Doc ID :	Gen Eth
Status :	Complete
Last update :	11-Feb-04
Created :	January 04
Author :	Dr Karen Marshalsay
Availability :	Public

 

 

THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF A NETWORKED DIGITAL SOUND SYSTEM

Dr Karen Marshalsay

 

 

The overall aim of the project is to implement networked sound resources in a specific learning and teaching context  (namely the BA degree in Scottish Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, as well as by our partner institution the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh)  and to  evaluate and disseminate our findings in such areas as user needs and actual usage patterns, the effect on the learning environment and experience, and on teaching strategies and approaches.

The main purpose of the project is not to build a collection as such, or to create a digital archive but to look at the needs of performance students studying traditional Scottish music within a conservatoire. There has been relatively little research on the effect of digital materials on user groups working with networked digital sound resources and how they affect learning, teaching and research, despite the increasing use of digitisation within the various arts communities. Notable exceptions, of course, being the Library of Congress’s 1993 evaluation survey of pilot American Memory collections, and the current work being undertaken by SCRAN.

 

1.1             THE STRUCTURE OF THE BA (SCOTTISH MUSIC) COURSE

The course includes both performance and academic based components. Students have  a certain amount of control over choices beginning in 2^nd year and the main divide is between those who are intent on a solely performance based future and those who wish to include teaching components.

 

The actual content of the course is as follows.

 

Performance and practical based classes :

PRINCIPAL STUDY LESSONS      I-IV

PRINCIPAL STUDY GROUP          I-III

SECOND STUDY     I-IV  (II-IV elective)

GROUPWORK          I-IV       (IV elective or activity)

SINGING (Scots & Gaelic)   I-II        

WORKSHOPS          I-III (elective for IV)     (Visiting musicians)

DANCE          I-III

 

 

 

 

Academic components:

TRADITIONS & CONTEXT: I           Introduction to Scottish Music

(Main instrumental/vocal forms; instrument construction; historical & social context of music & approaches to its study)

                                                II           Historical Studies in Traditional Music

(Knowledge of key collections, their historical contexts, basic research techniques. Issues relating to performance practice)

                                                III          Contemporary Studies in Traditional Music

(In-depth knowledge o f traditional music in a variety of modern social contexts, in the mass media, and in crossover musics.  Continuing development of research techniques.)

 

RESEARCH PROJECT      IV

 

FOLKLORE   Taught alt years to composite class I & II

(Forms & practice of Scottish folklore – understanding of issues such as context (including international), performance, function, structure, and social significance as approached by folklorists)

FIELDWORK TECHNIQUES          III (IV elective)

ANALYTICAL SKILLS                      I           Listening skills

                                                            (Intro musical literacy through traditional repertoire)

                                                II-III       Transcription & analysis 

(Transcription methods, ear training skills, musical analysis in mixed oral/literate music culture)

GAELIC                      I (II-III elective)

SCOTS                      I (II elective with Gaelic)

SCOTTISH HISTORY           II   (Overview from dark ages to 20^th C, with reference to political, economic and social currents shaping the nation)

INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC CULTURES OF THE WORLD      III         

 

 

Practical /vocational components:

BUSINESS STUDIES          III (elective)

TECHNOLOGY         I-IV (elective in III-IV)

I           Basic IT skills / PA

II           Music writing software / recording studio procedures

III          Computers & music, midi  application of technology in schools

                                                IV         Enhanced skills in music technology in agreed

 

WORK PLACEMENT          II-III

 

 

Teaching components (mainly electives):

TEACHING MUSICS OF THE WORLD     III (teaching elective)

KEYBOARD SKILLS            II-IV (teaching elective)

INSTRUMENTAL SOUND RESOURCES II (teaching elective)

CLASSICAL MUSIC            II-III (teaching elective)

TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING       III  (IV elective)  (not taught in 2000/01)

PRACTICAL MUSICIANSHIP         III (teaching elective)

            1. Assigned arrangements (conducting & arranging)

2. Choral conducting, compositions, arranging, aural workshop

 

 

Other 4^th year electives:

COMPOSING & ARRANGING        IV (elective)

COMMUNITY PROJECT     IV (elective)

CREATING A BROADCAST          IV (elective)

 

 

 

Those on the piping strand of the degree also take classes in

 

PIPING HISTORY AND REPERTOIRE

PIPING TECHNOLOGY

 

 

 

 

1.2       STUDENT POPULATION AND LEARNING BACKGROUND

There are about 44 students on the course as a whole, with an average intake of 12 each year and about 6-7 students being invited to stay on to complete a fourth, honours, year.

