DINAMÓMETRO

The most significant relationships in this study were between participants and their instrumental teachers. On the whole, the participants perceived teachers as people who had succeeded, and who knew how to guide them to similar success. Only one of the twelve participants felt that he could succeed in achieving a career as a performing musician without a teacher. Most said that they could manage to prepare a single performance on their own, but added that it would not be ideal. Participant perceptions of the student-teacher relationship were apparent in the way that they talked about teachers: each person communicated a sense of a teacher’s importance, and their ‘presence’ in day-to-day learning. Some talked about their teachers often, and were clearly engaged in the relationship. Others barely mentioned them, presenting themselves as the principal players in their development. The results revealed the individual and varied nature of the one-to-one relationship, with teachers being a source of feedback, inspiration, repair, encouragement, support, guidance, stress, and/or frustration.

Participant perspectives on the student-teacher relationship reflected their views of which capabilities they had, how much control they had over their development, and how dependent on others they felt for guidance and motivation. Three groups appeared among the participants

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according to their most prevalent perspectives on the role of teachers: five favoured a teacher- oriented perspective, such as what the teacher did or who they were; four focused firstly on their own role in the relationship; and two presented a relatively balanced view of their own and their teacher’s contribution. One – Helen – fell into two groups: the teacher-oriented group for piano, and the self-oriented group for harpsichord.

Self-oriented perspectives were reflected in participant descriptions of their responsibilities to their teachers; of how they felt about the relationship, including feelings of fear or respect; and of how they responded to teacher demands. Comments indicated what each participant felt that they needed from their teachers in order to keep moving forward without becoming stuck emotionally, musically, or technically. Overall, these participants saw themselves as possessing ultimate control over their development. Teacher-oriented comments included focusing on what the teacher said, whether or not they cared, how encouraging they were, their esteemed biography, or the effectiveness of their pedagogical approach. Such comments often revealed various forms of dependency on teachers. Yvette, for example, gave her teacher complete control over her development, asking him to tell her exactly what was wrong with her playing, and what she could do about it. She explained how he had said that everything was wrong, and that they would just have to “fix it”. Her respect for his ability to see her failings and address them effectively is reflected in her claim that:

[My teacher has] been phenomenal. He tore me down and built me back up. (Yvette)

Yvette believed that her teacher could break down her inadequacies and help her rebuild them into something better. George described a similar trust in his teacher. He sought her guidance in becoming a concert soloist, and listed her credentials as a means of justifying his faith in her:

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My teacher has been teaching for 30 years now, and she’s trained - she used to teach at Moscow conservatory, so she has experience and she knows what it takes to be a pianist. She told me: “give yourself two years, we have to refine technique”. That’s my issue. (George)

Although this comment represented a teacher-oriented perspective, it also reflected George’s conscious attention to what his teachers could offer him, and what he hoped to learn from each one. Overall, he was an active contributor to the one-to-one relationship, and there was no doubt that he took full responsibility for his development. As he said of his lessons:

Be prepared! You can’t sit there and sight-read a piece in a lesson ... Every lesson I’ve had a new piece, because I spent the holidays preparing ... so I can get the most out of it.

Does your teacher recognise that?

Oh yeah, she knows ... You can see this light on her face, because she knows that she’s gonna teach. She can use her skills to the utmost as well. (George)

George had a strong desire to impress his teacher and to get the most out of his lessons. This was strengthened by his musical identity as a top student with high-level performance potential, who would ultimately be her equal. His drive to embody this identity gave him the ability to practise consistently throughout the year. George saw the ideal student-teacher relationship as a partnership of complementary responsibilities. When he felt that he was no longer receiving enough from a teacher, he knew that it was time to find someone else who could help him focus on his weaknesses. His approach therefore represented a self-oriented perspective.

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Dominic was also focused primarily on his own role in the student-teacher relationship. He was strongly self-motivated, practising throughout the year, preparing music outside the sphere of his studies, and creating his own performance opportunities. However, he was also convinced that his teacher was the catalyst for his success since changing to the harpsichord, and described a Pygmalion effect:

I was told a lot [before I started harpsichord] that I was just: “this far away from performance, but I don’t think you can do it”. But I think if someone tells you that you can do it, then all of a sudden, you can. In my second year of harpsichord, playing the Bach D minor concerto - that’s something that I never would have thought of, but [my teacher] suggested it to me, and then I thought: “well, he’s telling me that I can do it, so I will do it”. (Dominic)

Dominic harboured a view of himself as someone who was not quite good enough to be a performer, constituting a negative musical identity and a feared possible self (Markus & Nurius, 1987; Stets, 1995). However, these identities were at odds with other music-related self- perceptions, such as his view that he deserved success more than his peers (see 6.6). Dominic’s harpsichord teacher supported his ambitions to be a performer, and helped him to strengthen and consolidate this identity. However, when left to his own devices for too long, Dominic’s old identities were sometimes activated, and he felt uncertain about his abilities. He consciously used his teacher to manage such low points, saying that:

It feels like I need [my teacher] now more than ever ... Even if I didn’t get anything out of him, the fact that I went and saw him and I had a lesson, and he’d no doubt give me some encouragement, I’d feel better. (Dominic)

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In spite of a level of dependency, Dominic was undoubtedly taking responsibility for his learning, and he projected forward to a time when he would no longer need this kind of support.

Jenny was strongly teacher and peer-oriented. She identified as a young first-year student with many years of development ahead of her, and was apparently not yet inclined to control and direct her own learning. She claimed that she did not do enough work, due to her lack of discipline, and said of the role of her teacher that:

I think you need either fear or respect because it pushes you to work more. It’s like: “Oh gosh, I have a lesson in three days, this has to be perfect”. (Jenny)

Throughout her interviews, Jenny described numerous influences on her thinking, including peers, master-classes, and teachers. She was inspired and motivated by the achievements of others, comparing her current standard to that of third-year players and imagining herself becoming more like them. She used her observations of others to gauge standards, but did not integrate this knowledge into her own approach. Instead, she repeated the ideas and opinions of others with little indication that she was guiding her own learning. Although she described her confidence that if she worked hard she would succeed, she had as yet not developed her own perspectives on her development. Overall, Jenny’s interviews revealed intense focus on music and playing horn, but a tendency to avoid investing her self-perceptions too strongly. By removing herself as a central player in her narrative, she reduced the impact of negative musical experiences, but also struggled to move beyond a general to a more personal picture of becoming a musician.

Emma provided a further example of a teacher-oriented perspective. She was self-motivated for daily practising but saw herself as someone who could not effectively approach a more general

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or long-term goal without guidance and encouragement. For example, when asked if she would like to improve her aural skills, she said:

Hopefully, I’d like to. But again, where do you, are there teachers for that? Do they have subjects for that? You know, it’s not encouraged a lot. (Emma)

Emma believed that if she had not already learned an important and fundamental skill such as aural perception, preferably in childhood, she would be unable to learn it now. This, combined with her perception that she needed to be encouraged and provided with a formal framework for learning, meant that she did not tend to address some of her perceived weaknesses. Overall, although she recognised the value of independent and self-regulated learning (Zimmerman, 2002), she did not feel confident acting on her present level of knowledge, and relied primarily on direction from her teacher.

Teacher-oriented perspectives extended to personal support. Virginia lamented the fact that her present teacher did not provide enough support and encouragement. Her musical identity included a need for a nurturing teacher to support her through fluctuations of motivation and a wavering belief that she could achieve her goal of working as a professional musician. She described an earlier teacher who was like a “second mother”, and to whom she would like to return. She saw her present teacher as highly trained and competent, and as belonging to a category of teacher who asked for more than she was able to give:

I’ve learned that a teacher usually asks for more than they expect you to do because they know that you’re not going to get through all of that. So if they say five hours a day they probably would be pretty happy with three to four because it’s better than nothing. (Virginia)

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This comment is an example of how Virginia justified her approach to practising and musical development with regard to the modern violin. She saw herself as behind her peers in standard, particularly technically, but explained that she was too socially- and family-oriented to commit to a heavier practice load. She saw herself as responsible for her learning, but did not commit to it, thereby allowing her to ‘interpret’ teacher expectations as lower than were stipulated, and to reiterate her identity as someone who valued life outside of the practice room.