Regina Antunes Teixeira dos Santos

(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.

Contextualized Improvisation in Solfege Class.

This article presents practitioner research dealing with improvisation in solfege as a creative alternative for the development of music perception. Solfege practice, conceived as a personal constr...This article presents practitioner research dealing with improvisation in solfège as a creative alternative for the development of music perception. Solfège practice, conceived as a personal construction of a melody, requires an attitude that embraces aural sensitivity to the spatial and temporal dimensions of a melodic line, identification of problems, hypothesizing solutions and experimenting with strategies. In contextualized improvisation in solfège, the melody recently read and understood is manipulated in order to find different ways of embellishing its structure without changing the basic character. Examples extracted from solfège classes in a higher education context are illustrated and discussed. Improvisation on solfège exercises demands awareness of melodic contour at the same time as each note is being named, coherence and rhythmic freedom, providing the means for the students to develop the musical structures dealt with in the studied exercises.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of solfège in a Brazilian higher educational context

This article reports on the feasibility of using the assessment criteria for solfège proposed by Davidson, Scripp, and Meyaard as a way to assess a group of Brazilian undergraduate students. The experiment was carried out in 2003, with 16 first-year students in a variety of majors, each with different levels of previous music experience. The average age of the students was 20 years old. Students’ performances of solfège were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed according to the criteria proposed by Davidson and colleagues. Through the analysis, we found aspects that were not predicted by the authors. The criteria of Davidson and colleagues for quantitative and qualitative assessment were then adapted to our context and enlarged. An individual assessment form was also introduced. The results suggest that the qualitative criteria provided guidelines to the students for improving and fostering their approach to music reading procedures. Qualitative criteria also provided a consistent means of self-assessment for the students’ vocal performance. L’évaluation qualitative et qualitative du solfège dans un contexte d’étude de premier cycle brésilien Cet article vise à examiner la possibilité d’utiliser les critères d’évaluations du solfège proposé par Davidson, Scripp et Meyaard afin d’évaluer un groupe d’étudiants brésiliens de premier cycle. Cette expérimentation a eu lieu en 2003 et impliquait 16 étudiants de première année issus d’une variété de domaines possédant chacun un niveau différent d’expérience musicale. La moyenne d’âge des étudiants était de 20 ans. La performance en solfège des étudiants a été analysée quantitativement et qualitativement, conformément aux critères proposés par Davidson et coll. À la lumière des analyses, des aspects qui n’avaient pas été prédits ont été révélés par les auteurs. Les critères de Davidson et coll. pour la validité des données quantitatives et qualitatives ont été adaptées et élargies à notre contexte. Le résultat des analyses suggère que les critères qualitatifs fournissent une ligne directrice aux étudiants servant à améliorer et à adopter une approche personnelle de leur processus en lecture musicale. Des critères qualitatifs ont également fourni un moyen approprié pour autoévaluer la performance vocale des étudiants. Quantitative und qualitative Leistungsmessung von Solfège im höheren Bildungswesen Brasiliens Dieser Artikel berichtet über die Brauchbarkeit der Bewertungskriterien von Davidson, Scripp und Meyaard im Solfège-Unterricht bei der Bewertung von brasilianischen Studierenden. Die Untersuchung wurde 2003 mit 16 Studienanfängern verschiedener Hauptinstrumente und mit unterschiedlichen Vorerfahrungen durchgeführt. Das Durchschnittsalter betrug 20 Jahre. Die Leistung im Fach Solfège wurde nach den obigen Kriterien quantitativ und qualitativ analysiert. Dabei zeigten sich Aspekte, die nicht vorausgesehen waren. Daraufhin wurden die Kriterien erweitert und dem brasilianischen System angepasst. Dazu wurde ebenfalls ein individueller Bewertungszeitpunkt eingesetzt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die qualitativen Kriterien den Studierenden Richtlinien zur eigenen Verbesserung und Förderung ihrer Lesefähigkeit boten. Darüber hinaus boten die qualitativen Kriterien auch ein zuverlässiges Mittel zur Selbsteinschätzung ihrer vokalen Darstellungsfähigkeit. Evaluación Cuantitativa y Cualitativa del Solfeo en un Contexto de Enseñanzas Universitarias El presente artículo trata sobre la facilidad o no de usar los criterios de evaluación propuestos por Davidson, Scripp y Meyaard (1988) para la enseñanza del solfeo como modo de calificar a un grupo de estudiantes brasileños de diplomatura universitaria. El experimento se llevó a cabo en el 2003 con 16 estudiantes de primer curso provenientes de diferentes carreras, cada uno de ellos con diferentes niveles musicales previos. La edad media de los alumnos era de 20. Sus ejercicios solfísticos fueron analizados cuantitativa y cualitativamente de acuerdo a los criterios propuestos por Davidson y otros. Encontramos a través de este análisis algunos aspectos que no predijeron estos autores, de modo que adaptamos y ampliamos los criterios de Davidson y otros para la evaluación cuantitativa y cualitativa a nuestro contexto. Se introdujo igualmente un curso sobre evaluación individual. Los resultados sugieren que los criterios cualitativos proporcionaron directrices al alumnado para mejorar sus procesos de lectura musical, los cuales ofrecían además un método coherente de autoevaluación para la práctica vocal del alumnado.

