Educational applications of scientific research on music performance

1. Educational applications of scientific research on music performance Richard Parncutt University of Graz, Austria Invited presentation at the International Symposium on Psychology and Music Education (PME04), Padova, Italy, November 2004

2. Some issues • Academic pressure on music academies • Changing demands on musicians/educators • Flexibility of job markets • Cost efficiency versus structural conservatism • Communication education  psychology • Intuitive versus logical thinking

3. Aim Improve efficiency of music education Efficiency = output / input • Input = students‘ time and effort; costs • Output = musical or educational quality

4. Some inadequately taught topics • Improvisation • Expression • Performance anxiety • Music medicine • Physics, physiology, psychology of performance (own instrument) • Efficient practice • Student-teacher interaction

5. Common Objections and Answers O: We never learned or needed that stuff! A1: Our students will be even better than we are. A2: Beethoven had no Bachelor‘s degree. O: Foreign ideas interfere with teaching! A1: It‘s about ideas, not “truth”. A2: Communicate with other teachers. O: Analytic thinking inhibits spontaneity! A1: Music theorists are music lovers, too. A2: Analytic thinking is confined to practice.

6. Approach • Survey of practically promising research • Practical and political issues • why not currently taught? • anticipated effect of introduction • strategies to encourage introduction

7. Sound before sign (Jost, McPherson) • Psychology of speech acquisition • hear, understand, imitate, improvise, write, read, share • successively & interactively • European history • improvisation died out in the 19th century • Modern teachers • feel inadequate, don’t convince parents or play with students • “Sound before sign” • start early (plasticity), one skill at a time, improv. against accomp., notate improvs., multiple representations

8. Teaching improvisation (Lassnig) • Order • imitate  improvise  notate  transcribe • Balance • group / individual improvisation • Approach • set limits (dynamics, articulations, pitches, durations) • expression first: syntax through semantics • combine structural elements with musical skills • Psychological theory of creativity • knowledge, risk, evaluation, motivation, flow

9. Structural communication (Friberg) Students can‘t describe how they express! • Structure: phrasing, meter, melody, harmony • Good theories: simple and applicable • Expression and accentuation • Immanent versus performed accents • Principle: performed reinforce immanent • Meaningful analysis of repertoire

10. Emotional communication (Juslin) Students have little analytical knowledge of: • Cues • size/variation of: tempo, dynamic, articulation (attack / duration), timbre, durational contrast, intonation/vibrato • Redundancy and ambiguity of message • Relation to structure • Effectiveness of feedback training

11. Performance anxiety (Wilson) High incidence, low awareness / treatment: • Optimal arousal versus panic • Personality, mastery, situation • Perfectionism and control • Treatment • physical (relaxation) • cognitive (realism, desensitization, restructuring) • Yoga, hypnotherapy, Alexander technique

12. Music medicine (Gasenzer, Erlitz) High incidence, low awareness / treatment: • Common problems • chronic tension, reduced elasticity of muscles • pelvis, lower spine, back of neck • specific to instrument, technique, repertoire, physique • Student musicians need: • knowledge (relevant anatomy, physiology) • strategies (exercises, sport, nutrition) • treatments (active interventions, avoiding overload) • information specific to children • Why important for students? • Prevention is better than cure!

13. Physics, physiology and psychology of piano (Troup, Holming) Students know surprisingly little about: • Relevant mechanics, acoustics, physiology • Timbre • key velocity, noise, pedals, balance, onset timing • Fingering • constraints: physical, anatomic, motor, cognitive • dependencies: expertise, interpretation • Structural and emotional communication • with limited expressive possibilities

14. Efficient practice (Barry) Diversity of approaches: • Study and analysis of scores • Mental and physical practice • Metacognition, organization, goal orientation • Intrinsic motivation • Listen to recordings and concerts • Many short sessions with breaks

15. Student-teacher interaction (Painsi) • Research • child’s, teacher’s, parent’s attributions of success and failure • Results • teachers don’t discuss failures or feel responsible • girls attribute more than boys to uncontrollable factors • Strategies • attribution training, self-efficacy, stress management, motivational feedback • Aims • realism, confidence, motivation, progress

16. Analytic versus holistic thinking Brandler & Rammsayer (Psychol Mus 2003): • Musicians - verbal memory; holistic/intuitive • Nonmusicians - series, classifications, matrics, topologies; analytic/logical • Nature/nurture - unclear, irrelevant Implication: • Musicians need support in analytical thinking

17. Implications Compulsory units for all students: • improvisation • expression • performance anxiety • music medicine • physics, physiology, psychology of performance (own instrument) • efficient practice • psychology of music teaching Bachelor‘s: 3 ECTS/unit = 12% of course

18. Aims of individual units Formulate musically relevant aims, e.g.: • Physics, physiology, psychology of piano • minimize cognitive and physical load • realistically achieve interpretive goals

19. Changing the system • Politics: majority rules or minority rights? - Musicology: historians versus systematic, ethnomusicologists - Academy: performers versus academics, theorists, composers • How did it get like this? - Musicology: 19th-century faculties of humanities - Academy: performance as genius • Solution: arguments not opinions - Cite research - Quality = focus plus diversity • Example - Musicology in Graz (planned): 6 modules

20. Getting academic staff • Change curriculum • New units: temporary staff • Success of curriculum  new permanent staff • Quality & international orientation of staff: may teach in English or French

21. Musical interdisciplinarity • Humanities • Sciences • Practice • Necessary: - specialism - openness, respect, curiosity • Not necessary: - specialist knowledge outside specialism

22. Thank you for your attention and special thanks to all who helped with the Italian translation! • Maddalena Forti • Luigi Frezza • Silvia Boccato • Bintou Traoré • Silvia Risato • Nicoletta Chiggio • Matteo Mattarello