Research Article :
Aleksandr Vladlenovich Kamenets, Natalia Ivanovna
Anufrieva, Elizaveta Evgenievna Grushina, Galina
Ivanovna Gribkova, Olga Victorovna Ershova and Natalia
Sergeevna Yushchenko The article deals with the main pedagogical
problems of performing arts competitions in the context of the humanistic
paradigm of the forming artistic and pedagogical space. Different pedagogical
situations determining the requirements for organizing and conducting contest
programs are analyzed. Various pedagogical strategies of involving the younger
generation in performance activities that ensure mass participation and provide
children and adolescents with access to creative activities regardless of the
level of their performing abilities are proposed. The article also pays special
attention to the creation of a pedagogical environment that motivates children
and adolescents to participate in contest performance; the organizational
conditions of the competition that minimize the negative psychological effects
on its participants are highlighted and further prospects for their improvement
from the point of humanistic art pedagogy are outlined. The pedagogical
problems considered in the article allow the authors to conclude on the need
for greater use of the achievements of theater pedagogy in work with
contestants, as well as for a thought-out differentiation of competition
programs accounting for the composition of the participants and the nature of
the pedagogical problems. There are currently two main
approaches to conducting competitions among children and adolescents in various
kinds of performing arts [1]. The first of them, the most common one, involves
the maximum approximation of competitive situations to the competitions of
professional adult art performers that have developed a fairly stable system of
professional and ethical requirements for the participants and organizers of
these events, as well as appropriate criteria for assessing the level and
quality of the demonstrated performing skills. The second approach, mostly
adopted in the field of amateur performing arts, focuses more on the importance
of the very fact of participation of the largest possible number of amateur
young performers seeking to demonstrate their abilities to a wide audience. The first approach implies the
preferential choice of the higher level of performing skills assuming a limited
number of the competition winners and a significant rate of “elimination” of
participants before the competition, during the competition, and at the end of
it as not corresponding to the specified professional performance criteria.
This type of competition includes the L.A. Brooke International Children’s Piano
Duo Competition “Brother and Sister” and the Children’s and Youth Choral World
Championships. The second approach allows mass
participation in competitive events not requiring the demonstration of a high
level of performance but also solves an important pedagogical objective of
involving the greatest possible number of representatives of the younger
generation as performers in the given type of art. This type of competition
includes the International Festival-Contest of Children and Youth Creativity
“Commonwealth of Talents” and the International Competition of Children and
Youth and Adult Creativity “Bird of Fortune”. The established stereotype in art
pedagogy implying that these two approaches or two competitive strategies have
the right to exist independently of each other entails many significant pedagogical
problems and costs. The first, “professionalized” approach raises the following
pedagogical problems [2-4]. Early professionalization of
children and adolescents in competitive situations organized as a competition
of professional performers disrupts the process of gradual maturation of this
age group in accordance with its psycho-physiological capabilities; hence the
common nervous and mental overload, artificially forced development of creative
abilities not accounting for the capabilities of children’s bodies, and also
the imposed system of world perception and worldview borrowed from the “adult”
world mainly at the level of behavioural and performance stereotypes that do
not account for the peculiarities of the inner world of children and adolescents; Pedagogical
costs and problems are also found in amateur performing arts competitions.
Among them are: · The lack of opportunities to reach the necessary
quality of performance for the majority of contestants so as not to limit the
number of participants; thus, many contestants have illusions about their own
performance capabilities (often in the form of an unjustified overestimation);
the lack of self-criticism and desire to improve the level of performance skills
in the future; · The lack of opportunities to develop strong-willed
qualities and healthy ambitions in a competitive environment the deficit of
which can then manifest in psychological unpreparedness for self-realization in
the face of the need to improve one’s professional skills not only in art but
also in any other type of activity; dilettantism in performance as a
well-established norm in mastering artistic works; · Avoidance of excessive strain in mastering a
particular type of artistic performance; the lack of diligence in work on the
performing repertoire due to the prevalence of the desire to only perform
pieces that are easy to learn and perform; hence the primitivism of aesthetic
tastes, limited artistic requests, and the gradual fading of interest in the
systematic performance of artistic works. Thus, both of the aforementioned
approaches to the organization of creative competitions for the younger
generation have significant drawbacks that cannot be minimized through a simple
combination of the two types of organization of creative programs. There is a
need for a completely different organizational and pedagogical strategy that
would allow avoiding the identified pedagogical costs and negative trends.
Hypothesis: participation in performing arts competitions as part of the system
of moral and aesthetic development of personality aimed at the development of
creative imagination, initiative, artistic taste, aesthetic demands, humanism,
diligence, creativity, and emotionality has a significant impact on the
development of the performing competency in young competitors in particular and
the formation of the artistic and pedagogical space in general. The study of the established
practice of organizing creative competitions for the younger generation in the
sphere of performing arts allowed developing methodical recommendations
providing for the improvement of both the content of competition programs and
preparation for them based on the implementation of certain important
achievements of pedagogical and psychological science in the sphere of
children’s artistic performance. The first important methodical requirement
implies a correct adequate attitude to the phenomenon of children’s performance
that has to be viewed not as a goal in it but as a unique opportunity for the
development of personalities of children and adolescents. This development is
not reduced to the formation of personal qualities of a performer but primarily
presents the spiritual and moral upbringing of the younger generation by means
of artistic pedagogy. In this case, the main focus of methodical search should
be the organization of competition programs as a part of the larger system of
moral and aesthetic development of personality demanded by modern society
[1,5]. To reveal the status of the development of the performing competency in
young contestants, we developed a program of experimental work including the
preparatory, ascertaining, and control stages of the experiment. The
experimental research work was carried out in several stages: ·
The preparatory stage involving the development of
methods assessing the individual psychological and performing qualities of
young contestants; ·
Conducting the ascertaining stage of the experiment
involving the identification and assessment of the development of the
performing competency in young contestants; ·
The control stage involved comparing the results of
the ascertaining stage and the results obtained after the young contestants’
participation in the performing arts competition. The experiment sample consists of
young contestants (40 people) at the age of 12-16 years old who were first-time
participants in a performing arts competition. The formation and development of the
performing competency gain great importance for young contestants as a crucial
component of preparation for a performing arts competition. In this
connection, we used the following diagnostic methods: To determine the level of
development of the motivational and evaluative component of the performing
competency: ·
The “Diagnostic of Performing Motivation”
questionnaire assessing the level of positive attitudes toward public
performance activities; To determine the level of development of the content and operational
component of the performing competency: ·
The “preparation for public speaking” questionnaire
determining the level of development of the ability to control the accuracy,
completeness, expressiveness of one’s performance actions in the process of
public speaking and correct them in time. To determine the level of
development of the predictive and reflexive component of the performing
competency: ·
The author’s questionnaire “Own performance” assessing
the level of competitors’ ability to anticipate the results of their own
performance. To determine the level of
development of the predictive and reflexive component of the performing
competency: ·
The author’s questionnaire “Reflection” assessing the
contestants’ ability to self-regulate during public performances and the
adequacy of self-assessment of the results of the performance activity
(reflection). The study used methods of
mathematical statistics for quantitative and qualitative analysis of the
results and testing their validity. Statistical analysis of the obtained results
of the experiment comparing two empirical distributions by Student’s t-test was
carried out using the SPSS statistical software package. The results of the study of the
development of the performing competency components before and after the
performing arts competition are presented in Table 1. Comparison of the results of the
ascertaining stage and the results obtained after the young contestants’
participation in the performing arts competition shows an increase in the
number of young contestants at the high level of development of the performing
competency, as well as a decrease in the number of young contestants at the low
level of development of the performing competency. The significance of
differences in the level of development of the components of performance
stability before and after the performing arts competition was tested using the
methods of mathematical statistics (Student's t-criterion), as a result of
which their statistical significance was established. Let us consider the dynamics of the
performing competence in young contestants in competitive activity in more
detail. According to the diagnostics of the motivational-evaluative component
of the performing competence in young competitors, the low level of the
component decreased from 62.5 to 37.5% of the total number of respondents. The
low level implies a lack of motivation for public speaking [6], lack of
interest in performing activities [7], weak interest in increasing the level of
performance skills [8], and weak personal need for performance improvement [9].
