Putting Research Into Practice: Creative Activities for College-Level Group Piano Charise A
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 Putting Research into Practice: Creative Activities for College-Level Group Piano Charise A. Lindsay Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC PUTTING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE: CREATIVE ACTIVITIES FOR COLLEGE-LEVEL GROUP PIANO By CHARISE A. LINDSAY A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Charise A. Lindsay All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Charise A. Lindsay on August 14, 2006. ____________________________ Victoria McArthur Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ____________________________ Clifford Madsen Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ____________________________ Rinn Cloud Outside Committee Member ____________________________ Steve Kelly Committee Member ____________________________ Kimberly Van Weelden Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii This project is dedicated to my parents, Stan and Linda Lindsay. Their support and love have carried me through this process. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures v Abstract vi INTRODUCTION 1 1. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 4 2. CREATIVE ACTIVITIES 26 3. FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE EVALUATION 158 4. DISCUSSION AND OBSERVATIONS 164 APPENDICES 172 REFERENCES 182 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 188 iv LIST OF FIGURES 1. Blues Scale Hopscotch 175 2. Scale Dominoes 176 3. Twister 177 4. This is a … 178 5. Ear/Nose Name Game 179 v ABSTRACT The purpose of this project was to provide a supplemental resource for college-level group piano teachers. The Review of Literature explored past and current information regarding effectiveness in a music education setting. Studies involving general music classrooms, band and orchestra rehearsals, choral rehearsals, and private music lessons were cited to determine what skills may also be present in effective piano instruction. Three major categories of skills were found. These categories are Non-verbal Communication Skills, Student Performance and Activity, and Complete Teaching Patterns. Much emphasis was given to the discussion of complete teaching patterns, including the use of teacher feedback to the students. In the supplemental resource portion of the project, a brief summary of teaching effectiveness in college-level group piano was provided, as well as a checklist of effective teaching skills. Seventy-six creative activities were created and adapted for application in college group-piano classrooms. The activities underwent formative evaluation. Stage 1 of the formative evaluation included presenting ten sample activities to the Advising Professor and directive committee members for the project. Stage 2 involved presenting each activity to the Advising Professor for approval. During Stage 3 of the formative evaluation, graduate teaching assistants of group piano used some of the activities in their individual classes. Written feedback from the participating graduate teaching assistants was provided for the activities selected. Changes to those particular activities were made accordingly. A small summative evaluation was conducted by surveying the graduate teaching assistants who participated in the project. These teaching assistants were given a short survey that addressed the activities’ usability, how interesting the activities were, and the likelihood that the teaching assistants would use the activities in the future or recommend them to others. The teaching assistants were too few to conduct statistical tests. However, the responses by the graduate teaching assistants were generally positive. vi INTRODUCTION Background and Significance of the Project Group piano classes are part of a growing trend in colleges and universities. In addition, many independent piano teachers are offering piano classes as a portion of their studio instruction. However, the structure of group piano classes at all levels, including the number of students per class, the classroom set-up, including the layout of the room and the format of the class, and the required objectives varies greatly across the country (Chin, 2002). Johnson (2003) surveyed undergraduate piano pedagogy course content across the U.S. Results indicate that the main emphasis of these courses is geared toward private, pre-college piano teaching. Often, relatively little time is spent emphasizing the subject of group piano, particularly within college settings. Because of this lack of emphasis, many piano teachers may not be prepared to teach piano in group settings. As indicated in the Review of Related Literature later in this study, many researchers have found that teachers who use complete teaching patterns tend to be more effective. Complete teaching patterns include a three-step process. The first step occurs when the teacher presents academic information or gives a direction. Step Two is the student’s response. The response can be performing a task that the teacher has requested, or answering a question. For the third step, the teacher provides feedback by encouraging or correcting the student. Research indicates that complete teaching patterns are more effective when they are short and frequent (Goolsby, 1997; Hendel, 1995; Maclin, 1993; Price, 1992; Siebenaler, 1997; Speer, 1994; and Yarbrough & Madsen, 1998). While group piano is still a music class, differences exist between many typical music classes and group piano. For instance, in ensembles and private lessons the teacher is assessing only one performance at a time. Ensembles, though made up of several performers, produce a single performance occurring at the same time. The director’s goal is to improve the collective performance. In group piano, the instructor is assessing several different solo performances simultaneously. The setting of the class often changes between a rehearsal-type setting, in which all of the students are practicing an element of a piece or exercise in unison, and a general classroom-type setting in which students are often practicing individually using headphones. In the rehearsal-type portion of the class it may be easier to keep the lengths of complete teaching patterns to a few seconds. However, when students are practicing individually, each person is probably at a different point in the assignment. In this setting, the teacher is only able to coach the students as they practice, rather than take the class through a sequence of complete teaching patterns. When this coaching occurs, it is possible for complete teaching patterns to last two or three minutes, rather than a few seconds. Therefore, it may not be possible or advisable to shorten the length of a complete teaching pattern. In addition to complete teaching patterns, feedback may be more difficult in group piano classes. Generalizations often cannot be made to the entire group. Also, specific feedback to individuals can be time consuming, and therefore may slow the instructional pacing. Additionally, like elementary general music classes, students may need more than one opportunity to achieve success in their responses. Often, the student response is an exercise requiring skills such as harmonization, improvisation, or transposition. These exercises usually take some practice time prior to the performance of them. Therefore, in some cases, it may be 1 necessary to delay teacher feedback. Often instructors are asked to teach group piano without any experience in either the group piano class format or in the music subject matter itself. One common scenario is that the instructor has had many years of piano performance experience, but has never taught. In another instance, an instructor may have had much teaching experience, but has never specifically taught piano. In both situations, the teacher may or may not be aware of the variables that contribute to effective teaching, particularly in the piano classroom. Also, creative and active ways to present piano skills and concepts may be elusive, particularly in the first year of teaching. To address these needs, many first-year group piano teachers need an additional resource to supplement the current textbook they are using. The resource should provide creative activities plus helpful information regarding effective presentation of materials and appropriate classroom dynamics. Purpose of the Project Many of the research studies, cited in the later Review of Related Literature, indicate that the use of student activity is an important part of a well-constructed lesson. A number of studies show that performance and active participation reduce student off-task behavior (Dunn, 1997; Forsythe, 1977; Godfrey, Schuster, & Hemmeter, 2003; Price, 1983; Witt, 1986; and Yarbrough & Madsen, 1998). Others suggest that increased student activity improves attitudes and student achievement, as well (Price, 1983; and Siebenaler,1997). The purpose of this study is to provide novice group piano teachers with a supplemental resource containing creative activities. Additionally, the resource will include a concise explanation of, and guidelines for effective group piano teaching. Information found in this study should help current and future college-level group piano teachers become more effective. Specific questions answered by the study include the following: