other 50% teach all over the country.
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Lisbon Conservatoire Lousada
Frequency 22
Percent 50.0
7
15.9
6 3 3
13.6 6.8 6.8
2
4.5
1
2.3
Perosinho Metropolitana Aveiro Coimbra Viseu
Table 1
Parents elected to be respondents filled one necessary condition: have children aged between 8 and 12 years old, learning a musical instrument in a specialist music school. Data collection procedure: parents were asked to answer the questionnaire thinking about that specific child. When a parent had more than one child within the defined requirements, then it was asked to pick one to answer about, at will. No time was previously fixed to answer to the questionnaire. It was given the right not to participate, and after reading the questionnaire, some parents refused to hand back the questionnaire filled. Most of questionnaires were handed personally by the researcher; however, eleven of them were distributed directly by two schools’ Director (Perosinho and Lousada). 46 questionnaires were distributed and 43 of them were returned, which means that 93.4% of invited parents responded. Table 2 shows the distribution of parents’ sample by music schools, where it can be seen that almost 70% of the parents that answered to the questionnaire had their children studying in the Lisbon Conservatoire and the other quarter was distributed by three other music schools.
Lisbon Conservatório Perosinho Lousada Metropolitana Linda-a-Velha
Frequency 30
Percent 69.8
7 4
16.3 9.3
1 1
2.3 2.3
Table 2
Pupils elected to be respondents fulfilled two conditions: that they were between eight and twelve years of age, and should be learning a musical instrument in a specialist music school.
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Data collection procedure: pupils were asked to answer the questionnaire alone. No time was previously fixed to answer to the questionnaire. Pupils were given the right not to participate, and after reading the questionnaire, one pupil opted not to return it. Most of questionnaires were handed personally by the researcher; however, two of them were distributed directly by Lousada Music School’s Director. 43 questionnaires were distributed and 42 were returned, which means that 97.6% of pupils returned completed questionnaires. Table 3 shows the distribution of pupils’ sample by music schools, where it can be seen that almost 86% of the pupils that answered to the questionnaire were studying in the Lisbon Conservatoire and the other sixth was distributed by two other music schools.
Lisbon Conservatório Lousada Linda-a-Velha
Frequency 36 2
Percent 85.7 4.8
2 2
4.8 4.8
Metropolitana
Table 3
Although the number of questionnaires collected was higher, only 40 questionnaires of each sample were analysed, as discussed later. 3.4 Teachers Questionnair e Design Teachers’ questionnaire has a total of 33 questions, which are divided into three sections. The first section (questions 1 to 7) was designed to sketch a picture of the teacher, in terms of his perspective about teaching and performance, his curriculum and experience. Question 1, asks for information on the instrument taught, in order to group their answers later, and to understand if there was possibly a pattern of behaviour attached to it. Questions 2, 5 and 7 complement this information by adding the amount of experience in teaching each teacher had, and the studies each one completed. Question 3 used a 7-point Likert-scale to measure teachers’ self-perspective as a performer and their attitude towards public performance. As can be observed in Figure 3, the sentences given approached the topic from many different angles, and similar
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sentences were inserted to assess respondents’ consistency. The results to this question were intended to help to draw a set of different identities, which expectedly produced patterns of behaviour that may be linked (or not) to: 1. the importance given to public performances in music education, 2. the activities chosen to prepare their pupils to music performances, and 3. the way they react to success and failure of their pupils. Question 4 complemented this information by adding the amount of public performances made so far as professional musician.
Figur e 3
Question 6 used a 7-point Likert-scale to gauge the teacher’s self-perspective. The information gathered through this question could possibly help to understand if teaching was (not) the first option, describe some of the patterns of behaviour as instrumental teacher and may help to complete their identity, complementing the information collected in question 3. In order to help respondents to distinguish the role defined for the two questions (questions 3 and 6), the words performer and teacher were underlined in each question respectively. In the second section (questions 8 to 31), teachers are questioned about several issues: their teaching pattern about public performance, their beliefs about public performance in specialist music education, and their evaluation pattern of public performances.
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Question 8 intended to inform about the importance teachers give to parents in the learning process, and how their involvement should occur. The results could help us to understand in which activities parents are more helpful to the teachers.
Figur e 4
Question 9, one of the central questions, was designed with a 6 alternatives scale, and asks about the average number of public performances which pupils (between 8 and 12 years-old) participated within a year. This data was to identify any patterns and enable comparisons to be made with pupils’ questionnaires. A possible correlation might give some insights about the topic. Moreover, the answers given to this question were also to be compared with those of question 12, where teachers were asked if the number of public performances their pupils made was appropriate to their age, which could help to assess the appropriateness of the number of public performances their pupils do. Assuming that play in public performances require some sort of mental preparation, questions 10 and 11 were intended to find out if teachers agree about how long should that mental anticipation be and, identify any differences between the ideal anticipation time and what in practice occurred with pupils. The results to these questions may be also compared with the results of similar questions given in parents and pupils’ questionnaires. These questions were designed using a 5 alternatives time-scale. Later on, questions 21, 22, and 23 try to go deeper on the subject asking about the possible benefits of a long mental anticipation to: 1. obtain better performances, 2. increasing practice, and 3. cope with stage anxiety.
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Figur e 5
Questions 13, 14 and 15 are all yes/no questions designed to assess teachers’ beliefs about the impact of public performances to children’s motivation, to their projection of a future career and to their ability to cope with stage fright. Subsequently, questions 17 and 18 complement this information about motivation, and assess the role of teachers to the quality of experiences pupils have in public performances. Question 16 intends to identify which activities teachers use most to prepare their pupils mentally for public performance. It might be interesting to understand what teachers’ beliefs on this matter are.
Figur e 6
Question 19 was designed to understand teachers’ perspective about the reasons that may lead pupils to have negative experiences in public performances. This information could help to clarify the causes teachers attribute to failure in performance, indicating a possible pattern of behaviour to consider. The same can be said about the questions 20 and 24, although their targets are: the possible gains derived from doing regular public performances, and if the fact of having always-positive performance experiences may or may not be relevant to development of pupils’ ability to cope with anxiety.
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Figur e 7
Questions 25 and 29 are mirrored, putting hypothetical situations for teachers to evaluate on a 7-point Likert scale. Question 25 is approach is from the negative perspective, while question 29 is approach is from the positive. The results, along with those from question 31, may be added to those collected initially in questions 3 and 6, helping do draw a larger picture about teachers’ identity. The same can be said for the following questions (26, 27, and 28), although here teachers are asked about the reasons to and the consequences of bad experiences in public performances, and strategies used after good and bad performances. Finally, question 30 tried to find out if there is a pattern of behaviour amongst pupils when public performances approach. These results are to be correlated with pupils’ answers to a similar question. A possible correlation may give interesting findings on the subject.
Figur e 8
The third section (questions 32 and 33) is more general and teachers are asked to give their opinion about the relevance of public performance in specialist music education. The answers to these questions may be helpful to understand teachers’ perspective on the subject. 3.5 Parents Questionnaire Design The questionnaire has a total of 37 questions, which are divided into five sections. The first section (questions 1 to 5) informs about parents’ musical background. In the first three questions, parents were asked about their musical studies, and their skills playing an instrument and reading music. This information may help to understand
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parents’ attitudes to practice and public performance, and their expectations to their children. Questions 4 and 5 asks about their children’s musical instrument and for how long music studies had been taken. This information may be relevant to understand the existence of patterns of behaviour in parents whose children play the same instrument, or have been playing for a long time. The second section (questions 6 to 8 and 10 to 12) could provide information on parents’ motivations towards music education. Questions 6 and 7 are related to the choice of musical instrument. It asks who was involved in that process, and the possible reasons behind that choice.
Figur e 9
Question 8 used a 7-point Likert scale to measure the reasons behind the choice of a specialist music school for their child. Questions 10 and 11 were designed to understand parents’ expectations towards a musical career to their children, and parents’ evaluation of their child’s musical potential. Question 12 tries to understand the level of satisfaction towards the music school acknowledging the expectations levelled in question 8. All these different topics are important to consider because it may help to understand parents’ motivations towards music education, which may affect their behaviour towards public performance and practice.
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Figur e 10
The third section (questions 9, 13 to 18, and 21) was to provide data on the level of involvement in the learning process parents believe they should have. In question 9, a 7-point Likert scale was used to gauge parents attitudes to motivation. Subsequently, in questions 18 and 21, parents were asked to select and explain their pattern of praising, as well as the type of parental attitudes that may produce negative effects on children’s motivation.
Figur e 11
Figur e 12
Questions 13 to 17 are relevant to understand further the parental attitudes to music education. Issues involved in these questions were: the way parents should involve in the learning process, parents’ behaviour when their child is practising, if parents attend instrumental lessons, and if parents have to remind their children to go practice.
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The fourth section includes questions 19 and 22 to 36. The questions in this section are similar to those made to teachers. Here, parents are questioned about several issues: their beliefs about public performance in specialist music education, and their evaluation pattern of public performance events. Question 19 is one of the central questions and asks about the average number of public performances their children (between 8 and 12 years-old) do within a year. This data intended to help us to find a pattern and compare it with children’s questionnaires. The answers given to this question were also to be compared with those of questions 22 and 24, which ask if the number of public performances their pupils do is appropriate to their age, and assess parent’s attendance to public performances. Answers from question 23, about audio/video recording habits, had not the same relevance but added more information about parents’ pattern of behaviour to public performances. Questions 25 and 26 were designed to assess parents’ beliefs about the impact of public performances to children’s motivation and to their projection of a future career. Subsequently, question 27 complements this information about motivation by assessing the role of the parents to the quality of experiences pupils have in public performances. The data gathered from questions 28 and 29 complements data collected in teachers’ questionnaires about mental anticipation of public performance. In these questions, parents are asked to say which signs their children show when public performances come close.
Figur e 13
Questions 29 and 32 are mirrored, putting hypothetical situations for parents to evaluate using a 7–point Likert scale. Question 29 is approach is from a negative perspective, while question 32 is approach is from the positive. The results, along with those from
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question 34, may be added to those collected initially in sections 2 and 3, helping do draw a larger picture about parents’ identity. The same can be said for the following questions (30, 31 and 34), although here parents are asked about the reasons and consequences of bad experiences in public performances and strategies used after good bad performances. The fifth section (questions 20 and 37) is more general, and asks what parents think about the relevance of public performance in specialist music education. The answers to these questions intended to help understand parents’ perspective on the subject.
3.6 Pupils Questionnaire Design The questionnaire has a total of 31 questions, which are divided into five sections. The first section (questions 1 to 7) will help to establish a view about pupils’ background and their feelings towards their instrument. In the first three questions, pupils ware asked about their age, the musical instrument they play and how long they have been learning music. This information intended to help understand if any particular pattern of behaviour is attached to a particular group (string, brass, woodwind, piano and so on). Questions 4 to 7 were designed to help understand pupils’ feelings towards the instrument they are playing. This is important, because their attitude towards practice, learning and public performance may be affected by it. Information can also be gathered about the process of selecting the musical instrument, which may help understand parents’ influence in all music learning process.
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Figur e 14
The second section (questions 8 to 10) is designed to understand pupils’ feelings towards their instrumental teacher and music school. Question 8 is probably the more sensitive question, because pupils are asked if they like their instrumental teacher. This question, as well as questions 9 and 10, was included in order to understand if their pattern towards practice and public performance was somehow affected by their feelings about their teacher and about school.
Figur e 15
The third section (questions 11 to 18) attempted to find a pattern about their instrumental practice, and their parents’ attitudes towards their musical development.
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Questions 11 to 13 were designed to help understand their feelings about practice, and in question 12 pupils were asked to explain how they assess their amount of practice.
Figur e 16
In question 14 pupils were asked to explain what kind of activities they usually did within their practice time. This information intended to be used to test various hypotheses on quality of practice as detailed by Sloboda & Davidson (1996), Davidson
et al. (1997).
Figur e 17
Questions 15 and 16 are related to parents’ pattern of behaviour both in telling children to go practice and in attending music classes. Questions 17 and 18 try to measure the amount of praise which pupils receive from parents and teachers,. This information may be relevant to understand pupils’ self-esteem, which is also an important issue in the development of performance skills.
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Figur e 18
In the fourth section, pupils were questioned about several issues: their feelings about public performance in specialist music education, and their evaluation pattern of public performance events. In questions 19 and 20, the aim was to understand pupils’ feelings towards playing regularly in public. Questions 21 and 22 data complement that information, adding details about how stressful is for them to play in public.
Figur e 19
Assuming that to play in public performances requires some sort of mental preparation , questions 23 and 24 are intended to find out the average time of mental anticipation pupils’ display, and what they feel as performance’s day becomes closer. Questions 25 to 28 were designed to understand pupils’ feelings towards bad experiences in public performances, reasons to fail, and internal speech after bad and good performance experiences.
44
Figur e 20
Question 29 tries to understand how bad performance experiences affect their feelings and self-esteem. The data gathered with this question intended to understand it teachers should promote a new public performance experiences short time after a failure.
Figur e 21
Finally, question 30 was selected to give one more detail to the whole analysis, looking for any deep feeling of deception that might contribute to want give up studying music. The fifth section (questions 30 and 31) is more general, and asks what pupils think about the relevance of public performance in specialist music education. The answers to these questions may be helpful to understand pupils’ perspective on the subject. 3.7 Data Analysis According to Pragmatism, it is impossible to follow a unidirectional path in data analysis. The reality is that researchers ‘move back and forth between induction and deduction’ when analysing data (Morgan, 2007:71). Thus, quantitative and qualitative data within this research will be analysed using both exploratory and confirmatory approaches, following a non-linear path.
45
The analysis of qualitative data is to be made using a quasi-statistical process (Robson, 2003:458). This means that the relevance of terms and concepts will be determined by the frequency of specific words and phrases. The analysis of quantitative data is to be made with the help of SPSS software, first, seeking to confirm the initial hypotheses: • If the quality of accumulated performance experiences might change pupils’ identity in music, self-beliefs, internal motivation, performance preparation and ability to deal with performance anxiety • If the increasing amount of performative experiences might foster pupils’ performative skills and consequently their musical development Then, the confirmatory path is to be followed by an exploratory one, seeking to infer new relationships between variables. Both, confirmatory and exploratory quantitative data will be analysed at four levels: 1. Search for possible correlations between variables of Teachers questionnaire 2. Search for possible correlations between variables of Parents questionnaire 3. Search for possible correlations between variables of Pupils questionnaire 4. Search for possible cross-correlations between variables of all three questionnaires If results from different sources diverge, reasons for discrepancy will be presented and discussed (Bazeley, 2004). The advantages and problems of mixing methods in analysis were discussed previously. 3.8 Ethical Issues This research was designed following the ‘Guidelines for Research, Practice and Teaching’ elaborated by the Ethical Board for Research of Roehampton University (2005). The procedures followed were: 1. The purpose of the questionnaires was explained to every one handed. Verbal explanations as well as written explanations were given to each respondent. 2. Pupils were given the choice to fill the questionnaire, and the possibility to decline was always offered. 3. Every perspective participant was given the right not to participate. 4. All information from any questionnaire remains confidential. In order to assure that confidentiality, questionnaires were given a code indicating: a) the serial
46
number of questionnaires delivered, and b) the specialist music school where respondents taught, learned or have their children learning. When data was inserted in SPSS, another number was added to the previous code, which helped to make the correspondence between the questionnaire and the respective number in the database. 5. The central issue on the questionnaire (public performance in specialist music schools) was never discussed with any respondent (teacher, parent or pupil), before the questionnaire was returned filled.
47
Chapter Four
REPORTING RESULTS In this chapter I will report the results of the investigation. 4.1 Backgrounds In this section, teachers’ educational background, parents and pupils’ musical background will be reported. Within the parents’ section will also be included the musical background of their children. 4.1.1 Teachers Responses suggested a relatively broad range of answers in relation to the amount of teaching experience. The gap between the less experienced and the most experienced teachers was 26 years, and the average teaching time of the group was of 11.8 years. About 14.6% of the respondents reported that they have not yet finished their studies and, on average, teachers completed their studies 7.7 years before, which implies that the average teacher began teaching music some three years before they finished their musical studies. With respect to their musical studies, 59.1% affirmed themselves to be ‘Licenciados’; which is the portuguese correspondent for a Graduate level in music performance, and it means that they have continued to study for one or two years following their Bachelor degree. About 25% of the respondents completed the former Conservatoire Instrumental Degree – a degree that ceased in 1983, but is regarded as being the equivalent level to a Bachelor degree.
All studies in Portugal Graduate (Licenciado) Degree Still studying Basic in Portugal + Overseas Old Conservatory Degree Bachelor Degree PG-Diploma Master Degree
% of Cases 63.6% 59.1% 31.8% 27.3% 25.0% 18.2% 9.1% 6.8%
Table 4
48
It is important to report that there is a discrepancy between the 31.8% of the respondents who reported that they were still studying in question 7 and the 14.6% who reported they had not yet finished their studies in question 5. This discrepancy may be explained by the fact that some respondents still continue to study after their graduation. In terms of the distribution by instrument, the largest group of respondents played and taught the piano (27.3%), and the remaining were distributed throughout the other four instrumental groups: 1. Strings (25%), 2. Woodwinds (22.7%), 3. Brass (6.8%), 4. Other Instruments (Guitar, Recorder, and Accordion).
Gr aph 1
Summary • Many teachers started teaching without finishing their musical studies • Music teachers were mainly ‘Licenciados’ that made all their studies in Portugal
4.1.1.1 Performative Profile Performers versus Non-Performers – In order to help the analysis, respondents were grouped according to their performative profile into two groups: Performers (PT) and Non-Performers (NPT).
49
The profile was determined by the following parameters: 1. Preference for performing as soloist ………..…… [max. 7/55] 2. Preference for performing to teaching …………… [max. 7/55] 3. Amount of experience as performer …………….. [max. 7/55] 4. Number of recitals made so far ………………….. [max. 5/55] 5. Effort to do public performances every year …….. [max. 4/55] 6. Number of recitals by semester/year …………….. [max. 7/55] 7. Degree of liking/disliking of the performance thrill [max. 4/55] 8. Preference for playing to others/to oneself ……… [max. 7/55] 9. How comfortable one feels performing as soloist .. [max. 7/55] Those respondents whose accumulated answers fit under the percentile 75 onward [41.2 to 55], were considered Performers (PT), while all the others were not. According to these parameters we came to 59.1% of NPT against the 40.9% of PT.
