Abstract
This presentation is part of a larger project titled Field Pedagogical Research on String Quartet Training in Selected European Countries, supported by The Charles University Grant Agency, Prague (GA UK). It covers part of the study addressing results from the research undertaken in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, and covering various aspects that are foundational to a string quartet such as music pedagogical and socio-psychological factors.
The study will specify educational principles, defining criteria and qualities a string quartet must possess - both as four distinctive personalities and as a highly integrated unit -to succeed at international level. The present study took place at selected music specialised secondary education institutions in 2019: Conservatoire České Budějovice, Conservatoire Pardubice (Czech Republic), The Yehudi Menuhin School, Purcell School (United Kingdom).
This investigation centred on newly founded or pre-existing string quartets that are aiming at reaching the highest standards, involving its members, the schools' pupils, and the educators invested in their formation. Field research was shaped in the form of a comparative investigation in music education, aimed at secondary schools across the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, and more precisely into educational practices and preparation for the students on string quartet playing: to what extent were students encouraged, guided and effectively prepared towards the medium, and what goals the curriculum and/or educators set.
Qualitative research was done in the form of a comprehensive questionnaire given to both pupils and educators. This questionnaire was tailored to find the students' views on string quartet playing and the educators' self-reflections on their contribution to their pupils' development.
In regards of the students, their responses highlighted, among others, whether they observed their guidance and preparation on this subject as appropriate; what the teaching and learning methods were; what they found compelling or discouraging in this genre; what they expected from their quartet peers and how they thought they could contribute to the ensemble; what their inner motivation was; and what their goals were. In regards of the music educators, responses brought forward their teaching methods; enumerated aims and aspirations, obstacles and signposts, as well as pivotal points in the students' development as groups and individuals.
The results of the research supported the hypothesis that overall, and to varying degrees current curricula and pedagogues both fail to sufficiently motivate and fittingly provide for the students, in order for them to become string quartet players of international reputation.