Raymond MacDonald and Suvi Saarikallio 2024. Healthy Musical Identities and New Virtuosities: A Humble Manifesto for Music Education Research. Nordic Research in Music Education, Vol. 5, 2024, pp. 43-66.
The idea behind this theoretical article is to develop a new framework, which they call "new musical virtuosities," with concepts relevant to musical identities. Such a healthy musical identity should form the foundation for research and practice in the field of music, naturally with relevance for both educators and therapists. This piqued my curiosity as a recently returned piano teacher after a fifty-year break—more on that later.
Most national plans for music education today probably see connections between musical development, formation, and responsibility for the student's personal development. I'm not as sure if my old music teacher training placed as much emphasis on the development of a healthy musical identity as it did on developing technical and musical skills. The motto of the Oslo Music Teachers' Association, of which I was a member and where I received training from the chairman, was "Through work to the stars"—formulated in Latin: Per aspera ad astra! What we associated with virtuosity back then was mostly about playing fast and accurately, technical proficiency, and musical brilliance. Are these the values I should now pass on to my new student, my eleven-year-old grandchild, who is deeply into gaming and table tennis?
A Virtuoso Musical Identity
Now MacDonald and Saarikallio want to expand our understanding of what it means to have a virtuosic musical identity. They wish to address the relationship to various musical genres, the use of technology, and acknowledge that there are specific virtuosities in individuals with disabilities to challenge our perceptions of virtuosity, which are well-rooted in a form of "ableism." As I wrote in a music pedagogy textbook back in 1978, very few instrumental teachers at that time were interested in teaching students who were missing an arm or a few fingers—there was no musical path to the stars for them.
This new musical virtuosity should particularly include social and community-building elements. Being a musical virtuoso should involve social and relational competence, recognizing music's role in creating community—among friends, in the family, at school, in the neighborhood. But of course, this identity should also involve the ability to engage musically, to listen to music, perform for others, dance, and co-create.
Overall, the goal will be that no one should feel that they are unmusical or not good enough to participate in musical activities. Competence and agency are central. A healthy musical identity should be linked to what music can fulfill regarding general identity construction. This encompasses everything from personal growth to social relationships. The authors advocate for a broad approach to music education, where listening, group work, interdisciplinary projects, composing, making music videos, and putting music in dialogue with drama, visual arts, and dance are all included.
Additionally, a healthy musical identity should not only be about being able to perform music but also include talking about music, writing, and reflecting on music. This identity should also be seen in connection with the formation and maintenance of friendship groups, places to socialize, engagement on the internet, and family relationships. Music education should be decolonized, with a repertoire that includes a diversity of genres.
More important than performing music regularly is experiencing that engaging with music is satisfying and brings joy. What I also least want for my new and only piano student is to expose him to stress, performance anxiety, and tension—music should be a support, a resource, an opportunity, and a strength, the article's authors write. I fully agree with that.
Technique, Creativity, and Social Competence
The concept of virtuosity itself is to be redefined. Being a virtuoso should not only be about technical and musical skills; this is too narrow an understanding. Not everyone wants to spend 10,000 hours of their life reaching the level of technical proficiency that characterizes our top performers. A broader repertoire of skills should characterize this musical virtuosity. More emphasis should be placed on creativity, improvisation, and making music instead of reproduction. Social skills should be promoted instead of a one-sided focus on technical skills. There are thus three elements when it comes to this healthy virtuosic identity: social virtuosity, creative virtuosity, and technical virtuosity.
It’s not surprising that McDonald, a free jazz musician and saxophonist, professor of both improvisation and music psychology, wants to strengthen the subject of improvisation. At the same time, the authors are aiming for social virtuosity, as I previously described as characteristic of a skilled music therapist. This involves the ability to listen, non-verbal communication skills, and an ability for empathetic interaction as a basis for increased understanding of others. Making music is fundamentally an interactive, social, and relational activity. This shifts the focus from viewing musicality as something that happens inside a person’s head. Rather, it’s about musical interactions.
Music is based on non-verbal communication, intersubjectivity, and social bonding—what we associate with communicative musicality. Music's primary function is connected to such social-communicative and creative processes and forms the basis for later musical production and technical skills. The authors refer here to enactive theory, where what we call protomusicality forms the basis for so-called teleomusicality, which involves exploring sounds. This is what technical virtuosity builds on, which involves advanced motor coordination, precise musical perception, rhythmic and melodic attention, as well as the ability to read music. Using such technical skills in playing and improvising with others brings technical skills in harmony with social and creative processes.
The authors also devote a section to how these integrated social, creative, and technical skills require competence in making choices. Everyone who has participated in such joint improvisation has felt how the choice of musical responses and contributions is central to the creative process. The authors also link these virtuosic skills to emotional competence, which we know Suvi Saarikallio has researched extensively. Thus, it is easy to see how music-making can support children and young people in their socio-emotional development and identity formation.
