A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 51

A Reflective Lens:
Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice

Emotional Challenges
We made observation of this particular category as we were
interested to find out if the technical challenges, mentioned
previously, had any impact on the members’ emotional wellbeing. We were duly rewarded with some interesting entries
and recorded dialogues that allowed us to examine the
members’ affective development. Matthew, in particular,
was very expressive about the challenges that he was facing:

It’s one of the biggest things I am shameful about,
because rhythm is something so important about
music, yet here I am, not being able to do it
correctly or understand fully what it is.
[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

And again:

…not familiar with the song and percussion part
yet. We often come in late and I feel worried
when we play because I would be stressed out
that I’m playing the wrong part.
[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

However, not all entries that we were able to identify were
negative. For example, the following was what John wrote
about the ensemble group’s progress:

…More people can play their part. Correct tempo…
Good, we’re making good progress.
[Reflective dialogue 02, 18 July 2014]

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