Andrew Davidson

This study theorises implicit support for student wellbeing in a contemporary higher education music curriculum. Written from the perspective of a practitioner, specifically a music lecturer and teacher trainer, it synthesises themes common to music education and social science using analogy as a methodological tool. The paper begins with solfege systems for musical ear training and focuses on three distinct learning objectives: 1) perceiving the identity of a note, 2) understanding the relationships between notes, and 3) determining the function of a note. It then pivots toward recent research on the sociology and psychology of student experience, highlighting three wellbeing objectives analogous to the musical ones: 1) nurturing the student's sense of self (i.e., identity), 2) facilitating the student's sense of connection (i.e., relationships), and 3) unearthing the student's sense of purpose (i.e., function). The paper concludes by discussing real-world implications and offers practical prompts to help music lecturers view their students through a wellbeing lens.

Across the conservatoire sector, resilience and wellbeing have come into sharp focus during the global pandemic. Until recently, research has paid only limited attention to the field of actor training in this regard. This chapter presents Andrew Davidson, director, musician, teacher, and Wellbeing Champion for Guildford School of Acting (GSA) in conversation with Associate Professor Ian Maxwell, lecturer and researcher at the University of Sydney, and co-author of the Australian Actors’ Wellbeing Study; and Dr Parvinder Shergill, award- winning doctor in mental health for the National Health Service (NHS), writer, actress, and filmmaker. The conversation considers current challenges for acting students and teachers, and the lived experiences of graduates and professionals in the industry. Two viewpoints emerge from the discussion: 1) an individual perspective on the development of self during actor training; and, 2) an industrial perspective on the transition into and through the acting profession. The individual perspective gives a snapshot of wellbeing in actor training and offers a creative vision of resilience. The industrial perspective takes an anthropological and phenomenological view of the acting profession and recommends radical cultural change.

This roundtable is chaired by Aaron Williamon and brings together Andrew Davidson (University of Surrey), Joan Duda (University of Birmingham), and Angela Pickard (Canterbury Christchurch University) to address the following questions from their own experience: Are there any specific situations that require social support in performing arts education? What are the avenues through which this social support might be provided? Are there any challenges related to providing social support in performing arts education? If so, how might these be overcome? Healthy Conservatoires aims to inspire the creation of educational and professional environments that promote health and wellbeing. The Network provides a forum where members can engage with innovation and evidence-informed practice, as well as access peer support in creating and maintaining healthy conditions for studying and working.

This round table brings together a range of scholars and practitioners, chaired by Professor Ian Pace: Jack Adler-McKean (Lund University, Malmö Academy of Music), Jean Beers (Music & Arts University of the City of Vienna), Andrew Davidson (Guildford School of Acting, University of Surrey), Helga Karen (Sibelius Academy, University of Arts Helsinki), and Michael Solomon Williams (University of Leeds). Among the issues to address are the meaning and future of conventionally academic music study in today's educational landscape, how this relates to the needs and desires of students, whether there is a risk of scholarly activity being marginalised if vocational music education becomes dominant, whether the perspective of scholars with little practical experience is unduly narrow or conversely allows some critical autonomy, and more widely of to what extent the meaning of established values of academic work are important or relevant to practitioners.

The influence of eurhythmics on Actor Training can be viewed as an elaborate and variegated family tree. In this article, I focus on a single branch of that tree. I identify and describe the artistic and pedagogical DNA of eurhythmics within Viewpoints: an approach to Actor Training developed by Anne Bogart in the USA over the past four decades. I begin with a brief outline of the historical and philosophical contexts for eurhythmics and Viewpoints. I illustrate the parallels and intersections between eurhythmics and Viewpoints as I have experienced them as an acting teacher at university and conservatory drama schools. I describe the Viewpoints of Time and Space in practice, and provide examples of complements to be found in eurhythmics. The article offers insight into my perception of a Dalcroze identity within Viewpoints Training that is transferable to eurhythmics teachers engaged in continuing professional development.

