Video recording of practice used in group/ensemble teaching
10 sessions on Practice and Improvisation
A series of 10 sessions over the course of a semester, focusing on practice and artistic expression. The teacher meets with a group of students to review practice and improvisation videos together, providing a foundation for dialogue and reflection. Students record videos of their practice or improvisation sessions, which are sent to the teacher prior to each meeting. The teacher and students then meet in person for 45-60 minutes to review the recordings together, collectively reflecting on the recordings, the practice process, and the improvisation process.
Experiences with the activity
Piano students at the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg have over a semester participated in group-based reflective dialogues with their instrument teacher regarding their practice and artistic approach. When teaching a group, the intent is to create a shared learning space, but it can be challenging for students to provide feedback on each other’s practice. The teacher notes: “in classical music instruction, there is a common focus on giving feedback on the outcome rather than the process, even though it is through the student’s own work that artistic quality is developed. However, this work has until now remained invisible – a ‘black box’”.
As a piano teacher, Søren Rastogi has developed and tested the use of video recordings of practice and improvisation as the basis for a shared reflective process for conservatory students. Listen to Søren explain the series, his experiences, and his reflections following its completion.
