The Roles of Gesture in Piano Teaching and Learning

The first two combined qualitative and quantitative approaches – results of which were used in establishing the first known categorisation of piano teachers’ gestures. Amongst the most intriguing findings were the relationship between teachers’ didactic intent and the forms of gesture they employed, and ‘gestural scaffolding’ (when teachers adapted particular gestural communicative channels to suit specific student skill levels).

In the third investigation an experimental setting was used to observe and evaluate the role of teaching gestures in one-to-one instrumental tuition. Here different gestural teaching and learning conditions yielded multiple levels of learning effectiveness, implying a need for empirical understanding and establishment of gestural performance as a concept that can be applied to enhance learning across specific pedagogical contexts.

As well as building a case for future investigations in this research area, this thesis opens a debate within studies of pedagogical practice in instrumental music teaching, whilst contributing more generally to discussions of how the body impacts upon music understanding.