“Rhythm is a force analogous to electricity and the great chemical and physical elements – an energy, an agent – radio-active, radio-creative – conducing to self-knowledge and to a consciousness not only of our powers but of those of others, of humanity itself.” – Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. This paper provides my reflections on rhythm in the fields of Actor Training and Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a teacher at a university conservatoire. I outline the philosophy and principles of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, an embodied approach to the acquisition of professional musicianship skills, knowledge, and experience. I propose that two prominent approaches to Actor Training that form part of my own teaching practice contain pedagogical influences from Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Viewpoints Training, with its exploration of time and space through rhythmic movement, has distinct parallels with the faculties, abilities, and qualities developed in a Rhythmics class. Meisner Technique, with its concern for listening, responding, and repetition, complements the methods of learning and teaching undertaken in a Solfège class. Both these approaches to Actor Training make considerable use of Improvisation, the fundamental mode of communication in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. This paper provides insight into my own perceptions and understandings of what and why specific approaches to Actor Training appear to be “Dalcrozian”. The themes presented are transferable to artists and educators engaged in continuing professional development.

The tacit knowledge of the actor, singing actor, and actor musician, is made up of complex phenomena. Any attempt to train an actor requires a dialogic approach to embodied experiences. Immersive training facilitates the development of technical and expressive skills; physical, intellectual, emotional, and social sensitivity; and the ‘muscle’ required to maintain performance stamina. The influence of Dalcroze on theatre and actor training can be traced through generations of practitioners. This paper explores some of the lineages and influences to be found.

Actor training in Western culture evolved as an oral tradition. Formal education appeared in the late-nineteenth century with the work of Konstantin Stanislavski. Despite its relatively brief history, the family tree of theatre pedagogy now consists of many contrasting branches. Several branches contain the creative and educational DNA of an approach to Western music education known as Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Emile Jaques-Dalcroze was a Swiss pianist and composer whose work at the Hellerau Institute near Dresden in Germany had a significant impact on the Modernist movements in theatre and dance, 1911–1914. Historical records show that this embodied method of music learning was disseminated by Hellerau graduates in drama schools and theatre companies around the world. This essay traces four branches on the family tree of theatre pedagogy that are directly influenced by Dalcroze Eurhythmics. These branches include the legacies of Stanislavski in Russia; in the United States of America. This essay is written from the author's perspective as an actor trainer and music educator in a higher education conservatoire. It offers historical contexts for contemporary pedagogies in actor training.

Across the conservatoire sector, resilience and wellbeing have come into sharp focus during the global pandemic. Until recently, research has paid only limited attention to the field of actor training in this regard. This chapter presents Andrew Davidson, director, musician, teacher, and Wellbeing Champion for Guildford School of Acting (GSA) in conversation with Associate Professor Ian Maxwell, lecturer and researcher at the University of Sydney, and co-author of the Australian Actors’ Wellbeing Study; and Dr Parvinder Shergill, award-winning doctor in mental health for the National Health Service (NHS), writer, actor, and filmmaker. The conversation considers current challenges for acting students and teachers, and the lived experiences of graduates and professionals in the industry. Two viewpoints emerge from the discussion: an individual perspective on the development of self during actor training; and an industrial perspective on the transition into and through the acting profession. The individual perspective gives a snapshot of wellbeing in actor training and offers a creative vision of resilience. The industrial perspective takes an anthropological and phenomenological view of the acting profession and recommends radical cultural change.

“Music is often referred to as the motivating force behind dance. However, dance teachers and accompanists are a fortunate few who see both art forms as motivating catalysts for their own creative energies" (Harriet Cavalli, Dance and Music). This paper reflects on the phenomenon of working as a dance musician, an area of improvisatory practice that has received limited research attention. It describes aspects of this practice as experienced by the author over a three-year period as a freelance ballet pianist engaged in approximately 1000 hours of ballet classes. The paper draws data from interviews with ballet teachers with whom the author has worked as a ballet pianist. It also draws from extant literature on the musician’s role in dance. The paper brings together major themes, including the embodied, collaborative, semi-structured, and improvisatory nature of the work of the dance musician.

