Lyndall Hendrickson s pedagogy: A learner-centred, multi-sensory violin teaching approach

Abstract

This study explores the integration of sensory-based materials designed for the students of Australian violin pedagogue Lyndall Hendrickson, whose experimental teaching ideas were developed from the 1960s. This research examines principles that influenced her multi-sensory teaching approach to violin instruction. Investigated are Hendrickson's use of elements from Dalcroze Eurhythmics, her training of Ševčík's exercises, knowledge from polio recovery, and the ways this informed her pedagogy. Hendrickson engineered combinations of vision-, auditory-, and proprioception-guided materials to engage the young violinist's sensory perception in their learning process. Investigations from her archival material are personal letters, transcriptions of teaching diary notes, collated files of handwritten drills, and previously unknown transcripts of lectures she delivered between 1960 and 2010. They reveal her use of educational psychology and principles for using structures of the Human Performance Theory. Also discussed are the applications of student-centred approaches for her understanding of pupils' sensory needs, as well as her investigations to determine differences in their thinking behaviours. This examination of Hendrickson's pedagogical methods may benefit teachers of students who struggle to grasp the perception of patterns or haptic associations.