Abstract

As a doctoral candidate in Arts Education at Simon Fraser University, I research psychological issues in the musical relationships between music educators and gifted student musicians. Using Jungian psychological type theory and the work of Isabelle Myers on personality traits I concentrate on perceiving intuition’ and ‘sensation’ personality types as an indicator for learning style. Intuitive students often disengage in sensing teaching environments. By appreciating learning style, teachers and gifted students begin to divert tensions to exploring a philosophical common ground, a window to imaginative possibilities of aesthetic expression.

This paper works through research findings that present alternative teaching strategies in journal entries of a fictional high school band teacher working in a sensing environment of detail, structure, practicality, and clear, controlled boundaries, and, a fictional intuitive, gifted student musician who prefers open-ended activities with flexibility and interpretation.

Written in the first person, the intuitive student remains detached and reluctant to confront and share ambiguous representations of the interplay of images, feelings and intuitive musical expression. Teacher strategies reveal a vocabulary of aesthetics and an appreciation of the visceral musical experience. The writing begins with the teacher’s point of view written in the second person.