A Study On The Influence Of The Practice Method Of "Yi Yuan Ji" On The Formation Of Flute

The thesis introduces a practice method called "chunking" which is a widely used method in European music institutes. The "chunking" method is approached from a psychological point of view and analyzes the necessary conditions for the formation and progress of playing skills. The concept of chunking’s" scientific training methods are demonstrated and the experimental data resulting from it are used to confirm its validity as a method for the improvement of playing skills. In the "chunking" method, each note is used as a separate unit to be memorized. This system allows a faster memorization because in average human beings can only hold a small number of discrete items in their working memory at a time (three to seven items), but more information can be stored by combining a number of items into a single chunk based on prior knowledge.When "chunking" is applied to music practice, three to seven notes can be treated as single units, whether it is in accordance with the logic bar, the chord or by random division. These units are later combined during the study process to form a number of note groups, which, after being mastered by the student, are further combined to complete the whole music score. This method hence allows the student to memorize the musical score faster and more easily than treating all the notes of a musical score as a single chunk from the beginning of the study process. In traditional practice methods, the teacher recommends students to learn the score by repeated practice, or to carry out complex phrase punctuation in accordance with the melody and the logic of the chord line. Drawbacks of this method can be observed as students fail to achieve deep musical knowledge of more complex musical scores through such repeated practice. In the chunking method there is no necessary relation between the notes that have been "chunked", the only relation being the characteristic pitch and effect of the combination of such notes. There are hence no rules regarding how the notes should be chunked, the student or teacher can randomly decide how to divide and combine the chunked sections. The student first needs to learn to play the chunks at a comfortable rhythm, and then try to play them gradually increasing the rhythm to match the original rhythm of the musical score. The student’s learning is facilitated by the mechanical memory acquired by practicing the chunks individually.The majority of flute teaching in China is based on the teacher’s experience who guides the students into following a technical approach similar to his. This method, however, lacks of a proven scientific pedagogical base and is not necessarily the most efficient and correct for all individuals.My aim in this thesis is to prove the greater validity of the chunking method, which is already widely used in Europe for flute teaching, compared to the traditional methods used for flute teaching in China.