Classic Express Research project by Ilona Sie Dhian Ho

In a combined qualitative and quantitative research the influence of storytelling in concerts for children is analyzed. In a controlled setting, The Classic Express (mobile concert hall), groups of schoolchildren attend either a concert with or a concert without storytelling. The groups, similar in socio- economic background and age, are compared. In a quantitative research the involved listening, the felt emotional intensity, the interest in classical music and the interest in actively playing an instrument, will be measured. For quantification new grading systems are developed by scientists and musicians in a collaborative process. In a qualitative research on the influence of storytelling the focus is on children with severe learning disorders. The emotional responses of these children in concerts with and without storyelling, and in combination with participatory elements (moving, gestures) are observed by teachers and caretakers, They compare their observations in the concert to the normal behaviour of their pupils. Both Interviews with the teachers and their grading of arousal, attention and emotional levels in the concert will provide data that will be analyzed by the reserachers. This research is the first study of The Classic Expression Research Group, a group of researchers from the Royal Conservatoire and Leiden University, collaborating to provide new insights on the impact of presentation techniques in classical concerts.

Coding group

During this project, a coding group was created as to encode childrens’ behavior, while attending classical music concerts. At first, the members of this group were trained by Marleen Groeneveld on encoding children’s behavior. In more detail, all members were trained on how to encode different signals of engagement (e.g. body posture, facial mimicry, energy etc.), based on Leuven scale of engagement. A new scale for childrens’ engagement was created. After watching many videos and discussing all together about the scores that each of the members have assigned to each child, training was over. Afterwards, Theodora was assigned to train two other psychology students on behavior encoding. During the meetings, different videos of the pilot study were presented and the two new students were trained on how they can easily detect those signals and score childrens’ engagement.

Coding group members

The coding group is supervised by Marleen Groeneveld who is an experienced trainer of coders.

The first Classic Expression coding group started in May 2021. Maksim, Theodora, Ilona, Laura and Vivian learned to code. The new scale with 9 signals that indicate involved listening was created by this group.

Laura had to stop her studies and we welcomed 2 new psychology students from Leiden University: Jule and Louise. In November 2021 Theodora was trained by Marleen to educate them to be coders as well. They completed their training in December 2021.

The coders that will code the experiments are: Jule, Louise, Theodora, Vivian and Ilona as reserve coder.

Tip

Tip