The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the impact that small ensemble free improvisation experiences had on dispositional empathy development when compared with other forms of collective music making; and (2) to examine the relationship between co-performing musicians’ empathy levels and their performance achievement in small ensembles using free improvisation and notated repertoire. I used an experimental pre-and-posttest design to examine the effect of small ensemble free improvisation experiences on dispositional empathy development. High school instrumental music students (N = 185) were randomly assigned to one of three music making conditions: freely improvising dyads (n = 64), notated duets (n = 62), and traditional performance ensemble rehearsals (n = 59). Participants completed musical interventions related to their respective condition assignments for 20 minutes a week for a period of eight weeks. I utilized the Basic Empathy Scale (BES; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006) to measure dispositional empathy. I compared pre-and-posttest BES scores from participants in the three music-making conditions using a difference-in-differences regression estimator while controlling for gender identity, instrumental playing experience, and affective valence toward the music-making experiences. Findings showed that there were no statistically significant differences in empathy development within or between groups resulting from the music experience interventions. In addition to determining the effect of the musical interventions on empathy development, I examined the relationship between co-performer empathy levels and the performance achievement of improvising dyads (n = 32) and notated duets (n = 31). Performance achievement was rated with a researcher designed Collaborative Improvisation Measure (CIM; Schmidt, 2018) for the improvising dyads and the Small Ensemble Adjudication Form (SEAF) for notated duets, which was adapted from a high school level small ensemble rating form for solo and ensemble contest ("Illinois High School Association," 2013). Group empathy level for each ensemble was the aggregate of individual responses on the BES. Continuous scores on the BES and ensemble categorizations of High-High, High-Low, and Low-Low empathy pairs were used as independent variables for performance outcomes in a series of regression models and ANOVAs. Findings showed that co-performer empathy levels were positively associated with performance achievement but not performance change over time for both improvising dyads and notated duets. Co-performer empathy may support a baseline for collaboration that enables musicians, regardless of the type of collective performance, to maximize their collective abilities as they generate performance outcomes.

Creator

• Schmidt, Casey

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-knxs-g567

Subject

• Music education

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:15692
• etdadmin_upload_840964

Keyword

• Empathy Development
• Performance Achievement
• Free Improvisation
• Collective Music Making

Date created

• 2021-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright