Ensemble practices in the arts: A reflective matrix to enhance team work and collaborative learning in higher education

Abstract

Ensemble practices have been essential to the performing and visual fine arts over centuries. The skills of working in ensembles, including team work and collaborative learning, are increasingly understood to be critical and transferable professional attributes. However, much teaching of ensembles is practical and embodied, relying on tacit knowledge within a focused specialism. This kind of approach champions depth of expertise in a particular field, but may have limitations, particularly where more explicit awareness is needed to support transferring practical skills to new contexts. There is therefore a need to strengthen reflective practice in ways that connect explicit procedural understanding with tacit practical experience. To serve this purpose, this paper develops a reflective matrix as a framework to support dynamic reflection for students and teachers in higher arts education. The matrix emerges from analysis of the literature across music, theatre, dance and visual fine art.

Promoting interconnections between reflective practice and collective creativity in higher arts education: the potential of engaging with a reflective matrix

“…In stage two, interviewees' artistic practices were mapped against a draft of the matrix independently before a preliminary analysis was collaboratively written organized by its four overarching issues and attending to all continua. Research team dialogue emerging from this analysis confirmed the relevance of the continua and refined the matrix toward its published form (Gaunt & Treacy, 2020). Additionally, our recognition of the impossibility of presenting the extensive analysis in one article stimulated a shift in our engagement with the matrix and collaborative meaning making.…”

“…Disconnection and fear of others <--> Trust, mutual respect, intimacy, and shared vulnerability Surface listening, one-way transmission of ideas <--> Embodied listening and attunement, mutual learning Power dynamics, feedback, and reflection restrict the creative process <--> Power dynamics, feedback, and reflection facilitate the creative process Figure 1. A reflective matrix for ensemble practices in the arts (Gaunt & Treacy, 2020).…”

“…Second, ensembles and teamwork are vital to contemporary artistic practice (Gaunt & Treacy, 2020;Hakkarainen, 2013). Theorisations of creativity have shifted from conceptualisations of individual genius and insight to dialogic and interpersonal elements (Burnard, 2012;Cook, 2017;Sawyer, 2003) and the importance of group processes and communities of practice (Barrett, 2014;Hakkarainen, 2013).…”

“…Considering these starting points, we developed a reflective matrix (see Figure 1) aimed at supporting reflective practice by structuring reflection while connecting to practitioner experience. The matrix was developed through critical analysis of literature on ensemble practices and teamwork in dance, music, theatre, and visual fine arts (Gaunt & Treacy, 2020). Its four overarching issues (Purpose and vision; Resources; Leadership; and Qualities of interaction) each comprise three to six continua, which emphasize the diverse possibilities within ensemble practices.…”

Musicians as “Makers in Society”: A Conceptual Foundation for Contemporary Professional Higher Music Education

“…This expansion marks an opening up of apprenticeship, from a version narrowly focused on the transmission of practical craft skills to an artistic "making" process characterised by discovery and innovation, in which craft transmission is embedded. A single master-apprentice relationship may also become apprenticeship framed more within a community of practise enabling a variety of interactions and levels of engagement between people (Wenger, 1998;Kenny, 2016), and with individual expertise development sitting alongside ensemble development and the group creativity these may afford (Sawyer, 2006;Hakkarainen, 2013;Burnard, 2014;Gaunt and Treacy, 2019).…”