'Sounds of Intent' : Mapping musical behaviour and development in children and young people with complex needs

This article reports on the first year of an Esmae Fairbairn Foundation-funded research project into the design and evaluation of an original 'framework' for mapping the behaviour and development in, and through, music for children with complex needs, specifically those with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). An initial four-month design and pilot phase critiqued and evaluated a framework that was grounded in video-based iterative analyses of individual case studies that had been collected during the previous two years. The piloting phase was followed by a sustained period of classroom-based music lesson observation in five special schools over a period of seven months. A total of 630 observations were made using the framework for 68 participants whose ages ranged from 4 years 7 months to 19 years 1 month. Subsequent analyses support the general design features of the observational framework and provide new evidence of PMLD musical behaviour and development

Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education

[EN] Understanding that design involves trade-offs, thinking at multiple levels of abstraction, and considering the cohesion and coupling between sub-components of a larger whole is an important part of software (and other) engineering. It can be challenging to convey such abstract design concepts to novice engineers, especially for materials that are themselves abstract (e.g. software). Such challenges are compounded when teaching at the secondary school stage where students have limited experience of large-scale design problems that motivate the need for abstraction at all. In this paper, we describe a method for introducing these concepts to secondary school students using LEGO® and Raspberry Pi computers, asking them to build musical instruments as an entertaining way of motivating engagement with learning about design through play. The method has been successfully piloted in a series of three classroom sessions and key observations and experiences of using the method are presented.This project received no external funding but was funded by the UCL Department of Computer Science Strategic Research FundGold, NE.; Purves, R.; Himonides, E. (2022). Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 9(1):14-38. https://doi.org/10.4995/muse.2022.1645314389

Singing and Social Identity in Young Children

A range of studies suggest that singing activities with young children can have a beneficial impact on other aspects of their development. However, there is little research examining the relationship between young children’s singing and their developing social identity. In the current study, data were captured of young children’s singing and social identity as part of a larger-scale, longitudinal evaluation of the nationwide Sing Up programme in England. Participants were 720 children aged 5-8 years old. The assessment of young children’s singing ability employed an established measure and was undertaken individually. With adult support, the children were also asked to complete a simple questionnaire that focused on selected aspects of their social identity, both in general terms and also related to singing. Key themes embraced their attitudes to singing (at home, in school and in informal settings), singer identity (emotional engagement with singing and self-concept), and perceptions of self (self-efficacy, self-esteem, social integration). Comparative data were collected from young children of a similar age outside the programme. Findings suggested that the programme had a positive impact on children’s singing ability, both overall and including the youngest children. The data analyses suggest that children could be identified as either “pupils with positive singing identity” or “pupils with less positive, or still developing singing identity.” Overall, pupils with a more positive singer identity—irrespective of Sing Up-related experience—tended to report more positive attitudes toward singing at school and other settings, had higher perceived levels of self-esteem and social integration, as well as more positive evaluations of their singing ability. Furthermore, the research suggests that successful participation in high-quality singing activities is likely to have a positive impact on young children’s singing ability and, by implication, such positive singing development will also be associated with aspects of self that are related to contexualised singer identity and their sense of social inclusion

Five parameters for studying leadership styles in orchestra conductors

This study aims to investigate leadership in orchestra conducting and interrogate educational principles to improve conducting pedagogy. Effective leadership implies a set of interpersonal, communicational, and emotional skills combined with a high level of expertise, which may enable the leader to not only achieve excellent outcomes but also create a positive and collaborative working climate and vision for the performance. This work demonstrates that there are strong implications between effective leadership and orchestra conducting. We examine how orchestra conductors are perceived to be effective leaders and deduce from general leadership theories the following five parameters: charisma, stage presence, nonverbal communication, relationships with musicians, and leadership style. Interviews with orchestra conductors and performers support these five parameters for effective orchestra conducting. We perform a detailed analysis of the profiles of two renowned orchestra leaders— namely, Herbert von Karajan and Gustavo Dudamel— to test the five parameters and distill educational implications for both scholars and practitioners. The results are presented and discussed, along with implications for the education of orchestra conductors

Researching the Impact of the National Singing Programme 'Sing Up' in England : Diverse Approaches to Successful Singing in Primary Settings

