Colouring in the Violin: A graphically-mediated approach to the reconstruction of heard melodies

Music education places heavy emphasis on the development of musicality through performing, composing and listening (Swanwick, 1994)

While it is possible to compose music without using a notation system, as music becomes more complex this becomes more problematic (Jennings, 2006).

.. t here is an over reliance on notation and sight reading in instrumental performance and the element of play or problem solving is missing. Good learning is eventually defined by how well the student copes away from the teacher (Odam, 1995).

..the software presented in this study attempts to tackle these issues by providing students with a graphically mediated and alternative notation system.

The user experience A structured approach to implementation; Listen (to a melody) Construct (the melody) Test (the order of notes to be played) Play (the melody on the violin) Five students participated in the study in a primary school environment.

The learning The musical pattern matching concepts and ideas addressed by the system are: Listening Skills: By repeated listening and reconstruction, the learner will engage with skills in the area of musical perception i.e. by recreating a piece of music, the learner will learn both the structure and form of the piece (at note and phrase level) and improve their general standard of aural skills. Violin Performance Skills: The interface facilitates the transfer of musical information into a representation of the violin fingerboard. The act of recreating the melody on this virtual fingerboard will engender an understanding of the structure and layout of the fingerboard itself, enabling the user to then recreate the melody on the violin, using this virtual representation as a ‘road-map’ of the melody.

Implementation To scaffold the learning, the following instructions were given: Listen to the song. Sing the note. Is the note higher or lower? Sing or hum the song out loud. Is anything the same in this bit? Let’s listen to the song again. Video recordings of students on screen and violin interactions. Graphic recordings (screen captures) of students’ work. Post activity interview. Coded and themed all interactions and interviews Data Collection: Implementation 1

Findings Phase 1: Findings from analyses of data Clear categories emerged from the analyses of quantitative and qualitative data in phase 1. The principle factors and themes from the data relate to: Pitch Recognition Critical Listening Repetitive Pattern Matching Role of the teacher Skill Melodic Perception

Figure 5.2 Accuracy interface results for constructed song piece 1

Figure 5.3 Standard music notation for song piece 2 (Celtic Song) Figure 5.4 Accuracy interface results for constructed song piece 2

Figure 5.13: Total average completion time Song Piece 1 & Song Piece 2 Figure 5.14 Average accuracy results, constructed song piece 1 Frère Jacques Figure 5.15 Average accuracy results, song piece 2 Celtic song Figure 5.12: Completion times for Song Piece 1 and Song Piece 2

T:Was (Song Piece 2) harder? D:A bit. T:Why? D:Because I didn’t really know the song. T:Was (song piece 2) harder? C: Yes. T:Why? C: With Frere Jacques, I could hum it. T:How did you find re-creating the other song (song piece 2)? B:I thought it was like the first. T:Was it harder? B:Yes. T:Was any bit the same in the music? B:Frère Jacques was smaller. T:Did this make it any easier? B:The other song (Celtic Song) had more notes but was nicer.

Figure 5.9: Listening activity for song piece 1 Frère Jacques Figure 5.10: Listening activity for song piece 2 Celtic song

T: Did you notice the colours … did you use any red? A: No. T: Why do you think that is? A: Cause they’re higher or lower? T: Higher ? …. And how many green did you use? A: (nods)…One. T: Just one green? And what’s green … A: The lower. Students associated pitch range with colour. Students’ experimentation with pitch matching and identification involved them. seeking out their internal (singing out the note) or external (listening to the melody on the sound player) Their perceived correct pitch aided them in seeking their note choice on the fingerboard based on a process of trial and error.

Melodic and visual pattern matching Results from findings in this research have determined that critical listening and pitch recognition using various behavioural methods enabled participants to melodically match patterns in a given melody. Participant D plays correct open string note T: ok…so what have we done so far? … Participant D: (sings the words “Frère Jacques”)… T: so what’s the next bit? Participant D: the same.

….don’t worry there’s only 2 slides left

Virtual Fingerboard Physical Fingerboard Participant A: Song piece 1

Recognition of pitch and pitch Range It was observed that during engagement with a familiar melody; There was an increased reliance on students own internal pitch reference During construction of the unfamiliar melody: there is an increased frequency of use of the playback element of the user interface. Data analysis suggests that this increased reliance in actual song playback activity leads to a decline in perceived melody behavioural techniques i.e. singing out or humming the melody. Constraints on the user interface forced students to confront specific issues, and analysis of behavioural actions with the interface is more indicative of learning.

Susan Sweeney MSc © Susan Sweeney 2009