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.

The interviews (by Louise Meyser)

In addition to the quantitative research (setting A), a qualitative aspect will be added as well. Interviews will be conducted and recorded with the musicians who perform during the research days as well as other researchers present (Vivian and Ilja). The interviews will cover three main topics: The group behavior within and between the groups of children, the role of the teacher’s and their influence on the groups, as well as the influence of the storytelling conditions on the musicians. The reason as to why interviews with these people are a useful addition to the research is because they will help interpret findings and add more detail about the classes and the experience than just from quantitative data. Concerning the musicians the interviews will demonstrate a unique perspective as they have experience performing in the classic express bus, and it is also useful from the researchers perspective to investigate what aspects may play a role that could influence the overall results, that may or may not have been taken into account. When analyzing the interviews the aim is to look for specific themes that may pop up.

Camilla, a conservatory student, will together with me, a psychology student, carry out the whole process of interviewing, transcribing and analyzing the interviews. I myself have been at one research day in order to help out. It was an interesting to see how the whole research study takes place and how many factors are actually involved. At one point I was able to see quite a few interactions between the teacher and some children when I was assisting children with going to the bathroom and it was notable how such interactions could influence the group and essentially the results. This marked for me personally the importance of the interviews. My expectations are that Camilla and I will be a good team because we can collaborate and make sure both our areas of expertise are taken into account in the process. A possible concern might be whether or not the interviewees will remember everything correctly and into sufficient detail, especially for the concerts where is has been a while. Notably we have already thought about strategies to keep the memories alive. Overall I expect the interviews to be a fruitful and valuable addition.

Qualitative research component added

Based on the evaluations in the pilot concert as well as the experience we had when giving instructions in the class, we felt we missed something in the reserach design. We needed to know more on the general behavior of every class to give a proper interpretation of the behavior of the children in the concert.

Next to this, the communication between teacher and children in every group was hugely different. These differences were obvious in both instructions in the class as well as in the experiment-concerts. One of the teachers explained silence is demanded in concerts after the instructions were given. She was giving non verbal gestures to chidlren who were whispering. Another teacher was typing on her phone in the concert and talking loudly to children in the middle of a musical piece.

We decided to add a qualitative component to the research.

This will consist of interviews with the musicians as well as the researchers who gave the instructions in the class.

We will ask them to give a general impression of the class and how the teacher interferes with the group independent behavior in the concert. Subjects will be: Arousal level, the way children communicate within the group, the way children react to instructions and interaction of the teacher with the group.

How and if these data will be used is decided in our research meetings.

The interviews will be carried out by Camilla Genee and Louise Meyser.

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