Exploring Musical Expression in High School Choral Classroom

1. A phenomenological case study Musical Expression in the High School Choral Classroom Andrea Maas, Teachers College, Columbia University ISME, 2016

2. Music educators and students agree that expression is a critical component of a musical experience… (Brenner & Strand, 2013; Lindström et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2013; Scott, 1915; Trivedi, 2004; Woody, 2000 & 2006).

3. Conflicting views regarding whatmusical expression is and howit takes place have made it difficult to understand.

4. musical expression is… a mechanical response to printed material based on decisions made regarding musical functions such as bowing patterns, dynamic markings or tempo suggestions (Broomhead, 2005; Davies, 2004)

5. musical expression is… an emotional response to livedexperiences and events drawn forth by an interaction with the musical text (Brenner & Strand, 2013; Lindstrom et al., 2013; Scherer, 1987; Stanislavsky, 1989; Woody, 2006)

6. musical expression is… the combination and translation of technical skills, interpretation, creativity and personal experiences (Brenner and Strand, 2013; Woody, 2006)

7. Students… • consider expressivity more important than technical skill or stage presence • (Lindström, Juslin, Bresin, & Williamson, 2003) • Recommend using • metaphorsand felt emotion • (Lindström, Juslin, Bresin, & Williamson, 2003; Woody, 2006) • figurative language and imagery • (Bishop, Bailes and Dean, 2013; Sheldon, 2004)

8. Music educators… aural modeling remains the most commonly used approach for musical expression because they believe it is “the most direct”. (Brenner & Strand, 2013)

9. Unique to singers... • facial expression, vocal timbre and the use of lyrics • They are more likely than instrumentalists to recommend teaching techniques that encourage “felt emotion or extra-musical meaning” • (Woody, 2000).

10. Purpose To explore the experiences of high school choral directors and singers, in order to understand the ways in which musical expressionmanifests in the choral classroom setting.

11. Research Question 1: How do choral directors and singers conceptualize musical expression?

12. Research Question 2: How do choral directors and singers practice musical expression?

13. Research Question 3: How do choral directors and singers come together to create a single ensemble expression?

14. Methodology • A qualitative approach in the phenomenological tradition • textural and structural descriptions of experiences -what was taking place and how it was understood (Moustakas, 1994) • ways in which the phenomenon may be experienced through aspects of body, time, space and relation to others : Lived World Experience (Van Manen, 2015)

15. Participants • Four high school choral directors and their ensembles • Male and Female • Mid-late career teachers • Claim to prioritize musical expression • Rehearsed 3-5 times per week / 200-250 minutes per week • Four focus groups of high school singers (one from each ensemble) • 4-6 HS Singers from each ensemble • Male and Female • At least 1 year experience with the ensemble/ choral director

16. Data Collection • Observations of choral rehearsals (video/audio recorded) • Interviews • Open-ended, semi-structured • Video Stimulated Recall (vSRI) • (Colprit, 2000; Hafeli, 2000; Nguyen, McFadden, Tangen, Beutel, 2013; O’Brien ,1993) • Focus Groups (Berg & Lune, 2012)

17. Procedure Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 3

18. Data Collection and Analysis(Moustakas 1994, pg. 122) • 24 interviews and 12 observations • Student Focus Groups: 1130 significant statements, 75 meaning clusters • Choral Directors: 900 significant statements, 55 meaning clusters • meaning clusters narrowed to themes • textural and structural descriptions • four choral conductors • twenty high school choral singers • each of the four ensembles as unique units.

19. RQ#1: How do choral directors and singers conceptualize musical expression Choral Directors “Over-arching piece”- Phoebe “Brings us beyond the page”- Celeste “Private in Public”- Sam “Head-long collision”- Sebastian An intersection, marriage between composer intent and a singer’s emotional experience Translation and re-telling of understandings, interpretations of the musical score

20. …in-depth understanding of the musical intention of the composer and how I'm able to translate that…It's a really intentional understanding of the text and then what it means to me and how I am able to retell that story, and it's a marriage of the two… - Phoebe Translation of composer intent + retelling of the story from the text

21. …what the composer is trying to get across as best we know, and what the singer is feeling about singing it… - Sebastian “It's more of an intersection than a clash. When the composer'smeaning and your sensual experience line up, to me you have 100% successful expressive moment.”