The Entrance Exam for Music Therapists
I am tempted to say a word about the entrance exam for the music therapy program, because it concerns the core of the music therapy profession. When we started the music therapy program almost fifty years ago, we were concerned with finding students who were suited to the profession. And it was precisely these three elements of the virtuosic musical identity presented here that we emphasized. To get into the program, you needed to master an instrument (technical skill, read music, perform), improvise (the creative aspect), and also demonstrate social skills (experience in social work, interests, attitudes, skills). I hope there is still a balance between these three elements in today's entrance exams.
Therefore, I dare to claim that this new virtuosity is old news to me—but it is very positive to have this formulated with support from new research, expressed in new concepts and theories by two outstanding researchers.
But What About Piano Teaching?
Returning to my newly revived role as a piano teacher. How does one approach an eleven-year-old today if the goal is to develop such a healthy, virtuosic musical identity? Here is a brief summary of my revised practice.
Motivation: Since gaming was a preferred activity, I first formulated all lessons and exercises in "levels." The competitive element (important for eleven-year-olds) was stimulated by using a smartphone as a stopwatch: How fast can you play a C major scale (or chromatic) over two octaves (with the correct fingering)? Completing five "levels" granted access to a surprise bag with small, odd items to choose from. Every lesson was reviewed in advance so that new pieces were mastered before the lesson was over. The smartphone was used to record, and the recording was sent via SMS to the student so that he had an auditory image of the music to support him. A large selection of beginner's music was available, making it easy to create a progression or find material for sight-reading. Mastery was important for motivation. Lots of praise and family support. A good mix of external and internal motivation, as they say.
Technology and Mastery: The smartphone is important, and we make lots of silly recordings. Humor is important. The internet and YouTube provided access to piano pieces. It was particularly fun to listen to Mozart pieces while the performance was visualized with lots of flashing lights. Listening to "Für Elise" led to intense practice and mastery of the first page of notes within the first few months. GarageBand was fun for a week, but now he knows what it is. An online piano program with sheet music and play-along tracks of lots of popular music provided an impulse to read music and a crucial rhythmic impulse. We had lessons via FaceTime for a period, where I created a six-week plan while I was in Spain.
Technical Virtuosity: Some finger exercises, scales, and theory. The student has strengths in auditory skills and memory, so he relies on this instead of looking at the sheet music. That’s good, but it’s balanced with sight-reading homework of simple pieces. I made a deck of cards with individual notes (both treble and bass clef) that he has to draw and read. How many correct answers in three minutes? This can lead to automation. Chord playing was introduced. For his 11th birthday, he received a music book with chord playing instruction written by a teacher who also has a background in music and health... He quickly learned to accompany lullabies with chord playing ("Trollemor"). Some theory on scales, sharps and flats, simple form principles, chords/chord playing.
I see that there is a tendency towards a lot of traditional piano teaching. However, I believe that progress (and correct finger positioning) is important, along with quick mastery, having a repertoire of songs where one can practice performance, finding the unique character in the music, and adding variety. There are many ways to play a piece! Genre diversity: I give lessons with blues and slightly jazz-influenced pieces to teach that there is a different kind of rhythm. I find a lot of simple sheet music online.
Creative Virtuosity: There is a threshold to overcome in creating music oneself and improvising. We’ve started with imitation games. I play a few notes first, and he imitates or comes up with a response. We switch roles—it's really fun to play something that Grandpa can't imitate. This needs to be developed; I think the blues pattern could be used, or entirely free thematic improvisations. This is co-creation of music, but I see that I need to develop more ideas and approaches—we’ve only been playing for about a year. The smartphone can be used to record ideas. A search online shows that there might be something to gain here.
Social Virtuosity: There is little I can offer compared to the table tennis club and training. This is a big arena for mastery and friendship in a multicultural community. Piano easily becomes a solitary endeavor. It seems that no one at school is interested in the fact that the student plays; he’s only played a few pieces for half the class once when they happened to have a room with a piano. Naturally, Grandpa is an important social relationship; he shows up every week and happily stops by the Shell station to pick up some pastries. A little sugar and conversation before the lesson starts helps—then we can get through an entire hour of teaching. Then we play four-hand pieces together. A blues piece has been practiced that can be used in collaboration with his father on guitar. For the summer's end, we gathered a few family members, and V. baked a chocolate cake himself and played five well-rehearsed pieces without raising his shoulders. But if he continues to play in the coming years, he should have some musical resources that can be converted into social capital.
I've probably forgotten something, but the most important thing is that the student is enjoying himself.
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