Praxis and poiesis in piano repertoire preparation

The piano repertoire preparation of three undergraduate students at three different academic levels – the first, fifth and eighth semesters – was followed during an academic semester. A phenomenological approach was used to collect data in three stages: an introductory interview, observations of the repertoire under preparation and a final observation of the students recall about his/her study process. In these steps, four complementary research techniques were employed: a semi-structured interview, observation of video recordings of repertoire performances, an unstructured interview about the repertoire under preparation and a recall-stimulated interview in which the student reflected on audio and video recordings of his/her performance. Data were analysed from an Aristotelian perspective with the concepts of theoretical knowledge (theoria), productive knowledge (poiesis and/or techné) and practical knowledge (praxis). During the piano repertoire preparation, the students were found to use strategies that differed in purpose and nature. In terms of purpose, strategies aimed to survey and self-regulate the quality of their piano practice. In terms of nature, strategies could be classified as creative (poiesis) or learned actions (praxis) within Aristotelian philosophy. The study of these three cases showed that students’ actions were related to previous experiences including academic history. On the other hand, some activities emerged independently of academic background and seemed to reflect individual predispositions for solving the problems faced during repertoire preparation.

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.

A perspectiva pragmática nas pesquisas sobre prática instrumental: condições e implicações procedimentais

Research in instrumental practice has shown some trends that express certain aspects of calculated rationality, and point out to a pragmatic regime of personal commitment during practice. The systematization of the intentional procedures of the performer in order to improve and to refine ones music expertise level is present in research as well as in the concepts of instrumental practice. Thus, the present article discusses the nature and the goals of the procedimental conditions implicit in the concepts and research results in instrumental practice. Procedimental implications are also present in the discussion of the role of quantity and quality in the practice and justify the existence of different levels of instrumental expertise in the practice. This article also raises the relationship between procedures and strategies of practice.

Ways of using musical knowledge to think about one's piano repertoire learning: three case studies

ABSTRACT Instrumental music practice has been conceived and investigated from the perspective of self-regulated learning (SRL), i.e. how students acquire the tools necessary to take control of their own learning. SRL processes depend on variables such as ways of studying (method), time invested in practice and behavioural and social/cultural factors. Thus, this paper examines ways of thinking throughout the piano repertoire learning of three undergraduate students at different academic levels in a Brazilian academic context. Using a phenomenological approach, four research techniques were employed: a semi-structured interview, observation of the recorded performances, a non-structured interview about the repertoire being prepared, and a recall-stimulated interview to follow the repertoire learning process during an academic semester. The data analysis demonstrated that the degree, nature, and quality of the interaction between each undergraduate student and his respective repertoire learning were distinct and dependent on their personal disposition for coping with his repertoire learning. The nature of this musical thinking was creative or involved learned actions. In this study, the actions were shown to be related to previous experience, including prior academic training. On the other hand, activities that are independent of the students’ academic level seem to result from individual dispositions for solving problems faced during repertoire learning. This result helps argue in favour of the need to promote a students awareness of the role of activities that promote problem-solving thinking, in combination with learned actions, during the musical practice. Through this combination, students may be able to better prepare their musical repertoire according to principles of excellence in artistic expression.Instrumental music practice has been conceived and investigated from the perspective of self-regulated learning (SRL), i.e. how students acquire the tools necessary to take control of their own lea...

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.

AUDIOVISUALIDADE EM MÚSICA: PROCESSOS PERCEPTIVOS E COGNITIVOS

Tanto o sistema auditivo, como o sistema visual, ambos localizados em regioes bem proximas no cerebro, codificam frequencias (sonoras e luminosas) que entram em nosso sistema sensorial, no caso a visao e a audicao, em informacoes para o cerebro, dando-nos condicoes de saber com o que estamos nos relacionando. A substituicao sensorial e empregada para suprir a perda de uma modalidade sensorial, convertendo a informacao do sentido prejudicado por outro sentido nao acometido. A integracao audiovisual e um tema pouco abordado na literatura musical. Nos estudos sobre musica e neurociencias este tem sido um assunto constante. Os aportes destes estudos trazem diversas hipoteses que se referem a sinestesia audiovisual, percepcao de objetos pela audicao musical, manifestacao da linguagem e percepcao de emocoes pela visualizacao da performance musical. Dessa forma, o proposito deste artigo e apresentar algumas desses aportes e discutir de que forma elas podem auxiliar os musicos, professores de musica e musicoterapeutas na sua pratica de trabalho e na formulacao de novas hipoteses de pesquisa.