O'Herlihy, Gemma;
(2023)
An autoethnographic account of a piano teacher's professional growth in the piano lab: Improving beginner pianists' musicianship by teaching them to play by ear.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This study discusses the researcher’s professional growth and the challenges she faced when deviating from teaching how she had been taught. Difficulties and successes arose as she attempted to implement strategies of playing by ear, rather than continuing an exclusive emphasis on reading notation in instrumental teaching. Playing by ear has been identified extensively in recent music education scholarship as important for supporting young children’s musicianship, aural development, motivation, and engagement (e.g., Baker & Green, 2013; McPherson, 1993). This thesis examines the researcher’s development as a piano teacher, charting the adoption of this strategy through an autoethnographic research approach. It does so in relation to cycles of action research she implemented with groups of beginner pianists in a piano lab at a music school in Ireland. It also examines the impacts for beginner pianists. Four groups of five children aged 6–10 years participated from September 2015 to May 2018. Data were collected through focus group interviews with pupils and parents, videos of the teaching, and teacher-reflective field notes. Key findings of the autoethnographic work relate to how life events, childhood musical experiences, pedagogical training, and teaching career shaped the perspectives she brought to bear in her changing practice. Parents also became involved and musically educated. They contributed to the research while supporting their children’s progress. The research illustrates how group dynamics, parental involvement, musicianship and differentiation shift and practice changes in response to teachers having to negotiate situations in the piano lab. Playing by ear contributed positively over time to these youngsters’ musicianship, which might prove useful in later life for retaining their musical enjoyment. Whilst the sample was limited, these findings contribute to an improved understanding of how beginner pianists might be supported more effectively in their earlier years of music studies.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | An autoethnographic account of a piano teacher's professional growth in the piano lab: Improving beginner pianists' musicianship by teaching them to play by ear |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10175132 |
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