SHS 6 Developing the ability to perform JANE DAVIDSON This chapter examines the key factors involved in developing mu- sical kills. Initially, the concept of musical potentiality is explored, followed byan investigation ofthe specific skills required for learning an instrument. Finally, a discussion is undertaken of how best to nurture the ability to per- form for an audience. A balance between theory and practice is achieved by referring both to research literature on the psychology of music and music ‘education and to anecdotal evidence and material from teaching manuals. ‘Though some reference is made to musical learning in other cultures, the focus here is on a child developing the ability to perform within a Western cultural framework. The relative roles of biology and environment in shaping musical potentiality ‘There has been considerable interest in the seeming differences in ‘musical achievement among the population in general. Most of the debate has centred on the relative roles of biological and environmental influences ‘on human abilities ~the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate.’ Assessing the sci- entific findings, it seems that genetic factors influence general development ina number of ways: ‘© maturational staged development ‘An example of this isthe need to crawl before walking, or in musical terms, the gradual development of the hand and eye dexterity and coordination, necessary to enable bow and string synchronisation in violin playing. ‘+ some physical advantages For instance, tal, lean-limbed people tend to be better at high-jumping than short, more heavily built ones. In music, people with wide hand spans have a better potential to develop as pianists than those with small hand spans.‘advantages Generally for example, some people can ‘tune ‘more quickly thai 0’ problem-solving tasks ers. They may therefore be able to identify musical patterns and thus carry out aural discrimination tasks more rapidly. e before a gene will be identi- 1m of musical accomplishments. Nevertheless, ifthe concept ofa ‘normal di is accepted, it seems that the vast major- ity of people ~ around 95 per cent of the popul for bo or less everyone musical skills as well, in which the importance of innate often exaggerated. Tt would therefore be useful to explore the issues associated with environment light the c ive area of race stereotyping and the va jon ~ fall within ‘norms ent, consider the politically us ‘nature versus nurture’ Africans, for instance, have often been referred to by white people as having ‘rhythm in their veins, while the Japanese have been perceived as possess- ly high intellectual capacities and displaying technical virtuosity making, Although at some level genet come into play, an examination of the respective cultures and soci tices indicates that these stereotypes developed from socio-cultural rules of dren have a huge repertoire of songs, dances an pate at a high level. Within the culture, the normal distribution py “operates: musics forall and perfor far more intense than that experienced in the West. Therefore, vest many hours on homework of all kinds, including music. As there ten to be a more systematic approach to learning and thus more disciplined structured patterns of associated behaviour, Japanese children acquire igher level of musical skill than their Western counterparts. Pethaps one of the best ways to consider the key influence of the environ- ment on of musical skills is by examining an individual who at first glance appears to have had no environmental support whatsoever acqui but who became one of the most talented’ musicians of the Western world: the jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Born into dire poverty, he spent large 1 fending for himself in the street (his mother was a prosti- ind he received almost no formal education. It seems remarkable that asaboy he did noteven owna trumpet. However, if Armstrong's biography® is examined closely, five critically important environmental factors can be identified: (2) casual but frequent exposure to musical stimuli Armstrong grew up in New Orleans and was constantly surrounded by ) ample opportunities over an extended period of time for freely exploring the jazz medium and for developing performance presentatior Armstrong formed and sang in a street-corner choir as a boy, and had ‘opportunities to participate in communal jazz acti were tolerated and where he could choose the level of risk and difficulty ‘of his performance. Thus, he was able informally to learn the ‘rules’ of jazz harmony, improvisation and performance etiquette. (3) an early opportunity to experience intense positive emotional or aes states in response fo music It is fair to assume that Armstrong developed a ‘love’ of jazz based on some emotional experience (4) an opportunity to amass large ni Armstrong spent his entire day wi ‘trumpet to play. a number of externally motivating factors such asa key adult Armstrong received informal instruction from the older jazz musicians with whom he spent time, and this contact developed his musical know! edge, performance skills and desire to engage with music. ic sd to the music. ers of hours of practice jazz. musicians and could borrow a ‘The five factors that seem critical in the determination of Armstrong’ gestions will be made as to how performance skills might best be