The Music Practitioner

Useful work has been done in recent years in the areas of music psychology, philosophy and education, yet this is the first book to provide a wide assessment of what practical benefits this research can bring to the music practitioner. With 25 chapters by writers representing a broad range of perspectives, this volume is able to highlight many of the potential links between music research and practice. The chapters are divided into five main sections. Section one examines practitioners use of research to assist their practice and the ways in which they might train to become systematic researchers. Section two explores research centred on perception and cognition, while section three looks at how practitioners have explored their everyday work and what this reveals about the creative process. Section four focuses on how being a musician affects an individual's sense of self and the how others perceive him or her. The essays in section five outline the new types of data that creative researchers can provide for analysis and interpretation. The concluding chapter discusses that key question - what makes music affect us in the way it does? The research findings in each chapter provide useful sources of data and raise questions that are applicable across the spectrum of music-related disciplines. Moreover, the research methodologies applied to a specific question may have broader application for readers wishing to take on research themselves.

Jane W. Davidson

Contents: Foreword; Introduction, Jane W. Davidson; Part 1 The Practitioner and Research: Psychology and the music practitioner, Aaron Williamon and Sam Thompson; What and why do we need to know about music psychology research to improve music instrument teaching?, Kacper Miklaszewski; The state of play in performance studies, John Rink; A case study of a practical research environment: Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Kari Kurkela. Part 2 Theory and Experimentation: Understanding Pitches, Tuning and Rhythms: From acoustics to psychology: pitch strength of sounds, Andrzej Rakowski; 'Expressive intonation' in string performance: problems of analysis and interpretation, Peter Johnson; Do compositions reveal information about historical tuning?, Bernhard Billeter; Enrichment of music theory pedagogy by computer-based repertoire analysis and perceptual-cognitive theory, Richard Parncutt; The perceptual space between and within musical rhythm categories, George Papadelis and George Papanikolaou. Part 3 Practitioners Investigating their Daily Work: Making a reflexive turn: practical music-making becomes conventional research, Jane W. Davidson; Singing by heart: memorization strategies for the words and music of songs, Jane Ginsborg; Formal and non-formal music learning amongst rock musicians, Anna-Karin Gullberg and Sture BrÃ-ndström; Priorities in voice training: carrying power or tone quality, Allan Vurma and Jaan Ross. Part 4 Researching Musician Identity and Perception: Rethinking voice evaluation in singing, António G. Salgado; Assessing vocal performance, Daniela Coimbra and Jane W. Davidson; Starting a music degree at university, Stephanie E. Pitts; Tracing a musical life transition, Karen Burland and Jane W. Davidson; Flawed expertise: exploring the need to overcome the discrepancy between instrumental training and orchestral work - the case of string players, Daina Langner. Part 5 Adopting Innovative Research Approaches: A new method for analysing and representing singing, Stefanie Sadler Elmer and Franz-Josef Elmer; The fears and joys of new forms of investigation into teaching: student evaluation of instrumental teaching, Ingrid Maria Hanken; A role for action research projects in developing new pedagogical approaches to aural and musicianship education, Nicholas Bannan; A new approach to pursuing the professional development of recent graduates from German music academies: the alumni project, Heiner Gembris; What music psychology is telling us about emotions and why it can't yet tell us more: a need for empirical and theoretical innovation, Matthew M. Lavy. Part 6 A Final Note: Musical chills and other delights of music, Jerrold Levinson. Index.