Figure 4-51_Experiential positive
Encourages learner to expand repertoire was supported by Anne (1:218) when she said to L6 she can learn the other pieces in the exam book that she likes, because they will not learn only three pieces the whole year. For Facilitates problem finding, Chris (5:175) asked L4 to show him which notes that she played were too high. L4 of Beth (3:228) was constantly entering too early with the CD
accompaniment, but then she realised her problem. Beth simply asked, “problem found”, and L4 said yes. She then said, “now you just have to correct it”, and L4 corrected it. It was also assigned Learner finds problems, as L4 found what was wrong. The same learner also found (3:239) her problem at another piece when she also counted incorrectly before falling in. Anne (1:187) said to L5 “just check that thumb.” L5 took the recorder away from her mouth to look at her thumb. Anne: “It’s all I am saying, just check your thumb.” Anne provided the appropriate amount of help to still let L5 reflect on why the note did not come out. Figure 4-48 shows how Chris Facilitates problem solving, by how he encouraged L3 to find the semi-tones. When L3 stumbled (she plays recorder), Anne (1:109) asked her what D sharp is the same as enharmonically. The following examples with the same learner also illustrates this (1:114):
Anne: “Now let’s try and get that E clear, so how are we gonna do that?” L3 plays the E clear now.
Anne: “That’s better; so, what did you do differently?” L3 answers incorrectly.
Anne asks her to play again and see what she did differently.
She plays and Anne points out what makes the difference and lets her do it again and then says she can carry on.
Anne encouraged L3 to discover the solution to the problem herself. When she found a solution, but could not verbalise it, Anne pointed it out. L5 of Anne (1:190) struggled with the descending of a scale, and Anne said, “just think your way through the scale”. Learners finding problems came from all teachers, and was shown through learners noticing what they are doing wrong. L3 of Anne (1:91)
pointed out her mistake and played again. L6 of Beth (3:436) commented on her F that did not sound good on the violin. L5, a boy who plays the saxophone with Dea (7:417) said “I realise what the problem was. I was holding the [inaudible] down on the A and not on the D. It was too tight for too low and too loose for too high.” He also said he is trying to figure out whether it’s a G or an F (7:440).
Learner attentiveness came from Anne, Beth and Dea. It was signified by learners making the necessary preparations before starting to play, counting out loud for themselves, singing, correcting themselves when a note is wrong or out of tune, or hearing and saying when something sounds wrong. Teacher modelling occurred often and came from all four teachers. It took the form of modelling what something should sound like, the right technique on the instrument, what a technique should look like, in some cases showing why a technique is wrong, or sometimes by singing
musically, or modelling an interpretive aspect. L3 of Anne (2:62) wrote that what she likes best about Anne that she “plays my new pieces before me”. Beth (3:296, Figure 4-52) said to L5, before she goes on, there is something she sees all the time: she took L3’s hand away from piano, and played staccatos, using only the finger playing the note for the action. She asked L3 if that was the right technique.
Figure 4-52_Beth_Modelling
In this case, Beth models the wrong technique, so that L5 can see what it looks like. As shown in Figure 4-52, Beth also makes L5 aware of her actions, as she shows her what she (L5) did wrong, and she engages her critically. Chris (5:23) showed L1 what a technique should look like:
Chris reminds L1 of being relaxed and makes a few quick adjustments to her position again. He tells her to look at his hand and arm (making a violin position). “Do you see my arm?”
L1: “Yes.” She adjusts her position as she looks at Chris.
Chris shows her “it’s not like this [bowing arm too high], but not like this [too low]. My hand is straight. It’s a 90-degree angle. Do you see a 90-degree angle?”
Anne (1:57) demonstrated playing with rounded fingers on the keyboard for L2. She also said to L5 (1:231) that she (Anne) will play something slightly differently than her (L5), and she asked L5 to listen for the difference. Anne then played some notes more staccato and accented than others, instead of articulating everything the same.
Figure 4-53_Anne_Interpretation
Figure 4-53 illustrates that this example also shows guiding a learner in an appropriate interpretation, which implies that the musical work is approached in more than one dimension. Not specific to any subtheme, Anne also engaged L5 critically, which may make the experience more valuable than if she would just have told her what she should do.
Figure 4-54_Codes_Experiential negative
Does not encourage learner to find problems can be seen when Anne (1:49) told L2 to count out the bound-over notes, “because that’s what’s straining you”. Anne could have asked L2 what was holding
her back, before telling her. That would have helped to develop problem finding and solving skills necessary for experiential knowledge. Also with L2 (1:58), Anne pointed to places in the music that were wrong. Anne made L2 aware of her actions, but did not encourage her to find the problem areas herself before telling her. L1 of Beth (3:21) played with slightly faulty intonation, but the correct finger pattern. Beth: “Not that high.” Beth could have asked L1 whether that intonation was correct, or whether it was too high or too low. Does not encourage learner to solve problems could be seen when L1 of Beth (3:18) asked “what’s different about this one [scale]?” Beth impatiently said “nothing!” Beth did not take the opportunity to let L1 solve the problem herself. It is presumably because she expected the learner to have known it by then, and therefore became impatient.