Responsible partner: Luleå University of Technology, Department of Music and Media
- Main goal: to increase the pedagogical and technical quality of distance education
- Learning results of research activities
- Quality of teacher-student dialogue
- Attitude after pilots (teachers, students)
Pedagogical and technological environment
The Department of Music and Media at Luleå University of Technology is a leading European music institution as far as the interdisciplinary integration of artistic work and new technology, including interactive media, is concerned. Being part of a university of technology provides ideal conditions for the full exploration of synergies in the interplay of art and technology. Traditionally, music is the dominating form of art at the University, especially as the achievements of the professors in artistic musical disciplines has won international acclaim.
The technical infrastructure at the Department of Music and Media is well suited for an interdisciplinary research approach combining music, pedagogy, and technology. The laboratory environment comprises several recording studios for music, radio, and television. The recording facilities are among the best in Sweden
The Department of Music and Media at Luleå University of Technology offers an unusually broad and many-faceted research environment for a music department. Research disciplines include musical performance, music education, and audio engineering. Within the University, there is a network of senior researchers from both technology and art. In particular, there is a long-standing collaboration between audio technology and musical disciplines.
The research in music education is oriented towards both formal and informal learning. Seven PhDs have graduated. The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education has evaluated the doctoral programme in music education twice, with a positive outcome. A quotation from the evaluation 2009 in translation: "The publication list 2003-2007 indicates that the teachers are active researchers. The program has an obvious direction towards music and technology, which is an important area of music education… To sum up, the academic environment is good." (http://www.hsv.se/publikationer).
Vi r Music has added important value to the artistic, technical and academic environment. The interest for virtual music tuition has increased among music educators and we can see the outline of a new interdisciplinary research area (music education, music performance and sound technology).
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| Project meeting in Piteå February 2010 |
Music education has existed at the Department of Music and Media since the mid-1990s, today with two professors (Sture Brändström and Christer Wiklund , both involved in Vi r Music), one associate professor (docent), one senior lecturer, one postdoc and three doctoral students. Erik Lundström was doctoral student during the first three semesters of the project but quitted in the summer 2010 and the last half year of Vi r Music he has been appointed as researcher. Sture Kuusisalo is responsible for music teacher training at School of Music
The professorship in audio engineering is upheld by an associate professor (docent), Jan Berg – the only PhD within this discipline in Sweden Dan Nyberg . Morten Amundsen has been responsible for the technological tools as well as technical support in WP 1. Dan and Morten have cooperated with Noa Nakai in developing the technical quality. They have performed sound experiments and technical testing between Finland and Sweden
By tradition, music teacher training is the domination study area of Department of Music and Media. Two of the teachers, Ewa-Lill Clarén and Tommy Lakso , have taken active part of Vi r Music from the very beginning. They have implemented virtual teaching as a part of vocal and electric guitar methodology, respectively. The last year of the project Maria Sjöstedt has followed the violin lessons for beginners according to the Colourstring method.
Project administrator for WP1 has been AnnKristin Sandberg.
Main activities in WP 1
The LTU part of the project is focused on pedagogical methods and research. The main pedagogical activities of WP1 are: masterclasses, vocal teaching, and electric guitar teaching. These pilots have worked as research object with the purpose to increase the pedagogical and technical quality of distance distributed music education.
In the project we have taken part in virtual classes with eminent classical musicians and teachers in conjunction with WP 3. The equipment used was a video conference system designed by the company Tandberg. All participants including the teacher were exposed on a big TV screen. To collect data from the master classes we have carried out interviews with teachers and students. We have also made observations and all master classes are documented on videotape for later analysis.
The virtual classes were genuine border crossing activities both from the teacher and student perspective. For example, the violin students in Piteå had the opportunity to listen to first class lectures between Helsinki and Oulu Christian Svarfvar , gave several highly appreciated classes to Finnish students at different levels. This was not just an affair between the teacher and the player in question, but even of great value for listening students and teachers in Sweden , Finland and Norway
The virtual classes in the project typically started by trying out the connections between the involved institutions. Technically they mostly worked well and with a tendency of increasing quality during the project. An unavoidable weakness, especially with more than two participating institutions, was a certain delay between the participants and also between sound and picture.
Ewa-Lill Clarén is an experienced teacher in pop and rock singing, but before the project without any experience of distance teaching. She started her work in the project by taking some vocal lessons over the Internet and after that she gave four group lessons to singing student in Oulu
- How to close the gap between “the professors” and the learners?