The high level of the component increased from 0 up to 25%. The high level
implies persistence, stability of interest, responsible attitude to the
performing process [10], and constant striving to improve the performing
competence [11]. According to the diagnostics of the
content-operational component, the low level of the component decreased from
75.0 to 37.5%. The low level implies the inability or lack of control of one’s
emotional state both in preparation and performance of a public speech,
complete or partial emotional resistance to public speaking [12], panic, fear,
and anxiety [13], and a low level or even lack of artistic and technical
training. This is manifested in the accuracy and expressiveness of performing
actions when preparing for a public performance [14]. The average level of the
component increased from 25.0 to 50.0%. The average level implies the ability
to direct one's feelings, that is, to concentrate on the content of the work
being performed. However, it is not always possible to completely preserve this
state [15]. The average level also implies a sufficient level of emotional
stability when performing musical works but imperfect performance and
insufficient formation of mastery of performing skills [16]. The high level of the component increased
from 0 to 12.5%. The high level implies the ability to freely control one's
emotional state, emotional resistance to the process of comprehending and
performing musical works [17], the presence of creative experience, a low level
of panic, fear, and anxiety both before and during public speaking [18],
technically high-quality performance, and the ability to control the accuracy
and expressiveness of the performing actions when preparing for a public
performance [19]. According to the diagnostics of the
prognostic-reflexive component, the low level of the component decreased from
62.5 to 30.0%. The low level implies the absence or a very low level of the
ability to predict the results of public speaking [20] and the dominance of
panic and fear over creative excitement [21]. The average level of the
component increased from 32.5 up to 52.5%. The average level implies competent
performance with minor technical or artistic flaws and a sufficient level of
artistic embodiment of the interpretive intention during a public performance
[22]. The high level of the component increased from 5.0 to 17.5%. The high
level implies an artistically vivid embodiment of the interpretative intention,
as well as the ability to control one's state during a public speech [23]. According to the diagnostics of the
regulatory-activity component, the low level of the component decreased from
66.5 to 25.0%. The low level implies the lack of the ability to critically
assess one’s own performing activities [24]. The average level of the component
increased from 30.0 to 45.0%. The average level implies a partial ability to
assess the result of one's performing activities and partial ability to find
solutions in problematic situations of performing actions [25]. The high level
of the component increased from 5.0 to 30.0%. The high level implies the
independence of judgment, the adequacy and objectivity of assessment and
self-assessment, and active work on one’s emotional-volitional state [26]. Thus, the results of experimental
work allow concluding on the positive dynamic in the development of the
performing competency in the young contestants in the process of competitive
activity which demonstrates the influence of performing competitions on the
development of the performing competency of young contestants. Analysis of the practice of
performing arts competitions with the participation of children and
adolescents, as well as the results of the study of the methods and technology
of competition programs, allow us to identify several priority tasks in
accordance with the humanistic paradigm of art pedagogy including: ·
The organization of psychological support for the
contestants throughout all stages of preparation for the event [27]; ·
The creation of a pedagogical environment for future
contestants that would stimulate informal interaction and the self-realization
of the personality of children and adolescents in the accessible types of
performance activity; ·
The study of individual and psychological features of
contestants essential for their performance and the implementation of an
appropriate repertoire policy, the preparation of children and adolescents for
competition performances; ·
The differentiation of performing arts competitions in
accordance with their professional or amateur status by the presence of
criteria for the evaluation of contestants, the composition of participants,
and their psychological characteristics while maintaining the above mentioned
general pedagogical requirements; ·
The inclusion of competition programs in the general
pedagogical strategy of spiritual and moral development and aesthetic
upbringing of the younger generation. The results of the study confirm the
hypothesis that participation in performing arts competitions has a significant
impact on the development of the performing competency in young competitors in
particular and the formation of artistic and pedagogical space in general. A
prospect for further research could be the development of methods for the
development of the performing competency at the stage preceding the
participation in the performing arts competition. Natalia
Sergeevna Yushchenko, Russian State Social University, 4-1
Wilhelm Pieck str, Moscow, 129226, Russia, E-mail: ns.yushchenko@mail.ru
Kamenets
VA, Anufrieva IN, Grushina EE, Gribkova IG, Ershova VO, et al. The influence of performing
arts competitions on the formation of artistic and pedagogical space (2021) Edelweiss
Appli Sci Tech 5: 67-70. Creativity, Performance, Competition, Pedagogy,
Education, Development, Younger generation.The Influence of Performing Arts Competitions on the Formation of Artistic and Pedagogical Space
Abstract
Full-Text
Introduction
Methods
Study Design
Procedure and Methods
Statistical Data AnalysisResults
Discussion
Conclusion
References
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