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A Manual for the Learning of Traditional Scottish Fiddling: Design, Development, and Effectiveness

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A Manual for the Learning of Traditional Scottish Fiddling: Design, Development, and Effectiveness A Manual for the Learning of Traditional Scottish Fiddling: Design, Development, and Effectiveness Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Melinda Heather Crawford Perttu, B.S., M.A. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Robert Gillespie, Advisor Dr. Patricia J. Flowers Dr. Jere Forsythe i Copyright by Melinda Heather Crawford Perttu 2011 i Abstract Historically, the techniques and stylistic elements of traditional Scottish fiddling have been passed from teacher to student through aural tradition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of a written manual and companion DVD to teach the same techniques and stylistic elements. These materials were designed to be used by classical violin teachers who do not have any previous fiddling background. The instructional materials were created to focus on five of the most common Scottish fiddling tune types: airs, marches, jigs, reels, and strathspeys. Upon their completion, they were reviewed and evaluated by string pedagogues and Scottish fiddling experts. Ten classical violin teachers participated in the study. They were individually pretested and posttested. During the pretest, they participated in a survey of their opinions about Scottish fiddling, fiddling in general, and teaching fiddling. They were also video recorded sight-reading a selection of fourteen Scottish fiddling tunes that did not appear in the instructional materials. They were then given the manual and DVD to use for one month. At the end of the month, participants were posttested. During the posttest, they again participated in a survey of their opinions about Scottish fiddling, fiddling in general, and teaching fiddling. They were then video recorded performing the same Scottish fiddling tunes from the pretest as well as ten tunes from the manual. ii The degree to which the participants demonstrated authentic Scottish techniques and stylistic elements were evaluated by Scottish fiddling experts when they reviewed the videos taken during the pretests and posttests. The judges’ scores of the subjects’ performances were analyzed, and it was found that the subjects had significantly more Scottish techniques and stylistic elements in the posttest than in the pretest. iii Dedication Dedicated to my beloved husband, Dan Perttu iv Acknowledgments No man (or woman) is an island, and no doctoral student can complete a dissertation without the help and support of many people. I extend my sincere appreciation to the following: All the violin teachers who volunteered their time to participate in this study – I can not thank you enough for your time and enthusiasm My violin pedagogues who reviewed my manual My “Scottish Fiddling Experts” – the hours that you spent evaluating videos can never be repaid Jeni Squiric at The Ohio State University Statistical Consulting Service for working with me on all of the statistics Dr. Flowers and Dr. Forsythe for all of your help and assistance Dr. Gillespie for the unending support, help, encouragement, and guidance My parents, Ken and Gay Crawford, for all of the late-night proofing, support and love through the many years, and for getting me into Scottish fiddling in the first place Dan, for everything v Vita June, 1996 ..................................................... Diploma, East Allegheny High School, North Versailles, Pennsylvania May, 2000 ………………………………… B.S. Music Education, Duquesne University August, 2000 to June, 2001 ……………….. Music Teacher, Calvert County Public Schools, Maryland August, 2001 to June, 2004 ……………... Music Teacher, Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia July, 2003 …………………………………. U.S. National Scottish Fiddling Champion July, 2004 …………………………………. Scottish Fiddling Revival, Inc. (Scottish F.I.R.E.) Sanctioned Judge June, 2006 …………………………………. M.A. Music Education, The Ohio State University August, 2009 to present ............................... Adjunct Instructor, Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania Fields of Study Major Field: Music vi Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………….. ii Dedication ………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………...v Vita ……………………………………………………………………………………….vi List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………..ix List of Figures …………………………………………………………...………………xi Chapter 1: Introduction …………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 2: Review of Selected Literature ………………………………………………17 Chapter 3: Methods and Procedures …………………………………………………….37 Chapter 4: Results ………………………………………………………………………67 Chapter 5: Summary and Discussion …………………………………………………...89 References …………………………………………………………..