ANALYSIS 1: MASTERCLASS

A masterclass is in essence a lesson from a professor to a student in front of an audience. In this situation in most cases the audience, student and teacher are all ‘experts’ in the field or aspiring to be one. Some masterclasses are without any interaction with the audience, but mostly there is in one way or the other. In this masterclass by violinist Pinchas Zukerman from 2014 at London's Royal College of Music, teaches three different violin students in 1,5 hours. He also addresses the audience and interacts with it, that is why it seemed a good subject to examine.

SIX PRINCIPLES OF AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT 

1. Find entry points
   Pinchas Zukerman has one very clear opening statement for all viewers and listeners: the core of learning to play the violin is to find the sounding point at all times. This is a theme through the whole masterclass (video 2.1).
2. Go beyond information, engage through experience
   He begins his masterclass by somewhat ten minutes of talking before he gives his lesson. He starts off by asking a question and raising hands. He knows what the replies more or less will be and could have started with telling what he wants to do, but by asking the question, he activates the audience (video 2.2).
3. Tap your audience’s competence
   Zukerman is motivating the audience to ask questions, involving the audience into the masterclass. When an audience member asks a question he interacts with the audience in a serious and detailed manner and refers to it later in the performance (video 2.3).
4. Engage multiple intelligences
   Linguistic: He makes use of many different metaphors. A cooking metaphor with salt and pepper (video 2.4).
   Musical: He plays during his talk of sounding point on his violin. The whole masterclass is about music.
   Bodily: he shows how he holds the violin when explaining
   Logical: When talking about right arm position he divides it in four different stages.
   Visual: He shows the audience during his talk where the bow should sit on the strings
   Interpersonal: He communicates with the audience by answering questions.
   Intrapersonal: Zukerman orders his audience to come up with questions.
5. Reflect
   Zukerman gives a clear opening statement. So is his closing one. He comes back to what it all comes to: find the sounding point. 
6. Project your personality
   Zukerman definitely is not afraid of showing his own self. He talks about his own process and his own shortcomings. He talks for instance about his own bad days (video 2.5), his own struggles to find his way and the long and hard practice he has done. Also, he is not shy to show his humoristic side and I believe this is a very natural thing to him. His personality and humor also serve for the students and audience members alike to make them feel at ease.

COMMENTS

When looking at the list of ‘pitfalls’ I can’t seem to find critiques on Zukerman. One of the things of course he does not have to do is have an exact script he has to tell, but he clearly has an idea what he wants to talk about and he succeeds in spreading his message well. My only critique is that he is very convinced about the method he teaches. This is also his strength, but may not leave so much space for exploration of new realms.