There might be many possible reasons why the participants of this study did not always use the MPhC in the same way:
A) They did not want to use it in the intended way. However, at the briefing
none of the participants objected to the specific design of the MPhC. They all seemed to adopt a positive attitude towards the verbal instructions, and they seemed to have attempted generously to do their very best, which all speaks against this explanation.
B) They were not able to use it in the intended way. It may sometimes be
hard to abstract or discriminate the dynamical progression of the melody part from all the other existing aspects, particularly in music of a more com- plex kind. On the other hand, the MPhC has been designed according to some conventional views on melody phrasing within the classical music tra- dition (cf. 3.2.2.), and the participants were selected for being probably famil- iar with these conventional views through their respective musical back- grounds and educations. All of them also seemed to be colourful personali- ties, which has indeed made the outcome of the study redundant, but this has also created some problems in respect of a tendency towards too indi- vidually imprinted interpretations of the verbal instructions for how to use the MPhC (cf. 3.3.6.). In some cases, the participant’s musical views seem to have been more affected by their different professional specialities than by their knowledge about the mentioned old conventions. As a consequence of this, it cannot be taken for granted that all the participants were used to con- sidering melody phrases according to the intended use of the MPhC.
C) The instructions for how to use the MPhC were not clear enough. This is
a plausible explanation, partly associated to what have been discussed in the previous paragraph: if it may be difficult to use the MPhC according to its intended use, it is even more important that the instructions are very clear. Maybe the individual phrasing curves would have been somewhat more simi- lar, if the participants had fully understood the instructions.
5.3. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Giving the results of the planned forthcoming study indicate that the MPhC might function as a useful visual tool for preparing musical performances, the next step would be to explore it in more explicit educational contexts. In an educational con- text, the MPhC might work as an instrument facilitating the communication of mu- sical ideas between musicians playing together, as well as between teachers and stu- dents, maybe affecting their music performances in a stimulating way. The MPhC may be regarded as a potential trigger for self-reflection developing musicians' awareness. The phrasing curve might also clarify pupils’ or students' intentions by visual means, which would facilitate the professor's role of guiding them to realise their own ideas when performing music.
When teaching classical music, there might be a need for dealing with the con- ventional views of performing music that have been established within this tradi- tion. On the other hand, traditions should not be considered as static phenomena that remain stable over time. Thus, the MPhC is not supposed to be used for forcing the pupils or students to adopt specific interpretative solutions. Since even the strongest traditions are in a constant transformation, teaching conventional per- forming principles does not exclude encouraging the students to explore new pos- sible means of expressing themselves.
5.4. WAYS TO PROCEED
Concerning the further research, there seems to be basically two approaches to consider:
1) to let the participants freely use the MPhC the way they like. In this case,
the phrasing curves might still serve as a possible trigger for musical self- reflection in a context of performing and practising music. On the other hand, using the phrasing curves only in a more general sense without refer- ring to any specific musical aspect would disable the MPhC for the purpose of serving also as a possible means of communication between musicians, for example in an educational context. Nobody would then really know how to realise certain musical ideas practically or which concrete measures to take in order to make a musical performance sound in the intended way.
2) to improve the instructions in order to simplify the use of the MPhC.
When carrying out a study, respecting people’s personal integrity is abso- lutely crucial. The participants should never be prevailed upon executing a task that appears awkward to them. A solution might be to choose only par- ticipants representing more of the same musical perspective, and who are very familiar with the conventional views on melody phrasing on which the
MPhC is supposed to be based. Another solution might be more preparation time making it more convenient for the participants to master the MPhC. At present, I am most inclined to continue the research according to the second al- ternative. The reason for this is that the possible usefulness of the MPhC as a visual tool for communicating musical ideas has not yet been fully explored.