Percent Performer Non Performer
40.9 59.1
Table 5
The differences between PT and NPT in their attitudes to musical performance were evident when both groups were compared. This analysis will help us to describe the profile of both groups.
a) Attitude to Solo Performance PT and NPT differed in how they dealt with the role of soloist. PT (72.2%) preferred to play as soloist in public performances, while 53.8% of NPT avoided playing in public as a soloist. PT (66.7%) clearly tended to feel comfortable within this scenario. NPT, however, did not reveal a clear tendency with 42.3% claiming to feel comfortable, while 42.3% felt the opposite.
50
b) Attitude to Performance within Groups of different sizes As a whole, 84.1% of Teachers revealed a clear preference for performance within chamber groups. The analysis of the responses given by each group reinforces the global agreement, because both groups shared a positive view about the possibility of playing in chamber groups. Similarly, both groups showed a positive attitude towards playing in larger ensembles (bands or orchestras).
c) Activity Preference With respect to the preference for performance over teaching activities and vice-versa, the two groups tended to behave, as one would expect in that, 55.6% of PT preferred to depend mainly on performance activity, while 53.8% of NPT preferred to be music teachers.
d) Performative Experience Comparing levels of experience as music performers, 83% of PT clearly believed in the importance of having experience as performer, while only 30.8% of NPT shared similar beliefs.
e) Attitude to Performance (in general terms) The effect of adrenalin in public performance was understood differently by both groups. 72.2% of PT tended to rate the enjoyment with adrenalin rush highly. On the other hand, 46.2% of NPT did not enjoy the rush of adrenalin. Both groups agreed that the time they spend practising was proportional to the number of recitals they made, and generally disagreed with the idea that many public performances affected their health, although in this case the results were quite disperse. All the respondents from the PT group preferred to play in public over to play for pleasure, while most of NPT (42.3%) preferred to the other way around.
f) Activity as Performer Both groups, PT and NPT, tried to keep a regular performance activity and scheduled at least one public performance per year.
51
However, there was an enormous difference between PT and NPT about the regularity both groups displayed in doing at least 3 concerts/recitals by semester. 72.2% of PT tried to achieve this number of performances, while only 11.1% of NPT revealed similar performative regularity. For 61.5% of NPT this level of musical exposure was unattainable. For 90.7% of Teachers, the amount of accumulated performances exceeded 30. Comparing the two groups, we learn that the all the PT already played over 30 performances and the percentage decreased to 84% among NPT.
Summary Performer Teachers: • preferred to play as soloist in public performances, and fancy the possibility to play in chamber or larger instrumental groups; • preferred performance over teaching activity; • assumed to have a great experience as performers; • liked to feel the rush of adrenalin and feel comfortable when playing as soloist; • preferred to play to others than for pleasure and; • had regular activity as performers, having accumulated more than 30 recitals/concerts at the time. Non-Performer Teachers: • avoided playing as soloist; prefer to play in small (chamber) or larger instrumental groups; • preferred teaching over performance activity; • assumed that don’t possess much experience as performers; • were not fond of the rush of adrenalin; • preferred to play for pleasure than before an audience and; • did not show a regular activity as performers, although most of them have already accumulated more than 30 recitals/concerts at the time 4.1.2 Parents Musicians versus Non-Musicians – For purposes of analysis, respondents were grouped according to their background profile into two groups: Musician (MP) and Non-
52
Musician Parents (NMP). The profile was determined by the following parameters: 1. their musical education, 2. their ability to read music notation and, 3. their ability to play an instrument. Play instrument Read Notation Music in K2 Particular Lessons No Music Lessons Self-teacher Conservatoire - not finished Bachelor in Music Old Conservatoire Licenciatura' in Music PG Diploma Musical Background
3 2 0,5 1 0 0,5 1 3 3 3 3
15
Table 6
Parents whose responses summed 8 or more were considered MP Those whose responses summed less than 8 were considered NMP. Thus, only the respondents with higher musical education, ability to read notation and play an instrument were considered MP, while all the other respondents, despite their ability to read notation (referred by 55.8% of parents) or to play a musical instrument (referred by almost 42% of parents) were considered NMP. This criterion follows the general agreement about musical qualifications in Portugal. Following these parameters 60.5% of respondents were considered Non-Musicians (NMP) and 39.5% were Musicians (MP). Percent Musician Non-Musician
39.5 % 60.5 %
Table 7
NMP Background – NMP musical background was widely diversified, although almost 54% of them learned some rudiments of music in their second grade school. Music in K2 No Music Lessons (Specialist) Particular Lessons Self-teacher Conservatoire - not finished
53.8% 34.6% 19.2% 7.6% 3.8%
Table 8
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Instrument - Of those parents who reported playing a musical instruments, 63.2% of them referred the Piano, while 15.8% said their instrument was the Voice.
Piano Singing Cello Violin Harpsicord Drums
Percent 63.2 15.8 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3
Table 9
Their Children - Analysing how long their children were learning an instrument, responses suggest a time-span of 7 years (between 1 and 8 years), and an average of 3.8 years of music learning. The quality of the distribution of the sample was analysed using a One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests. Both tests confirmed that the distribution was normal and uniform.
Gr aph 2
Respondents’ children played 11 different instruments, with strings (violin – 30.2% and cello – 20.9%) being the most representative. Additionally, 9.3% of children also played a second instrument, usually the piano.
54
Gr aph 3
Summary • Parents were mainly Non-Musicians • Almost 40% of the Parents had higher musical education • Almost 54% of NMP learned some rudiments of music in their second grade school • Their children had an average of almost 3.8 years of formal music education, and played mainly the violin and the cello 4.1.3 Pupils About 54.8%, of the respondents to the Pupils’ questionnaire were girls, while boys represented 45.2% of the group. Respondents’ age was distributed within the range of 8 to 12 yeas old, and had an average of 10.1 years-old. Percent Boys Girls
45.2 % 54.8 %
Table 10
The quality of the distribution of the sample was analysed using a One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests. Both tests confirmed that the distribution was normal and uniform. 55
Gr aph 4
The range of time spent learning an instrument was from 1 to 8 years, with the average being 3.8 years. Pupils were essentially String players (42.9%). The second main group were Woodwind players (21.4%), and Pianists were the third most representative group (14.3%).
Gr aph 5
56
Summary • Pupils were mainly girls with an average age of 10 years-old, which learn music for an average time of 3.8 years • Violin and Cello were the main instruments played 4.2 Instrument Selection This section will report on pupils’ feelings towards their instrument. Additionally, motivations and other issues related to the process of selection will be explored from both the perspective of parents and pupils. 4.2.1 Pupils All respondents said they liked their instrument, and 61.4% liked the sound most of all. 70 60 50
Sound
40
Other
30
Shape
20
Colour
10 0
Gr aph 6
Approximately 66.7% of pupils claimed that the instrument was their choice, although 23.8% said that the choice resulted from both, their own and their parents will.
Gr aph 7
Piano was the instrument whose choice was more externally influenced (see chart below).
57
Gr aph 8
When asked if they preferred to play another instrument 90.5% of pupils answered No, mainly because they liked their first instrument. Those who expressed an interest in changing (two boys and two girls) gave the following responses: 1. [clarinet piano], because he liked it more; 2. [piano organ], because he liked more the sound of organ and the possibility to play with both feet; 3. [clarinet violin] because she liked the sound of violin very much; 4. [viola singing], because she loved to sing. Pupils within their first year and after their 5th year (inclusive) showed less willing to change instrument. 75% of those who wanted to change instrument were 11 years-old.
Gr aph 9
58
Summary • All pupils liked their instrument, and liked most its sound • Pupils that played the Piano suffered more external influences in the choice of instrument • Pupils in their first year of learning did not intend to change instrument • Pupils from their fifth year of learning forth did not intend to change instrument 4.2.2 Parents Approximately 67.4% of parents claim their child chose the instrument, while 16.3% stated that they had discussed the issue previously with their child. From the 9.3% of parents assuming that they made the choice of the instrument, 75% were MP.
Gr aph 10
About 31.6% of parents gave reasons other than the options offered in the questionnaire, while 29.8% referred to the instrument’s tone as the main reason. 21.1% claimed external reasons e.g. the choice given by the school or having friends playing that instrument. Percent Other
31.6%
Instrument's tone
29.8%
School's given choice
21.1%
Already had the instrument
5.3%
Friends' instrument
5.3%
Instrument's shape
3.5%
Instrument that a parent wanted to learn
3.5%
Table 11
Summary • The majority of parents affirmed that the instrument was chosen by their child • MP tended to exert more influence in the choice of an instrument, and even assuming that decision
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4.3 Parental Involvement This section will report on the parental involvement in the music learning process. Parental involvement can be measured according to the degree of participation in learning activities e.g. attending lessons and public performances. Their involvement can be measured also in the amount and quality of feedback they give to their children. Although their attitudes towards practice may be a powerful indicator of their level of involvement, this will be discussed later. This section, will focus on the amount and quality of involvement parents have and should have (according to teachers) in the learning process. Different perspectives will be reported. 4.3.1 Pupils About 62% of pupils reported that their parents did not attend their instrumental lessons. According to 59.5% of pupils, parents tended to praise all the time, 35.7% praised only sometimes, while 4.8% complained that parents rarely praise them.
Gr aph 11
When asked what they thought were the reasons behind their parents’ praise, 30% did not know what they could be, 20% understood parental praising as related with their effort, while 13.3% said that praising was given to motivate them. However, as becomes clear in the graph below, pupils attributed parental praising to a broader range of reasons.
60
I don't know
30 Praise my effort
25
To motivate me
20
Because I play well They are happy/proud
15
Because they like me When I do good things
10
When I have good marks They don't want to be negative
5
Because they are upset
0
Percent
To make me feel well
Gr aph 12
Summary • According to pupils, parents did not usually attend to their instrumental lessons • According to children, parents tended to praise them, but the majority of them was unable to explain the reasons why • Children tended to attribute parental praising to effort and motivation 4.3.2 Parents Parents broadly agree (97.6%) they should be involved in musical learning. In terms of how parents should be involved in the learning process, 71.4% of respondents believed that their involvement should be expressed mainly by ensuring that their children do practice. Additionally, as expressed in the graph below, respondents consider relevant other forms of involvement: listening at home, assuring regular attendance to musical lessons, attending all public performances, asking feedback from teachers, and showing interest in music.
61
Assuring children's practice
80
Listening at home
70 Assuring regular attendance to musical classes
60 50
Attend all public performances
40
Feedback from teachers
30
Show interest in music
20
Play with children at home
10
Attending child's instrumental classes
0
Promote small home presentations
Gr aph 13
Practice - Comparing the two groups of parents, MP and NMP, both gave importance to ensuring that their children do practice at home, however, this was highly important to MP (87.5%). However, further differences were also found. On one side 50% of MP believed that their involvement should include playing along with their children at home, on the other side, 57.7% of NMP parents their involvement should be centred on paying attention, and listening to their children practicing. MP also appeared to give more importance to regular attendance to musical lessons than NMP, while NMP appeared to give more importance to attending their child’s public performance than MP.
Parental Involvment Pattern
Musician
Non-Musician
Play with children at home
50.0%
3.8%
Assure that children practice
87.5%
61.5%
Attend all the public performances
31.3%
42.3%
Listen at home
18.8%
57.7%
Assure regular attendance to music lessons
56.3%
30.8%
Table 12
Instrumental Lessons - Another feature of parental involvement was related to attending children’s instrumental lessons, and on this topic, parents did not give not a clear
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pattern. The percentage of respondents that claimed to regularly attend their child’s instrumental lessons was of 48.8%. The parents that attend their child’s instrumental lessons were mainly MP.
Do you usually attend your child's lessons?
Musician
Non-Musician
yes
58.8%
42.3%
no
41.2%
57.7%
Table 13
Feedback - Parents’ involvement can also be measured by the amount and quality of feedback given to children. 95.3% of parents believed that praise had an important role on motivation. Actually, parents reported that they actually praised their children, 55.8% of them all the time, and 44.2% only sometimes (compare with section 4.3.1). 52.4% of parents who praised always tended to focus on their child’s effort, while 19% had both the raising of self-esteem and motivation as goal.
Gr aph 14
Parents that did not praise all the time tended to focus their attention on their child’s results (56.5%), whether it may be a good performance (26.1%), technical or musical improvement (8.7%), or other good results (21.7%) like good practice or memorization achievement. Some parents did not praise all the time because they tended to believe that, praise should only be given when children deserve (21.6%), and praise given to undeserved children was not beneficial (17.4%).
63
Gr aph 15
Parents also confirmed that some of their attitudes might produce negative effects on children’s motivation. 58.1% of parents believed that ‘to be excessively critical’ and 48.8% that ‘to discourage’, produced the most negative impact on their children’s motivation. Additionally, 34.9% of parents assume that ‘making their children fulfil their ambitions’ might jeopardize children’s motivation. There was no significant difference in relation to MP and NMP except in two of the six negative attitudes measured. First, ‘being too demanding’, was negative to only 5.9% of MP in contrast with the 42.3% of NMP. Finally, MP found the ‘attribution of unrealistic expectations’ more negative than NMP.
Made him study Being excessively critic Discourage them Unrealistic expectations Make them fulfil our ambitions
Musician 11.8% 58.8% 58.8% 29.4% 35.3%
Non-Musician 15.4% 57.7% 42.3% 19.2% 34.6%
Table 14
Summary • Parents agreed that they should involve in the learning process, although the type of involvement may vary according to their musical background • Independently of their musical background, parents believed that their main responsibility was to assure that their children practice enough • Half of Parents did not attend to instrumental lessons, most of them were NMP 64
• In praising, we can define two different groups of parents: 1. Those who praised children’s effort guided by the development of self-esteem and motivation and; 2. Those who praised children’s results guided by a negative feeling about the real effects of their praise 4.3.3 Teachers Teachers were asked if, in their opinion, parents should be involved in the learning process, and all the respondents agreed. According to 61.4% of teachers, parents should ensure that their children practice every week. Teachers also agreed that parents’ involvement should be in the form of: 1. attending pupils’ public performances (54.5% of cases), 2. taking their children to recitals and concerts of professional musicians (47.7% of cases), and 3. listening to their children’s practice at home (45.5% of cases). Assure that children practice Attend all the public performances Attending recitals and concerts Listen to children's practice at home Assure regular attendance to music lessons Asking feedback from teachers Attending (parents) music lessons Show interest in music Promote small home presentations Play with children at home
% of Cases 61.4% 54.5% 47.7% 45.5% 38.6% 34.1% 15.9% 25.0% 20.5% 4.5%
Table 15
Having parents attending lessons was not considered to be especially relevant by 84.1% of teachers.
Summary • All teachers agreed that parents should be involved in the learning process • Teachers believed that parental involvement is crucial in assuring that pupils make the necessary practice every week • Teachers did not consider a relevant form of involvement having parents attending to instrumental lessons
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4.4 Teaching Styles In this section, teachers’ attitudes to instrumental teaching and teaching styles were measured in order to represent their teaching profile. 4.4.1 Teachers No significant differences were found between the two groups (PT and NPT) with respect to their teaching profile, which may suggest that teachers’ teaching profile may not be affected by their performative profile.
4.4.1.1 Teaching Profile Teaching profile will be explored by looking at: 1. Attitudes to teaching; 2. Teaching styles; 3. Considerations about Pupils’ Practice and; 4. Self-Assessment as Teacher.
a) Attitude to Teaching About 75% of teachers said that teaching music was their favourite activity, while 11.5% would, if possible, substitutes their teaching for another activity. However, among the 75% who liked teaching, only 27.3% showed full agreement with statement. 97.7% of teachers referred having fun whilst teaching music. However, as referred earlier in section 4.1.1.1, PT tended to prefer give public performances to teaching music and NPT tended to prefer the other way around. Moreover, 95.5% of teachers continued to think of pupils outside of their work.
b) Teaching Styles All teachers claimed that they carefully picked exercises and pieces that were more adequate to their pupils’ individual needs, and 95.5% of them gave their pupils homework every week. Furthermore, 95.5% of teachers referred to playing along with their pupils in lessons, while only 2.3% assumed not playing the instrument while teaching, using instead their voice in their teaching practice. Motivation was a key subject for all respondents, all admitting doing their best to keep their pupils motivated.
66
Parental attendance to musical lessons divided respondents, 40.5% of them answering negatively, and 38.1% positively. There was also an unusual percentage of respondents choosing ‘No opinion’ to this question, 21.4%. (see section 4.3.3) Approximately 95% of teachers said they usually praised their pupils for every step through, despite the difference in the levels of intensity their responses revealed (agree, 11.4%; much agree, 38.6%; and totally agree, 45.5%). Finally, 93.2% of teachers believed to be important for their pupils to watch them playing and performing.
c) Considerations about Pupils’ Practice Around 89% of teachers reported that their pupils practiced less than needed. More, 74.4% of teachers complained that their pupils usually deceived them, practicing less than they expected, and only 9.3% were happy with the amount of practice their pupils did. This was an important subject to teachers, because 93% believed that the amount of practice and a faster development were correlated.
d) Self-Assessment as Teacher About 79.5% of respondents rated themselves as good teachers, although clearly many of them avoided giving total agreement (agree, 18.2%; much agree, 45.5%; totally agree, 15.9%). Inversely, only 4.5% of teachers rated themselves as bad teachers, although the responses revealed low degree of intensity. Additionally, 97.7% of teachers believed that their pupils’ had good impression and positive feelings about them and felt cherished by heir pupils. 4.4.2 Pupils Almost 48% of pupils said that their teacher always praised them, 38.1% said that this happened sometimes, while 14.3% felt that only in rare occasions were praised by their teachers.
Gr aph 16
67
Summary • Teachers’ teaching profile was not affected by their performative profile • [Teaching profile] Attitude to Teaching: teachers liked teaching, had fun teaching music, and kept thinking about their pupils away from lessons. • [Teaching profile] Teaching styles: Teachers revealed similar teaching styles in selecting repertoire for their pupils, prescribing homework regularly, singing, giving motivation a big importance, praising, and playing for their pupils. Teachers were divided about the importance of having parents attending their lessons. • [Teaching profile] Considerations about pupils’ practice: Teachers thought their pupils practiced less than they needed, practiced less than they expect, and believed there might exist a positive correlation between the amount of practice and the speed of pupils’ development. • [Teaching profile] Self-Assessment as teacher: Respondents shared a common view as good teachers, and believed their pupils cherished them • Most pupils seemed to be happy with their teachers’ praising pattern 4.5 Pupils’ attitudes to music learning This section will report pupils’ attitudes to instrumental lessons and instrumental teacher. 4.5.1 Instrumental Lessons All respondents reported liking their instrumental lessons. The main reasons given were: 1. Because musical learning is fun (40%), 2. Because I am attached/committed to music (40%) 3. Because I learn a lot (35.7%) 4. Because I like my teacher (21.4%)
Quitting - From this sample, only 35.7% of pupils had already thought about quitting music learning. No pattern could not be found amongst the reasons given for giving up. Some of the reasons reported were ‘I don’t have time to myself’, ‘at that time I felt insecure’, ‘when my mother pressures me to practice another extra hour’, ‘I didn’t like the teacher I had’, ‘I think I’m not good enough’, or ‘I’m learning for so long!’.
