Isolation in studio music teaching: The secret garden

Abstract

In comparison with classroom settings that are more accessible to the scrutiny of researchers and institutional monitoring, the one-to-one setting of instrumental and vocal studio teaching has been described as a ‘secret garden’. The physical isolation of the music studio has deep roots within the traditions of apprenticeship and embodies aspects of conservatoire culture that are sometimes carried over into other musical styles. With a focus on higher education, this paper explores the nature and significance of isolation for the studio, alongside some of the benefits, limitations, and challenges that it offers. The authors contend that the physical disposition of the studio within the institution gives implicit support to the attitudes and assumptions that sustain traditional approaches to music performance teaching, and that making them explicit can help to open those approaches to further challenge, review and development.

Institutional personas – Dis/harmonic representations of higher music education

“…Consequently, we gain no insight into one-to-one lessons as readers. What happens therein seems to be a question between the teacher and the student, reinforcing a view of this signature pedagogy (see Shulman, 2005) as constituting a 'secret garden' (Burwell, Carey, & Bennett, 2019;Young, Burwell, & Pickup, 2003) or as something happening in a 'culture of concealment' (Carey, Bridgstock, Taylor, McWilliam, & Grant, 2013, p. 359).…”

Psychological Violence in Current Musical Education at Conservatoires

“…La educación musical ha permanecido casi siempre al margen de la educación obligatoria en la mayoría de países, afianzándose de manera progresiva una larga tradición, el «modelo Conservatorio» (Young, Burwell y Pickup, 2003), donde la enseñanza instrumental se ha perpetuado a modo de «jardín secreto» (Burwell, Carey y Bennett, 2017) en comparación a la inmensa cantidad de estudios del contexto educativo general.…”

Classical soloists’ life histories and the music conservatoire

“…Conservatoire practices have been described as opaque, unreflective and with heritages that no longer serve the majority of students (Bennett, 2007; Burwell et al, 2019; Carey & Grant, 2015; Gaunt, 2011; Ivaldi, 2016; Persson, 1996). Hierarchies and the fabric of institutions have been characterized as reifying teacher voice, with student performance prized above broader learning (Burwell et al, 2019; Ford, 2010; Perkins, 2013b) and as strongly protective of what they regard as their ‘core’ role against dilution (Duffy, 2016). The sector has also been criticized for narrow definitions of success (Perkins, 2013a) and the absence of ‘a critical and creative engagement with music’ (Ford, 2010, p. 3; see also Leech-Wilkinson, 2018).…”