………………….111 Appendix A: A Manual for Learning How to Play the Violin in the Traditional Fiddling Style of Scotland ……………………………………………………………...119 Appendix B: Evaluation Forms ………………………………………………………..175 Appendix C: Pretest and Posttest Questionnaires ……………………………………...180 Appendix D: Pretest and Posttest Questionnaire Data ………………………………… 185 vii Appendix E: Music from Outside of the Manual Used in the Pretests and Posttests ….187 Appendix F: Sample Practice Log Page ……………………………………………… 194 Appendix G: Practice Log Data ………………………………………………………. 196 Appendix H: Subjects’ Comments from Practice Logs …………………………...…. 198 Appendix I: Sample Video Evaluation Form ………………………………………… 204 Appendix J: Video Evaluation Data ………………………………………………….. 206 viii List of Tables Table 1. The Method of Arrangement of Tune Assessment Video Clips for Scottish Fiddle Experts ……………………………………………………………………………64 Table 2. Music Degrees Held by Subjects ……………………………………………... 67 Table 3. Subjects’ Opinions During Pretest ……………………………………………..69 Table 4. Subjects’ Opinions During Posttest…………………………………………….71 Table 5. Comparison of Subjects’ Opinions Between Pretest and Posttest ……………..73 Table 6. Likert-style Manual Evaluations by Pedagogues and Scottish Fiddling Experts……………………………………………………………………………………77 Table 7. Scottish Fiddling Experts’ Assessment of Manual Tunes for Subject ST1, Raw Data ……………………………………………………………………………………... 80 Table 8. Scottish Fiddling Experts’ Assessments of Manual Tunes …………………… 81 Table 9. Inter-Judge Reliability on Pretest Tunes ……………………………………… 82 Table 10. Scottish Fiddling Experts’ Assessments of Music from Outside of the Manual: Pretest ……………………………………………………………………………………83 Table 11. Inter-Judge Reliability on Posttest Tunes …………………………………… 84 Table 12. Scottish Fiddling Experts’ Assessments of Music from Outside of the Manual: Posttest ………………………………………………………………………….………..85 Table 13. Scottish Fiddling Experts’ Assessments of Music from Outside of the Manual: All ……………………………………………………………………………………….87 ix Table 14. Correlations Between the Number of Minutes Spent Practicing the Manual and the Mean Posttest Ratings of the Judges’ Evaluations of the Subjects ……………..88 x List of Figures Figure 1. The Number of Fiddling Materials Available through Amazon.com by Publication Date …………………………………………………………………………..5 Figure 2. Locations of the Sixteen Scottish F.I.R.E. Sanctioned Judges/Teachers ………7 Figure 3. Mel-Bay’s Music Inventory for the Violin …………………………………….9 Figure 4. Scale subjects used to rate opinions during pretests and posttests ……..……..68 Figure 5. Scale used to evaluate the manual ……………………………………………77 Figure 6. Scale used to evaluate subjects’ performances of tunes from the manual ……79 Figure 7. Scale used to evaluate subjects’ performances of tunes not included in the manual ……………………………………………………………………………………83 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Scottish Fiddling Scottish fiddling is the manner in which the folk violin music from the country of Scotland is historically played. There is evidence that fiddling in Scotland predated the violin (Alburger, 1996). The music was initially played on unstandardized string instruments that resembled the viol and the modern violin. These instruments were known as fiddles. Without the specialized patterns from which modern luthiers work, fiddles came in different shapes. Instead of curved top and back plates, fiddles had flat tops and backs like boxes. The frontal silhouette was more rounded than the violins of today; instead of having corners, fiddles were ovular or guitar-like (Alburger, 1996). As early as 1497, several fiddlers were on the King of Scotland’s payroll (Alburger, 1996). As the modern violin was introduced to the country, the music from the fiddle was transferred to it, and the violin became the primary instrument to play the music of the fiddles. This folk music and its techniques have been passed down through two traditions: the aural tradition and the tradition of publishing collections of fiddle 1 melodies or “tunes” that began in the early 18 th century. This has resulted in a large repertoire of music. In the Scottish Fiddle Music Index (1994), it is estimated that there are around eleven thousand unique tunes that originate from prior to the 1910s alone (Gore, 1994). The tunes are not only unique to Scotland, but also are unique in the manner in which they are performed. Frequently in today’s society, “Celtic,” a term taken from language classifications, is used to describe aspects of culture, such as music and art, which have ties to any of the surviving six Celtic nations: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, and Brittany (Kuter, 1995). All of these nations originally spoke languages that were from the Celtic language branch of the Indo-European language tree (Kuter, 1995). Through
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