68
Boys seemed to be more prone to reveal this tendency. The linear association between these two variables (gender and quit intentions) was low and positive [Spearman’s rho = -0.321, sig = 0.038], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0,05. The tendency to quit seemed also to increase with age. The linear association between these two variables (age and quit intentions) was moderate and negative [Spearman’s rho = -0.381, sig = 0.013], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. Pupils that like practice seem to have lesser tendency to quit learning. The linear association between these two variables (like/dislike practice and quit intentions) was moderate and negative [Spearman’s rho = -0.436, sig = 0.004], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. LikePract
pUeviG
R Sq Linear = 0,1
1,8
1,5
1,2
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
Gr aph 17
4.5.2 Instrumental Teacher Almost 98% of pupils commented that they liked their instrumental teacher. About 64% of pupils appreciated the quality of teaching most and 57% their personality trait (it was referred as being funny, nice, and cool). However, when asked if they would like try another teacher, almost 60% of pupils responded yes.
Summary • All pupils liked their music lessons, although by different reasons: fun and commitment to music were the most referred • The majority of pupils had never though about quitting music
69
• Those who had that thoughts tended to be boys, older pupils, and pupils that tended to not like to practice • Pupils tended to like their instrumental teacher, especially if their teacher was funny, nice and was perceived as teaching well • Most pupils, however, would like to try and have music lessons with other music teachers 4.6 Parental attitudes to music learning This section will report parents’ beliefs and attitudes to musical education, to children’s musical potential, and to specialist music schools. 4.6.1 Music Education Parents’ reasons to choose music learning in a specialist school were assembled into 3 sections: 1. personal reasons, 2. beliefs about the power of music, and 3. children’s needs.
4.6.1.1 Personal Reasons Parents’ love for music and for arts were the main reasons (to 79.1% and 86% of respondents respectively) to choose specialist music education. Parents also made clear that their choice was not related with any desire to their children to become professional musicians, nor the reason was that they expected their child to be famous. The main reason was clearly to ‘give their children an opportunity to learn music’. According to respondents, the advice of friends and relatives was not influential to the decision to give their children an opportunity to learn music in a specialist music school.
4.6.1.2 Beliefs about the power of Music About 90% of parents believed that music learning could be a positive influence to the learning of other non-musical subjects. However, they did not share a consensual point of view about which influences music could have on children’s traits and behaviour.
70
4.6.1.3 Children’s Needs Parents gave no clear answer about the motive to learn music. About 47% of MP affirmed that they followed their child’s will to learn music (while only 11.8% disagreed), However, NMP revealed a less clear pattern: 34.6% of them preferred making the choice on behalf of their children, while 30.8% claimed having followed their children’s wishes.
Summary • Parents sent their children to a specialist music school mainly because of their love for music and artistic proneness • Parents rejected the reason to choose a specialist school as being related to a personal desire to see their children as professional musicians • Parents believed that musical learning could exert a positive influence to improve on non-musical subjects • Parents did not agree about the power of musical learning to change personality traits and influence behaviour • MP tended to wait for a clear manifestation of interest in music learning, while NMP seemed to go ahead deciding to choose musical learning for their children independently of any manifestation of interest 4.6.2 Perceived Musical Potential and Career Progression
Career choice – The answers given when parents were asked about their feelings to the possibility of a musical career to their children, hit the higher average percentage of ‘No opinion’ or ‘No comments’ answers of the whole questionnaire: 48.1%. However, among those giving their opinion, results revealed that 32.6% believed it was not yet the appropriate stage to make decisions about their children’s professional career. Parents agreed almost straightforwardly (95.4%) that it would be their children to make the decision about what career they wanted to pursue.
Professional career in music – Still, parents (46.5%) tended to believe that a professional career in music was not financially rewarding. Approximately 35% of MP wanted their children not to become professional musicians, while 17.6% considered music to be the professional future for their children. NMP revealed no clear tendency, with the answers being evenly divided. However, MP 71
(64.7%) were open to their children pursuing a musical career, if their children demonstrated an exceptional musical aptitude. Yet, of those MP who did not want their children to be professional musicians (35.3%) still wanted their children to learn music having the prospect of a musical career in mind. NMP had divided opinions with 30.8% of them clearly wanting their children to learn music without having in mind the prospect of a musical career.
Believed musical potential - In order to obtain a parents view of their children’s potential, a 10-steps scale was developed, which included sentences that were simultaneously measurable goals ordered in a progressive way in terms of musical value, and descriptive expectations for their children’s musical development. However, there was a need to reset the scale into a 8-steps, since confusion arose among some parents, understanding the steps 7/8 and 9/10 of the scale as ‘optional’, and relating them in terms of progression.
Figur e 22
Thus, 63.4% of parents believed their children to have the potential to finish a higher education in music and be ready to play as professional musician either as soloist or as chamber group/orchestra player. The second major group with 24.4% of respondents believed their children to have the potential to finish a secondary school of music and be ready to pursue higher education in music, in either a teacher or performative path. The smaller group, with 4.9% of respondents (all MP), saw their children only finishing the secondary school music without outstanding marks.
Summary • Parents believed that infancy was too early to make a choice for a professional career in music
72
• MP did not want their children to be professional musicians, unless they showed signs of extraordinary potential and aptitude to music learning • NMP assumed that they did not have a musical career in mind for their children, despite their choice of a specialist music school for them • A musical career seemed not to be appealing for parents for many reasons, including the fact that it was not financially appealing • Most parents, independently of their musical background, shared high musical expectations for their children. However, the group of respondents sharing the lowest expectations for their children were all MP 4.6.3 School Almost all parents were satisfied with the choice of a specialist music school for their children. The main reason was the quality of teaching.
Percent Quality of Teaching
45.2%
Personal Development
16.7%
Adequate to our Professional Options
16.7%
Good Musical Environment
14.3%
No Answer
9.5%
Musical Development
9.5%
Table 16
Comparing MP and NMP’s responses, we found that the quality of teaching was a most relevant factor to MP. For NMP, the main factors were the impact that musical learning in specialist music education have to their children’s personal development along with the quality of teaching.
Summary • MP were satisfied with the choice for a specialist music school, especially because of the quality of teaching provided • NMP also gave big importance to the impact of musical learning had to their children’s personal development 4.7 Practice This section will report pupils and parents’ patterns and attitudes to practice.
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4.7.1 Pupils This section will report pupils’ amount and attitude to practice, and practice pattern.
4.7.1.1 Amount of Practice A little more than 76% of pupils claimed to do a lot of practice at home. No relevant gender differences were found. From those who undertook a great amount of practice, 38.7% of them practiced because they believed it to be linked to the improvement of skill and knowledge, while 32.3% did it because they derived personal satisfaction from music and from their instrument. A third group, with 22.6% of respondents, believed in the existence of a correlation between the amount of practice and the quality of events (positive or negative) that could occur during the following lesson. The final group (19.4%) felt that practice was an obligation, and what parents and teacher expected from them. Additionally, some anecdotal reasons were given for example: ‘because teacher says so!’, or ‘because last year I had bad results due to low amount of practice’. % of Cases To improve skill/knowledge
38.7%
Personal satisfaction with music
32.3%
To become ready to the class
22.6%
I need/have to
19.4%
Table 17
Those who reported not doing a large amount of practice gave such varied reasons that no pattern was discernible in the responses. However, some of the reasons given were: ‘because I have other things to do’, ‘because I arrive home late and do not have much time to practice’, or ‘because school’s homework comes first’.
4.7.1.2 Attitude to Practice About 78% of pupils claimed to enjoy practicing. The two main reasons given were i) because pupils derived personal satisfaction from it (65.5%), whether it might be by enjoying the sound or simply by the fun of playing and ii), because (again) practice was seen as a mean to develop musical skills and musical knowledge (48.3%).
74
Percent Derive personal satisfaction To improve skill/knowledge
65.5% 48.3%
To please my teacher It is needed
6.9% 6.9%
Table 18
Those who reported not liking practice gave the following reasons: ‘because it’s boring’, ‘because I loose too much time’, ‘because I do not like to over-repeat sections’, or ‘because it is exhausting’.
4.7.1.3 Practice Prompt About 47.6% of pupils (most of them girls – 56.5%) started their practice because their parents tell them to go. Inversely, about 33.3% of pupils seemed to have developed a self-motivation to practice, and almost half the males demonstrated this attitude. Pupils that had positive feelings to practice were prone to practice more. The linear association between these two variables (feelings to practice and amount of practice) was moderate and positive [Spearman’s rho = 0.408, sig = 0.008], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. 1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
Gr aph 18
4.7.1.4 Practice Pattern Pupils were asked about what they usually did while practicing. Responses showed that pupils tended to share holistic routines, mixing formal with informal practice.
75
All pupils referred to playing scales, exercises, well-known pieces and improvising. Almost 93% mentioned practicing new pieces, and only 28.6% referred to playing music by ear. There were no significant differences between boys and girls. Metacognition - Pupils’ answers revealed that, in general, they seemed to have developed the ability to know when they had practiced enough. Only 21.4% affirmed to not knowing this, or needing their parents’ help on this. Exactly 50% of pupils that knew when to stop practicing said that the cue to stop was playing correctly with no mistakes. For 14.3%, the cue was to detect some improvement, and for 4.8% when they could play the piece by heart. Only 7% measured their amount of practice by the clock. The details of some answers given revealed high levels of metacognition: ‘When I have got the fingers right and my vibrato controlled’, ‘When I play with no hesitation’, ‘When I play at the right speed’, or ‘When I play correctly several times’.
When I play correctly/the music is good
Percent 50.0
When I see improvement I don't know I ask my mother I look to the clock When I can play by heart When I cannot play better
14.3 11,9 9.5 7.1 4.8 2.4
Table 19
Summary • Pupils claimed to do a great amount of practice at home, and to actually enjoyed it • Pupils tended to practice mainly because they believed practice would help them develop skills and knowledge, and because they derived personal satisfaction from music and from playing their instrument • The satisfaction derived from practice was due to the personal satisfaction derived from music and from playing their instrument, and to the observed development of skill and knowledge • Pupils (mainly girls) tended to start practicing particularly when called by their parents
76
• Pupils with positive feelings to practice tended to be more likely to practice more • Pupils mixed formal with informal practice activities • Pupils developed the ability to know when they had enough practice, revealing high levels of metacognition • Most pupils knew they practiced enough when they made no mistakes or play correctly 4.7.2 Parents This section will report parents’ attitude to practice, and practice pattern.
4.7.2.1 Attitude to Practice Almost 71.4% of parents (from which 87.5% were MP) believed that their main responsibility in the learning process was to ensure that their children did enough practice. Parents’ attitudes to practice may be clearly described in the following parental profiles: Negative Attitude to Practice – (41.7% of parents) • Believed to play a vital role in the learning process, and tended to be a bit controlling; making sure everything was done as they intended. • Additionally, although they claimed to praise often, seemed never to feel completely satisfied with their children’s performance, and complained about the need to always remember their children to go practice. Positive Attitude to Practice – (55.6% of parents) • Tried to promote self-regulated children and made relevant interventions only when necessary, usually to re-organize their practice. • Shared good levels of confidence on their children, tended to be usually satisfied with their children’s overall performance, and only sometimes or even rarely, they needed to remember their children to go practice. However, seemed to be a little bit reluctant about praising and concerned about the impact it might have.
4.7.2.2 Practice Pattern What parents usually do when their children are practicing?
77
Almost 71% of parents reported sitting next to their children, while 21.4% listened to their children’s practice while elsewhere in the house, and 9.5% left their children alone during practice time. Sitting next to their children was a very consistent pattern especially within 80.8% of NMP, which was also the group that praised more frequently. Additionally, 47.6% of parents tended to ‘warn and interrupt when they caught a mistake’. This was more usual among MP. % of Cases Sit next to him/her Stop him/her when I listen a mistake Time spent practising I try to not interfere in his/her practice Playing along Singing along Just listen away Leave him/her alone in the bedroom I do nothing
71.4% 47.6% 38.1% 33.3% 31.0% 26.2% 21.4% 9.5% 4.8%
Table 20
More, MP tended to use their skills, singing (50%) and playing along (62.5%) with their children in their practice time. Inversely, NMP (53.8%) tended to pay more attention to the amount of time their children spend practicing (against 12.5% of MP), and 42.3% of them believed they should not interfere with children’s practice (against 18.8% of MP).
Singing along Playing along I do nothing Time spent practising Sit next to him/her Just listen away Stop him/her when I listen a mistake Leave him/her alone in the bedroom I try to not interfere with his/her practice
Musician 50.0% 62.5% 6.3% 12.5% 56.3% 18.8%
Non Musician 11.5% 11.5% 3.8% 53.8% 80.8% 23.1%
68.8%
34.6%
6.3%
11.5%
18.8%
42.3%
Table 21
Summary • Parents with Negative Attitude to Practice: believed they had a significant role in the learning process; were controlling and made sure everything was done
78
as they want, and seemed not to feel completely satisfied with their children’s performance • Parents with Positive Attitude to Practice: tried to promote self-regulation and made relevant interventions only when necessary. Shared good levels of confidence on their children and tended to be satisfied with their children’s overall performance • More than 70% of parents sat next to their children during their practice • MP tended to use their skills while their children practice, singing and playing along with their children 4.8 Per formance This is the central section of this chapter, where facts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes to performance of pupils, parents and teachers will be reported. 4.8.1 Pupils This section will report pupils’ facts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes to performance.
4.8.1.1 Facts Pupils played in public on average 3.43 times every year. This means that on average they played just once per term, leaving pupils with approximately a 3 months gap between each performance.
Number of Public Performances/year 3 4 2 More than 5 5 1
Percent 40.0 27.5 12.5 7.5 7.5 5.0
Table 22
Almost 55% of pupils reported that they would like to play more often. Most of them (40%) already played more than 3 times every year. Inversely, only 9.1% of those who play less than 3 times/year wanted to play more often. No relevant differences were found between boys and girls.
79
Gr aph 19
52.4% of pupils wanted more performative experiences because they were felt to be ‘positive’, as fun events, without a negative emotional charge. More than 38% of pupils believed that public performances ‘helped them to improve’, to ‘feel more comfortable and confident’, to ‘cope with stress’, to ‘become courageous’. Almost 24% said that the reason to play more times in public was that they liked to be under the spotlights. % of Cases Performance is fun More PP's help them improve Like to be under the spotlights Opportunities to evaluate their development More diversified performative experience Other
52.4% 38.1% 23.8% 9.5% 9.5% 9.5%
Table 23
The pupils who did not want to play often in public justified their feelings with three main reasons: Because they were shy (31.6%), because they were afraid to fail (31.6%), and because they usually got nervous (15.8%).
% of Cases Shyness Affraid to fail Get Nervous Already played enough times Don't like it Previous bad experiences Other
31.6% 31.6% 15.8% 10.5% 10.5% 10.5% 10.5%
Table 24
80
Summary • Pupils in general, played more than 3 PP 2 each year, one by term • Pupils that played more than 3 times/year appeared to want to play more times, while those that play less than 2 times/year seemed to avoid it. • Most pupils would like to play more often because: 1. They had positive feelings towards PP, 2. They believed that the increasing the number of public performances would help them to improve, in particular in emotional terms
4.8.1.2 General Feelings Almost 83% of pupils claimed to have fun when they play in public. After public performances, pupils said they felt relief (47.6%) and happiness (28.6%). About 90% of pupils explained that they felt relief after a PP because they sensed the pressure and were very nervous before the PP. Pupils that felt happy after performance revealed a generalized strong sense of self-confidence. Two groups emerge from the collected answers: • Comfortable at Performance (CAP) – referring to those pupils that felt comfortable playing in public (33.3%), and • Uncomfortable at Performance (UAP) – referring to those pupils that felt discomfort prior to PP and relief when it is over (61.5%). These two groups differ in many respects. After comparing the number of public performances done each year by respondents of those two groups, we may extrapolate that the number of PP may affect pupils’ degree of comfort playing in public. Firstly, none of the pupils that played one or twice per year felt comfortable with performance. Second, because the percentage of pupils within UAP group diminished as the number of performative experiences increased, suggesting that pupils felt increasingly more comfortable at performance, as they play more often.
2
Public Performance
81
Number of public performances
1 2 3 4 5 More than 5
Comfort 0% 0% 41.7% 33.3% 8.3% 16.7%
Discomfort 8.3% 20.8% 41.7% 16.7% 8.3% 4.2%
Table 25
Additionally, pupils who would like to play more often tended to feel comfortable at performance. The linear association between these two variables (number of public performances and degree of comfort playing in public) was moderate and positive [Spearman’s rho = 0.471, sig = 0.002], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. Finally, the level of comfort felt by pupils playing in public increased with age. The linear association between these two variables (age and degree of comfort playing in public) was moderate and negative [Spearman’s rho = -0.360, sig = 0.025], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05.
Summary • The number of times pupils play in public may affect pupils’ attitudes to public performances. More public performances reduced the discomfort of playing in public, and increased the will to play more often • The level of comfort felt pupils in public presentations might increase with age
4.8.1.3 Feelings after success Pupils were asked to reveal what kind of internal feedback they gave to themselves after a well succeed performance. The qualitative responses were analysed at three levels: • Self-Praise - After success, about 65% of pupils praised themselves in an intense manner. • Success Attributions - Pupils did not tend to attribute success to a particular cause, however, 7.5% of them reinforced the role of practice to obtain success, and 5% the role of effort. • Projection to the future - Pupils did not tend to think in terms of how a particular achievement affects them and their learning in the future. However,
82
17.5% tended to make future plans, and took motivational advantage from the goal achieved to establish new goals. Pupils who received low levels of praise from parents, tended to praise themselves more intensely after achieving important goals. The linear association between these two variables (parental praise and self-praise) was low and positive [Spearman’s rho = 0.393, sig = 0.012], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. Furthermore, pupils who attributed success in performance to effort, tended to start consciously thinking about the performance, and eventually changing their behaviour more than two weeks before the next performance. The linear association between these two variables (success attributions and mental anticipation of performance) was moderate and positive [Pearson’s rho = 0.430, sig = 0.006], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01.
Summary • After a successful performance, pupils tended to praise themselves intensely • Pupils whose parents showed low levels of praise, tended to praise themselves more intensely when they achieved important goals • Pupils who attributed success in performance to effort, tended to be mentally aware of the proximity of performance, aroused with the prospect of playing, and started to cope with fears and excessive anxiety more than two weeks before the day
4.8.1.4 Feelings after failure How do pupils react after negative experiences in performance? About 70% revealed that they focus on improving, 60% adopted a positive perspective trying to learn lessons from it, and 47.5% understood it as a sign to improve their practice. When asked about what could be the causes of failure in performance, pupils blamed nervousness as the main cause (75%), secondly the ‘lack of confidence’ (44.4%), and insufficient practice (only 22%).
83
% of Cases I get nervous I don't feel confident
75.0% 44.4%
I'm afraid to turn my teacher down
33.3%
I don't practice enough I don't like to play in public
22.2% 16.7%
I don't want to embarrass my parents
11.1%
Table 26
Pupils were asked to reveal the kind of internal feedback they gave to themselves after fail in performance. Their responses were analysed in two levels: attributions and selfpunishment: • Attributions - 96% of Pupils’ perceived failure as having an internal cause, and almost 70% believed that the cause of fail was controllable. They all seemed to know the cause behind failure, which in 89% of cases was attributed to insufficient practice. • Self-Punishment – 41.7% seemed not to be hard on themselves when they failed. However, 22.2% adopted a really aggressive self-discourse, saying things like ‘I’m so stupid’, ‘I’m awful’, ‘I curse me’, or ‘I really am a lousy violinist’. After failure in performance, about 73% of pupils seemed not to be afraid of playing again in public, mainly because they appeared to know how to avoid a new failure. Inversely, almost 27% of pupils reported being afraid of a new performance because they expected to make the same mistakes on stage. Several correlations were found between these four main variables (feelings after failure, failure attributions, level of self-punishment after failure, and projections for future performative experiences) and several other variables. Cor r elation 1 - variables: gender and ‘level of self-punishment’. The linear association between these two variables was low and negative [Spearman’s rho = -0.330, sig = 0.050], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. This means that boys tended to be more aggressive with themselves after failure in public performance than girls were. No significant correlation between gender and failure attributions was found.
84
Cor r elation 2 – variables: attributions to failure (internal/external) and the amount of practice. The linear association between these two variables was moderate and positive [Pearsons’s rho = 0.454, sig = 0.000], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. This means that the pupils that practiced more tended to attribute failure in public performances to internal causes. Cor r elation 3 - variables: ‘practice liking/disliking’ and ‘level of self-punishment after failing in performance’. The linear association between these two variables was moderate and positive [Spearman’s rho = 0.517, sig = 0.001], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. This means that those pupils enjoying practicing usually gave themselves little or no punishment at all after fail in public performance. Cor r elation 4 – variables: pupils’ attributions to failure (internal/external) and the number of public performances pupils do by year. The linear association between these two variables was moderate and positive [Pearsons’s rho = 0.457, sig = 0.022], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. This means that those pupils that played in public more often tended to attribute failure in performance more to internal causes. Cor r elation 5 – variables: gender and ‘not afraid to play in public after fail in performance’. The linear association between these two variables was moderate and negative [Pearsons’s rho = -0.422, sig = 0.032], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. This means that in comparison to boys, girls seemed to have stronger self-beliefs about their ability to change their mistakes for their next performance. Cor r elation 6 – variables: ‘like/dislike practice’ and ‘afraid to play again in public’. The linear association between these two variables was moderate and positive [Spearmans’s rho = 0.425, sig = 0.031], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. This means that pupils who reported enjoying their practice tended to have stronger self-beliefs about their ability to correct their faults in time for their next public performance. Cor r elation 7 – variables: ‘self-punishment degree after failure in PP’ and ‘afraid to play again in public’. The linear association was moderate and positive, [Spearmans’s 85
rho = 0.461, sig = 0.027], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. This means that pupils with stronger self-beliefs about their ability to correct their faults in time for their next public performance, tended not to punish themselves after failure in public performance.
Summary • After failure in public performances, pupils tended to focus their attention on improving, looking positively to failure, and on learning lessons from it • Pupils tended to blame nervousness as the main cause to fail in public performance. Insufficient practice was only the third cause referred by pupils • After failing in performance, pupils’ internal-feedback revealed they tended to perceive failure as having internal and controllable causes • Boys tended to reveal harder levels of self-punishment after failure in public performance than girls • Pupils that practiced more tended to see failure in public performance as having an internal cause • Pupils that affirmed to like practicing tended to give themselves softer or no punishment at all after failure • Pupils that played in public more often tended to attribute failure to internal causes • Girls seemed to have stronger self-beliefs about their ability to revert the odds the next time they have to play in public • Pupils that affirmed to like practice tended to have stronger self-beliefs about their ability to revert the odds the next time they have to play in public • Pupils with stronger self-beliefs about their ability to revert the odds the next time they have to play in public, tended not to punish themselves after failure in public performance
4.8.1.5 Mental Anticipation of Performance (MAP) This expression refers to the time they started to consciously think about the next performance, and eventually change their behaviour, arousal and humour. Pupils were asked how much time before the PP they started their MAP. Respondents’ tendency was to start their MAP less than a week before the performance day. Only about 7% of pupils expanded the time to more than two weeks before. 86
Among those pupils who blamed nervousness as the cause of failure in performance, almost 60% of them started their MAP just one week before, and about 40% of them, left just an interval of one day between the performance and the beginning of their MAP.
Gr aph 20
Pupils who blamed lack of confidence (62.5%) and lack of practice (87.5%) as the causes to fail, both tended to report a narrow pattern of MAP, starting just one week before or even less. Pupils spending larger amounts of time practicing tended to start their MAP earlier than pupils who did lesser amounts of practice. The linear association between these two variables (amount of practice and MAP) was moderate and negative [Spearman’s rho = -0.426, sig = 0.005], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01.
Summary • Pupils tended to start their MAP less than a week before the performance day • This appeared to be a particularly pattern between those who blamed ‘nervousness’ and ‘lack of practice’ as the causes behind failure in public performance • Pupils spending larger amounts of time practicing tended to start their MAP earlier than pupils that doing lesser amounts of practice
4.8.1.6 Attitudes Pupils were asked what they felt as the performance day approached, and based on the responses given, it was possible to group pupils according to three different attitudes:
87
• Negative Attitude (58%) – referring to those who generally described a systematic negative emotional state, having ‘afraid to fail’, or being ‘stressed’, ‘worried’, or ‘tense’. • Mixed Attitude (36.6%) – referring to those whose emotional state was constantly jumping from ‘nervous’ and ‘anxious’, to ‘happy’ and ‘exited’. • Positive Attitude (5%) – referring to those who generally described a systematic positive emotional state. Results showed that pupils with a positive emotional state during the days before a public performance tended to desire more performative activity, and that inversely, pupils with a negative attitude to performance tended to think they play in public enough times. The linear association between these two variables (emotional state before the performance and desire to play more often) was moderate and negative, [Spearman’s rho = -0.360, sig = 0.021], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. This suggests that: Role of Performance - About 95% of pupils agreed with the importance given in classical western music with the ability to play before an audience. The main reason for agreement was, ‘because performances help [me] to feel secure, confident, and give [me] the opportunity to control my anxiety’ (50%). Other reasons reported were: ‘because when I grew up and become a big musician I need to play before an audience’, and ‘big musicians play a lot of times’ (17.5%), ‘because performances help me to improve’ (15%), or ‘because one can show his/her competence as music player’ (12.5%). When asked if the western classical music could be learned without the need to develop performance skills, pupils divided their opinions evenly between yes (40%) and no (45%).
88
Gr aph 21
Summary • Pupils tended to show a systematic negative emotional state during the days before a public performance • Pupils with a positive emotional state during the days before a public performance tended to want to perform more often • Pupils with a positive emotional attitude to performance tended to feel more comfortable with it and vice-versa • Pupils agreed with the importance given, in classical western music, to the ability to play before an audience, mainly because public performances were understood as helping them to control anxiety and feel secure and confident 4.8.2 Parents This section will report parents’ facts, beliefs and attitudes to performance. Additionally it will report on the responses given after failure in performance, and parental understanding of pupils’ feelings.
4.8.2.1 Facts According to parents, their children play on average 4.39 times a year, which is significantly more (one public performance/year) than the 3.43 times/year reported by pupils.
89
Number of Public Performances/year 4
Percent 34.1
More than 5 3 5
26.8 22.0 14.6
1
2.4
Table 27
Parents tend to be regular attendants at their children’s public performances. A moderate and positive linear association was found, between the two variables (number of performances children do and the number of performances parents attend) [Spearman’s rho = 0.583, sig = 0.000], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. According to 32.5% of parents, children start their MAP one week before the performance day, and only 27.5% report an extended time (2 or more weeks before).
1 week 1 day More than 2 weeks 2 or 3 days 2 weeks
Percent 32.5 22.5 17.5 17.5 10.0
Table 28
The changes of behaviour noticed were mainly the increasing of anxiety (66.6%) and the increasing of practice time (44.3%). Parents reported more complex patterns of behaviour than pupils. About 20% of parents reported that their children became more nervous and increased their amount of practice simultaneously, and 10% reported that their children became more nervous, and simultaneously revealed more irritability and impatience. Percent Nervous+Practice More Nervous+Irritability Irritability/Lack of Patience Nervous+Practice More+Talk about PP Practice More/Talk about PP
20.0% 10.0% 6.7% 3.3% 3.3%
Table 29
90
Summary • Parents’ reported an higher number of performances made by their children than the number reported by teachers and pupils • Parents tended to be regular attendants to their children’s public performances • According to parents, children tended to become more anxious the week before the performance day and tended to increase practice during that period of time
4.8.2.2 Children’s Feelings According to parents, after failure in performance, their children tended to adopt a reactive attitude, trying to recover from setbacks and practicing more (62.8%).
Want to practice more Learn from failure Unhappy Insecure Disappointed Sad More motivated Want to give up
% of Cases 62.8% 44.2% 41.9% 41.9% 37.2% 30.2% 20.9% 18.6%
Table 30
According to parents the two main causes of failure in performance were: Inability to control anxiety (43%) and insufficient practice (41.8%). Anxiety
Percent 43.0%
Insuficient Practice Pressure Lack of Concentration Introverted
41.8% 7.6% 5.1% 2.5%
Table 31
NMP tend to restrict the causes to ‘anxiety’ and ‘insufficient practice’, but MP tend to make a more complex analysis, including pressure (from teachers or other sources) and lack of concentration as possible causes to fail. Causes to Fail
Musician Non-Musician
Insuficient Practice 37.5% 44.7%
Introverted 0% 4.3%
Pressure 15.6% 2.1%
Lack of Concentration 9.4% 2.1%
Uncontrolled anxiety 37.5% 46.8%
Table 32
91
Summary • According to parents, after failure in performance pupils wanted to practice more • According to parents, the two main causes to fail in performance were: Inability to control anxiety and insufficient practice • MP tend to make a more complex analysis of the causes behind failure in performance including pressure (from teachers or other sources) and lack of concentration as possible causes to fail
4.8.2.3 Attitudes This section will report parents’ attitudes to public performances.
4.8.2.3.1 Public Performances Video-Recording - Only 41.9% of parents video-recorded their child’s performance. The main reasons given were ‘to keep memories’ (77.7%) and ‘to let children see the performance from the outside’ (44.4%). No significant differences were reported between MP and NMP.
To keep Memories Let him/her see the performance from the outside To help children to improve their learning Watch children’s musical development To show people unable to attend the performance
Percent 77.7% 44.4% 27.7% 16.7% 16.7%
Table 33
Number of Public Performances - Approximately 88% of parents believed the number of public performances made by their children was adequate. Additionally, 65% of parents believed that the number of public performances influenced how motivated their children were. However, this was not a consensual belief between MP and NMP. MP tended to believe that the number of public performances influence the level of motivation of their children, while NMP tended not to link the increasing of motivation to the number of public performances. This conclusion was supported by the correlation found, low and positive, between the two variables [Pearson’s rho = 0.392, sig = 0.009], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01; and by the results using a
92
one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance), which found significance between the two variables [F [1,41] = 7.455, p = .009]. Impact to the Future - About 86% of parents believed that public performances could influence the way children projected their career as professional musicians. Ability Beliefs - Almost 91% of parents believed that they could prevent their children to fail in public performances. No significant differences were noticed between MP and NMP.
Gr aph 22
Public Performance in Western Tradition - About 92% of parents agreed with the importance given, in classical western music, to the ability to play before an audience. The reasons given to agree were mainly three: • ‘because music’s aim is to interact/communicate/share with others’ (36%), • ‘because performance raises children’s self-esteem and gives them the opportunity to learn how to control anxiety’ (36%), and • ‘because music is a performative art form’ (30.5%). Parents also reported a varied number of other reasons e.g. ‘because performance helps them to set goals’, ‘because performance will raise their motivation to practice more’, or ‘because music may contribute to the development of skills that may be useful for life’. When asked if the western classical music could be learned without the need to develop performance skills, 69% of parents stated no, while 11.9% believed it to be possible. No significant differences were reported between MP and NMP. The main reasons given to disagree were: • ‘because music involves communication with the audience, and it is important for children develop this skill’ (58.1%)
93
• ‘because music is a performative art form and performance helps pupils to develop performative skills’ (37.8%) • ‘because public performance is linked to motivation’ (20.6%) • ‘because performance in music may contribute to the development of skills also useful for life’ (17.2%) Overall, the main reason given by parents was ‘because music can be learned just to promote individual satisfaction’ (80%).
Summary • Parents tended to believe that the number of performances their children make was adequate for their age • Parents tended to believe that the number of public performances influenced how motivated their children were • Parents tended to believe that public performances can influence the way children project their career as professional musicians • Parents believed that they can prevent their children to fail in public performances • Parents tended to agree with the importance given, in classical western music, to the ability to play before an audience • According to the majority of parents, music could not be learned without the need to develop performance skills, mainly because there are communicative and performative skills that could not be learned other way
4.8.2.3.2 Evaluation of Performance Negative Situations - Parents were asked to evaluate hypothetic situations that could occur in public performances according to their degree of negativity (Question 29). These situations were assembled into 3 groups according to the degree of correlation found in the responses given: • Group 1, parents’ evaluation of different degrees of stops in performance (questions 29.1 – stop and is unable to proceed, 29.3 – stop and starts again from top, and 29.4 – stop and starts several times). The correlation between all these situations means that parents tended to evaluate any sort of stops in performance the same way.
94
Q29.1
Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N
Q29.4
Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N
Q29.3 .311(*)
Q29.4 .419(**)
.042 43
.005 43
. 660(**) .000
1
43
43
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table 34
• Group 2, parents’ evaluation of errors of different kinds (questions, 29.2 – keeps playing despite the errors, 29.8 – despite errors defeat his/her afraid to play in public, 29.9 – despite errors played expressively). The correlation between all these situations suggests that parents tended to evaluate any sort of errors made in performance in the same way. Q29.8 Q29.9 .471(**) . 661(**) .001 ,000 43 43 Q29.9 .733(**) 1 .000 43 43 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Q29.2
Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N
Table 35
• Group 3, parents’ evaluation of quality of performance (questions 29.5 – intonation affected by nervousness, 29.6 – unable to play by heart, and 29.7 – cannot play with the same quality presented in lessons). The correlation between all these situations means that parents tended to correlate intonation quality, ability to play by heart, and ability to reproduce the quality of performance presented at home, when they evaluate success or failure their pupils’ public performances. 29.6 29.5
Pearson Correlation
29.7
Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N
29.7
.655(**) .000 43
.552(**) .000 43
.598(**) .000
1
43 43 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table 36
95
The situations considered more negative by parents were: 1. Children stop and become unable to proceed – 60.5%, from which 32.6% considered the situation as highly negative 2. Children stop and restart several times – 58.1%, from which 20.9% considered the situation as highly negative The situations considered less negative by parents were: 1. Despite errors, children play expressively – 93%, from which 69.8% considered the situation not negative at all 2. Children do not stop playing despite the errors – 83.7%, from which 11.6% considered the situation not negative at all 3. Despite errors, children overcome their fear of performing in public – 81.4%, from which 60.5% considered the situation not negative at all 4. Children are unable to play with the quality presented at home – 60.5%, from which 25.6% considered the situation not negative at all 5. Children stop and restart once – 53.5%, from which 32.6% considered the situation not negative at all The responses to question 29 were also analysed using an One-way ANOVA. Effects were looked for in terms of parents’ musical background, number of performances made by their children, and no significance was found. Positive Situations - When asked to evaluate hypothetic situations that could occur in public performances according to their degree of positiveness (Question 32), all but two were evaluated by parents as clearly positive. The average percentage of agreement among these 6 hypothetical situations was of 85.2%, most of them confirming the pattern of response given in question 29. • 32.1 - Children stop and restart once • 32.2 - Children do not stop playing despite the errors • 32.3 - Your child’s performance exceeds your best expectations • 32.4 - Children are unable to play with the quality presented at home • 32.5 - Despite errors, children beat their afraid to perform in public • 32.6 - Despite errors, children feels pleasure while playing The only two performative situations rated less positively were:
96
1. In the end children feel satisfied, even after performing mainly out of tune (32.7) 2. In the end children feel satisfied, even after performing mainly out of tempo (32.8) There were no significant differences to report between the answers given by MP and NMP. The responses to question 32 were analysed using an One-way ANOVA. Effects were looked for in terms of parents’ musical background, number of performances made by their children, and no significance was found. Attitude to Failure in Performance - When asked about how they understood the failure of their children in performance, the general responses given were positive. Parents tended to understand failure as opportunities to learn and to improve, and as steps in the learning process. No significant differences were reported between the responses given by MP and NMP. Percent Opportunity to learn Opportunity to improve Learning step Sign to improve my teaching Low talent Weakness in performative skills
73.2% 65.9% 61.0% 14.6% 7.3% 2.4%
Table 37
Summary • According to parents only children’s stops in performance were seen as extremely negative • Parents tended to evaluate any sort of errors in performance in the same way • Parents tended to correlate ‘intonation quality’, ‘ability to play by heart’, and ‘ability to reproduce the quality of performance presented at home’, when they evaluated success or failure of their pupils’ public performances • Parents tended to find children’s inability to make correct judgements about the quality of their performance as highly negative • Parents tended to understand failures in performance as opportunities to learn and to improve, and as steps in the learning process
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4.8.2.4 Parental Responses After failure in public performance, parents tended to use ‘praising good things’, ‘talk to find the reasons for failure’, ‘discussing the positives and negatives’, and ‘talk to teacher’ as usual strategies. There were no significant differences reported between MP and NMP.
Praise the good things Talk to find reasons Talk positives/negatives Talk to teacher Review tape pos./neg. Talk about positive thinks Distract him/her Review tape positive Act indifferently
% of Cases 72.1% 65.1% 58.1% 55.8% 18.6% 11.6% 7.0% 4.7% 2.3%
Table 38
After success in public performance, the main strategy adopted by parents was praising their children. Praise him/her Talk pos/neg Take advantage of motivation Praise his/her teacher Talk positive Review tape pos/neg Control Enthusiasm Give him a reward Review tape positive
% of Cases 92.9% 54.8% 50.0% 50.0% 16.7% 16.7% 7.1% 7.1% 2.4%
Table 39
However, apart from use of praise, there were differences between MP and NMP’s strategies following success in performance. NMP tended to control the enthusiasm of their children, and to choose the discussion of positives and negatives as the main strategy whereas MP’s main strategy after praising was to take advantage of the motivational gain.
98
Talk positive Control Enthusiasm Review tape pos/neg Give him/her a reward Talk positives/negegatives Take advantage of motivation Review tape positive Praise him/her
Musician 7.1% 4.8% 2.4% 16.7% 28.6% 2.4% 38.1%
NonMusician 6.5% 4.8% 8.1% 3.2% 25.8% 14.5% 37.1%
Table 40
Summary • After failure parents tended to use ‘praising good things’, ‘talk to find the reasons to fail’, ‘discussing the positives and negatives’, and ‘talk to teacher’ as usual strategies • After success in public performance, parents tended to praise their children • NMP tended also discuss the positives and negatives, while MP preferred taking advantage of the motivational gain 4.8.3 Teachers This section will report teachers’ facts, beliefs and attitudes to performance. Additionally it will report their teaching styles, the responses they give after failure in performance, and their understanding of pupils’ feelings.
4.8.3.1 Facts According to teachers, their pupils played in public on average 3.53 times a year, leaving pupils with approximately 3 months gap between each performance.
Gr aph 23
99
Summary • Teachers report that their pupils play in public on average of 3.53 times a year
4.8.3.2 Teachers Attitudes Teachers’ attitudes will be analysed now according to two factors: number of public performances promoted and evaluation of performance.
4.8.3.2.1 Number of Public Performances About 71% of teachers believed that the number of public performances their pupils did was adequate to them, while almost 29% referred an opposite perspective. Differences between sub-groups (PT and NPT) arose when the number of PP, and their beliefs about the appropriate number of PP for their pupils were compared. About 66.7% of teachers that promoted only 3 PP for their pupils, this amount was adequate for pupils within 8 and 12 years-old. Exactly 11.1% of teachers that promoted only 2 PP for their pupils seemed to be agree this to be the appropriate number of PP for pupils within this age scope. Inversely, 50% of PT and 83.3% of NPT believed that 3 performances/year was not enough for their pupils, if they were learning music in a specialist music school. Two Groups PerfNonPer
Number of PP
2 3 4 5
Performer
Non-Performer
Enough PP
Enough PP
yes
no
yes
no
Col %
Col %
Col %
66.7%
50.0%
Col % 11.1% 38.9%
83.3%
16.7% 16.7%
33.3% 16.7%
33.3% 16.7%
16.7%
Table 41
When asked if teachers believed the number of public performances pupils did each year and their level of motivation to be correlated, 86% responded affirmatively, while only 14% thought this correlation does not exist. Additionally, teachers that believed that the number of public performances made each year affects pupils’ motivation tended to make their pupils play in public more often. This was supported by the linear association found, between the variables ‘number of
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public performances’ and ‘impact of the number of PP to motivation’, low and negative [Spearman’s rho = -0.357, sig = 0.020], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05. About 93.1% of teachers believed that there was a correlation between the ‘impact of the number of PP to motivation’ and the projection pupils make to themselves as future performers. The correlation was confirmed by the linear association between these two variables, moderate and positive [Pearsons’s rho = 0.471, sig = 0.005], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. The previous results were corroborated by the answers given to another question. When asked to refer the major benefits of performing many times in public, more than 84% of teachers reported increasing motivation and self-esteem as resulting effects.
Motivation and Self-esteem Ability to cope with stress Increasing of time spent practicing Reinforcement of parents' role in the learning process Increasing of diversity in repertoire
% of Cases 84.1% 70.5% 31,8% 11.4% 4.5%
Table 42
Summary • Teachers believed that the number of public performances their pupils did was sufficient • Teachers believed a correlation existed between the number of public performances pupils did each year and their level of motivation, self-esteem as well as to their ability to cope with stage fright • Teachers that believed that the number of public performances made each year affected pupils’ motivation tended to make them play in public more often
4.8.3.2.2 Evaluation of Performance Negative Situations - Teachers were asked to evaluate hypothetic situations that could occur in public performances according to their degree of negativity. These situations
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were assembled into 3 groups according to the degree of correlation found in the responses given: • Group 1, teachers’ evaluation of different degrees of stops in performance (questions 25.1 – stop and is unable to proceed, 25.3 – stop and starts again from top, and 25.4 – stop and starts several times). The correlation found between all these situations means that teachers tended to evaluate any sort of stops in performance in the same way. Q25.3 Q25.1
Pearson Correlation
Q25.4
Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation
Q25.4
.340(*) .024 44
.668(**) .000 44
.592(**)
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000 44 44 * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). N
Table 43
• Group 2, teachers’ evaluation of errors of different kinds (questions, 25.2 – keeps playing despite the errors, 25.9 – despite errors defeat his/her afraid to play in public, 25.10 – despite errors played expressively, 25.11 – unable to play a tempo, and 25.12 – unable to play in tune). The only significant correlation found was between responses given to questions 25.9 and 25.10, which seemed to mean that errors in performance were understood by teachers as less negative when pupils challenged and succeeded in tasks of higher significance (e.g. ability to cope with their afraid to play in public, or ability to play expressively) Q2510 Q259
Pearson Correlation
.774(**) .000 44 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Sig. (2-tailed) N
Table 44
• Group 3, teachers’ evaluation of quality of performance (questions 25.5 – intonation affected by nervousness, 25.6 – unable to play by heart, 25.7 – cannot play with the same quality presented in lessons, and 25.8 – performs what teachers ask, though not a perfect performance). The correlation found between all these situations means that teachers tended to correlate intonation
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quality, ability to play by heart, and ability to reproduce the quality of performance presented in lessons, when they evaluate success or failure their pupils’ public performances. Q255
Pearson Correlation
Q257
Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)
Q258
N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)
Q256 .670(**) .000 44
Q257 .542(**) .000 44
Q258 .421(**) .004 44
.707(**)
1
.354(*)
.000 44 .383(*)
44 .354(*)
.019 44 1
.010
.019
N
44 44 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
44
Table 45
When asked to evaluate hypothetic situations that could occur in public performances according to their degree of negativity, those considered more negative by teachers were: 1. Pupils stop and restart several times – 77.3%, from which 29.5% considered the situation as highly negative 2. Pupils start sweating a lot, and the intonation becoming worse – 75%, from which 25% considered the situation as highly negative 3. Pupils stop and become unable to proceed – 65.9%, from which 27% considered the situation as highly negative 4. Pupils are unable to play in tune during the major part of their performance – 63.6%, from which 34.1% considered the situation as highly negative The situations considered less negative by teachers were: 6. Despite errors, pupils overcame their fear of performance in public – 95.5, from which 63.6% considered the situation not negative at all 7. Despite errors, pupils play expressively – 95.5%, from which 52.3% did not consider the situation to be negative 8. Pupils play exactly what teachers asked, although not in a perfect manner – 93.2%, from which 54.5% considered the situation not negative at all 9. Pupils do not stop playing despite the errors – 77.3%, from which 38.6% considered the situation not negative at all
103
The responses to question 25 were also analysed using an One-way ANOVA. Effects were looked for in terms of teachers’ performative experience, teaching experience, number of recitals made, number of performances made by their pupils, and no significance was found. Positive Situations - When asked to evaluate hypothetic situations that could occur in public performances according to their degree of positiveness (Question 29), all but three were evaluated by teachers as positive. The average percentage of agreement among the following 9 hypothetical situations was of 90.5%, most of them confirming the pattern of response given in question 25: • 29.1 - Pupils stop and restart again, • 29.2 - Pupils do not stop playing despite the errors, • 29.3 - Pupils play exactly what teachers asked, • 29.4 – Pupils’ performance goes beyond your best expectations, • 29.6 – Pupils play exactly what you asked, although with worse results than in previous lessons, • 29.7 - Pupils play exactly what teachers asked, although not in a perfect manner, • 29.8 - Despite errors, pupils beat their afraid to perform in public, • 29.9 - Despite errors, pupils play expressively, • 29.10 - Despite errors, children feels pleasure while playing. The sole three performative situations rated negatively were: 1. In the end pupils feel satisfied, even after performing mainly out of tempo (29.11) 2. In the end pupils feel satisfied, even after performing mainly out of tune (29.12) 3. Pupils cannot release themselves from the score, playing by heart (29.5) There were no significant differences to report between the answers given by PT and NPT. The responses to question 29 were analysed using an One-way ANOVA. Effects were looked for in terms of teachers’ performative experience, teaching experience, number of performances made by their pupils, and no significance was found.
104
Attitude to failure in Performance - When asked about how they understood the failure of their pupils in performance, teachers tended to choose a positive approach, understanding failures as signs to improve their teaching, as opportunities to learn and to improve, and as steps in the learning process. No significant differences were reported between the responses given by PT and NPT.
Sign for my teaching Opportunity to improve Step in the learning process Opportunity to learn Weakness in performance skills Sign of no talent
% of Cases 88.6% 75.0% 61.4% 43.2% 6.8% 4.5%
Table 46
Summary • According to teachers, all sorts of stops, and persistent deficiencies in intonation within pupils’ performance were seen as extremely negative • According to teachers, errors in performance were not relevant when pupils challenged and succeeded in tasks of higher significance (like ability to cope with their afraid to play in public, or ability to play expressively) • Teachers tended to understand pupils’ failure in performance as a sign for them, to improve their teaching
4.8.3.3 Teachers Beliefs This section will report teachers’ beliefs regarding performance, performance anxiety, mental anticipation of performance, mental preparation, and the role of performance in the context of the western tradition.
4.8.3.3.1 Performance Causes to Fail - When asked about the possible causes of pupil failure in public performances, about 59% of teachers believed that it might be caused by a mixture of insufficient practice and uncontrolled anxiety.
105
Percent 59.1
InsuffPractice + Anxiety Insufficient Practice
15.9
Insuff Practice + Parental Pressure Introverted + Anxiety Insuff Practice + Introverted
11.4 4.5 4.5 2.3
Anxiety + Parental Pressure Introverted + Parental Pressure
2.3
Table 47
Insufficient practice was reported by 90.9% of teachers as the main cause, while a high level of anxiety was referred by 63.3%.
Insufficient Practice Uncontrolled anxiety Parental pressure Introverted
% of Cases 90.9% 63.6% 18.2% 11.4%
Table 48
Impact of Successful Performances – Almost all teachers believed that successful performances could give pupils extra-motivation to pursue their musical studies. However, teachers’ responses revealed different degrees of intensity. Ability Beliefs - When asked about the role teachers could play in preventing negative experiences and unsuccessful public performances, all respondents believed in the relevance of their intervention, although with different degrees of intensity. About 63,6% showed total agreement, 20,5% much agreement, and 13,6% moderate agreement. No opinion [5] Agree [6] Much agree [7] Totally agree
Percent 2.3% 13.6% 20.5% 63.6%
Table 49
PT tended to believe more intensely that they could prevent pupils from failure in performance, when compared to NPT. This was confirmed by the linear association between these two variables (PT/NPT and teachers’ role preventing failure), low and negative [Spearmans’s rho = -0.298, sig = 0.050], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.05.
106
Summary • Teachers tended to believe that a possible cause of success in public performances lay in the mixture of insufficient practice and uncontrolled anxiety • PT tended to agree more intensely that they could prevent pupils from failure in performance, when compared to NPT
4.8.3.3.2 Performance Anxiety A considerable percentage of teachers, 95.5%, believed that positive performative experiences might help pupils deal with stage fright. In addition, almost 57% of teachers believed that the ability to control stage fright was developed in a more efficacious way when pupils did public performances on a regular basis than by the fact that all performative experiences were successful. About 77% of teachers agreed that the narrower the mental anticipation of performance (MAP) greater the levels of anxiety in performance. A linear association (moderate and positive) was found between teachers beliefs about the repercussions of MAP ‘to the quality of performance and to the control of anxiety in performance’ [Spearman’s rho = 0.403, sig = 0.007], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. Another linear association (low and positive) was found between teachers beliefs about the repercussions of MAP to the amount of practice and to the ability to control anxiety in performance. [Kendall’s tau_b = 0.326, sig = 0.008], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. These correlations suggest that teachers tended to link MAP, amount of practice and ability to control anxiety as relevant predictors of successful performances.
Summary • Teachers believed that positive performative experiences might help pupils deal with stage fright • Teachers tended to believe that the ability to control stage fright was developed in a more efficacious way when pupils did public performances in a regular basis than by the fact that all performative experiences are successful
107
• According to teachers, quality in performance was inextricably related to the MAP, because of its impact to control anxiety • According to teachers, the ability to control anxiety was higher when pupils did large amounts of practice and started earlier their MAP
4.8.3.3.3 Mental Anticipation of Performance (MAP) According to 74.4% of teachers, pupils should start their MAP two or more weeks before the performance day. However, the reality was that, according to teachers, only about 60% of pupils start their MAP with this antecedence. In order to get a qualitative understanding of the relation between these two variables (expected MAP and real MAP according to teachers), results were analysed using a oneway ANOVA. The significance between both questions was found, (F [4,37] = 3.973, p = .009], which suggests that according to teachers, pupils tended to correspond to the amount of MAP teachers think was needed before playing in public.
Gr aph 24
When asked about their opinion on a possible correlation between the degree of MAP and the success of the performance, 54.5% of teachers believed that that correlation was plausible, believing that earlier MAP could contribute for successful performances. However, PT tended to consider, more than NPT, that earlier MAP played a more important role to success in performance. We came to this conclusion because we confirmed a linear association between these two variables (PT/NPT and possible correlation between the degree of MAP and the success of the performance) that was moderate and negative [Pearsons’s rho = -0.507, sig = 0.000], which is statistically significant with one error type I of 0.01. This correlation was reinforced by results using
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a one-way ANOVA, which corroborate the significance between both variables, (F [6,37] = 4.299, p = .002]. Almost 73% of teachers agreed that earlier the MAP greater the amount of practice. A correlation (moderate and positive) was found between MAP and the amount of practice [Pearsons’s rho = 0,685, sig = 0,000], which was statistically significant with one error type I of 0,01. This correlation double-checks teachers’ beliefs that earlier MAP had a direct repercussion to the amount of practice.
Summary • Teachers believed that pupils should start their MAP at least 2 weeks before • Teachers tended to believe that earlier MAP could contribute for successful performances • Teachers believed that earlier the MAP greater the amount of practice
4.8.3.3.4 Role of Performance About 80% of teachers agreed with the importance given in classical western music regarding the ability to play before an audience. 21.7% of NPT of respondents did not agree, however.
Performer Non Performer
Agree with the importance given to PP? Yes No It depends 88.2% 5,9% 5.9% 73.9% 21.7% 4.3%
Table 50
The reasons given to agree were mainly two: ‘because music is a performative art form’ (56%), and ‘because music’s aim is to interact/communicate/share with others’ (44%). Teachers reported also a diversity of other reasons to agree like ‘because performance develops pupils’ practical ability in music’, ‘because performance gives pupils an opportunity to show their development and raise their self-esteem’, or ‘because performance gives pupils an opportunity to control their anxiety’. The reasons given to disagree were far less consensual. Some of the different reasons were given were: • ‘because classical music become obsessed with perfection and left no room for individuality an development of a musical personality’,
109
• ‘because performance sometimes leads to displeasure, which is absolutely the opposite of what music should transmit’, • ‘because not all pupils will become professional musicians’, and • ‘because performance is the result of social and cultural rules’. When asked if the western classical music could be learned without the need to develop performance skills, 57.5% of teachers stated no, while 32.5% believed it to be possible. Almost 30% of PT did not exclude the scenario of musical learning without the development of performative skills. Percent No comments It depends
2.5
No
57.5 32.5
Yes
7.5
Table 51
The reasons reported to disagree were mainly four: • ‘because music is a performative art form, and pupils need to learn how to deal with public’ (52%) • ‘because performance provides a real test to musical development and skill acquisition’ (30.4%) • ‘because public performances are part of the learning process’ (21.7%) The main two reasons given in agreement were: ‘because music can be learned just to promote individual satisfaction’ (76.9%), and ‘because pupils’ main goal may not be to become a professional musician’ (69.2%).
Summary • Teachers tended to agree with the importance given to the ability to play in public, mainly because music was understood as a performative art form with a strong communicative role
4.8.3.4 Teaching Styles In order to prepare their pupils mentally for performance, teachers reported using three main strategies: First, to ask pupils to imagine themselves as being on stage (86.4%), second, ask pupils to play before classmates (84.1%) and, third, ask pupils to play without any sort of stops (75%).
110
% of Cases 86.4% 84.1%
Imagine playing on stage Play before classmates Play without stops Mental Training Simulate a public performance; record it in video; video analysis Open day for parents
75.0% 29.5% 27.3% 11.4%
Table 52
No significant differences were observed between the pattern of responses given by PT and NPT, except in one specific case, the video recording/analysis strategy, which was mainly adopted by NPT. After a failure in public performance, teachers preferred to do a little chat with pupils trying to find the reasons behind failure (91%), or reviewing positives and negatives (70%). Only 11% of teachers said to schedule another public performance in short time. After success in public performance, teachers tended to change their pattern of behaviour taking advantage of the motivational gain (82%), reviewing shortly the positives and negatives (77%), or refreshing the repertoire giving new pieces of music to learn (59%).
