One of our assignments this week is to take two different mental approaches to teaching the beginning of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, focusing on roughly the first 16 measures or so.
First, from the perspective of a Behaviorist, the instruction of this selection would be done using stimuli and reinforcement to prompt the student to perform it in a certain way. Introducing the stimulus first, through example/demonstration (either by the instructor or through the very recording we witnessed as a part of this assignment) to prompt the student to hear what "right" is and then try to reproduce it themselves, with the teacher providing guidance to either encourage them if they were getting close to "proper" reproduction or not negative, but more critical feedback to them if they were not producing the "correct" result. The guidance from the teacher would not be done asking the student's input, often focusing on a preconceived result that the student should learn how to obtain, from tempo, to tempo fluctuations, to the subtle difference in dynamic contrast even within the singular dynamic of piano. The student would gradually begin to understand how the teacher wants it to be played, and alter their playing accordingly to get closer and closer toward attaining a performance close to the original stimuli. What is interesting about this is that the original recording (or instructor's performance) would be both stimuli prompting action, but also the example to which success is based upon. Obviously the instruction by the teacher would be further stimuli, causing the student to change and refine their playing as dictated. Though student feedback would be used, it would be to ask questions in relation to if they believe they made enough contrast in dynamics according to both teacher instruction and the musical example, or if it was too much, and whether the tempo changes were sufficient, rather than base the student feedback on their opinion of how the music should be performed. For example, in measure 3, I would have them perform a "slight retardando" or "a little hesitation" while verbally and with gestures indicate both if they were performing it correctly, but also when exactly to move on. I would give the students gesture cues on dynamics much the same as a conductor would with a full ensemble. Smiles or frowns would help indicate correct performance or the lack thereof. Strict adherence to the written page markings would be the overall goal.
Taking a Cognitivist approach, more emphasis would be placed on intrinsic factors for the student to form their own concept of how the music should be performed. The student might be asked to perform the selection without hearing it first, and start establishing a mental construct for how they believe it should be performed through discussion, including such topics as "How does this make you feel?", and "How do you think this music should make you feel?", with related follow-up questions such as "What musical factors (dynamics, tempo, etc) should be manipulated to get the music to feel the way you think it should be, and why?", and "How would you make those changes so that they are apparent to the listener?" This would get the student to think inwardly and form their own opinion of the musical structure and meaning based on previous schema, and thus the performance of it would be altered accordingly. Other possibilities would be have the student relate the music to something else, like applying not just a descriptive feeling to the selection but go further toward creating a whole visual scene that is playing out, helping the student to fit the music to established parameters that they relate to already. The overall goal would be for the teacher to understand what the student is thinking and feeling, and that will shape how the selection is taught in direct contrast to the stimulus "play it like this" approach. Measure 3 would change from telling them how to perform it and indicating facially, verbally, and with hand gestures if it was met with satisfaction, I would ask the student what they think should be happening there, if anything. Comparing the music to a conversation, and measure 3 as a comma, or to a physical gesture like a sigh, or hopefully having the student come up with their own interpretation so it becomes more meaningful to them would be the tactic taken here. Dynamics and tempo would be subject to the student fitting it into their concept of what is happening in each moment of the selection, and experimentation would often take place for the student to try out multiple different possibilities.
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