Albin: classical pianist, no former VS studies, skilled

Albin, a 27-year-old Hungarian, was a fourth-year musician student studying classical piano as his main instrument and the organ as the secondary instrument. He had played / studied the piano for 18 years, and he considered himself advanced as a piano player.

He, quite understandably, had not formally studied VS; however, he seemed to have an idea of what it included, as he wrote that he had done some improvisation and was familiar with the most common chord symbols, and moreover, in a (1–3) self-evaluation, considered himself advanced (3) in VS. Prior to the course, he stated that he was interested in learning more about VS. Describing his expectations for the course, he stated quite briefly:

Learning new chord markings, rhythms, different musical styles. (Extract 6, PQC)

Albin’s content learning: what was learned and why

The three areas of VS where Albin experienced most learning were: 1) accompaniment patterns / accompanying in different styles 2) recognizing chord symbols, 3) improvisation, as Table 6 illustrates.

Table 6. Albin’s top 3 areas of VS leaning

Learning accompaniment patterns / accompanying in different styles was the major benefit of the course for Albin because he had had the least knowledge of this area. He was happy to have learned some of the accompaniment styles he had wished to learn:

bossa nova, beguine and reggae. Chord symbols were similarly an area of which had had only scanty knowledge. He learned some “new” chord symbols, i.e. diminished and half-diminished, and understood the difference between two similar chord symbols (G9 and Gadd9). Having the least knowledge of these areas, he felt they were ones where he had learned most. In the learning of improvisation he considered learning about improvisation patterns and trying out improvisation exercises, i.e. the examples of

Area of learning Description of learning Reason for learning

accompaniment patterns some new rhythmic patterns least knowledge, main benefit recognizing chord

symbols

-some “new” ones

-difference between similar ones

scanty knowledge about chord symbols

improvisation learning about / trying out patterns

useful exercises / patterns

improvisational patterns (or “licks”) provided by the teaching material, on the piano useful.

Although he had obviously learned new points about VS, initially, when asked whether he had learned anything new, Albin, a skillful classical pianist, did not name any new areas of VS learning; he felt that he had experienced learning above all in his approach to playing VS, as the following extract illustrates:

I can not point out specific examples, but I feel that what new I have learned so far is the more conscious approach to playing free accompanyment. (Extract 7, Log 1)

That he felt that he had first and foremost gained a new, more conscious approach to VS is not surprising, considering his background of a non-Finnish classical pianist who had not studied the mainly Finnish subject formally before. Actually, he wrote in Log 1 that he was “happy to have the opportunity to study this subject”, continuing that he thought that VS playing “should be essential to any pianist”. The only new point he mentioned at this phase was having become familiar with new songs, of which he was glad. Later on in Log 2, he was more specific writing about his VS learning:

I have become more familiar with some of the most popular styles, learned to play new rhythmic patterns and improved walking base playing. (Extract 8, Log 2)

The above extract points to his first and main area of learning, accompaniment patterns / accompanying in different styles, with an improved ability to play walking bass referring obviously to e.g. accompanying the blues progression. The next three areas of learning were: 4) mastering chords and chord inversions, 5) harmonization, and 6) blues. Regarding the four areas where he thought he learned least, i.e. mastering chords progressions, combining melody and harmony, playing by ear, and prima vista playing, Albin did not differentiate between the areas. He considered them areas where he did not learn anything new, and thus also unimportant; having the most knowledge in these areas, he did not find it necessary to learn about them. Conversely, the areas of most importance were those where he had least knowledge, which was why he wanted to learn about them. In sum, on a general level Albin acquired a new conscious approach to VS and learned some new VS skills, thus deepening his already advanced piano skills.

Factors in content learning and how they were viewed

Albin seemed to view most factors influencing his content learning positively, with only three having some possibly negative aspects, as can be seen from Table 7 below.

Table 7. Factors influencing Albin’s content learning and his view (+ / 0 / -) of various aspects

Albin’s view of himself as a learner seemed twofold; he did not consider he had had any problems or challenges in learning course content and perhaps felt he did not have to practice really, an advanced pianist as he was; however, he wrote in Log 1 that he only wished he had more time to practice. In Log 3, he stated that maybe the only thing he counted as a learning experience about the matinees was that he “again had to realize (for the thousandth time) that only good preparation makes good performance.”

Describing the influence he had had on his content learning, he wrote that “practicing”

had “helped little by little. ”. In sum, although skillful and not needing that much of practicing, Albin apparently could have performed even better and learned more, had he practiced more.

In Albin’s opinion, it was fun to play together in the group; it became a group of only two students after the autumn semester. According to him, “working in a small group…greatly intensified the effectiveness of our learning experience” (Log 3). The teacher helped Albin by demonstrating tasks. What he had experienced as useful in the teaching was separating and analyzing different components, and concentrating on them specifically, as he wrote:

For the improvement of my free accompanyment playing I think it was useful to separate and analyse different components of the musical text and to concentrate on their development specifically (for example bass-line, broken triad motion, different rhythmic patterns, etc.).

(Extract 9, Log 1)

Factor Aspect viewed as

Learner practicing has helped, no problems / challenges +

insufficient practicing -

Group fun to play together; learning intensified by small group + Teaching /

teacher

positive atmosphere, separating and analyzing different components useful; teacher helped by demonstration

+ Course contents informative enough, satisfied with contents; possibly useful + not very important regarding personal professional competence -?

Material studied briefly, helped somewhat +

Matinees / exam. matinees fun events, not stressed about performing + Language neither positive, nor negative influence; some slight difficulty 0 / -

He liked the atmosphere of the course, which was naturally influenced by not only the teacher but also the other student(s) in the group. As regards the course contents, on the one hand, Albin was satisfied, not expressing any wish to change them; he thought them informative enough. However, he did not find the course personally very important regarding his professional competence, and in his opinion the course did not support his chosen profession. Nevertheless, he stated that the course contents might still be useful in the future. The given material, which he had briefly studied, had helped Albin somewhat. Albin regarded the matinees as fun events; he was not particularly stressed about performing in the matinees. For him, they were not learning experiences, except in that he realized the meaning of practicing, as was referred to. The English language, according to him, did not influence his participation in class nor his learning, except for only a very minor limited difficulty, as Extract 10, where he describes the influence of English language on his content learning, illustrates:

It did not influence either negatively nor positively, although quick understanding of chord designations in spoken English will always be difficult for me. (Extract 10, Log 3)

Only understanding different chord symbols quickly in spoken English posed a challenge for Albin, who was accustomed to using English as a medium of studying. In sum, most factors had some positive influence on Albin’s content learning, although he was already skilled in VS and did not find VS professionally important; English did not pose problems in content learning.