Ways of knowing and types of knowledge: How do students approach a new piece of music?

Abstract

In an exploratory study lasting more than 16 weeks, 15 undergraduate and graduate piano students prepared a short piece by the Brazilian composer Guarnieri, Ponteio no. 22, without guidance from their piano teachers. The data that were collected included their performances, interviews pertaining to their practice and stimulated recall interviews. These data were analyzed in terms of the ways of knowing and types of knowledge that are articulated in Davidson and Scripp’s (1992) matrix of cognition skills in music. The data were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The production of representation (outside the actual performance) showed a structural relationship with the local and global information about the piece. In terms of perception, cognitive skills were essentially dependent on expertise levels. Concerning the ways of knowing as reflection, a number of students were able to identify problems outside of their own performance. However, the solutions to these problems were less often planned. In summary, graduate students tended to rely on procedural knowledge, while the undergraduates generally used declarative knowledge. The results suggest that graduate students are more likely to make tacit decisions rather than verbal decisions.