promoted. Early opportunities for musical engagement s increasing evidence that the environment stats to influ- he foctus is able to hear music and speech several weeks prior to birth and to recognise that music afterbirth,’ meaning that some learning must have occurred. It isalso possible to deduce that the foetal experience is largely ‘musi hms of the mother’s body and hears the inl. contours — of external noises including speech and musi pre-natal stimulation is one of the most important of all experiences and that infants stimulated in such a manner receive benefits in their overall education as well as their particular musical develop- ing else, the commercial music market assumes the viability of the pre-natal earning environment, thus offering pregnant women avariety ‘of special music programmes which supposedly have a positive effect on the ‘unborn child. Ithas been demonstrated that in infancy, ‘motheres by playful movements and actions such as clapping. ‘Motherese’ and ges- ‘tral play are developed to communicate basic emotional states and needs. ‘Thus, the link between emotion, physical gesture and musical meaning is formed. An expressive musical feature like rubato may demonstrate a link to carly infant experience. For instance, slowing occurs in physical and vocal teractions when they are about to end, and so when playing musi idea is abstracted further as a means of anticipating and prolonging the al ending. Quasi-musical interaction between guardians and infants the course of childcare thus leads to the almost incidental development ‘of musical meaning and some performing competenci Early and frequent exposure to music has long-term investment potential in terms of engaging the child’s interest in and commitment to learning. For instance, researchers! have discovered that children who later developed high-level musical skills were sung to and engaged in musical play during a critical period from birth to two years of age. This very early engagement was not structured or formalised, however. The children were allowed to explore the musical instruments in their home orto listen to the music playingon the hi-fi. The children who gave up music, by contrast, tended not to have much ‘musical stimulation before two years, and when it did occur, iteither appears to have been too infrequent to amount to an influence or was thought to be intimidating by being formally structured. For instance, one boy had a ‘violin teacher who came to his house from the age of two, and he was so fearful of the experience that he would run and hide under his bed. ‘Thus, available data suggest that informal, free engagement with musical stimuli at avery early age is of great importance for future developme seems to enable the child to build up a knowledge and an understanding of ‘musical communication, ‘The power of music: emotional experience as a prerequisite for committed engagement with learning Jeanne d’Albret, the mother of Henri IV of France, had court musi- ans play to her during pregnancy in the hope that her child would develop amild manner from hearing the ‘sweet’ sounds. Interestingly the day reported on the King’s calm nature. This anecdote reveals a possible mperament, Anthony Kemp!” has written about this issue at some length, ussing whether itis the music which atracts certain personalities to en- gage with it or the personalities which are shaped by the music. no firm answer, butitis now fairly well established that musi has some positive emotional effect. Indeed, those workingin the domains of ‘music therapy'* and musiceducation’® explore musicasa means of calming, soothing and invigorating individuals. Some ofthe results are impressive: in one case, a class of unruly children with ‘special educational needs’ worked better and achieved more by listening to Mozart in the background of their ience lessons. jerecanbe engagement It has been argued that an emotional response to musical content is a key trigge sic musical motivation.'® One study"” revealed that individuals with a lifelong commitment to music were far more likely to report key emotional experiences in response to musical content during carly childhood than those who never learned a musical instrument beyond stage. For example, one woman described hearing classic for the first time at seven years ofa her, causing her to feel ‘tingles’ through her body. isimportantto note that nad nal stimulus. For instance, being with a close friend when iar piece might encourage future engageme music, whereas, conversely, music heard in a distressing situation beavoided thereafter. Practice to make perfect A number of studies have shown that the most directly effective ac- tivity for acquiring skillis deliberate practice.'