Summary • Teachers main strategies used to prepare their pupils mentally, were to imagine themselves as being on stage, ask pupils to play before classmates and, ask pupils to play without any sort of stops • After failure, teachers tended to chat with pupils trying to find the reasons behind it • After success, teachers tended to take advantage of the motivational gain
4.8.3.5 Children’s Feelings Teachers reported that after failure in performance, pupils tended to feel unhappiness (61.4%) and wanted to practice more (59.1%).
111
% of Cases Unhappy Want to practice more Insecure Disappointed Sad Learn from failure Want to give up More motivated
61.4% 59.1% 50.0% 45.5% 40.9% 34.1% 2.3% 2.3%
Table 53
Teachers were asked what changes they observed their pupils making as the performance day approached, and the most striking change of behaviour observed by 86.4% of teachers was the increasing of the amount of practice. Another relevant change was the increasing of nervousness (52.3%). There were no significant differences to report between the answers given by PT and NPT.
Practice More Nervousness Ask Questions Ask How Close in Time Play all the time Become Calm Do more Errors Give Excuses
% of Cases 86.4% 52.3% 45.5% 36.4% 34.1% 18.2% 15.9% 6.8%
Table 54
Summary • According to teachers, pupils tended to feel unhappy and wanted to increase their amount of practice following an unsuccessful performance • According to teachers, as the performance day approached, pupils tended to increase the amount of practice and to become more nervous
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Chapter Five
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION In this chapter I will analyze and discuss the results reported in the previous chapter. This study started searching for possible correlations between public performances and musical development among pupils between the age of 8 and 12 years-old. It was triggered by the hypothesis that the increasing amount of performative experiences might foster pupils’ performative skills and consequently their musical development. Changes were expected to find in pupils’ practice routines, ability to cope with nondesirable anxiety, and deeper musical development, in the sense that performative/stage skills would be developed further in addition to the usual development of motor, auditory and expressive skills. However, a deeper analysis of the results indicated that public performances might have a broader and deeper impact on children’s development that went far beyond the initial questions. The quantity and quality (positive/negative) of public performance experiences each child kept in their ‘performance experiences stack’ appeared to mould and contribute to the development of children’s self-identity in music or IIM (Hargreaves et al., 2003), and could determine the possible development of intrinsic motivation, changes in the preparation for performance and in the ability to cope with performance anxiety. These are highly significant aspects of musical development, which, as subsequent discussion will suggest, are not only closely related to the development of the necessary skills to become a skilled performer and musician. 5.1 Regularity in Per for mance This study suggested that our hypothesis regarding the positive impact on learning of regular activity in public performance was shared by teachers and parents. Teachers tended to believe in the positive impact regular performances could have to motivation and self-esteem (84.1%), and to pupils’ ability to cope with stage fright (70.5%). Parents, on their side, tended to believe that the number of public performances influenced their children by increasing their motivation (65%).
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In terms of the consistency of these feelings, the results suggested that, according to 44% of parents and 86.4% of teachers, children/pupils tended to increase the amount of time they practice between one day and one week before the actual performance date. In addition, the data suggested that pupils with fewer opportunities to play in public (two or less times each year) developed avoidance feelings towards public performance, while pupils who had more performative opportunities become keener of public performances. Furthermore, the data indicated a moderate and positive correlation between the number of performances and the levels of comfort/discomfort felt while playing in public, which suggest that pupils feel increasingly more comfortable with public performance. These results suggest one area of benefit to be gained from performing in public on a regular basis. Previous literature had provided some support for this. Hallam (2001) found that the amount of practice increased as examinations approached, which we can reasonably extend to another similar activities like public performances; Evans (Davidson, 2002) found that numerous performance opportunities helped to overcome potential presentation problems; and Davis & Pulman (2001) found that increasing the number of opportunities to perform helped pupils to develop performance/stage skills and to raise their performing standards. Although the results of this study and of the presented literature suggest the importance that performing in a regular basis can have to the amount of time pupils spend practicing and thei level of comfort pupils sense in performance, it might be questioned, though, the real impact of it to musical development (in terms of motor, expressive, auditory and reading skills). Some instrumental teachers might question also the problems arising from playing so frequently, which might leave little time between to learn new material, and consequently might promote slower technical development. It seems reasonable to believe that teachers need to find the right balance between the number of public performances and the time needed to learn new material and build up the necessary skills to develop musically. However, this might be an opportunity to discuss eventual changes to the structure of instrumental lessons or to the curriculum.
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5.2 Musical Identities Although the concept of self-identity is well established, the concept of Identity in Music defined as ‘the ways we see ourselves within the cultural domain of musical life itself’ is quite recent (Hargreaves et al., 2003:153). Our sense of identity in music, as skilled, talented (or not) musicians, music students, music teachers, performers, interpreters, listeners, instrumentalists (…), is at the heart of our musicianship, since it affects our choices, our goals, and our attitudes to music, learning, practice and performance. Some questions arise then: • How does this concept of Identity in Music (IIM) apply to the novice music learner context? • What is the relevance of performance experiences to the development of an IIM? • Do parents and teachers different reactions to success/failure of their children/pupils in public performance affect the development of their IIM? These questions will be discussed further in subsequent sections. 5.2.1 Impact of previous performative experiences to pupils’ IIM Pupils’ Identity in Music refers to the individual self-concept pupils develop as a ‘musician’. According to Lamont (2002), this concept is usually understood in the context of Western classical music as being attached to the ability to play a musical instrument, which leads us to understand the concept of ‘musician’ as inextricably linked to the concept of ‘performer’. We might say, however, that the concept of ‘musician’ as ‘performer’ is also true for other contexts and traditions, like Pop/Rock, Jazz, and World Music. Thus, to help pupils develop their IIM, in the Western classical tradition, educators need to reinforce the way pupils see themselves as performers. Additionally, it is important for music educators to note and to act on early because, as O’Neil (2002) found out, as the sense of self-identity becomes established, children and adolescents ‘become resistant to change and disconfirmation’ (p.79). Previous research suggests, in addition, that pupils’ performative experiences influence how they see themselves as performers (Hewitt, 2004), and that the number of positive experiences in music, where we may reasonably include performative experiences, help
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to develop their musical identity (Hallam, 2006). These conclusions seem to corroborate O’Neil’s concept of construction of the ‘self’, which feelings of consistency and continuity result from looking back on individual behaviours and experiences, searching for ‘patterns and repetitions that provides [one] with the impression of continuity and coherence’ (2002: 91)
5.2.1.1 Internal feedback after performance Data from this research suggests that 93.1% of the teachers surveyed, believed that there was a correlation between the regularity of public performances and the way pupils saw themselves as musicians, and therefore how they projected their future as performers. Similarly, 86% of parents believed that public performances could influence the way children projected their future career as professional musicians. In order to examine these beliefs further, pupils were asked to reveal which kind of internal feedback they gave themselves after successful and after a negative performances. Speaking first of feedback following a successful performance, about 65% of pupils praised themselves for the achievement in an intense manner. Examples were given such as ‘I made it!’, ‘Bravo!’, ‘Yes! Congratulations!’. Interestingly, 17.5% of pupils viewed public performances as part of a long-term plan. Examples of this type of response included ‘now I need to keep this level of success’, or ‘if I keep on playing this way I can go far’. This appears to illustrate the importance of successful public performances within their total learning process, and how the accumulation of several of these successful experiences may produce sufficient motivation, contributing to the development of the pupils’ musical identity, as Hallam suggested. Dealing with the experience failure, about 42% suggested feelings of moderate disappointment mixed with the projection of what to do to avoid similar situations in the future and expecting a positive end to the next chance. Example of this type of response were ‘I need to be more focused and less nervous’, ‘I have to improve my performance’, ‘Next time will be better’ or ‘I have to practice more’. However, 22% adopted an extremely hard and negative discourse: for example - ‘I’m awful’, ‘I really am a lousy violinist’ or ‘I was rubbish’. These results reinforce the suggestion that public performances have deep impact on the construction of an IIM. Failure in performance seems to have particularly negative effects when pupils have already long-term goals in music like follow a professional career or other similar ones.
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5.2.1.2 Attitude to Performance Previous research suggested that performing experiences might play a significant role ‘in shaping how performers saw themselves in terms of confidence, ability and effort in the immediate run-up to the next performance’ (Hewitt, 2004:50). However, these findings result of a sample of people aged between 18 and 37 years-old, which is quite different from the age-scope of this study, and is placed in a different stage within the music learning process. Consequently, these differences could make the results of Hewitt’s investigations not applicable to pupils of early ages and early musical development. Thus, in order to explore how pupils in this research saw themselves, participants were asked about their feelings about the next performance as it approached. Pupils revealed three different attitudes: • Negative attitude – systematic negative emotional state (stressed, worried, tense, having afraid to fail) (58% of pupils) • Mixed attitude – inconstant emotional state (nervous and happy, anxious and exited) (36% of pupils) • Positive attitude – systematic positive emotional state (5% of pupils) If we consider that the ability to perform is at the heart of the learning in specialist music schools, these results were not expected and suggest that teachers and schools might be failing their target. Furthermore, these results underline the need to discuss deeply the role of performance in instrumental learning and the inclusion of the acquisition of performance/stage skills in the Portuguese specialist music schools as part of the curriculum. In addition, results suggest that pupils with a systematic positive emotional state tended to desire play more times in public, reinforcing their identity in music as performers, while pupils with a systematic negative emotional state tended to believe they played enough times already, weakening their IIM as performers. 5.2.2 Role of Parents to the development of an Identity in Music Previous researchers (Mills, 2003; Davidson et al., 1997; Sloboda & Howe, 1994; Borthwick & Davidson, 2002) found that musician and non-musician parents behave
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differently and, in general, show different levels of involvement in the music learning process. This section will discuss the resulting data with respect to this finding.
5.2.2.1 Non-Musician v. Musician Parents Non-Musician Parents are described by Mills (2003) as, somehow, frustrated music learners, probably because they had no chance to learn to play an instrument as a child, although they greatly wished that they had. Davidson et al. (1997) refer to non-musician parents (non-performing musicians) as being more involved in children’s instrumental lessons. Sloboda & Howe (1994) described non-musician parents as ‘supportive but non-directive’ (p.164) and finally, Borthwick & Davidson (2002) observed that nonmusician parents ‘seemed to want to give to their children the opportunities they had missed in their own childhood’ (p.64). In this study, we found that non-musician parents (NMP) seemed to anticipate their children, when it came to deciding when to start learning music. The reasons might probably be the same given by Mills an Borthwick & Davidson; that is having no chance to learn a musical instrument as a child and so wanting to give their children the opportunities they had missed in their own childhood. Results seemed to confirm this possibility, showing that 53.8% of NMP had only chance to have few rudiments of music in second grade school. Some parents tried, however to learn music, 19.2% searched a private teacher, 3.8% studied in the conservatoire but dropped out before finishing it, and 7.6% tried to learn music by themselves; but apparently they stopped or dropped out at early stages. Parental anticipation with respect to start learning music might had noble causes, though it might have either some negative repercussions, like the children’s lack of appropriate motivation to learn music, and possibly the choice of the wrong instrument, which corresponds, most of the times, to the instrument parents would choose to themselves. Probably it would be wiser to stimulate their children to musical learning, and wait for signs of interest before start formal musical education. It also appeared to be the case of those non-musician parents understood that a musical career was not necessarily financially attractive, probably because in Portugal, careers in music with good prospects are rare, and most of the good places are no longer vacant. However, the reasons might also be from a different source. Traditionally, in Portugal, a
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career in music (as a teacher or performer) is not seen as having high status like careers in Law, Science, Management, Medicine or Architecture, where the public recognition is proportional to the monetary income. Results showed additionally that non-musician parents seemed to believe that their main responsibility was to ensure their children to practice enough, which seems to be in line with Sloboda & Howe’s conclusions (1994), and with the profile of someone who wants their children to fulfil the opportunities they missed. However, contradicting Davidson et al. (Davidson et al., 1997) findings, the results of this study revealed that non-musician parents do not attend regularly to instrumental lessons. This behaviour seemed to be learned from instrumental teachers, 84.1% of which assumed it was not relevant for parents to attend instrumental lessons. Interestingly, this study also revealed that non-musician parents tended to give more importance to regular attendance to public performances, when compared to musician parents. If we consider that most of them consider their children public presentation as an extension of themselves and a projection of what they desired to be doing, we can easily understand non-musician parents’ reasons to give public performances this sort of attention. Musician Parents are described by Sloboda & Howe (1994) as constantly measuring children’s accomplishments ‘in the light of known standards to be attained’, as being less exuberant with early learning achievements, and as imposing a ‘rather structured practice regime’ (p.165). Borthwick & Davidson (2002) additionally, describe musician-parents as ‘much more demanding of their children in the setting of goals for musical achievement’, and as wanting their children ‘to experience greater musical achievements than they attained themselves’ (p.65). In this study, it appeared that musician parents chose to wait for some sort of selfwillingness to learn music manifested by their children, as if they did not want to pressure them to start studying music. That is, the decision to start music lessons rested more with the pupil than with the parent. The reason to act this way seemed also to be related to the strong beliefs that musician parents have about talent (musicians in general shared this belief), and that in the absence of the right amount of talent it is not worthy to invest time and money. 119
Results also suggested a contradiction, in which musician parents tended to hope their children not to become professional musicians, although, oddly, they still wanted their children to learn music as if they would become professional musicians. The only clause to accepting that their children would pursue a musical career was if they revealed an extraordinary music aptitude. This finding was in accordance with Borthwick & Davidson’s findings, and reinforced the idea that musician parents give much credit to the visible manifestations of talent and music aptitude. Furthermore, musician parents also believed that their main responsibility was to ensure their children to practice enough, which included playing along with their children at home. This tended to increase the importance of this activity and the motivation promoted more regularity in attendance at musical lessons.
5.2.2.2 Impact to the development of IIM The differences of behaviour and attitudes between musician and non-musician parents to the beginning of their musical studies, to a career in music, their participation at home, and their attendance to lessons and presentations seemed to affect the development of the children’s musical identity. Previous investigation by Sloboda & Howe (1994), had already suggested the impact of these differences, as they found that ‘children of non-musicians were more likely to be praised for their early accomplishments so that they acquired an early sense of themselves as ‘musician’ and ‘special’’ (p.164). However, extraordinarily, although we might expect the differences between the two groups to reveal in their parenting after failure and success in performance, we found no significant differences of behaviour between non-musician and musician parents. After failure, both musicians and non-musicians, tended to praise the good things, discuss with children the positives and negatives, and go to the teacher to find the reasons behind failure. After successful performances, both groups tended to praise their children. This seems to suggest that after public performances, independently of the result, both types of parents try to guarantee the maintenance of their children’s self-esteem. However, an overwhelming concern with their self-esteem might produce negative effects, especially if parents develop some sort of blindness to what went wrong. 120
The sole difference in behaviour between the two groups of parents was noted following a successful performance, in which musician parents’ praise, probably due to their musical background and knowledge, tended to be followed by taking advantage from the motivational gain, as if they were trying to extend the positive impact of successful performative experiences. 5.2.3 Role of Teachers to the development of an Identity in Music Lamont (2002) found that teachers’ attitudes to pupils of different levels of achievement could play a role in reinforcing differences in musical identity. No focus was made specifically on public performances, however. In our study, we found that instrumental teachers tended to manifest different attitudes to pupils they believed would become professional musicians. One of most extreme claims made by teachers in this study was that those pupils they believed would not become professional musicians should not be obligated to play in public. This might confirm Lamont’s claims. However, further investigation is needed to explain, first if teachers actually change the number of public performances for their pupils according to their beliefs, and secondly, to what extent these beliefs and attitudes have impact to pupils’ development of IIM. 5.3 Motivation Musical development is only possible if pupils are motivated, due to the amount of time and effort needed to achieve technical control and fluency of an instrument, and play expressively (Clarke, 2002). Additionally, it is generally agreed now that pupils have to develop intrinsic motivation to avoid drop out, to progress rapidly and to achieve wider goals in specialist music education (McPherson, 2001; Maehr et al., 2002). However, how do positive and negative experiences in public performances influence pupils’ motivation? This issue will be discussed in the following sections. 5.3.1 Accumulated performative experiences Several studies referred the impact of accumulated optimal experiences and successful performances to the development of the sense of self-confidence and intrinsic motivation (O’Neil & McPherson, 2002; Hewitt, 2004). Another investigation reinforced this, revealing that ‘repeated failure in performance tended to diminish
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musicians’ sense of self-efficacy and self-determination’, being understandable the negative impact on intrinsic motivation (O’Neill & McPherson, 2002:42). In our study, all teachers held the belief that successful performances could give pupils extra-motivation to pursue their musical studies, corroborating the literature mentioned above. Additionally, results from this study suggested that following success in public performance, the internal feedback of 65% of pupils included praising themselves intensely. These results seemed to suggest that internal praise might be a key to foster the development of the sense of self-confidence and intrinsic motivation. Conversely, it appeared that after experiencing failure in performance, the internal feedback of 41.7% of pupils included severe self-criticism (and boys reporting significantly higher levels of aggressiveness), which might suggest that accumulated failures in performance might result in diminishing pupils’ sense of self-efficacy and ruining the chances to develop intrinsic motivation. 5.3.2 Pupils’ perception of success and failure Maybe as important to the development of intrinsic motivation as the accumulated experiences in performance, is the way each success and failure is perceived. Although there is limited specific research on motivation in the field of public performance in music, according to general research by Dweck & Molden (2005), the way pupils perceive success and failure in performance can be explained by which self-theories pupils adopt to themselves. When pupils adopt an Entity Theory of intelligence (ET), they tend to attribute failure to lack of ability (internal and uncontrollable cause). Conversely, when pupils adopt an Incremental Theory of intelligence (IT), they tend to attribute failure to lack of practice or to the use, during practice, of inappropriate strategies (internal and controllable cause). In this study, no particular trend was found in pupils’ internal feedback after success in public performance. However, the internal feedback given by pupils after failure revealed that the majority of pupils in the sample adopted an Incremental Theory of intelligence. Firstly, because almost 96% of pupils perceived failure as having an internal cause, 70% believed to be controllable, and 89% attributed failure to insufficient practice. Secondly, because after failure in performance 70% revealed to be 122
focused on improving. Thirdly, because 73% of pupils revealed not to be afraid to play again in public, as they seemed to know what to do to avoid a new failure. Dweck & Molden (2005) referred that pupils adopting Incremental Theory were likely to be successful learners, because they recovered from setbacks more easily, and tended to adopt a more constructive attitude in learning seeing success and failure as having internal, stable and controllable causes. Thus, the results seem to suggest that, most pupils in our sample might become successful learners. However, these results were not expected, at least so high percentages. According to Dweck & Molden (2005), pupils tended to adopt themselves entity beliefs or incremental beliefs according to the kind of priming received, entity or incremental from their teachers and parents. Nevertheless, according to Sloboda (1994a) and McPherson (1997) music teachers and parents tended to adopt entity beliefs, attributing success and failure in music to uncontrollable causes such as ability or talent. Thus, the explanation to the results obtained might be on the positive pattern of behaviour adopted by parents and teachers after failure in performance. We found that parents and teachers tended to understand failures as opportunities to learn and improve, and as necessary steps in the learning process. Parents tended also to focus their attention to the way children overcome failure, and teachers tended to assume failures as signs to improve their teaching. These attitudes seemed to have given the necessary priming of incremental beliefs to pupils. The adoption of IT might contribute to the accumulation of successful tasks and consequently foster the development of intrinsic motivation, because, as Smith concluded, ‘if pupils believe that musical ability is malleable to change through effort and effective practice strategy, then they tend to increasingly doing so’ (2005:48),. 5.4 Per formance Preparation Referring to the preparation needed to perform, literature supports the importance of assembling both mental strategies and physical practice (Papageorgi et al., 2007; Connolly & Williamon, 2004). Physical practice is central to the development of motor and auditory skills needed to perform one musical instrument. However, as the literature has stressed out, a successful performance demands a permanent structured flow of mental representations, also known as ‘performance plan’ (Gabrielsson, 1999; Sloboda, 123
1985; Davidson & Scripp, 1992). Furthermore, due to the specific characteristics of public performance, performers need to learn to control their emotions, and to remain highly focused (O’Neil, 2002). Thus, mental preparation it is as important as physical preparation to perform successfully. However, how do pupils do their physical and mental preparation to performance? This issue will be discussed in the following sections. 5.4.1 Mental Anticipation and Preparation (MAP) Partington (Connolly & Williamon, 2004) found that highly skilled musicians’ developed ‘preparation routines’ to performance, which included searching for the appropriate emotional state and stimulating themselves to feel the appropriate levels of arousal. However, according to Hallam (2001), pupils do little specific performance preparation. Thus, in our study we tried to understand how pupils mentally anticipated the performance, which included the observable changes of behaviour, and the time before the next performance they started to consciously thinking about it. We found that, in general, pupils tended to start their MAP one week or less before the next performance, and only 7% of pupils started more than two weeks before. This distinction between long MAP and short MAP appeared to be relevant. Teachers seemed to believe that pupils with longer MAP would practice more, 77% of them agreed that pupils with shorter MAP were likely to reveal higher levels of anxiety, lesser amounts of practice, and lower quality of performance; and performer teachers tended also to believe more intensely that longer MAP might lead to success in performance. In fact, we found that pupils that spent larger amounts of practice tended to reveal longer MAP, and that pupils blaming nervousness, lack of confidence and lack of practice as the causes to fail in performance revealed short MAP. These results seemed to confirm teachers’ beliefs. However, we found that though 74.4% of teachers believed pupils should start their MAP two or more weeks before the next performance, reality showed about 27% of parents reporting changes of behaviour associated to MAP during that period, and only 7% of pupils reporting to start their MAP two or more weeks before. 124
These results might suggest that most pupils did not understand the importance of starting earlier their MAP, and that teachers need to review their strategy and their teaching styles in order to help their pupils to mentally anticipate public performances with the time-span they consider appropriate. The changes of behaviour observed by parents included increasing anxiety (66.6%) and increasing the amount of practice (44.3%). These results seemed relevant, because there was a significant correspondence between the behaviours observed when pupils started their MAP and teachers’ beliefs about what changes longer or shorter MAP could produce in pupils. This might suggest that teachers seemed to know with precision the effects of performance proximity on children’s day life routines. It is important to notice, additionally, that not all the increasing anxiety reported by parents might have a negative connotation, because investigators like Kokotsaki & Davidson, 2003 referred the importance of some degree of arousal to perform correctly. However, it seems reasonable to believe that not all pupils in early stages seemed to be able to control their emotions with the precision needed to obtain optimal arousal, and that the referred increasing anxiety might result in performance anxiety. 5.4.2 Mental Rehearsal One of the most common activities referred in mental preparation to performance is ‘mental rehearsal’ or ‘mental simulation’. The activities include mental visualisation or simulation of the performance (even considering the audience’s perspective) during practice, and are common to experienced performers (Jorgensen, 2004). Research from Weinberg (Connolly & Williamon, 2004), refers that ‘mental rehearsal can be particularly effective during the early stages of learning’, helping the formulation of insights and ideas, and ‘during the later stages to reinforce cultivated performance strategies’ (p.226). In our study, teachers preferred to choose specific activities to prepare their pupils mentally for performance. The most common activity chosen involved asking their pupils to ‘imagine playing on stage’ (86.4%), in the second pupils were asked to ‘play before their classmates’ (84.1%), and in the third pupils were asked to ‘play without stops’ (75%). However, only 29.5% of pupils referred to use ‘mental rehearsal’ to prepare their pupils to the next performance.
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These results suggest that most instrumental teachers in Portugal have not yet proper knowledge about the benefits of using ‘mental rehearsal’ activities in their pupils’ preparation to performance. Additionally, these results might help to explain the systematic negative emotional attitude pupils referred to have before each performance (see section 5.2.3.2). 5.4.3 Physical preparation (practice) Physical practice is fundamental to the acquisition of instrumental skills and to performance. A large number of studies have focused their attention on the amount and quality of practice, the strategies pupils used in practice, as well as the role parents play in it (Woody, 2004; Sloboda, 1994; Williamon & Valentine, 2000; Pitts et al., 2000; McPherson, 2001; O’Neil, 2002; Creech & Hallam, 2003). Some general agreements about practice are that pupils needed to spent considerable amounts of time practicing in order to get higher achievements and better performances, and that they needed to mix some informal activities to formal practice (main), to remain high their levels of motivation. In our study, we found that instrumental teachers tended to prescript homework every single week, and that they believed practice might foster pupils’ development. Sadly, 88.6% of teachers claimed that their pupils practiced less than they needed, while only 9.3% were happy with the amount of practice their pupils did. These findings might reflect the reality of specialist music schools in Portugal. Pupils are usually flooded with extra-curricular activities, some of them imposed by the general schools, some others chosen by parents (like ballet, karate, horse riding, football, foreign languages, just to mention some examples), because of their expected positive effects to children’s development. This, seemingly, leaves pupils with few time and energy to practice with the regularity instrumental teachers expected. However, interestingly, 72.6% of pupils claimed to spend large amounts of time practicing at home. Their practice pattern included mixing formal practice (scales, exercises) with informal practice (playing pieces of music learned before, improvisation). Thus, the discrepancy between teachers and pupils responses may be due to differences of perception.
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The reasons pupils gave to do great amounts of practice were linked to their beliefs about the impact practice had to the improvement of skills and knowledge, and to the personal satisfaction derived from playing their instrument. However, even with the positive reasons presented to do great amounts of practice, most pupils needed parents to push them to start practicing. This seem to suggest that just few pupils (about 33%) had already developed some sort of intrinsic motivation that triggered them to start practicing by their own. Finally, parents’ participation in practice was different for musician and non-musician parents. Non-musician parents tended to sit next to their children, feeling free to warn and interrupt when they heard mistakes, while, musician parents tended to use their skills like singing and playing along. These were very interesting findings, and might suggest that both musician and non-musician parents take seriously their responsibility to assure their children to practice, playing a role as teacher assistants.
5.4.3.1 Metacognition Metacognition refers to the learner’s knowledge about learning itself, and metacognitive skills are concerned with the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of learning, including knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses, and available strategies. Gruson (Sloboda, 1985) and Williamon & Valentine (2005) investigations refer that skilled performers have a ‘repertoire of rehearsal strategies’ that help them to the acquisition of new pieces (p.93). McPherson (2001) sustains that beginning instrumentalists practice less because they have not yet ‘assimilated the types of strategies that lead to more effective self-evaluation and monitoring of their own progress’ (p.174). Thus, as Pitts et al. (2000) concluded, teachers should teach systematically strategies to improve pupils’ practice. In this study, we found that most pupils in the sample seemed to have already developed some specific metacognitive skills, related with the ability to monitor their practice. About 50% of pupils knew it was appropriate to stop when they were able to play correctly without mistakes, to 14.3% the cue was detect some improvement, and to 4.8% when they could play by heart. Other pupils chosen much more detailed ways to monitor their practice as the following examples illustrate: ‘I stop when I have got the
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fingers right and my vibrato controlled’, ‘I stop when I play with no hesitation’, ‘I stop when I play at the right speed’, or ‘I stop when I play correctly several times’. However, this study failed to give detailed information about the rehearsal strategies adopted by pupils, which constitutes the heart of metacognitive skills.
5.4.3.2 Impact to Performance Sloboda et al. (Davidson, 2004) reported the existence of a correlation between the amount of deliberate practice and the quality of performance and music examinations. Similarly, in our study, the results suggested that parents and teachers correlated the success/failure in performance with the amount of practice. Our study showed that pupils practicing more tended to attribute failure in public performance to internal and controllable causes like the use of inappropriate strategies or insufficient practice. Additionally, pupils that practiced more tended to give themselves a softer punishment after fail in performance, and to have stronger selfbeliefs about performance. These results seemed to confirm that practice was understood by pupils as very important to achieve success in performance. It seemed also to suggest a correlation between the amount of practice and the adoption of Incremental Theory of intelligence (see section 5.2.1.2). 5.5 Per formance Anxiety Performance anxiety represents a very serious problem for many professional musicians. Some learned to deal with it, other suffer from it each time they have to play in concert. Young learners are prone to develop performance anxiety due to the lack of experience, and recent research has shed light on the subject. Researchers found that pupils’ state of anxiety was significantly higher on the day of the school concert (Hallam, 2001; Ryan, 2005), which according to LeBlanc et al. (1997) might be associated to the presence of audience. Several researchers referred additionally that not all kinds of anxiety in performance were negative, and that some degree of arousal is needed to achieve a good performance. Researchers define it as ‘optimal arousal’ (Wilson, 1997; Kokotsaki & Davidson, 2003; Steptoe, 1982)
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In our study, failure in performance was closely associated by parents and pupils to uncontrolled nervousness. However, for instrumental teachers, the main cause to fail still was insufficient practice. Uncontrolled anxiety was the second cause to fail for instrumental teachers, and it was the consequence of the lack of the appropriate amount of practice. Additionally, 95% of pupils believed that public performances were necessary because give them the opportunity to control their anxiety. These findings suggest that pupils at this age (between 8 and 12 years-old) seemed to be learning to find the appropriate levels of arousal to perform, and that failure usually is the result of lack of emotional control and excitement. As observed in section 5.4.1, pupils’ mental anticipation of performance (MAP) included increasing the levels of nervousness, which might be part of the process, and that pupils with longer MAP seemed to deal better with anxiety, which apparently suggested MAP as a good predictor of success in performance for pupils within this age. 5.5.1 Impact of previous performative experiences to Performance Anxiety Two investigations referred the effects of previous performative experiences to performance anxiety. Hewitt (2004) found that when pupils build up a bank of successful experiences ‘the negative influence of nervousness in public performance [tended to] gradually diminish’ (p.50), and Kenny & Osborne (2006) found that accumulated negative performative experiences contributed to self-reported higher levels of performance anxiety. In our study, teachers shared Hewitt’s perspective, believing that accumulated positive performance experiences might help pupils to deal with stage fright. However, they still believed that regularity in performance could produce better results helping pupils to deal with stage fright than accumulate only positive performance experiences. The question about the time between performances seemed to be very important to the development of the ability to control anxiety in performance.
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Chapter Six
CONCLUSIONS Following the discussion in chapter five, we propose a model (fig. 1) in which public performance is presented as the central vector of the development of an Identity in Music, and the main driving force to a steady musical development.
Figur e 23
6.1 Per formance/Identity Model As we discussed in chapter 5, public performances seemed to have deep impact to the construction of an Identity in Music. Previous performance experiences seemed to function as good predictor of pupils’ attitude to the future performances. Pupils that accumulated more negative experiences seemed to develop more negative attitudes to performance and avoiding feelings, while pupils whose accumulated experiences were almost all positive and successful seemed to develop positive attitudes to performance and to desired play more and more. In addition, accumulated successful performances seemed to have, in general, a positive impact to pupils’ intrinsic motivation. However, pupils’ attributions of success and failure seemed to be even more important. Pupils’ self-beliefs and IIM seemed to 130
become seriously damaged when they adopted an Entity Theory of intelligence. Inversely, pupils that adopted incremental beliefs (IT) were more likely to develop intrinsic motivation, and to preserve their IIM even when, occasionally, they failed in performance. Accumulated performances and different attitudes to performance also seemed to affect the quality of preparation before performance. Pupils that practiced more, adopted incremental beliefs, and a positive attitude to performance seemed to start their Mental Anticipation of Performance (MAP) earlier than those that adopted a negative attitude to performance, practiced less and adopted entity beliefs. An earlier MAP seemed to be linked also to optimal arousal, while later MAP seemed to produce higher anxiety levels. Accumulated successful performances seemed to help pupils by diminishing the negative influence of nervousness and negative anxiety. Although, it was not expected all the performative experiences to be successful, it seemed that when pupils accumulated more successful experiences than negative ones, this was more likely to produce a positive impact on the ability to cope with performance anxiety. Additionally, the impact of having a regular activity in public performance improved motivation and the ability to cope with performance anxiety. It seemed that there might be real benefits of performing regularly in public, like the increasing of practice, the development of positive attitudes to performance and, the increasing comfort and confidence playing in public. 6.2 Impact to Instrumental Learning and Teaching These conclusions suggest the role of public performances as a strategically learning tool, much more than solely a presentation for parents to see. Results suggest that teachers would benefit from focus their attention at the impact of performative experiences to the development of intrinsic motivation and self-beliefs, and that would benefit from ‘use’ public performances as a learning tool, in order to help pupils to develop the appropriate attitude to performance and to tackle performance anxiety. Additionally, results suggest that teachers would benefit from promoting regular performative activity, and that the rigid concept of material to play in performances (at least in western classical tradition), consisting of pieces with a large number of pages, 131
no possibility to include scales, other exercises, or simply fragments of pieces in it, needed to be rethought and discussed further. The results suggested that teachers might derive benefits from paying more attention to the quality of preparation their pupils do to performance, including mental preparation activities like mental rehearsal in the menu. Additionally, teachers would benefit from enabling pupils play in performance only when they are ready to have a successful experience in it. This might represent the need to re-schedule a new performance opportunity for few pupils, and to restrain eventual parental pressure, but results suggested that the negative effects of failure in performance must be taken seriously. The results suggested that after failure in performance, it might be advisable to promote a new opportunity to in short time, because this allow pupils to not wait much time before present themselves again in public, probably with the same repertoire, and replacing the image of failure by the image of success. Finally, results suggest that instrumental teachers should help pupils to develop Incremental beliefs (IT), due to the positive impact these beliefs might have to learning, achievement and performance success. 6.3 Future Research 6.3.1 Teachers Identity Instrumental teachers’ musical identity needs further research. In our study, we defined instrumental teachers’ identity according to their performative experience and to their attitudes to performance. Two different profiles arose: performer (PT, 40.9%) and nonperformer teachers (NPT, 59.1%). We found that performer teachers: • preferred to play as soloist in public performance • preferred performance over teaching activity • assumed to have a great experience as performers • liked to feel the rush of adrenalin while playing • preferred to play for others than for pleasure, and • had regular activity as performers
132
On the other hand, we found that non-performer teachers: • avoided play in public as soloist • preferred teaching over performance activity • assumed that do not possess much experiences as performers • were not fond of the rush of adrenalin • preferred play for pleasure than before an audience, and • did not have regular activity as performers With respect to teachers’ attitudes to teaching, results suggested differences between performer and non-performer teachers. Performer teachers revealed stronger self-beliefs to prevent pupils from failure in performance, while non-performer teachers felt less capable to stop pupils to fail in performance. Additionally, performer teachers tended to value most the importance of mental anticipation to success in performance than nonperformer teachers. Results suggested as well that teachers’ teaching profile might not be affected by their performative profile. Further research, however, is needed to evaluate the veracity of these profiles, and their impact to pupils’ development of an identity as performers. 6.3.2 Motivation The results obtained about the adoption of Incremental beliefs by the majority of pupils needed confirmation in further research. Is it expectable to find a pattern in the adoption of Incremental beliefs by pupils in specialist music schools? If so, what might lead to that? Is it so that girls in specialist music schools tend to recover promptly from setbacks more than boys, as our results might suggest? One other interesting result collected, revealed that children with ‘lower praising pattern’ tended to praise themselves more intensely after successful pubic performances and after achieving important goals. This result needs confirmation and deeper understanding of the phenomenon in further research.
