Readiness of students in artistic specialities for interpretative activities in the process of vocal and choral training

The study aimed to identify the characteristics of how students in arts-related degree programmes develop their readiness for interpretative activities during vocal and choral training. The research methodology was based on a pedagogical experiment involving 72 second- to fourth-year students at Dragomanov Ukrainian State University, divided into a control group and an experimental group. Assessment was conducted by five experts on a 10-point scale based on seven practical tasks that tested the students’ technical, analytical, performance and reflective skills. The results of the study showed that at the baseline stage, the control and experimental groups had comparable initial scores: the difference between the average scores across all practical tasks did not exceed 0.1-0.2 points. The study determined that students were dependent on an external performance model, lacked sufficient integration of score analysis with practical performance, and had difficulty justifying interpretative decisions. Following the introduction of a system of interpretation-oriented tasks, the experimental group recorded a higher increase in scores compared to the control group. The greatest improvement was observed in the justification of performance decisions and reflective commentary after performance – 3.1 points each; in the varied performance of a fragment – 2.9 points; and in the analysis of a score fragment and comparison of performance versions – 2.6 points each. In the control group, the improvement remained moderate, at 0.6-0.7 points, whereas in the experimental group it ranged from 2.1 to 3.1 points. The results confirmed that interpretative analysis of the score, comparison of performance versions, varied performance, group discussion, work in small ensemble groups and reflective analysis after performance contributed to the development of students’ interpretative independence, analytical justification of performance decisions and ensemble coordination. The practical significance of the study is determined by the possibility of using the developed recommendations for organising vocal and choral training for students of arts specialisations in higher education institutions.