The mastersingers: language and practice in an operatic masterclass

The paper presents a microethnographic examination of an operatic masterclass, based on a transcribed video recording of just one such class. It is a companion piece to a more generalised ethnographic account of such masterclasses as pedagogic events. The detailed analysis demonstrates the close relationship between spoken and unspoken actions in the pedagogy – especially the work of gesture. The masterclass thus displays the work of rendering explicit embodied technical and interpretative competence. Masterclass teachers find ways to express such advice through maxims, metaphors and physical activities.