The learning processes which the students have undergone prior to their arrival at the RSAMD are no different to the way traditional musicians have been learning for many years. The BA (Scottish Music) course is fairly new, as indeed is the concept of traditional music as part of the educational establishment rather than something which exists outside of it, and as yet there is no evidence to suggest that young people are learning or being taught any differently because they aim to study for a degree in it.

Basically traditional musicians learn by LISTENING, WATCHING and IMITATING.

LISTENING, because you need to have the sounds in your head before they are anywhere near your fingers, and for that to happen you need to be exposed to the tradition (although it would be false to think of any such homogenous thing as ‘the tradition’ – Scotland being what it is there are in fact many traditions).

WATCHING, because although we talk about ‘the oral tradition’ and ‘learning by ear’ we actually expect the student to watch the teacher closely and observe their technique. Indeed a good reason for not working from sheet music is that people immediately look at the piece of paper instead, a piece of paper which can never hold all the information needed to play the tune properly and well.

And IMITATING, because, of course, once you have heard it and seen it played, then you try to do it yourself.

In many ways the individual lessons do not vary that much from those of other musical genres. There is of course an emphasis on good technique, tone and musicality, just as there would be in classical lessons. The main differences would be the stronger emphasis on individuality and the student’s own decision making abilities. A clarsach (Scottish harp) player for example needs to decide how they are going to finger a piece, what decorations they are going to add and when they would be appropriate, what chords and rhythmic emphasis they are going to add with the left hand. All of this is part of ‘arranging’ the piece. They may even have had to initially decide what to play. The passing on of repertoire and the ability to search out tunes to add to your own repertoire is an important skill. Players are always looking out for a good tune, whether they get it directly from someone else, or indeed from what is now a very firmly established method, learning it from someone else’s CD.

 

1.3                               STAFF PROFILE

The Scottish Music department is staffed with a large number of part-time, hourly-paid tutors, indeed there is no full-timer in the department, although there are 3 core course leaders.  Hourly paid tutors, who are generally of a very high standing in their field, are also usually juggling other professional performance and teaching engagements, and do not have the time to spend hours on developing new methods of teaching. Nor are they paid to do so. This causes problems in the developing of a new system such as HOTBED. While there is a great enthusiam from the staff, they often do not have the time to spend listening to hours of material whether it is music or recorded interviews, no matter how valuable the material might be, to find  just the right bit that will be useful in a teaching context. It also means that any kind of training or development work with staff has budget implications for the project as the staff need to paid for this at their usual hourly rate. This is a very different scenario from a large institution such as a university department where staff may well be on full time permanent contracts and are willing to use some of their time to developing new methodologies.

 

1.4             CURRENT RESOURCES

The main resources that were being used before the development of HOTBED were very much of a similar nature but delivered differently. Staff have a high reliance on personal material such as CDs, books, articles and copies of published or manuscript sources. This is easy to understand if the lack of paid preparation time is taken into account, and also because this is the material the staff are used to using and that they know from prior experience, work well.

 

The material from the School  of Scottish Studies was available but was on cassette tapes which are stored in the library roll stacks. A user would really need to know exactly what they wanted to hear, and then go through the inconvenience of trying to find the right part of the tape and so on.  Previous students stated that they would go to the library if they had quite a bit of spare time and just ask the librarians for ‘one of the tapes’ and sit and listen to see what was on it, but that it was hard to find something specific.

 

Individual tutors would also make compilation tapes for their own students to study at home (see Scots Song case study), and most students take some kind of portable recording device such as a mini-disc into individual lessons.

 

 

One of the main roles of the Learning and Teaching Officer was to work with the Technical Officer in the design of the system to make sure that it was, as far as possible, meeting the needs and wishes of the musicians who would be using the system.  To this end one of the first things done was to draw up and then circulate among staff members, a ‘wish list’ of all the things that might be desirable in such a system.

 

The Wish List  :

 

 

 

The main factors were that any database had to be searchable by various different approaches ie tune type, title, key, language and that the ability to manipulate the sound recordings by dividing them into loopable phrases and slowing the loops down without altering the pitch would be incredibly useful. This was unanimously agreed by all staff members.

 

Many other factors were taken into account during the design and build process which were direct results of looking at the system from the users point of view. For example, the ability to create lists and send them to other users, the fact that the user profile  would store recent searches and history lists and the emailing system were all to aid the users in their work. Other suggestions such as students being able to keep their practice logs or work diaires as part of their user profile or to submit essay work via the system did not in the end make it into the final design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

		11-Feb-04
Complete	Public	Dr Karen Marshalsay