Abstract:

Forming an important dimension of vocational music education, instrument education covers a long and challenging education process with theoretical and applied aspects in which technical and musical knowledge are attained and skills are developed. String instruments constitute an important branch of instrument education. Known as string family (Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass), these instruments have an important place in solo and collective playing. They have become popular and preferred instruments in music education due to their technically very rich vocal characteristics, timbre characteristics, resemblance to human voice, and musical expressive power. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the perceptions of students, who had been receiving string instrument education at the faculty of fine arts’ music department, regarding the concept of “string instruments” through metaphors. The study employed the qualitative method. The study group consisted of 23 volunteering 1st, 2nd and 3rd year music students who were receiving string instrument education at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University’s Neşet Ertaş Faculty of Fine Arts during the 2019-2020 academic year. In the study, as a data collection tool, forms with statements “String instruments are like …… because …….” were distributed to the students, and they were asked to complete the statement based on their own thoughts. Then, content analysis was performed on the data obtained from collecting the forms filled out by the students’ own statements. The data analysis involved four steps: naming, elimination, categorizing, and ensuring validity and reliability. As a result of the data analysis, 23 metaphors developed by the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, were collected under eight categories. Considering the number of the study group, the diversity and variety of metaphors produced indicates that the students’ perceptions towards the "string instruments" course have multiple characteristics. According to the study results, the “Peaceful” category, which is one of the conceptual categories related to the concept of string instruments, is the most intensely participated category. This category was followed by the categories of “Moving and enjoyable”, “Lifestyle”, “Infinity”, “Reflective”, “Instructive”, “Strong and powerful” and "Offering Beauty".

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