El registro audiovisual

To explore pupils’ views on the methods that had been used in lessons tick box questions as well as open questions were used in the questionnaire (Appendix 5). Open questions were also asked during the VSR-Interviews. Pupils’ views on the effectiveness of instructional strategies were very similar to those of the teachers. Most pupils (9/10, QP2) indicated that they thought that teachers’ questions about the musical character had been helpful for their learning, and the remaining pupil, Sophia14_Cl3A, indicated this had been ‘a bit’ helpful. For Lucy talking about the musical character had been special:

Henrique: Having looked at the video, what were moments that stood out for you, in terms of learning something about the music? Or about how to perform it?

Lucy: I think... (…) we said more about character, more about like the moment ((hesitantly)) and the, ehm ((humming)) I don't know how to explain it, the atmosphere and how it should be played, and not how I played it… (Lucy14_FH4A, VSRI).

Interestingly, talking about the musical character and atmosphere of a work is the first thing Lucy mentioned when I asked her in the interview what had been special for her during the project. This is contrasting to her teacher’s view that ‘verbal teaching’ is too complicated for her and for beginner or intermediate students in general. Although she did mention later that aural modelling had been especially helpful, which is in line

with her teacher’s view, she mentions talking about the character as the element in the project that stood out for her in terms of learning something new. Likewise, Yasmine explained that she had found it useful to talk about the interpretation:

You're talking about how you play it more, rather than just playing it (…). I'd just sort of played it (…) thinking of that character (…) you put yourself in their shoes and you're just able to do it better (Yasmine12_Pi3A, VSRI).

It seems that both girls have difficulty describing how the teaching and reflecting made a difference to their playing. Lucy makes a distinction between ‘how I played it’ and ‘how it should be played’, while Yasmine describes her default manner of playing as ‘just playing it’. This suggests that both girls used to focus on the notation and how to play accurately, i.e. ‘just playing it’. However, discussing the atmosphere, thinking about the character or even imagining the emotion, had made a difference to their playing. This is also apparent in Rachel’s description above (see 7.4.1.); she used to concentrate on notes and ‘just did dynamics’ but had now realized that it is important to reflect on the musical meaning.

Additionally, tutors’ questions about the musical character had helped pupils to reflect on how to convey the musical meaning. Sally said about the questions concerning musical character:

I (…) found that helpful because it... means I know what I could, kind of convey in like the music, like dynamics wise, and how I want it to feel, so if I want it to feel like, circus-like I would play it like an, like it's a clown kind of thing. So, with the dynamics I'd do like (maybe) loud then quiet, and yes, that was helpful (Sally13_Cl4A, VSRI).

This suggests that Sally had not only learnt how to adjust expressive tools to play expressively, but also to think of her own personal interpretation of her piece; she had been thinking about what she needed to do to make the piece sound ‘how I wanted it to feel like’ (see 7.4.3.).

7.4.2.2. Pupils’ responses

Several pupils had responded to their teachers’ questions with creative answers (see 7.3.2.2.). Most pupils responded immediately to their tutors’ questions while a few

girls needed more thinking time (Rose11_R3A, Phoebe8_Vi1A and Sophia14_Cl3A). Caroline suggested giving hesitant pupils a few options to choose from as she had found this useful in her lessons with Sophia14_Cl3A, who had indicated in the questionnaire that the questions had been ‘a bit’ helpful. It might be that some girls were concerned about giving a wrong answer, as suggested by some of the tutors (M2), or they might have found it hard to describe the character in words. Nina explained in her interview that she had found it difficult to describe the character verbally because she thought music expresses something that is more similar to emotions than a character:

I just have trouble pin-pointing the exact... word I guess, like I can give a broad kind of generalization but it's all different I guess, you can't just call it one thing. (…) There aren't really enough words to, you know, exact words to describe the specific emotion that you're feeling (Nina13_R4, I).

Nina’s view on the musical character is reminiscent of Langer’s (1957) idea that music is expressive of constantly changing feelings and subtle moods which cannot be described adequately in words. Even though Nina found it difficult to describe the musical character verbally, she had found it helpful for her playing to think of the musical emotion.

7.4.2.2. Teacher playing for me

Most pupils20 _{reported that aural modelling had been helpful for their learning. In}

interviews pupils explained that hearing their teacher play had been useful for building up an aural picture of the music:

Well I think before I play the piece myself, or even attempt sight reading, I like to hear it first, so hear you play it and hear it played at the speed it's meant to be played at, so that I have a picture in my mind of how it should be (Amelia15_R4, I).

20 _{8 out of 10 girls indicated in the questionnaire that modelling had been helpful. Although}

Yasmine12_Pi3A ticked that her teacher had not used modelling, she said in her VSRI that modelling had been helpful. Lucy14_FH4A indicated in the questionnaire that modelling had been ‘a bit’ helpful but in her interview she said that her teacher’s singing and playing for her and with her had been especially helpful. Matilda did not complete the second questionnaire.

For Sally hearing her teacher play was enjoyable, helpful for learning and it also motivated her to practise and improve her own playing:

I liked listening to my teacher play it because it sounded amazing when she did it, it made me want to play like that (Sally13_Cl4A, QP2).

Rachel12_Va2A mentioned that she found it especially helpful to see her teacher’s playing. Explaining what she had found most useful for her learning she said:

Rachel: Well playing together and her showing (me) how to do it rather than like telling me. I prefer to be shown. Because then I can like, just see it properly.

Henrique: See it properly. But then you hear it as well I suppose?

Rachel: Yah. Well, I guess, I think I find it more effective to see it rather than anything else, so that helped (Rachel12_Va2A, VSRI).

This demonstrates that verbal explanation of technique or interpretation alone was not helpful for Rachel if it was not demonstrated in playing. Rachel was the only girl who mentioned that modelling was useful because of the visual information of her teachers’ playing.

Pupils’ views on modelling in this study seem different to those of conservatoire students in the study by Lindström and colleagues (2003), who preferred teachers’ use of metaphors or focusing on felt emotion over modelling. This difference might be due to the larger sample, different age and level of playing, or to the differing questions, as the questionnaire in the current study asked what had been helpful for pupils’ learning, while Lindström and colleagues asked for students’ preferred method for learning expressivity.

7.4.2.3. Teacher playing with me

Several pupils (7/10) indicated in their questionnaire that they had found it helpful when their teacher played with them. However, I had not made a distinction between teachers playing the same melody or an accompanying part. When we talked about this in the interview, Pippa explained that she found it helpful when we had talked

about the musical character, when I had modelled for her, or accompanied her on the bass recorder, but she had not found it helpful when I played along with her:

That's not as helpful, because I find it difficult. (…) because I can't like… if I get something wrong it's hard to go back and yah… (Pippa9_R1A).

It seems that she felt more freedom to adjust her playing when she was accompanied on bass recorder, which is not possible, and sounds unpleasant, when two recorders are playing the same melody. Pippa’s opinion is in line with Alicia’s view that accompanying is more helpful than playing along with students. In clarinet and recorder lessons, pupils had experienced tutors’ accompaniment on piano or bass recorder, as well as being supported by their teachers playing the same melody. In the string, brass and piano lessons tutors had not played accompanying parts in video- recorded lessons.

7.4.3. Developing self-efficacy and musical agency

As mentioned above, open questionnaire items explored what these pupils saw as the rewards of their instrumental music learning. Similar to findings in study 2 (See 6.3.), accounts in questionnaires and interviews suggest that for these girls, the aesthetic aspects of music, the ‘fun’ of playing pieces, and the social side of musical participation, are among the most rewarding aspects of their instrumental music learning. In reply to ‘What is the best part of learning to play an instrument?’ some girls wrote:

Being able to make something beautiful (Lara12_Pi4A, QP1). The feeling of when you produce music (Matilda12_B2A, QP1).

That I can produce nice noises with something other than my vocal chords (Pippa9_R1A, QP1).

Similarly, the most enjoyable feature of the ARP was playing several pieces, or playing ‘fun’ pieces:

Learning new pieces and the stories behind them (Phoebe8_Vi1A). Playing pieces that are fun to play (Rachel12_Va2A, QP2).