22. RQ#1: How do choral directors and singersconceptualize musical expression Choral Singers Convey and understand meanings Convey, understand, release emotions

23. MEANING …it's how you interpret a song and what it means to you and how you express it out loud in your singing. – Gabrielle …the relationship between the song and the words and the meaning to the singer. –Ash You can be connected to a piece emotionally or intellectually. You don't just have to read the music. You have to feel what's the meaning behind the music. -Faith

24. EMOTION It's all the intent that you put behind a song and the way that you present, the way you outwardly portray the intent and emotion in your mind that you're thinking. –Angelina …it's the ability to convey your emotions through your voice and your singing. –Lawrence …emotion through music, and just bringing out what you're feeling, and using music as a vessel to do that. –Alphonse

25. RQ#2: How do choral directors and singers practice musical expression? Choral Directors Considerations Engagement Emotional response to music Composer intent Student experiences: assumptions general well-being preferences vulnerability Choral Singers Conditions Engagement Environment Obstacles

26. Practices continued… Choral Directors Approaches Make Meaning of: Musical Contexts Formal Elements Texts Embodiment Choral Singers Approaches Make Meaning of: Musical Contexts Formal Elements Texts Embodiment Vocal Quality Spontaneous and Intentional ways Associations • Personal Connections • Imagination and Imagery

27. RQ#3: How do choral directors and singers come together to create a singular ensemble expression? Choral Directors Individuality & Unification Dialog Establish Environments Choral Singers Individuality & Unification Dialog Collaboration Mimicry & Contagion Eye Contact Role of sections Relationships

28. Choral Directors I want them to know that they can try whatever they want to and there’s no fear, no worry, no judgment …Creating the space takes time and it’s about creating and maintaining relationships that are I think respectful, a two-way respectful relationship. –Phoebe Part of our preparation always in class is um, what you know- the questions- Kind of that list of typical musical theater questions- “Who are you singing to, where are you, what is it about?...they’renot being told what they’re singing about- they’re being asked to think about what they’re singing about and relate it to something they actually have experience with. –Sam

29. Choral Singers Sharing about the piece specifically gives you a lot of ideas about how to interpret the song, and then moving into performance and expression, your interpretation is in your face… Those distinct pieces and talking about them and having these democratic discussions makes us feel like we're all on the same playing field and we're all in it and working towards a performance rather than “Celeste” having an interpretation that she wants us to match. We all feel like we're in it together.” - Zenya …this is good because it lets us put our own thoughts in it, I guess. Because it's hard to be an individual in an ensemble expressing something, when you kind of need to be uniform at the same time. - Lilou

30. “PATAGONIA PREP SCHOOL” You could describe twenty technical things that describe what that should be, but saying “Russian-sounding” pulls it all together and gives it more of an emotional meaning rather than kind of mechanical. There's a different kind of sound that you would associate with the two things. It adds a whole history and back stories behind it that you don't get by just saying deeper, fuller tones. -Hermione, singer …you give them the analogy of the life situation in which you use each of those voices…it gives a kind of picture…The shortest shortcut to getting a big kind of beefy warm un-nasal round sound is to give them a character, just like you were a drama coach… -Sebastian, director

31. Becoming an ensemble… It's a higher way of really interpreting the music, because you see it through your own eyes and then you get the chance to see it through somebody else's, and see how they really feel about the piece. -Faith It matters not as much the difference between people's interpretations, but as long as there is an idea of one underlying sense of purpose, that's what brings everyone in together, to form a group. It's kind of like politics. –Ash …it’s like notes on a piano like there is one note but then when you make a chord there are notes playing at the same time which makes it sound better than just this one note so everyone has these different emotions and when they all come together it sounds like, really kind of beautiful I think. –Noah

32. Implications for Practice:Musical Expression in the Choral Classroom Establish Rehearsal Environments Select Repertoire • Rehearsal strategies • Warm ups and room configuration • Affect vs Accuracy • Democratic approaches to making meaning • Building relationships Role of the choral director: or

33. Recommendations for Research • Music Education • Suggested practices (pre-service /PD) • Musical expression in other ensemble settings, general music, & composition • Musical expression in other cultures • Video Stimulated Recall Interview for Research and Assessment in the Arts • FlowTheory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Custodero, 2002) • Psychology & Neurology : emotion; expression; memory; therapeutic benefits • Aesthetics: Meaning Making

34. Complete set of slides, and references can be found at www.andreamaas.com Or email Andrea Maas: andreamaas219@gmail.com