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Control before shape - on mastering the clarinet: A case study on commonsense teaching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Roland S. Persson
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Abstract

This article reports an exploratory study into applied music teaching at a tertiary level. The study was staged as a case study where the case comprises one performance lecturer of clarinet and eight of her students. The focus of the study is how a performance teacher with no formal teacher training fares in the training of musical performers, how students respond, and what are the particular successful or unsuccessful issues in ‘commonsense teaching’. The data were gathered through participant observation and questionnaires. The findings suggest that the distinction between the role of the pedagogue (skilled in the dynamics and principles of teaching and learning) and the role of the expert performer (skilled mainly in the domain of performance) is an essential distinction to make. However, it is also a distinction that traditional performance teaching at a tertiary level seldom makes. The article concludes by tentatively proposing some pedagogical considerations for applied music teaching, as drawn from the case study.

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Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , November 1994 , pp. 223 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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