Additionally, their favourite pieces during the project had been compositions that appealed to them because of the musical character or mood. In answer to the question

‘Can you tell me what you liked about this [favourite] piece?’ some replied:

I liked the mood and style of this piece, and that it is slightly more challenging than the other pieces so it made it a more interesting process learning it. I also like the piano accompaniment to this piece and how the piano and clarinet parts are intertwined (Sophia14_Cl3A, QP2).

I liked the way it changed moods and I like pieces by Telemann (Rose11_R3A, QP2).

Without exception, these girls mention the musical character, mood or beauty as the reason why they like a particular piece. The difficulty level of the pieces does not seem to affect their preference for a piece as much as the mood of a composition. One girl even added that she liked a particular piece ‘even though it was hard’ (Lara12_P4A) and Sophia mentioned as one of the reasons for her preference of a work that it was ‘slightly more challenging’. It is important for tutors to realize that the musical content and quality of a piece might be more important for pupils’ preference and motivation than the difficulty level, as it seems likely that this will contribute to their enthusiasm and motivation for practice.

Furthermore, several girls observed that they had made good progress during the project; they had improved their playing, and this had been enjoyable for them:

I think I've made a huge improvement, I think, because, looking back, playing that piece… when I now play it, it just sounds much more... fierce and together… (Lucy14_FH4A, VSRI, after watching the video of her playing).

…playing the pieces in the lessons, and then sort of each week it gets a bit better so it makes you quite happy because you can tell you're getting better at it (Yasmine12_Pi3A, VSRI, explaining what had been most enjoyable during the ARP). I think now I can pick up pieces a lot faster and get them to how I want them to be faster, so I found that useful (Sally13_Cl4A, VSRI).

My playing has improved quite a lot this term because I have, in my lessons, mainly been focussing on the feeling and articulation of my pieces (Pippa, QP2).

I can now express feeling in to a piece whereas last term my playing was just a sequence of notes (Rachel, QP2).

These stories suggest that these young musicians experience a sense of achievement and self-efficacy21 _{(Bandura, 1989); they can learn their pieces faster; they have learnt}

to think about the interpretation; they know how to express feeling in their playing, and some have realised that they can make their pieces ‘their own’:

Learning so many new pieces of different difficulties, I enjoyed not just sticking to the level I was at the moment and doing some easier pieces that I could put my own twist on (Sophia14_Cl3A, QP2).

Playing with expression made it more interesting and relatable. You can make the piece yours (Sally13_Cl4A, QP2).

These accounts suggest a growing sense of musical agency22_{; these pupils have learnt}

to think about their own personal interpretation, they learnt to work out their own ideas in their playing and this generates a sense of efficacy and achievement (cf. Wiggins, 2015). For some pupils the focus on interpretation and expression had reduced the pressure of playing without mistakes, or the feeling that they had to compete with peers:

I enjoyed more listening to the music and not being as careful with my notes and more the overall effect and sound (Lara12_Pi4A, QP2).

I was so worked up on trying to get it exactly right, you know, 'cause I've got some very, very talented friends (…), and I'm just trying to be as good as them, but then, once we talked about expression, I just realised, I don't need to be as good as them, I just need to enjoy it and have the right feeling and, you know, trying to put myself to

21 _{Students’ self-efficacy can be defined as students’ belief in their own ability to succeed in certain}

situations or to accomplish a task (Bandura, 1989).

22 _{Students’ musical agency can be defined as students’ sense that they can initiate and carry out their}

where I need to go (Amelia15_R4, I).

Additionally, Tim mentioned that Lucy had started taking her instrument to a friend’s house to practice together, which he found remarkable:

…Lucy actually lives very close to another girl in the senior school, who plays the French horn, and they now go ‘round each other’s houses and play to each other, which would never have happened [before] (…) It's only just started happening… (Tim, VSRI).

Overall, pupils’ stories suggest that the focus on expression and reflecting on their own views of the interpretation had given these girls a ‘musical say’ (Davis, 2011); a sense of ownership and musical agency; they were more aware of their ability to ‘make the piece their own’; it seems likely that this had helped them to develop an identity as musician in their own right (Hallam, 2010), and it appears that this had made a positive impact on pupils’ sense of achievement, efficacy and confidence (see Davis, 2011; Wiggins, 2015 ).

7.5. Issues that can hinder learning of expressiveness