* In music, a clear relationshi has been found between the accumulated hours spent engaging in ‘formal’ practice (scales, echnical exercises and repertoire) and achievement. For in- stance, in a study of student violinists, K, Anders Ericsson etal discovered tthe best students had amassed almost 10,000 hours of formal practice by age of twenty-one, whereas students of far lesser achievement had a lated under half that total. Additionally a study by John Sloboda etion between the amount of practice done and the quality of pe formance in musical exa ms. The researchers studied five groups of young people ranging from those who had given up music afterless than two years of learning to those who were receiving. specialist musical education with a view to professional careers in music. They fo jon advanced much more quick) n system than the other students. Yet when the hours of practice were calculated, they discovered that t tookall students, irrespective of gra the same total practice time to achieve a particular grade. ‘The students in the specialist education advanced far more quickly because they were practising in a more concentrated way than the ot er students. In addition to formal practice, Sloboda et al. also found that students involved improvising and playing familiar tunes by ear. Thus, to acquiring the technical skills to control both instrument and repertoire, the successful students were al ime and effort in exploring how rong, there was consid- erable opportunity for tril and error, allowing an understanding of musical structure and expression to emerge. The style and structure of pract how a student advances in learning music. For instance, separate projects and Kacper Miklaszews! led that fragments of 2 piece woul ly be worked on for extended periods of time, and as these fragments became more fluent, larger sections would gradually be studied, a first in a serial manner until a holistic strategy evolved. Susan Hallam** demonstrated that serial and holistic strategies are two broadly different approaches to practice, with some individuals preferring one over the other. Her detailed studies showed that practising strategies are highly idiosyncratic 10 simple correspondence between a single strategy and While practising is significant to skill acquisition, as the case of Louis Armstrong attests, finding sources of motivation for musi also very important. also have a significant bearing on Motivation for learning Without doubt, people’s drives, arousal, anxiety levels, and thoughts and beliefs ial characteristics — have haping how they approach a task such as learning music Meveloping the In particular, self-esteem and self-awareness have profound impacts on the development of personal goals and aims2* A number of theories of moti- rly explains why some young jore rewarding than others to engage in musical act ‘expectancy-value theor is argues that people learn tasks ifthey value the activity or product or anticipate being successful. Value depends on a number of types of motivation: esis (when tasks are carried out because of some external reward 1 such as passing an exarnination) + social (a wish to please or fit in with others) + achievement (for enhancement of the ego, to do better than others) facilitat at length about how to ion, and she suggests the following teaching help develop intrinsic mot strategies: students should be exposed to many different types of music in a free ies of emotional response to music students should be involved in making decisions about the style and difficulty of music to be learned and whether or not to perform in ‘manner, in order to open the possi to stimulate the learners, teachers should generate surprise, perplexity, contradiction and debate, In other words, the musical tasks need to be meaningful to the learners and at an optimum level of complexity roth challenging and but also by examining the biographical characteristics shared by successful musicians.” As for exter common —for exampl it seems that social reinforcers are the most iends, family and teachers. These individuals can and do use material reinforcers such as sweets, money, tokens, treats, hugs and smiles to encourage, but their presenceand involvement with the learner are most critical for progress in learning,Social reinforcement and learning In addition tothe early stimulation of musical interest that goes on in ‘motherese’ and gestural play, ‘up, parents or guardians can have a gagement. A large-scal was not uncommon for children to give up learning a musical instrument because they did not receive sufficient parental support. Two hundred and fifty-seven children between the ages of eight and eighteen who had in- strumental lessons and performed wi regard ter, once terviewed w the rol ise at home, and then, once home, sup- tting in during or listening to the practice Parents therefore need to establish certain attitudes towards music. gs can also enhance the learning environment, as can role models. In Louis Armstrong's case, other jazz musicians provided a safe and sup- portive environment where praise and success had reinforcing roles. In that regard, they were like teachers within the more conventional Western music- learning framework. The role of the teacher Research® has shown that students with high achievements in ‘music found their teachers to be entertaining and friendly as well as pro: ficient musicians, ig students remembered their ‘teachersas unfriendly a . With increasing age, this combina- tion of teacher characteristics did not change for the lowest group, but the higher achievers started to distinguish between professional and personal ributes on the part of their teachers, the profes ing more relevant. Children who abandoned their lessons did not make this distinction. When the teacher’s personality was deemed pleasant, he or she was also perceived as professionally satisfactory. We see here how crucial the personal aspects are in addition to the professional ones; espe- cially at young ages, they may motivate students to play. This the emotional climate in which musical experiences are gathered. who developed outstanding instrumental achievements learned in a posi- tive atmosphere which was enjoyable and free of anxiety. In contrast, the learning context of the drop-out children was negative and characterised by anxieties. reas the low-achi -s becom- mal qual ‘The researchers also discovered that after the age of eleven, many dren did not need external sources for motivation, instead developing t ink with the instrument.” Indeed, a study’ of adolescent mu- sicians and their activities revealed that sense of self was highly bound up selFident Exploration of the broader research literature thus reveals that Armstrong's biography demonstrates the key environmental factors linked to musical skill acq But what about the particularities of the skills themselves? Performance skills According to Hallam," a critical first stage in motivating instru- ‘mental learning isto select the correct instrument. That involves choosing an instrument which appeals to the child, perhaps even conforming to sex stereotyping (for instance, girls prefer flutes, boys prefer drums). With the instrument selected, with practice duly supported by parents and with a warm and friendly teacher directing the child, the following elements appear to form the basis of the skills to be developed: (1) structure, notation and reading skills ‘These are acquired by developing a knowledge base for the rules of ‘musical structure, such as how phrases are arranged and how harmony ing how music looks on the page, and thus learning how to decipher the code of music notation; discovering how to sight- read so that more music can be learned and processed more quickly ‘through greater reading fluency; earning how tomemoriseso that music can be played without focusing completely on the notation; and from this, developing strong mental maps linking knowledge about structure to execution of the music. 2) aural Aural abilities are particularly necessary to enable the learner to de- velop good intonation and tone quality on the instrument. Acquiring the ability to manipulate kn through improvisation is critical, as is learning how music will sound without playing it. @ Allied to building mental structures for understanding musicis the need to train the body to automatise the note-playing process so that fluency and agility can be achieved.(4) expressive skills ‘These involve knowing how to manipulate the structural rules t ‘music that is perceived to have emotional content and is original t performer, (5) presentation skills Such skills include learning how to present both the music and the per- former’s body in a confident manner on stage so that the performer, co-performers and audience feel a sense of ease about the act of perfor- ‘mance and what it is communicating. They also inchide mastery of the rales of stage etiquette —for example, bowing after the performance. Many manualsareavailable to help develop the sub-skillslistedabove, and it is now acknowledged that with a persistent and determined attitude, the first three sets of sub-skills can be developed to high levels." Nevertheless, it has long been thought that expressive skills are highly decisive in separating average from excellent performers, with some mysterious, untrainable ‘gift determining the extent to which an individual can be expressive in music. However, research’ indicates that ‘expressive devices’ conform toa series of characteristics. First, they are systematic. For example, the use of slowing will always occur at certain structural moments in a piece, like phrase bound- aries. Second, these devices improve the communicabiity of the structural feature to the perceiver, so that, for instance, the metre will be clearer if the first beat is accented. Third, these devices are used in a stable manner, s0.a performer can repeatedly achieve similar expressive effects in mult performances, often over large time spans. Fourth, flexibility is possible, with skilled performers being able to change or exaggerate the shape of an expressive line. Finally, these expressive devices are used automatically, with performers often not conscious of what they are doing. From these findings, nt thatthe five characteristics can potentially be taught, given their skills a decisive factor in separating the good from the ‘great? From the literature, they appear to be no more dependent on ‘talent’ than the other sub-skills, Recent research’® has shown that to attune to one another and conform to social convention in the per- formance context, and there are training programmes such as Dalcroze’s Eurythmics which centralise the importance of non-verbal cues and inter- personal interaction in the development of performing abilities. However, as Andrew Evansinsightfully comments,” much more culturaland teaching investment needs to take place in the development of presentation skills. For ‘example, he discusses at length the dreadful anxieties reported by musicians viduals learn levels associated with a lack of self-confidence about p ‘The research literature suggests that fami a variety of performing contexts, playing repertoire that is well known and and having plenty of performance opportunities are ways of overcoming potential problems with presentation skills. One of the major dificulties with the way