Pedagogical strategies and methods for the development of scenic expressiveness among stage students in China

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of purposeful formation of stage expressiveness among pop performance students in the system of higher music education in the People’s Republic of China, in the context of the contradiction between the entertainment industry’s high demands for a synthetic type of performer and the dominance of traditionally technicist approaches to vocalist training in universities. The purpose of the study is to theoretically substantiate and empirically verify the effectiveness of integrated pedagogical strategies based on the psychophysical unity of voice, body, and emotions in developing key components of stage expressiveness. Based at leading creative universities in the PRC between 2019 and 2023, a sample of 486 respondents (432 students, 54 teachers) was formed; methods included longitudinal pedagogical observation, questionnaires, expert assessment of stage performances on a 10-point scale under blind viewing conditions of video recordings, analysis of curricula and syllabi, psychophysiological diagnostics of stage anxiety, as well as methods of mathematical statistics (Student’s t-test, correlation and factor analysis using SPSS Statistics 26.0). In the experimental groups, a modular program was implemented, synthesizing improvisation techniques, body-oriented and vocal-movement training; the control groups were taught according to the traditional vocal technical model. The obtained data demonstrated a statistically significant leading increase in indicators of plastic freedom, emotional congruence, and audience contact in the experimental groups (p 0.001), against a background of minimal changes in the controls; a significant weakening of the negative correlation between stage anxiety level and performance quality was recorded, indicating a rethinking of stage excitement as a resource rather than a barrier. Factor analysis of the effectiveness of individual methodological modules revealed the synergistic advantage of the integrated approach over the isolated use of role-playing, physical, and reflective practices. It is concluded that stage expressiveness among pop performance students in the PRC is a manageable pedagogical construct that requires the implementation of modular programs of psychophysical training, revision of the content of the disciplines Acting and Stage movement and the development of variable trajectories considering the ethnopsychological and individual characteristics of students.