For many music students studying classical piano in tertiary institutions, techniques in improvisation are not included in their undergraduate curriculum. Despite the acknowledged musical benefits of improvisation, piano pedagogy curricula remain firmly rooted in the nineteenth century, focusing on the performance of the familiar canon of…

The purpose of this study is to explore the life and work of Pierre Sancan (1916-2008), an exemplary piano teacher who, like many masters in the apprenticeship tradition, is chiefly remembered today by his pupils alone. An all-round musician, Sancan had early success as a composer when he won the Prix de Rome in 1943, and enjoyed a flourishing…

Traditional music education has prioritised external over internal performance aims, leading some learners to prioritise external motivations. I facilitated a workshop series for participants who experienced music performance anxiety when improvising, to examine if free improvisation coupled with expressive art response could cultivate…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative study examining 'real-world' jazz performance contexts within an Australian tertiary music course. Course projects were designed to offer students opportunities to gain a better understanding of the intersections of working and performing with their teachers in an improvised music ensemble.…

Expressiveness is an important aspect of an excellent music performance as it adds quality and interest to the playing and listening experience. Although several studies have investigated tertiary students' learning of expressiveness, little is known about effective approaches for teaching children to perform expressively. In the present project,…

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the impact that small ensemble free improvisation experiences had on dispositional empathy development when compared with other forms of collective music making; and (2) to examine the relationship between co-performing musicians' empathy levels and their performance achievement in small ensembles using…

Music plays a very important role in student development, it can help them acquire the skills for expressing their opinion and critical assessment of the world as well as foster their self-confidence and learning motivation. It is extremely important to promote the formation of collective musical experience through a creative process that…

This paper examines the impact of creating music in an improvisational jazz style on an amateur adult musician's mind, body, and spirit. Learning jazz improvisation skills can help build more empathetic human beings, when the focus of improvisation is on reacting to what you hear in a clear and concise manner. Life skills are developed by focusing…

This article reports on the self-regulated learning strategies of two advanced students in jazz/improvised music education when learning pre-played solos over well-known jazz tunes. The students were enrolled in a well-established performance degree programme in a music conservatoire, and videotaped their own individual practice sessions. In…

The purpose of the study was to investigate undergraduate music education majors' confidence in teaching improvisation, according to the NAfME (1994) K-12 Achievement Standards. Specific research questions were: 1) How confident are music education majors in implementing the 11 improvisation achievement standards for grades K-12? 2) How confident…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the role aural imitation ability, jazz theory knowledge, and personal background variables play in the development of jazz improvisation achievement. Participants (N = 70) included 26 high school and 44 college instrumentalists with varying degrees of jazz improvisation experience. Data were…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the confidence, anxiety, and attitude of novice string student improvisers. A form of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales, as modified for improvisation by Wehr-Flowers, was given to middle school and high school string students (N = 121) after their participation in a 4-month improvisation…

The purpose of this study was to examine the gender differences in the social-psychological constructs of confidence, anxiety, and attitude as they relate to jazz improvisation participation. Three subscales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Survey (1976) were modified for this task, and surveys (N = 332) were given to students of…