- How to offer the students a safe environment without being in the same room?
- How to design for peer learning?
- How to provide for action with reflection?
Vi r Music has even comprised violin tuition for beginners and Maria Sjöstedt has followed the distance lectures by Geza Szilvay. She has also tried the Colourstring method and used the special designed material on two children in Piteå. The method is rather unknown in Sweden
Some results from WP 1
Participating teachers and students in Vi r Music seem to consider the virtual teaching as a positive experience and mostly they do not exaggerate the differences compared to “normal” face-to-face meetings. However, there are some features in the virtual teaching situation, which have to be taken into consideration.
Teachers and students stress the fact that distance lessons are much more intense and that they need to be carefully planned. We have found that 30 minutes lessons are optimal concerning distance tuition. That is also what is recommended by experienced virtual pedagogues, like for example Pinchas Zukerman.
The evaluations show that students often consider the physical meeting with the teacher as an important starting point. Furthermore, the students emphasize the necessity for the teacher to be clear and distinct when it comes to give instruction and feed back. Most of the participants looked at the virtual learning situation as a fruitful complement to the traditional face-to-face meetings at school of music or the municipal music school.
According to interviews, the technical level was good enough for giving adequate feed back and there seem to be a rather quick adaptation to the distance situation. One of the teachers said that it could take a little longer to come into mental connection with the student, as a consequence of the mediating technology. The most crucial part of the virtual classes was playing together or clapping the rhythm. The teacher had to avoid these situations and focus on giving feed back after the student had played or sung a larger section of the piece.
A challenge for the teacher has, in the same way as in other forms of instrumental teaching, been to analyze the most important strengths and weaknesses and then give feed back as clear and simple as possible. In the best and most fruitful classes, the teacher has allowed the student to play or sing substantial parts without interruptions. On the other hand, in the less successful classes the teacher has lectured and talked too much without a genuine communication with the student in question.
Our results also show that some students and even some teachers consider the masterclass as a lesson, while others understand it as a mini-concert. Most of the students say that it is the teacher who decides if the masterclass is going to be like a concert or more like a dialogue between teacher and student. The audience seem to have a supporting role for the student if the instruction is performed in a dialogic way, but the audience can also be perceived as a real concert audience where you have no chance to correct mistakes. Some of the interviewed students consider sitting in the audience during a master class as meaningful. It is the opportunity to watch and listen to the performance and the instruction - without the tension often connected with singing or playing for other people.
Thirty years ago the music teachers had just a few tools to handle. They had for example their instrument, the written score and maybe a tape recorder. In distance education there are technical equipments added, such as computer, microphone, speakers, or headphones. This is perhaps the most obvious difference. The teacher sometimes has to give technical support to the student, but on the other hand the students are often more skilled and used to handle the technology.
Pedagogical implications
In summary the pedagogical and technological findings in WP1 speaks for a convergent way of thinking. There are differences between distance and face-to-face teaching as exemplified above, but – the basic didactical principles should be the same. Good communication and genuine dialogue between teacher and student are not dependent on mediating tools.
As a general advice for music departments interested in developing virtual teaching more systematically: think in terms of two technical and pedagogical levels. One basic level emphasizing user friendliness. The threshold to overcome for the music teacher should be as low as possible. Free of charge programs as Skype is suitable for this purpose – as the guitar and singing tuition in WP1 has proved.
The other level is more technical advanced. All involved partners must have the same equipments and it can be rather expensive - even if a certain decreases of costs are to be foreseen. Systems like Tandberg are suitable for masterclasses on top level where both the sound and the picture have to be of high quality. Skilled audio engineers are a necessity on this professional level.
As a conclusion we will give some practical advices for the teacher willing to develop virtual teaching. It is based on our experiences in Vi r music:
- Try to meet the student face-to-face at least once before the distance teaching starts
- Make a careful planning of the coming lesson
- Give clear, concentrated and constructed feed-back
- Do not interrupt the music unnecessarily
- Try to have similar rooms with calm backgrounds and not too much reverberation
- Use light that does not create shadows in the participants’ faces
- Start developing virtual music pedagogy right now – both for your students and for the environment as a whole
Vi r Music Handbook - Distance teaching technology and possibilities
Articles
Music Education over Distance
ICT as an expansion of the music teacher profession
Music Education over Distance
