Classic Express Research project by Ilona Sie Dhian Ho

In a combined qualitative and quantitative research the influence of storytelling in concerts for children is analyzed. In a controlled setting, The Classic Express (mobile concert hall), groups of schoolchildren attend either a concert with or a concert without storytelling. The groups, similar in socio- economic background and age, are compared. In a quantitative research the involved listening, the felt emotional intensity, the interest in classical music and the interest in actively playing an instrument, will be measured. For quantification new grading systems are developed by scientists and musicians in a collaborative process. In a qualitative research on the influence of storytelling the focus is on children with severe learning disorders. The emotional responses of these children in concerts with and without storyelling, and in combination with participatory elements (moving, gestures) are observed by teachers and caretakers, They compare their observations in the concert to the normal behaviour of their pupils. Both Interviews with the teachers and their grading of arousal, attention and emotional levels in the concert will provide data that will be analyzed by the reserachers. This research is the first study of The Classic Expression Research Group, a group of researchers from the Royal Conservatoire and Leiden University, collaborating to provide new insights on the impact of presentation techniques in classical concerts.

Ilona Sie Dhian Ho

Research Design

Does storytelling in a concert influence children’s involved listening at a classical concert in age group 6-10? In this research we will be looking into how long children are engaged in attentive listening in the different concert settings (story-telling and control group). For that purpose we will analyze the behavior of every child individually and we will score their behavior concerning involved listening/uninvolved listening.

The steps that are taken:

-create a scale for "engaged/involved/attentive" listening in concerts

-train and test coders that use the scale

-select fragments from the performances that will be coded

- 4 coders code the fragments

-scores are uploaded on surfdrive

-scores are analyzed by research team

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