133
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APPENDIX: Teacher s Questionnair e
Using Public Performance – A survey of teachers, parents and pupils Teachers Questionnaire
Francisco Cardoso
March 2007
140
1. What instrument do you teach?
2. For how long do you teach?
_______________________
_______________________
3. With reference to your activities as performer, please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
No opinion
I enjoy to play as solo performer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I enjoy to play as part of a chamber group
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I enjoy to play in large ensembles (like orchestras or bands)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I prefer teaching to performing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I developed great experience as performer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
My ability to practice is hindered by performing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I try to do at least one public performance a year
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Too many performances affects my health
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I enjoy feel the adrenaline caused by play to an audience
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
It’s not easy for me to feel comfortable/ /happy on stage as a solo performer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I most enjoy playing to myself, alone
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
In every six months I play at least 3 times before an audience
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
4. Approximately how many public performances (as soloist, or integrated in a chamber group or in a larger ensemble) you did until today? Less than 5
5 to 10
10 to 20
20 to 30
More than 30
5. How many years ago you finished your music studies? _________________________
6. With reference to your teaching activities, please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
No opinion
Teaching is the activity that satisfies me the most
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I feel I do a good job as teacher
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I enjoy teaching my students
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I choose carefully the exercises and the pieces I think are the most appropriate for each student
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I always send homework after each lesson
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Most of my students practice less than they should/need
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I prefer teaching to performing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I play along with my students during the lessons
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I sing to my students during the lessons
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
It happens to think about my students out of my work
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I try to keep my students motivated and committed
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Most of my students usually practice more than I expect
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Those students that spend more time practicing tend to learn faster
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Parents usually attend to my classes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I praise my students for every goal attained
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I think it is important for students to watch and listen their teachers playing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I think I am cherished by most of my students
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
7. With reference to your music studies, please select the options that best fit to your curriculum. I completed the ancient Conservatoire Graduation course
I completed a Doctoral degree
I have a Bachelor diploma
I did all my studies in Portugal
I have a Licenciatura diploma
I did all my studies outside Portugal
I did a Post-Graduation
I did my graduation in Portugal but my PGDip/MMus/DMus in another country
I completed a Masters degree
I keep on studying
8. Do you think parents should involve in the learning process? yes
no
If yes, please pick what in your opinion are the three more important ways for parents to involve. Playing along with children at home
Make the necessary efforts to make sure their children attend to every class
Assuring that their children practice enough
Attending the instrument classes with their children
Attending every public performance
Asking questions to teachers about their pupils’ development
Showing some interest about music issues
Listen to their children playing at home
Taking their children to recitals and concerts of professional musicians
Promoting some familiar performances
9. In average, how many times by year do your pupils [aged 8-12] play before an audience? 1
2
3
4
5
more
10. In average, how much time before the big day do you think pupils should start thinking seriously about what is involved in public performance? 1 day
2/3 days
1 week
2 weeks
More than 2 weeks
11. In average, how much time before the big day do you think pupils will start thinking seriously about what is involved in public performance? 1 day
2/3 days
1 week
2 weeks
More than 2 weeks
12. Do you think the number of public performances your pupils do is the ideal one for students of this age [8-12]? yes
no
13. Do you think there is any relation between the number of public performances and the amount of student’s motivation? yes
no
14. Do you think public performances can change children’s view of future goals with respect to a music career? yes
no
15. Do you think that there is positive relations between the fact pupils’ have consecutive successful performances and their ability to cope with performance anxiety? yes
no
16. Please tick the type of activities you do most to prepare your pupils for public performances. Play before their fellow mates
I ask students to play each piece straightforwardly without stops
I give an open class for their parents
I ask my students to play imagining they are already on stage
I don’t do nothing special to prepare my students for public performances
I guide pupils’ mental rehearsal activities
I record their performances (in the class) and then watch and discuss them with the students
17. How much do you agree that well succeeded performances can have the effect on giving children extra motivation to keep on their music studies? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
18. How much do you agree that teachers can prevent pupils from having negative experiences with respect to public performances? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
19. Please tick what you think are the two greatest causes of pupil’s negative experiences in public performances? Insufficient amount of practice
Inability to cope with anxiety
Introversion
Parental pressure
Other external causes
20. Please tick what you think are the two most striking benefits (for pupils) of playing several times by year: Increasing motivation and self-esteem
Increasing amount of practice time
crescent ability to cope with stage stress
Increasing diversity of repertoire
Reinforcement of parental role in the learning process
21. How much do you agree that those pupils that start thinking earlier about the seriousness of public performance usually do better performances? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
22. How much do you agree that those pupils that start thinking earlier about the seriousness of public performance usually spend more time practicing? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
23. How much do you agree that those pupils that start thinking later about the seriousness of public performance usually tend to feel more difficulties to cope with anxiety? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
24. What do you think is the most important aspect that contributes for pupils’ ability to cope with performance anxiety? The fact that he/she can play regularly before an audience
The fact that almost every performance he/she made were successful
25. Please evaluate the following public performance situations with respect to their impact to a negative performance experience. Poorly responsible
During the performance your pupil stops and is unable to proceed
Highly responsible
No impact
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
During great amount of time your pupil are not able to play in time
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Along t great amount of time your pupil are not able to play in tune
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Your pupil keeps on his/her performance despite his/her errors and mistakes During the performance your pupil stops and starts again from the beginning once During the performance your pupil stops and starts again few times During the performance your pupil starts sweating a lot, making his instrumental intonation worse Your pupil plays always looking to the score, not being able to free him/herself enough to play by heart Along the performance your pupil doesn’t play with the ease he/she used to play in class time Your pupil plays everything you asked, though it was not a perfect performance Despite the errors taken during the performance, your pupil defeated his fear of playing in public Despite the errors taken during the performance, your pupil played expressively
26. Please circle what you think are the three most usual effect(s) on pupils3 of a negative performance experience? They want to quit
Sadness
Unhappiness
Disappointment
Insecure
Unconcern
Indifference
They realize they need to practice more
They learn to give few value to failure They earn extra motivation to improve
27. Please evaluate the following public performance situations with respect to their impact to positive performance experiences. Poorly responsible
During the performance your pupil stops but after a restart everything goes perfect Your pupil keeps on his/her performance despite his/her errors and mistakes
Highly responsible
No impact
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Your pupil plays precisely what you wanted
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Your pupil plays much beyond your better expectancies for him/her
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Your pupil plays always looking to the score, not being able to free him/herself enough to play by heart During the performance your pupil doesn’t play with the ease he/she used to play in class time, however all the rest was played correctly Your pupil plays everything you asked, though it was not a perfect performance Despite the errors taken during the performance, your pupil defeated his fear of playing in public Despite the errors taken during the performance, your pupil played expressively Despite the errors taken during the performance, your pupil enjoyed to play Although your pupil can’t play in time his/her level of satisfaction after the performance is high Although your pupil can’t play in tune his/her level of satisfaction after the performance is high
28. Please circle the three most common pupils’ reactions when they become aware of the proximity of their public performances. Start to show signs of nervousness
Start to ask questions about what will happen that day
Start to showing off how prepared she/he is
Stay clam and focused
Start to practice more
Start to think about excuses to a possible fail
Keep asking when the day is coming
Do much more mistakes when they play
29. Please tick three of the following strategies you use most after negative public performances. Short talk, reviewing the positive and negative aspects of the performance Review the video/audio-recording with the students discussing the positive and negative aspects of the performance Promote a new public performance in a short time distance to give your pupil another chance to play well Ask your pupils to rest from practising their instrument for a week or two Talk with the pupil trying to find the reasons behind such a failure
Short talk, concentrating the attention in the positive aspects of the performance Review the video/audio-recording with the students concentrating the attention in the positive aspects of the performance Try to distract your pupil from what happened focusing his/her attention in non-musical subjects In the following class, you play some musical games with your pupil, involving the instrument Try to reset your pupil’s goals thru music
Act like nothing serious had happen
30. Please tick three of the following strategies you use most after positive public performances. Short talk, reviewing the positive and negative aspects of the performance Review the video/audio-recording with the students discussing the positive and negative aspects of the performance In the following class, you play some musical games with your pupil, involving the instrument Try to reduce (control) your pupil’s excessive enthusiasm with the performance Promote a new public performance in a short time distance to replicate the success
Short talk, concentrating the attention in the positive aspects of the performance Review the video/audio-recording with the students concentrating the attention in the positive aspects of the performance In the following class, give your pupils new repertoire to practice Try to take advantage of the motivational income derived from a well succeed performance Give your pupil some sort of gift as a reward
31. Please tick the sentences that correspond to the way you see your pupils’ failure in public performances. As an opportunity to improve
As an opportunity to learn
As a sign of low levels of aptitude/talent
As a sign to improve your teaching
As an important step of the learning process
As a sign of weakness in performative skills
32. Do you agree with the importance given, in classical western music to the ability to play before an audience? Why? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
33. Do you think western music and skills could be learned with no need of developing performance skills, nor having public performances? Please, justify. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
Par ents Questionnair e
Using Public Performance – A survey of teachers, parents and pupils Parents Questionnaire
Francisco Cardoso
March 2007
1. With reference to your ‘music education’, please select the options that best fit to your curriculum. I have a Bachelor diploma in music I had private music classes I only had general music classes in the past (5th and 6th grades)
I completed the ancient Conservatoire Graduation course started my studies in the Conservatoire but not finished them I have never had music classes in a specialized school
I have a Licenciatura diploma in music I completed MMus, PG Dip, or higher degree in music I learned to play an instrument by myself
2. Do you know how to read musical notation? yes
no
3. Do you play any musical instrument? yes
no
If yes, please which one. ______________________________________________________ 4. For how long is your child having formal music teaching? _______________________
5. What instrument does your child play? _______________________
6. Who choose the instrument? you
your child
Together thru discussion
other
If other, please say which. ______________________________________________________ 7. What were the reasons behind the choice of the instrument? I already owned an instrument
The instrument’s tone
It was the instrument I ever wanted to play
The instrument’s shape and colour
It was the same of his/her friend’s
The school imposed that instrument
It was one of school’s given options
Other
8. With reference to the reasons that made you put your child into a specialist music school, please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Disagree
No opinion
Agree
I think music education can contribute to reinforce children’s non-musical skills
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because I had no chance to do it
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
My child wanted to learn to play an musical instrument and I just followed his/her whish
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I read something about the benefits of music education for children
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I want my child to become a professional musician
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because I love music
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because I love the arts
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because I expect him/her to be an artist
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because his/her best friend was also learning
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because he/she had extra time to fill in
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child could learn music because I expect him/her to be famous some day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I wanted to give him/her the same opportunity I gave to his/her brother/ /sister I wanted my child to calm down and I thought that music could contribute to this I wanted my child to become more extroverted and I thought that music could contribute to this
9. How much do you agree that praise and feedback have powerful impact on children’s motivational levels? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
10. With reference to a potential musical career, please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Disagree
No opinion
Agree
I want my child to become a professional musician
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
When it comes to make decisions, child’s opinion is more important
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I enjoy seeing my child liking music
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I see that as a reasonable option in monetary terms
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
It is not the proper time to make a foror-against decision
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I’d like my child to learn music because I love music
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I will support his/her choice to become a professional musician if he/she shows signs of outstanding ability
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
11. In the scale bellow, please indicate, what in your opinion, is your
child’s potential to learn music. Please cross the corresponding sentence. 1
Won’t be able to learn how to play
2
Won’t be able to finish the 3rd degree
3
Won’t be able to finish the 5th degree
4
Won’t be able to finish the 8th degree
5
Will be able to finish the 8th degree without good marks
6
Will be able to finish the 8th degree with good marks
7
Will be able to finish with the knowledge needed to apply for a music teaching course
8
Will be able to finish with the knowledge needed to apply for a music performing course
9
Will finish being able to play in a orchestra/chamber group
10
Will finish being able to perform as a soloist
12. Are you happy with the choice you made about your child’s music education? yes
no
If no, please describe up to two reasons that lead you to think that way. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________
13. What, in your opinion, should be the level of parental involvement in the learning process? Not involved
1
Fully involved
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
14. Please tick what in your opinion are the three more important ways for parents to involve in the learning process. Playing along with children at home
Attending the instrument classes with their children
Assuring that their children does enough practice
Attending child’s every public performance
Asking questions to teachers about their pupils’ development
Listen to their children playing at home
Make the necessary efforts to assure the attendance to every class
Showing some interest about music issues
Promoting some familiar performances
15. Please tick up to three sentences that better correspond to what you usually do when your child is practising his/her instrument at home? I sing along
I control the time spent practice
I interrupt to show that I heard the mistake
I play along
I sit next to him/her
I leave him/her alone in his/her room
I do nothing
I just listen from distance
I try not to disturb his/her practice
16. Do you have to remind your child to practice? All the time
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Can you explain your answer? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 17. Do you usually attend to your child’s classes? yes
no
18. Do you usually praise your child? All the time
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Can you explain your answer? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 19. In average, how many times by year does your child play before an audience? 1
2
3
4
5
more
20. Do you agree with the importance given, in classical western music to the ability to play before an audience? Why? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 21. In your opinion, which of the following situations can produce deeper negative effects on children’s motivation to learn and practice? Forcing them to practice
Discouraging them
Being excessively demanding
Being excessively critical
Have unrealistic expectations
Make them live out our personal unfulfilled ambitions
22. In average, how many public performances do you usually attend? 1
2
3
4
5
more
23. Do you video-record or audio-record them? yes
no
If yes, please describe up to two reasons that lead you to do that. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 24. Do you think the number of public performances your child does is the ideal one for students of this age? yes
no
25. Do you think there is any relation between the number of public performances and the amount of your child’s motivation? yes
no
26. Do you think public performances can change your child’s view of future goals with respect to a music career? yes
no
27. How much do you agree that parents can prevent children from having negative experiences with respect to public performances? Totally Agree
1
Totally Disagree
No opinion
2
3
4
5
6
7
28. In average, how much time before the big day does your child starts thinking seriously about what is involved in public performance? 1 day
2/3 days
1 week
2 weeks
More than 2 weeks
29. What changes in his/her regular behaviour do you take notice? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 3. ______________________________________________________ 30. Please evaluate the following public performance situations with respect to their impact to a negative performance experience. Poorly Responsible
During the performance your child stops and is unable to proceed Your child keeps on his/her performance despite his/her errors and mistakes During the performance your child stops and starts again from the beginning once During the performance your child stops and starts again few times During the performance your child starts sweating a lot, making his instrumental intonation worse Your child plays always looking to the score, not being able to free him/herself enough to play by heart Along the performance your child doesn’t play with the ease he/she used to play at home Despite the errors taken during the performance, your child defeated his fear of playing in public Despite the errors taken during the performance, your child played expressively
No opinion/ No impact
Highly Responsible
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
31. Please circle the three most usual effect(s) of a negative performance experience when it comes to your child. They want to quit
Sadness
Unhappiness
Disappointment
Insecure
Unconcern
Indifference
They realize they need to practice more
They learn to give few value to failure They earn extra motivation to improve
32. Please tick what you think are the two greatest causes of your child’s negative experiences in public performances? Inability to cope with anxiety
Teacher’s pressure
Insufficient amount of practice
Introversion
Our parental pressure
Other external causes
33. Please evaluate the following public performance situations with respect to their impact to positive performance experiences. Poorly Responsible
During the performance your child stops but after a restart everything goes perfect Your child keeps on his/her performance despite his/her errors and mistakes Your child plays much beyond your better expectancies for him/her Your child plays always looking to the score, not being able to free him/herself enough to play by heart During the performance your child doesn’t play with the ease he/she used to play at home, however all the rest was played correctly Despite the errors taken during the performance, your child defeated his fear of playing in public Despite the errors taken during the performance, your child enjoyed to play Although your child can’t play in time his/her level of satisfaction after the performance is high Although your child can’t play in tune his/her level of satisfaction after the performance is high
No opinion/ No impact
Highly Responsible
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
34. Please tick three of the following strategies you use most after negative public performances. I become more severe
Act like nothing serious had happen
Try to reset my child’s goals thru music
Praise my child for the good things he/she did
Threat to get he/she out of the music school
Talk with my child trying to find the reasons behind such a failure
Talk with his/her teacher trying to find the reasons for the failure
Short talk, reviewing the positive and negative aspects of the performance
Try to distract my child from what happened focusing his/her attention on non-musical subjects Review the recording with my child discussing the positive and negative aspects of the performance
Short talk, concentrating the attention only on the positive aspects of the performance Review the recording with the my child concentrating the attention only on the positive aspects of the performance
35. Please tick three of the following strategies you use most after positive public performances. Praise my child
Reward my child
Praise his/her teacher
Try to reset his/her goals thru music
Short talk, concentrating the attention on the positive aspects of the performance Try to reduce (control) my child’s excessive enthusiasm with the performance Review the recording with your child discussing the positive and negative aspects of the performance
Short talk, reviewing the positive and negative aspects of the performance Try to take advantage of the motivational income derived from a well succeed performance Review the recording with your child concentrating the attention on the positive aspects of the performance
36. Please tick the sentences that correspond to the way you see your pupils’ failure in public performances. As an opportunity to improve
As an opportunity to learn
As a sign to improve your teaching
As a sign of weakness in performative skills
As a sign of low levels of aptitude/talent
As an important step of the learning process
37. Do you think western music and skills could be learned with no need of developing performance skills, nor having public performances? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
Pupils Questionnair e
Using Public Performance – A survey of teachers, parents and pupils Pupils Questionnaire
Francisco Cardoso
March 2007
1. How old are you?
2. What instrument do you play? _____________________
3. How many years do you play? _________________________ 4. Do you like your instrument? yes
no
If no, please say why. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 5. What do you like most in your instrument? It’s shape
It’s colour
It’s tone
other
If other, please say which. ______________________________________________________ 6. Who choose the instrument? you
your child
Together thru discussion
other
If other, please say which. ______________________________________________________ 7. Would you like to play another instrument? yes
no
If yes, please say which one. _________________________________________________________ Please say why. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 8. Do you like your teacher? yes
no
Why? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________
9. If the school give you the option of try out and have a lesson with other teachers would you go and try it? yes
no
10. Are you enjoying your music lessons? yes
no
Why? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 11. Do you do a lot of practice at home? yes
no
If no, please say why. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 12. How do you know if you practice a lot or just a little? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ 13. Do you like to practice? yes
no
If no, please say why. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 14. What do you play in your practice time? Pieces
Scales
Exercises
I play other music by ear
Pieces I have learned before
I improvise and do fun music
Other
15. What happens most of the times: do your parents need to tell you to go practice or you go by your own? My parents tell me to go practice
I go by my own
16. Do you parents usually attend your classes? yes
no
17. Do your parents usually praise your efforts? All the time
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Why you think they do/not do it? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 18. Do your teachers usually praise your efforts? All the time
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Why you think they do/not do it? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 19. How many times by year do you play before an audience? 1
2
3
4
5
more
20. Would you like to play before an audience more times? yes
no
Why? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 21. Do you have fun when you are playing in public? yes
no
22. How do you usually feel after the public performances? Happy
Relieved
Sad
Worried
Why? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 23. In average, how much time before the big day do you start thinking about the seriousness of public performance? 1 day
1 week
More than 2 weeks
24. What do you feel when the public performance’s day becomes closer? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 3. ______________________________________________________
25. What do you feel when you play badly in a public performance? Want to quit
Sadness
Unhappiness
Disappointment
Insecure
Unconcern
Learn to give few value to failure
Indifference
Realize you need to practice more
Earn extra motivation to improve
26. Why do you think that sometimes you play badly? Tick all that apply. Because I become anxious
Because I don’t practice enough
Because I don’t feel secure
Because I don’t like to play to many people
Because I don’t want to let my teacher down
Because I don’t want to let my parents down
27. What do you say to yourself after a bad performance? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 28. What do you say to yourself after a very good performance? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 29. If you do not feel happy about your performance, are you afraid to play again before an audience? yes
no
If no, please say why. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 30. Have you ever thought about giving up your music studies? yes
no
If yes, please say why. 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 31. Do you think it is important to a musician to play in public? Why? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
32. Do you think western music and skills could be learned with no need of developing performance skills, nor having public performances? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