This report presents findings from research carried out with seven Chorister Outreach Projects from Cathedrals across England as part of the Choir School Association's Chorister Outreach Programme (COP). In total, data were collected from fifteen Primary Schools working with these Chorister Outreach Projects. This data set was supplemented by similar teaching and learning of singing data from an additional five (non-COP) Primary Schools who were working with aspects of the SingUp Programme. In total, 48 singing sessions were observed, of which 28 (58.3%) were in COP schools and 20 (41.7%) in non-COP schools. Overall, the observation data on learning and teaching of singing within and outside the COP school sessions demonstrate that high 'quality' experiences can be found in any school context, whether urban or rural, with older or younger children, ethnically diverse or not, and whether led by musical specialists or generalists

A natureza do feedback no ensino e na aprendizagem de piano com o uso de tecnologia digital no ensino superior

O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi investigar a natureza do feedback quando um sistema de tecnologia digital foi aplicado em aulas de piano com três duplas de professores e alunos no ensino superior no Brasil. Os dados foram coletados por meio de observações de aulas registradas em vídeo, entrevistas com os participantes e também dados relacionados ao uso de uma tecnologia específica. Uma análise temática dos dados resultantes sugere que os participantes usaram feedback verbal e feedback não verbal em três áreas de foco da aula: música (partitura), performance (por exemplo, dinâmica, articulação) e tecnologia (parâmetros de Musical Instrument Digital Interface [MIDI]). A aplicação da tecnologia permitiu que o foco da aula ficasse mais claro, tornando os alunos mais conscientes de suas performances e de seus processos de aprendizagem. Os dados sugerem que o engajamento com a tecnologia variou nos três casos observados. O uso do feedback mediado pela tecnologia parece ter benefícios; isso pode, por sua vez, otimizar as abordagens pedagógicas mais tradicionais no ensino e aprendizagem de piano no ensino superior e também enriquecer o estudo individual

The National Singing Programme for primary schools in England: an initial baseline study

The ‘Sing Up’ National Singing Programme for Primary schools in England was launched in November 2007 under the UK Government’s ‘Music Manifesto’. ‘Sing Up’ is a four-year programme whose overall aim is to raise the status of singing and increase opportunities for children throughout the country to enjoy singing as part of their everyday lives, in and out of school. As part of the Programme’s research evaluation, a key focus has been to build an initial picture of singing in Primary schools across England. This information could then be used as a ‘baseline’ by which the programme’s subsequent impact could be judged, including ‘before’ and ‘after’ measures of schools that receive particular ‘Sing Up’ input. This paper reports an overview of key outcomes of first five months of baseline profiling (October, 2007 to February 2008), embracing analyses of the singing behaviours of 3,472 children in 76 Primary schools. These findings are complimented by additional analyses of children’s views on singing in and out of school; and the self-efficacy of their class teachers’ (n=90), both as singers and as teachers of singing

Investigating musical performance: Commonality and diversity amongst classical and non-classical musicians

The research project 'Investigating Musical Performance: Comparative Studies in Advanced Musical Learning' was devised to investigate how classical, popular, jazz and Scottish traditional musicians deepen and develop their learning about performance in undergraduate, postgraduate and wider music community contexts. The aim of this paper is to explore the findings relating to attitudes towards the importance of musical skills, the relevance of musical activities and the nature of musical expertise. Questionnaire data obtained from the first phase of data collection (n = 244) produced evidence of differences and similarities between classical and non-classical musicians. While classical musicians emphasised the drive to excel musically and technically and prioritised notation-based skills and analytical skills, non-classical musicians attached greater importance to memorising and improvising. Regardless of genre, the musicians all considered practical activities such as practising, rehearsing, taking lessons and giving performances to be relevant. However, while classical musicians attached greater relevance to giving lessons and solo performances, their non-classical colleagues considered making music for fun and listening to music within their own genre to be more relevant. Some underlying processes that may have accounted for the differences in attitudes are explored, including musical influences, age of initial engagement with music and educational background. Points of similarity and differences are discussed, and possibilities for the two musical trajectories to inform and learn from each other are highlighted