A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 48

Use of Reflective Practice in Developing Students’ Listening and
Ensemble Performing Skills in Guitar Ensemble Co-Curricular Activity

Similarly when we introduced a higher-grade prime guitar
(from 2C to 4P prime guitar and Z series prime guitar) to
the ensemble, the members who had the change revealed
the following in their last reflection:

…especially with the new instruments, the two new 4Ps and the Z Series… I
can say that the instrument sounds truly amazing. It seems much easier to
play as well. I was able to play a certain part of a song which I could not play
on my old guitar. That made me really happy. Sound wise, the 4P sounds
much clearer and louder, and it seems to sound brighter and I like that...
[Journal 05, 8 Sept 2014]

The above entries showed us that reflective practice
provides potential as a tool for the development and
acquisition of a musician’s listenin g skills. It is reasonable
to understand the members’ anxiety and excitement
towards their new listening experiences since this was the
first time they were introduced to the playing of these
new instruments. Nonetheless, we felt it might be worth
exploring the continual effects of this novel experience.
Technical Challenges
From the data collected, we gathered entries that described
some of the various challenges, in terms of instrumental
skills, that the selected members were facing. For example,
the following was what Lucas had to overcome when
playing his new instrument, the Soprano Guitar:

…the fret board is very small… When
pressing the string it’s very painful
on my finger…
[Reflective Dialogue 01, 11 July 2014]

…tension of string on soprano is
very high… very hard to press…
learnt to play the soprano with skin
and nails.
[Journal 02, 18 July 2014]
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