Exploring the lived experiences of vocal collaborative pianists during the 35th Belvedere International Singing Competition : an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study is to understand how five vocal collaborative pianists made sense of their lived experiences during the 35th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition held on 6 July 2016 in the Opera House at the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town. In order to make sense of the lived experiences of the participants, this research addressed the following main research question: How did five collaborative pianists make sense of their lived experiences while accompanying singers during the 35th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition? During this qualitative research I conducted individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with the five South African collaborative pianists who were chosen to accompany the singers during the Competition. The open-ended questions elicited a “rich, thick description” of their experiences (Creswell, 2014:185). This interpretivist research offered an understanding and interpretation of the meanings that emerged during the interviews with each of the participants (Maree, 2007:60). The four superordinate themes that emerged from studying the five accompanists’ experiences were: 1. Experiencing anxiety and stress; 2. Skills requirements for collaborative pianists; 3. Challenges of the competition; 4. Appreciation and validation. The two corresponding themes that emerged were: 1. Empathy with the singers; and 2. Collegiality. The study showed that stress, before and during the competition, was a common experience for all the participants. The stress experienced was compounded by the challenges that the participants faced during the competition. The interview responses indicated that by employing the skills acquired during their careers as accompanists, they were able to mitigate their stress and overcome their challenges. Empathy with singers and collegiality among the participants also proved to be associated with the necessary skills used to mitigate their stress. The participants experienced validation as artists/performers when they received positive feedback/appreciation from singers and audience members.