Intuitive musical thinking and knowing

Figure 4-58_Codes_Intuitive positive

There were three examples of Encourages expressive and creative judgements, from Anne, Beth and Chris. The following example was taken from Anne (1:93) with L3, a recorder learner:

Anne asks where L3 thinks the high point is in that phrase; the most passionate part. L3 says the high C, doubts whether the note is a C, but Anne confirms.

Anne asks her to play again and see if she still feels the same way about the C.

Anne asks her to put that emphasis on the B after the C; not much louder; tells her that she played the C beautifully; she should now do that for the B instead and hear the difference.

Anne: “Which one do you prefer?” L3: “The second.”

Anne: “Then, how do you think we should end-off that phrase?” L3: “Lightly and softly.”

Anne: “Exactly, let’s try.”

Anne encouraged L3 to make the judgement herself, after presenting the options available. Beth (3:213) asked L3 to look at her piece at home, and at which techniques that she learnt she can apply to the piece, and tell Beth next time. Chris (5:98) told L2, before she started to play, to “bring some life into it. Bring life into Mozart; Mozart is life.” This can be seen as an inspirational comment, meant to inspire L2 to interpret the piece according to the idea that it should be full of life.

Encourages learner to feel the music, which will help learners to develop a “knowledgeable feeling” (Elliott & Silverman, 2015:223) for interpretation, was assigned to two examples by Anne. She said to L5 (1:237) that she wants her to feel “the end of every shorter phrase”. Feeling this will help learners to make an informed judgement about interpretation. After L5 attempted to feel the phrases, Anne (1:241) said the following:

Anne: “Okay, the feel of that was better. Did you hear that?” L5 nods.

Anne: “Did you feel where the music was going to?” L5 nods.

This example was also assigned Makes learner aware of actions, as she made L5 aware that the feel was better, that L5 did something which yielded a desirable result. She made sure that L5 also felt it.

Guides learner in appropriate interpretation occurred frequently, and refers to situations where teachers give more instructions, and leave less to a learner’s own judgement, but can be seen as necessary while learners are still developing their musical intuition. It often includes following the indications which are written in on the music, and sometimes what the teacher feels it should be. Anne (1:89) told L3 the piece she will play is an arrangement, and “sometimes we can change arrangements, but let’s first learn it the way it is written”. She talked through the slurs and tongued notes throughout the piece. She asked L3 to play the first phrase as beautifully as she can. The example was also assigned Discussion of context, as Anne explained that it is an arrangement, and therefore more flexible in interpretation. This supports Ethical musical thinking and knowing. Anne said the following in the same lesson (1:118): “It’s a long piece, molto legato.” She said L3 should simply play it intimately all the way through. “Have you been able to locate this on YouTube?” Anne guided L3 in the overall character of the piece. Listening to other recordings or versions of a musical work that one has to perform, can inform the interpretation.

Beth (3:216) said to L3 she must play it (her piece); donkeys are not “pieperige” animals that (and she gently played in the air and made a soft sound with her voice). Beth guided L3 in interpreting the piece appropriately according to the title (donkeys), which implies that it is a character piece. It was also assigned Musical works approached in more than one dimension, as Beth paid attention to the interpretive implication for the title, and did not only focus on technical details. Chris (5:100) made swaying movements with his arms to convey the feeling of the second section of a piece, which was contrasting (more melodic and legato) to the first section. It is also an example of approaching a work in more than one dimension – with an instrument like the violin, which has many technical

challenges, it is easy to overlook interpretive aspects, but Chris still viewed conveying the feeling as important. Dea (7:220) said to L3 and her duet-partner “now a bit louder” (as they came to the second time they played that section). When they finished, Dea whispered something again. Dea said: “Don’t start too soft, softly enough, but with control and here you go a little bit louder, until there, so that you can go softer towards the end”.

Figure 4-59_Codes_Intuitive negative

There was only one weak example of Teacher forces own interpretation on learner, as the teachers in the study mostly followed the indications on the music strictly, which cannot be viewed as their own interpretations. These are mostly expected to be followed strictly in board exams. This interpretative issue will possibly only become prominent at a more advanced stage of instrumental learning; when works are performed which many performers have interpreted differently, and a teacher has their own idea of how it should be, which they force upon their students. The example was when Beth (3:271) told L4 that it will sound nice if they put a ritardando in at the end of the piece to be performed at the concert. Even though this is a standard interpretive practice to do at the end of a piece, Beth could have asked L4 what she thought they could do to make it sound nicer, so that she could have thought about interpretation. If she did not reach that conclusion on her own, Beth could perhaps have suggested it and asked whether she agreed, and why, and shared why she (Beth) wanted to slow down at the end.