Identity, motivation and goals of Mexican students of classical piano: a preliminary analysis

Transcription

1 Identity, motivation and goals of Mexican students of classical piano: a preliminary analysis Alejandro Cremaschi U of Colorado Boulder Alejandro.Cremaschi@colorado.edu

2 Initial project: interviews with teachers, parents and students of piano in different cities in Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Xalapa, Zacatecas January-May 2011

3 Overarching goals: Who is learning/teaching? What is she learning/ teaching? Why? What for? Influence of cultural, institutional and social context on the goals, attitudes, motivations in learning to play the piano

4 Preliminary report: students In this report: Semi-structured interviews, 25 minute long 13 students of classical piano Mexico City, Zacatecas, Xalapa, Jan-May 2011

5 Guiding questions Areas: Personal and family history Models Attitude and motivation Goals Materials and procedures Musical taste and preference View of piano study of peers, family and society

6 Qualitative study Describe reality through the eyes of the interviewees Not generalizable

7 Method Students contacted through teachers Limitation: teachers tend to choose their better or more serious students Interviews done in private, in or near schools of music Informed consent was obtained from all participantes

8 Básico o Juvenil 4 o 5 años Preuniversitario/precollege Medio superior o propedeutico 2 o 3 años Universitario/College Superior 4 o 5 años

9 Código Fecha entrevista Edad Sexo Ciudad Nivel Edad en que comenzó 1 18-Feb 16 M DF Medio superior Feb 16 M DF Medio superior Apr 19 M Xalapa Medio superior Mar 15 F Zacatecas Juvenil Mar 25 M Zacatecas Medio superior Apr 14 M Xalapa Medio superior Feb 16 M DF Clases privadas Feb 26 F DF Medio superior Mar 19 F Zacatecas Superior Mar 17 M Zacatecas Juvenil Apr 17 M Xalapa Medio superior Mar 23 F Zacatecas Juvenil Apr 19 M Xalapa Medio superior 7

10 History Approach to the piano Attendance at concert, listening to recording, hearing a relative play In most cases: relatives made music In some: relatives played by ear Evidence that formal learning in official institutions and learning to read music holds higher value than playing by ear?

11 History Two of the 13 participants did not have music in family #8 got in contact with music through a kindergarten teacher #5 had musician friends in his school, and participated in music activities with them (band)

12 Family support In general, precollege students: strong family support Some evidence that support diminishes at the time to choose piano as a college major Participants: society views music as a career without a profitable future College students Lack of support (3 of 6) Some started as a double-majors (3 of 6)

13 Models Models Current or former piano teachers Some: composers such as Beethoven (symbol of effort, triumph over adversity) Lack of current international pianists as models Possible explanations: Preference for models with human qualities (teachers, Beethoven) Preference for models nearby (teachers) Lack of knowledge about piano field? (e.g. most did not know who Horowitz was)

14 Motivation Expectancy-value theory (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) Goal orientation theory (Dweck, 1991) Flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991) Many positive aspects: Intrinsic motivation Mastery goal orientation Capacity to enjoy learning process

15 Identity, music and society Close-knit relationship with classical music Classical music: high social and aesthetic value Society needs more contact with classical music Produces a more cultured society Produces a more intelligent, sensitive and civic society

16 They regret that classical music is not well-known in Mexico Why? People think it is difficult, boring, elitist Lack of education Music industry overshadows good music with simple and inauthentic products They feel the necessity of educating society

17 In-group/Out-group IG and EG: a mechanism to affirm identity (Tajfel) External group: peers that reject their choice to study classical music Some participants feel rejected, viewed with astonishment, or discriminated because of their choice

18 In-group/Out-group Taste as a means to establish contrast with outgroup. In-group viewed positively, out-group viewed negatively Not popular music viewed negatively by participants Classical m. embodies positive qualities Commercial music: negative qualitites Greatest rejection toward reggaeton, commercial pop Open and at times emotional expression of rejection of these genres

19 Música clásica No se toca para hacer dinero, sino por amor/played not to make money, but because of love Profunda/Deep Transmite sentimientos/transmits feelings Dramática/Dramatic Maravillosa/Wonderful Necesitas ponerle atención/you need to pay attention to it Compleja/Complex Necesita una preparación intensa/you need an intensive preparation Importante [trascendente]/important [transcendent] Tiene trayectoria histórica/it has a historical trajectory Desarrolla la inteligencia/develops intelligence Más elaborada/ellaborate Componerla requiere inspiración, personalidad y conocimientos/to compose it you need inspiration, personality and knowledge Música "comercial" Se hace para hacer dinero/created just to make money Simple, repetida, igual/simple, repetitive, always the same Es agresiva, obscena (reggaeton)/aggressive, obscene Loca (rock metal)/crazy Baja/Low Se escucha "en la calle" o "en el camión"/ You listen to it in the streets, on the bus No requiere mucha técnica/it does not require much technical knowledge Se puede aprender solo, o con "métodos de los puestos de revista"/you can learn it through methods from the magazine posts Se basa en la letra/based on the lyrics Producto de la moda/product of fashion "Te hace más tonto"/it makes you more stupid Repetida/Repetitious Hecha mecánicamente, en una consola/made mechanically, on a machine

20 Goals Conflict between project and available training opportunities Curriculum perception: Aimed at preparing soloist following the old European model Precollege participants: No decision yet to do piano as a career Some: idealized view of the soloist career

21 Goals College students (6) Committed to music career Some: want to become soloists (#3 and 5) They understand the amount of work required But worried about making an income later in life Others: alternative careers in music #8: direct choir projects #12: produce cultural show #9: play chamber music and teach #13: play jazz (double major) and teach

22 Critique to institutions Some students critique the curricular profile of their institutions: #10: improvisation and other genres are not taught #8: limit profile of conservatory, contradicts the goal of the university of producing researchers, teachers and disseminators #12: school does not provide tools for project #13: piano teaching in Mexico too focused on traditional canon. Students finish studies without relevant professional experiences

23 Conclusions Evidence that personal history, family support and motivation follows patterns uncovered by previous studies of young music students Early contact with music Family and important-others support (especially at precollege level) High intrinsic motivation to learn and improve Some evidence that family support diminishes at the time of choosing music as a college major

24 Conclusions Participants build their music identity through a close-knit relationship with classical music They view this music as important and necessary for Mexican society They opposed this music to commercial music, which embodies negative characteristics Some participants feel misunderstood and rejected by their peers because of their choice The goals of the precollege-age students are vague. Soloist career idealized College-age students have a more realistic view of the music career

25 Conclusions More than half of the college-age students embrace career projects different from piano soloist Among these students there is a perception that their music schools are overly fashioned upon the European canonic tradition of producing soloists They feel their schools do not offer enough options for alternative careers

26 Limitations Non-generalizable due to its qualitative status Interviewed students is not a representative sample of the whole population chosen by teachers

27 Recommendations More diverse profile of participants Combine student data with data obtained from interviews with parents to obtain a more complete picture of motivation, personal history, goals and identity Look at macrosystem (state, institutions, society) to obtain a more complete social picture of what it means to play and study classical piano in Mexico Some of this was done during this study, but not included in this report

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