Patterns of verbal interaction in newly formed ensembles

Data to accompany article on Pattern interactions in newly formed music ensembles

Materials and methods

The music context was a specialist higher education setting, in which postgraduate students, selected by audition for suitability, were participating in a professional practice programme. This setting enabled tracking behaviours in bi-weekly rehearsals of the groups for 2–3 months from day 1 of their musical interactions.

Participants

The participants were two vocal groups, each comprising five pre-professional level solo singers, at a United Kingdom university. There were three women and two men in each group. 

Materials

Materials for analysis came from video recordings of rehearsals. Verbal exchanges were transcribed and coded using the Behaviour Analysis (BA) observational instrument (Rackham and Morgan, 1977; Farley et al., 2018; see Table 1). Four main categories were used for analysis, as behaviours were grouped into the categories of ‘Clarifying’ (ensuring a common understanding); ‘Initiating’ (to create ideas and possibilities); ‘Reacting’ (to ensure agreement and resolve disagreement); and ‘Participating’ (which bring in or shut out others or lighten the mood through humour). The first author was trained in the use of this scheme prior to coding, and her coding consistency was checked against a benchmarked standard as part of the training she received and checked by an independent coder.