Across higher music education, significant misunderstanding exists between the various solfege systems used for ear-training and sight-singing, as each system boasts a different motivation for labelling and analysing pitch. This paper posits that all solfege systems can be categorised in one of three ways, depending on what is being studied: 1) the identity of the note, 2) the relationship between notes, and 3) the function of the note. These three principles (identity, relationship, and function) are an efficient way to cut through the complicated pedagogical baggage that currently surrounds and segregates solfege systems. The paper then takes a sociological turn to consider recent research in which a similar vocabulary emerges to describe aspects of university student life: 1) the student’s sense of self (identity), 2) the student’s sense of belonging (relationship), and 3) the student’s sense of purpose (function). Using these three principles, common to solfege and sociology, the paper offers a practical framework for the higher music educator to engage with and reflect on their students’ experience of personhood, sociality, and achievement.

The New Dalcrozian podcast, based at Carnegie Mellon University, USA, invited Andrew Davidson to discuss the artistic, educational, and social history of the Hellerau Institute in Dresden, Germany. Listen from 13'30". The podcast is hosted by Anthony Molinaro and Lauren Hodgson, and discusses the work of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze as practised in the 21st century.

The tacit knowledge of the actor / singing actor / actor musician comprises complex phenomena. Any attempt to pass these skills on to a student actor requires participation in embodied experiences. Immersive training facilitates the development of technical and expressive skill; physical, intellectual, emotional, and social sensitivity; and the ‘muscle’ required to maintain performance stamina. Dalcroze is a body-based approach to training and pedagogy developed by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in the early-twentieth century. Originally intended for musicians, its influence on theatre and movement began with Laban and Stanislavsky, and continued through generations of practitioners since. It now has a wide range of applications in the Arts and Education. The core of Dalcroze focuses on experiencing, expressing and understanding music in and through movement; ear training focuses on pitch and pitch relationships, including harmony; improvisation with instruments, voice and movement develops creativity and an ability to match sound and movement. This paper outlines the history of Dalcroze and charts its lineage and influence on actor training.

Composers of classic works of musical theatre carried with them tacit knowledge of the function of melody and harmony in relation to lyrics and dramatic action. This knowledge was underpinned by the cultural dominance of the piano and orchestra throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With the rise of the guitar in popular music, very different musical forms began to challenge the scope of musical expression available to the theatre-composer-as-dramatist. This paper considers the kinaesthetic practicality of composition at the keyboard in contrast to composition on the guitar. It examines excerpts from a selection of musical theatre songs and points to melodic and harmonic resources deployed by the composer in support of the lyric and its dramatic intention. It poses further questions about the impact of instrumentation on the expressive range of music making for the future of musical theatre.

“Act before you think - your instincts are more honest than your thoughts" (Sanford Meisner). This paper reflects on the phenomenon of teaching acting through the Meisner technique and the Dalcroze approach to arts education. Sanford Meisner (1905-1997) was an American acting teacher who developed an approach to actor training that awakened instinct through listening and improvisation. The paper introduces the field of actor training and attempts to excavate, analyze, and describe aspects of this practice as experienced by the author as a conservatoire actor trainer. It draws data from the extant literature on the acting teacher’s role, including current and historical writing by practitioners working across and between art forms. The paper reflects on the listening and improvisatory skills that support actors in training and in performance. It concludes by bringing together major themes, including the embodied, collaborative, semi-structured, and improvisatory nature of the work of the actor trainer. Consideration is given to implications for future research.

The place of listening in actor training has received limited discussion. This paper explores common ground between actor training and music education in the context of a UK university conservatoire. It examines the philosophy, principles, and practice of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, the initiator of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. It acknowledges the influence of the historic work undertaken by Jaques-Dalcroze and Adolphe Appia at the Hellerau Institute in Germany. It follows the threads of embodied musicianship that have influenced theatre artists including Konstantin Stanislavsky, Sanford Meisner, and Anne Bogart. It maps the intersections between music and movement in contemporary actor training to locate the pedagogic place of listening in actor musicianship and other hybrid forms of music theatre. The paper offers a novel perspective on traditional barriers between actor training and music education that fosters a holistic approach to listening in a higher education drama school.

The Uncensored Critic podcast invited Andrew Davidson to discuss the work of Sanford Meisner, his links to Stanislavski, Stella Adler, and Lee Strasberg, and how actors achieve their best work through listening to each other. The Uncensored Critic is Ollie Gower talking to actors, directors, movement directors, creatives, and anyone in love with the arts.

Hamburg University of Music and Drama, Germany, invited Andrew Davidson to create and present an Open Educational Resource (OER) produced by Hamburg Open Online University (HOOU). Andrew's digital lecture on Eurhythmics and Actor Training is episode three of Rhythmik / Musik und Bewegung, and has been published in the journal, Arts.

Discussion on the role of listening in actor training is limited. Compared with studies on ear training for conservatoire music students, there is a gap in the literature regarding the ways in which student actors acquire and improve listening skills. This paper investigates the musicality inherent in Meisner Technique, an approach to actor training, and points to intersections with ear training in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, an approach to music education. It analyses the common ground between these pedagogical practices, drawing on sources from a variety of domains in which listening is foregrounded. It asserts that Meisner Technique and Dalcroze Eurhythmics promote similar forms of responsive, interpretative, and collaborative listening skills. This paper is written from the author's interdisciplinary perspective as a teacher of acting and music at a university conservatoire. It offers insight into practical training through a personal, philosophical lens. Its themes are transferable to actor trainers and music educators engaged in continuing professional development.

This paper explores the fields of actor training and music education in order to illuminate the historical and pedagogical connections between the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. It identifies historical parallels between their artistic practices, including their dedication to rhythm and polyrhythm. It illustrates the ways in which their pedagogical paths crossed. It analyses the artistic lineage that can be drawn from the work of Jaques-Dalcroze at the Hellerau Institute to the work of Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre. This includes the influence of Dalcroze Eurhythmics on the development of Tempo-Rhythm. The paper considers how aspects of Stanislavskian actor training are reflected in aspects of Dalcrozian music education, including ensemble work, intention and emotion, and the evolution of psychophysical performance. It proposes that there is a correlation between the creative process undertaken by an actor on a play text, known as Active Analysis, and the creative process undertaken by a musician on a compositional score, known as Plastique Animée. Comparing the pedagogical principles of Stanislavski and Jaques-Dalcroze from the author's own perspective as an actor trainer and music educator reveals areas for further research. This paper presents themes that are transferable to artists and educators engaged in continuing professional development.

Research on the role of the ballet pianist is limited. A gap in the literature concerns the ways in which dance instructors and accompanists ‘make sense’ of their collaboration. The working relationship between a dance teacher and a dance musician in a ballet class was investigated. The researcher, a ballet pianist, conducted a semi-structured, in-depth interview with a ballet-teacher colleague who is also a musician and composer. The data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), a methodology which takes into account the interpretations of the participant (dance teacher) and the researcher (dance musician). This single case study presents three higher-order themes: ‘the cycle of creativity’ between the teacher, musician, and students; ‘a tonic sense in the body’ facilitated by the musician’s playing; and ‘the ideal situation’ regarding the musician’s sensory awareness during the class. It also reveals two subordinate themes that challenge effective relationships: the students’ perceived response to percussion; and the teacher’s use of recorded music. The results offer insight into specific perceptions and understandings that are transferable to dance teachers and dance musicians engaged in continuing professional development.