Collaborative learning in two vocal conservatoire courses

ABSTRACT

The apprenticeship tradition in conservatoire education assumes that teachers’ expertise is the main source for the development of future music professionals. However, the professional practice of vocalists is nearly completely based on collaboration, such as with other vocalists, instrumentalists, accompanists, orchestras, conductors, or stage directors. In this study experiences of students, alumni and teachers of one conservatoire in The Netherlands with collaborative learning practices in two vocal conservatoire courses were examined using student questionnaires and teacher interviews. Despite the assumption that the collaborative environment of group lessons would represent the ideal situation for learning to collaborate, group lessons did not explicitly lead to the collaborative and professional skills needed for musical practice. The main explanation for this might be that evaluated group lessons in this study were not designed with a learning goal of collaborative learning and working. A purposeful design of lessons in which content and pedagogy are aimed at developing these skills would enhance a culture of collaboration including both students and teachers, and as such mirror professional practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher music education
• professional practice
• vocal course
• collaborative learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Tamara Rumiantsev is doing her Ph.D. in Educational Sciences on ‘Learning Labs in Conservatoire Education', at Leiden University. She is teaching Performance Practice, Analysis & Interpretation, Piano Literature and Piano in Undergraduate and Graduate Music courses at the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands. Her particular research interests in the field of higher music education include collaborative and experiential learning. She holds degrees in Music Performance, Music Theory and Musicology and is a member of Piano Ensemble, consisting of pianists performing works for three or more pianos.

Annemarie Maas is a Professor of Jazz & Pop Vocal Studies at the Utrecht School of the Arts. Her particular research interests are learning and teaching strategies in one-to-one and group tuition. Besides working as a vocal coach, she is involved in various stage productions.

Wilfried Admiraal is chair of the research program ‘Teaching and teacher Learning' of ICLON Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching and of the research program ‘Student participation, engagement and achievement in online learning in higher education' of the Centre for Education and Learning (CEL) of the Leiden–Delft–Rotterdam University partnership. His research interest combines Educational Sciences, Social Psychology and technology.

Notes

1 Retrieved from http://nmh.no/resources/filesnmh/internt/organisasjon/senter_for_fremragende_utdanning/Senter_for_fremragende_utdanning_prosjektbeskrivelse_NMH.pdf

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NWO – Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research [grant number 023.003.094].