in which performanceis taught and conceived of as a performance act in Western culture is that it takes place in isolation: practice isa solitary activity, and lessons are typically on a one-to-one basis. To develop performing skills requires a pull against the dominant cultural trend. Although the nature of the musical material is very different, classical musicians and music educators in the West could learn a great deal from the Anang Ibibo of Nigeria. For the Anang, music is part of daily life it is not threatening, stressful or attainable by only a few. Music is for all, with everyone participating as creators, listeners and performers. Notes 1 See John A. Sloboda, Jane W. Davidson and Michael J. A. Howe, ‘Is everyone 2 Robert Plomin, John C. DeFries and John C. Loehlin, ‘Genotype-environment interaction and correlation in the analysis of human behaviour’ Psychological Bulletin, 84 (1977), 309-22, 3 See Rita L. Atkinson, Richard C. Atkinson, Edward E. Smith, Daryl J. Bem and Emest R. Hilgard, Introduction to Psychology; 10th edn (Orlando, Fla: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990), 779-80. 4 There are equal numbers at both the bottom and the top ofthat distribution who “willbe either impaired or advantaged in some way, but since these total only 5 per ‘cent, they are rare instances. nis Armstrong: An American Genius (New York: Oxford 3). 6 See John A. Sloboda, Jane W. Davidson, Michae! J. A. Howe and Derek G. Moore, “The role of practice in the development of expert musical performance, British Journal of Psychology, 87 (1996), 287-308. 7 Sce Peter G. Hepper, ‘An examination of foetal learning before and after birth ‘Irish Journal of Psychology, 12 (1991), 95-107, and Jean-Pierre Lecanuet, ‘Prenatal auditory experience, in Iréne Delidge and John A. Sloboda ( Beginnings: Origins and Development of Musical Competence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 3-34. 8 That is, the ‘goo-goo gah-gah' vocalisations ofthe guardian and infant. 9 See Colwyn Trevarthen, ‘Musicality and the intrinsic motive pulse: evidence from ‘human psychobiology and infant communication, MusicaeScientie, Special Issue (1999-2000), 155-215.that of SE, a man able to increase his normal memory span from five to seven items for immediate recall, to eighty items after over 200 hours of systematic practice ofthe task For discussion see William G, Chase and K. Anders Ericsson, ‘Skilled memory; in John R.. (cd.}, Cognitive Skills and their Acquistion (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 19% role of practice. ‘Rehearsal skill and musical competence: does practice make ance, Improvisation, and Composition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), 2. 22 Kacper Miklaszewski, ‘A case study ofa pianist preparinga musical performance, Paychology of Music 17 (1989), 95-108. 23 Susan Hallam, ‘Professional musicians'orientations to practice:implications for teaching, British Journal of Music Education, 12 (1995) 24 See Susan Hallam, Instrumental Teaching: A Practical Guide to Better Teaching. and Learning (Oxford: Heinemann, 1998), 25 See Norman Feather (ed.), Expectations and Actions (Hillsdale, Nj: Eelbaum, 1982). 26 Hallam, Instrumental Teaching, 104-6. 27 For example, details can be found in Sloboda, Davidson and Howe, Is ever musical? 35 John A. Sloboda and Jane W. Davidson, ‘The young performing music John A. Sloboda (ed), Generative Processesin Music: The Peychology of | 28 Jane W. Davidson, Michael J. A. Howe, Derek G. Moore and Jolin A. Sloboda, “The role of parental influences in the development of musical ability, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14 (1996), 399-412. 29 Jane W. Davidson, Michael J, A. Howe, Derek G. Moore and John A. Sloboda, parents and teachers in the succes and failure of instrumental earners, Councit {forthe Bullein of Research in Music Education, 127 (Winter 1995-96), 40-4. 31 Jane W. Davidson, ‘Self and desie: a preliminary exploration of why students seart and continue with music learning, Research Studies in Music Education, 12 (2989), 30-7. 32 SeeDaniel Caviechi, Tramps Like Us: Musicand Meaning among BruceSpringsteen Fans (New York: Oxford University Pres, 1998). 233 Hallam, Instrumental Teaching, 17. 34 Sce Desmond Sergeant, ‘Experimental investigation of absolute pitch} Journal of Research in Music Education, 17 (1969), 135-43, and John A. Sloboda, The ‘Musical Mind: The Cognitive Psychology of Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985). Deligge and Sloboda (ed), Musical Beginnings, 171-90. 36 Jane W. Davidson, “The social in musical performance, in David J. Hargreaves and Adrian C. North (eds. The Social Psychology of Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 209-28, “FT __ 37 Andrew Evans, The Secrets of Musical Confidence (London: Thorson, 1994), 79-133. Delite, Irene and John A. Sloboda (eds.), Musical Beginnings: Origins apment of Musial Competence (Oxford: Oxford Univesity Pres, 1996) vans, Andrews, The Secrets of Muscal Confidence (London: Thorson, 1 Hallam, Susan, Instrumental Teaching: A Practical Guide to Better Teaching and Learning (Oxford: Heinemann, 1998) Hargreaves, David J, The Developmental Prychology of Music (Cambridge: ‘Cambridge University Press, 1986) Hargreaves, David J. and Adrian C. North (eds.), The Social Psychology of Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)