Hostname: page-component-66d9dcfd78-ktbpd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-09T12:49:22.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What classical musicians can learn from working with actors: Conceptual and pedagogic foundations and outcomes of bringing musicians to integrate in a drama training environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2015

Ken Rea
Ken Rea*
Affiliation:
11 Clovelly Road, Ealing, London W5 5HF, UKkennethrea@aol.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Effective teaching in a music conservatoire needs a continual quest to find new and better ways of delivering excellence. The challenge is to keep the work innovative. In this article I argue that, for a classical musician the communication of personality is a vital component of excellence in performance and I give reasons why an authentic, confident personality should be nurtured as part of conservatoire training. I also examine in detail one approach to this issue that I explored in my action-based research and teaching at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama: that is the practice of music students learning certain acting techniques and collaborating with actors (drama students) on specific projects that were designed to widen the musicians' range of expression. The article focuses on a two-year study which involved musicians working alongside actors on two devised performance projects: Storytelling and Circus. It describes the process in which the musicians were prepared for the eventual performances. I set out to explore exactly what musicians could learn from working with actors and what impact this might have on their normal sphere of performance. The projects demonstrated that, even a year later, some of the musicians manifested noticeable benefits in their mainstream playing, including greater levels of confidence, creativity and presence. The article also discusses some of the difficulties and shortcomings of this approach.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , July 2015 , pp. 195 - 210
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

ALFREDS, M. (2007) Different Every Night. London: Nick Hern Books.Google Scholar
BEHNE, K.-E. & WÖLLNER, C. (2011) Seeing or hearing the pianists? A synopsis of an early audiovisual perception experiment and a replication. Musicae Scientiae, 15, 324–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BURLAND, K. (2005) Becoming a musician: a longitudinal study investigating the career transitions of undergraduate music students. University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
DOLAN, D. (2014) Unpublished notes on the Guildhall projects.Google Scholar
DWECK, C. (2007) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Random House.Google Scholar
FORD, B. (2013) Approaches to performance: a comparison of music and acting students' concepts of preparation, audience and performance. Music Performance Research, Royal Northern College of Music, 6, 152–169.Google Scholar
HALLAM, S. (2006) Music Psychology in Education. London: Institute of Education, University of London.Google Scholar
HODGE, A. (2000) Twentieth Century Actor Training. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
JOHNSTONE, K. (1999) Impro for Storytellers. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
JUCHNIEWICZ, J. (2008) The influence of physical movement on the perception of musical performance. Psychology of Music, 36, 417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEMP, A. (1996) The Musical Temperament. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
MEHRABIAN, A. & FERRIS, S. R. (1967) Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communications in two channels. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 31, 248–252.Google ScholarPubMed
PISK, L. (1975) The Actor and His Body (pp. 9–10). London: Harrap.Google Scholar
REA, K. (2005) What makes an audience laugh? A practice-based enquiry into comedy in theatre. In Odam, G. & Bannan, N. (Eds), The Reflective Conservatoire. London: Ashgate.Google Scholar
REA, K. (2013) Unpublished interview with Richard Benjafield. Available from author.Google Scholar
REA, K. (2014a) Nurturing the outstanding actor: lessons from action research in a drama school. New Theatre Quarterly, 231–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
REA, K. (2014b) Unpublished interview with Simon Gilliver. Available from author.Google Scholar
REA, K. (2015) The Outstanding Actor: Seven Keys to Success. London: Methuen Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
REA, K. & DOLAN, D. (2012) Unpublished interviews. Available from author.Google Scholar
ROSSET I LLOBET, J. & ODAM, G. (2007) The Musician's Body: A Maintenance Manual for Peak Performance. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
SANDOW, G. (in progress) http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2007/01/rebirth.html.Google Scholar
SLOBODA, J. (2010) What do musicians and actors learn by working together? “The last five years”: a case study. London: Guildhall School of Music & Drama.Google Scholar
SLOBODA, J. & FORD, B. (2012) What classical musicians can learn from other arts about building audiences. Understanding Audiences Working Paper 2. Retrieved 17 May 2012, from www.gsmd.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Research/Sloboda-Ford_working__paper_2.pdf.Google Scholar
TSAY, C.-J. (2014) The vision heuristic: judging music ensembles by sight alone. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124, 24–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WAPNICK, J., MAZZA, J. K. & DARROW, A. A. (1998) Effects of performer attractiveness, stage, behavior, and dress on violin performance evaluation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46, 510–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar