Cristina Capparelli Gerling

(Dis)Similarities in music performance among self-regulated learners: an exploratory study

The preparation of a short Brazilian piano piece by graduate and undergraduate students (N=15) was monitored to verify the following dimensions of self-regulation in the learning process: method, time, behaviour and social/cultural factors. Because preparation occurred without help from teachers, participants were encouraged to reveal the musical resources employed in the attainment of technical and expressive goals. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and three recorded performances. Most of the students displayed more explanations about method (72%), followed by behaviour (16%) and social/cultural factors (12%). The amount of time dedicated to practicing increased for the second recording. Two referees evaluated the best performance, which was chosen by the student himself or herself, according to the following set of nine parameters: basic note reading, phrase contour, articulation, tempo, timing, dynamics, texture, character and global coherence. We analysed data according to multi-dimensional scaling to obtain a perceptual map in which (dis)similarities were interpreted in terms of self-regulation dimensions and quality of performance. The data suggest that self-regulation was mainly grounded on method dimension affecting music competence and expressivity. Tempo and timing seem to account for the distribution of students’ results within the perceptual map.

How do undergraduate piano students memorize their repertoires

This study investigated the routine procedures employed by nine undergraduate piano students at a Brazilian university while learning and performing memorized pieces and the procedures employed using Chaffin’s performance cue (PC) protocols. The data were collected in two phases. In Phase I, each participant selected one piece that he or she had previously studied and memorized in the preceding academic semester. For Phase II, the students were introduced to Chaffin’s PC protocols, and they were allowed 10 weeks to memorize another piece of their own choosing. Thereafter, a second semi-structured interview with specific criteria was carried out, and the performance of the memorized piano piece was recorded. In Phase I, there were frequent references to structural and expressive cues. In Phase II, the employed PCs were shown to be related to the nature of the style of each piece, which in turn may indicate that explicit memory (content-addressable cues) seems to be associated with the deliberate expression of a given piece’s stylistic structure. Furthermore, tempo also seems to modulate the frequency of the PCs necessary to guarantee a successful memorized performance, for example, a faster tempo results in fewer PCs being employed.

Ways of knowing and types of knowledge: How do students approach a new piece of music?

In an exploratory study lasting more than 16 weeks, 15 undergraduate and graduate piano students prepared a short piece by the Brazilian composer Guarnieri, Ponteio no. 22, without guidance from their piano teachers. The data that were collected included their performances, interviews pertaining to their practice and stimulated recall interviews. These data were analyzed in terms of the ways of knowing and types of knowledge that are articulated in Davidson and Scripp’s (1992) matrix of cognition skills in music. The data were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The production of representation (outside the actual performance) showed a structural relationship with the local and global information about the piece. In terms of perception, cognitive skills were essentially dependent on expertise levels. Concerning the ways of knowing as reflection, a number of students were able to identify problems outside of their own performance. However, the solutions to these problems were less often planned. In summary, graduate students tended to rely on procedural knowledge, while the undergraduates generally used declarative knowledge. The results suggest that graduate students are more likely to make tacit decisions rather than verbal decisions.

Implications of time adjustments at micro, macro and meso levels in undergraduate and graduate piano students’ performance

ABSTRACT A short piano piece was prepared by undergraduate and graduate piano students (N = 15) without guidance from their piano teachers. Temporal parameters were analyzed in several time frames, from a phrase-to-phrase level to an interonset interval. At a macro level, local tempo was shown to be a crucial parameter that divided the students into two groups that differed in their approach to a particular phrase, revealing the degree of proficiency in terms of interpretive decisions. The mathematical modeling of this phrase was further analyzed in terms of the mean squared error in comparison to the nominal (technical, strict tempo) and pianist (artistic) performance. This approach was employed to classify the students’ performance in categories that were shown to be more related to their proficiency level than to their academic level. From the instrument pedagogy point of view, this research suggests fomenting in students a critical conscious about rhythm structure and its implications for coherence within the limits set by stylistic conventions of western classical music.

Reflexões sobre a modelagem como estratégia de estudo: relatos de duas investigações com estudantes de graduação e pós-graduação

Resumo Neste texto apresentamos os relatos de duas investigacoes baseadas na modelagem como ferramenta de desenvolvimento musical e pianistico de estudantes em niveis academicos distintos. No primeiro estudo delineamos os resultados de tres estudos de caso de estudantes de graduacao e no segundo discutimos os resultados com uma amostra de nove participantes vinculados a graduacao e a pos-graduacao em musica da UFRGS. A hipotese proposta de modelagem induzida foi confirmada. Nas duas amostras, a modelagem estimulou a ampliacao de recursos expressivos e o desenvolvimento de ideias artisticas individualizadas, alem de fornecer estrategias de manipulacao de parâmetros temporais no estudo do instrumento. Abstract This text presents reports on two modes of investigation using modeling as a learning tool for the musical and pianistic development of students at differing levels of academic ranking. The first part delineates the results of three case studies with undergraduate students and the second part presents results of nine undergraduate and graduate participants from UFRGS. In both cases our initial hypothesis concerning modeling was confirmed as a means to enhancing expressive resources and developing individualized artistic ideas. In addition, modeling seems to promote the use of strategies for the manipulation of temporal parameters during instrumental practice.

Sonata n.1 para Piano e Divertimento para Cordas de Edino Kriger: adaptações idiomáticas no processo de transcrição

Comparative study between Edino Kriegers Piano Sonata n.1 and its transcription for string orchestra entitled Divertimento para Cordas. Both works are representative of Kriegers second stylistic period characterized by the adoption of neoclassical frames coupled with the use of materials typical of Brazilian music. Besides comparing both versions and finding modifications in the transcription for strings, the analytical procedures point out features found in his pianistic writting related to idiomatic string playing.composers musical language.