The opportunities of the master class - a conversation between Isabelle Perrin and Ingrid Maria Hanken

Isabelle Perrin: For many years I have had a keen interest in how to teach and learn in master classes. I think it started already when I was a student at the Juilliard School and saw how big a difference there could be between master classes, even when the teaching was done by outstanding musicians. Sometimes it was very interesting and educational to sit in the hall, and you noticed how much the active students developed during the short time. Other times it was simply boring to sit there, and you couldn't hear that the students playing were getting better either. Now I regularly give masterclasses myself, and that has made me even more interested in how you can ensure that the students get some valuable knowledge whether they play themselves or as listeners only.

Ingrid Maria Hanken: I have also been interested in the master class from an educational perspective. It is, after all, a rather special form of teaching, where a student is taught by a teacher who does not know the person concerned, and the teaching takes place in front of an audience who are also supposed to learn something. The entire session may only last half an hour, but both the student contributing with his or her playing as well as the audience, expect audible results. I don't think I know of any educational situation that is more demanding for all parties. Therefore it is interesting that you have tried to find out more about what the students think and experience in master classes. There is a limited amount of research that looks at this from the students' perspective, so for time being we know just a bit.

IP: So I have created a simple questionnaire that the students fill in anonymously and deliver to me after I have had a master class. So far I have been at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, The Hague, The Royal Academy of Music, London, The Royal College of Music, London, The Royal College of Music, Cardiff, The Festival de harpe en Avesnois and the Hong Kong Harp Chamber. I have also distributed it to the students at the Academy of Music when we have had master classes with external teachers here. The harp classes are usually not that big, so there are a total of 36 students who have responded. One of the questions was asking how many masterclasses they had attended, either as an active participant or as an audience. Here they could tick off either 1-3 or more than 4. It turned out that the vast majority had taken part in four or more master classes both as active participants and as audience. I also asked them how many they planned to attend in the coming years, and most planned to attend 1-3 master classes per year, while 13 ticked off four or more per year.

IMH: What do you think about that? The more they attend the better? I see that one of the students who has ticked off four or more master classes adds a comment:

"I do learn a lot from masterclasses. When you are young and want to learn about music and your instrument, it is very inspiring to meet people and to hear their experience and their views on the music."

Another student comments that "...they are very useful, both as good deadline-points in the year and as performance practice." This suggests that the students use the masterclasses as inspiration, as motivating milestones and as an opportunity to practice their performance abilities in front of an audience.

IP: At the same time, it can be a problem that some students attend master classes with the only aim of putting it on their CV. It's not positive because then they don't do it to learn anything, but just to show off. We also see that one of the students writes: "Masterclasses are not only good to receive some musical advice on the piece you are playing, but also to meet and get to know extraordinary musicians who sometimes sit in your competition jury." It suggests that in some cases the students primarily think tactically, and use the masterclasses to advance their careers, and that is not quite the intention of makes these classes.

IMH: Exactly that concern emerged also in a survey I did, where I interviewed experienced master class teachers. One of them admitted that he himself used master classes in that way: "It is only about status, it has nothing to do with knowledge. I also write on my CV that I have had master classes with (world famous musician), but I have actually learned more from a lot of other people. (...), but he is such a big name that I signal that I wish to be associated with him."

IP: From what the student writes in the free text comments, it is nevertheless clear that they are primarily there to learn. What was particularly interesting, was the answers I got regarding the question of what they benefit mostly from in a master class: being an active participant, as an audience, or both. All but four say that they benefit as much from being active as from being an audience. Many of them comment that they learn different things in the different positions, such as this student:

"In my opinion it is really good to do both: listen and play! You can learn in so many different ways! You learn while playing very intensely (with the muscles and the brain). When listening you can pay attention to things you don’t notice while playing."

IMH: To me, it was a little surprise that they clearly learn as audience as well. Both Stabell and Creech and colleagues found, based on their research, that the students were not so motivated to attend master classes when they were not supposed to play themselves. At the same time, there is quite a lot of research that emphasizes how much we humans can actually learn through observation.

IP: Yes, first of all I mean that they learn to listen. If you can't listen, you can't be a musician. It is much easier to listen in a master class if you are not playing, because while performing you are concerned about playing correctly. They learn in a more relaxed way because there is no pressure, they don't have to show that they are good. Observing a master class means that you learn to listen in an effective way, in an active way. They can hear and understand what is good and what is not so good and why, and observe how the student can change something to make it better. And if they learn to do that when they listen to others, then they are well on their way to being able to do the same by their own, and that's what's so important to me. They must be able to manage on their own when leaving school. They shouldn't need me or someone else to tell them that "here you should use a different finger" and so on. They have to learn to find solutions and evaluate themselves: When I teach master classes I ask a lot of questions, because I want to make them think. I will not serve them already solved solutions. They must find solutions themselves. What is also nice about being part of master classes is discoverering that they are not alone - they notice that others are struggling with the same problems and have the same challenges.

IMH: Yes, Albert Bandura, who has been studing how we learn by observing others, emphasizes how important this is for our belief in our own abilities, which in turn has an impact on our achievements. When we see how others strive to achieve things that we ourselves want to achieve while observing that they get better through working hard, it can give us faith to master it and motivate ourselves to make efforts. It also helps us to understand that learning is a process that takes time, and that it is first and foremost hard work that is the secret behind success, not "talent", the latter being a much more difficult task change.

IP: In this way, the masterclasses can also contribute to developing a sense of community or cohesion, which is very important, where the students trust each other instead of fighting each other. In masterclasses, the audience mostly sits quietly and observes. Something I have wondered about is how important it is for them to have the opportunity to ask and comment on what is happening along the way. I therefore asked a question about that in the questionnaire and asked them to tick off on a scale from 5: very important to 1: not important. Here it turned out that the answers spread out over the entire scale. There were 15 who had ticked 5 or 4, and clearly think it is important to have the opportunity to comment or ask, while 12 ticked 1 or 2 and thus did not see it as important. The free text comments give an insight into their reasons. I see, for example, students who do not think it is that important, write that they would rather be able to ask after the class is finished not to disrupt progress, or that they find questions and comments along the way to be distracting. One also writes that the questions from the audience are most often asked by the student playing, or indirectly answered by the teacher during the master class. The students who think it is important to ask or comment, gives comments like this: "It is very important as a sort of exchange between me and the teacher/harpist". They highlight this through direct contact with the teacher. One of the students makes an interesting comment. She or he has ticked both 5 and 2 and justifies it this way: "The openness and inviting atmosphere where everyone FEELS welcome to ask questions is important, not necessarily that I get to open my mouth, but that the possibility is there ." She therefore wants the opportunity to be there but does not necessarily need to use it.

IMH: It's interesting in relation to what Creech and colleagues found out in their survey: It turned out that an important reason why students didn't show up to master classes as listeners, was that they didn't feel included.

IP: It is clearly very important that the audience feel included. I try to achieve this in several ways. An obvious point is that you speak loudly enough for them to hear what is going on. I also clearly state that they must ask if there are anything that is unclear or that they are wondering about, so that they know the possibility is there. I also tend to address the audience a lot, ask questions and ask them to give feedback on the student's playing, and ask them to evaluate different variations. I need to speak directly to them and not just to the student playing, if they are to feel involved and included. But the most important tool is perhaps still my own commitment and my passion for what I do. I think that rubs off on the audience.

IMH: We can probably conclude that the students who responded to this survey confirm that both those who play, but also the audience, are offered many opportunities of learning outcome through a master class.