Non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers

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Non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers’ confidence in teaching music in the classroom a

Frederick Seddon & Michele Biasutti a

b

Department of Education, University of Padova, Italy

b

Faculty of Psychology, University of Padova, Italy Version of record first published: 21 Aug 2008.

To cite this article: Frederick Seddon & Michele Biasutti (2008): Non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers’ confidence in teaching music in the classroom, Music Education Research, 10:3, 403-421 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613800802280159

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Music Education Research Vol. 10, No. 3, September 2008, 403421

Non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers’ confidence in teaching music in the classroom Frederick Seddona* and Michele Biasuttib

Downloaded by [Universita di Padova] at 12:59 08 December 2012

a Department of Education, University of Padova, Italy; bFaculty of Psychology, University of Padova, Italy

Prior research has revealed that non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers lack confidence in teaching music in spite of changes to teacher training and the introduction of music in the National Curriculum in England. The current study investigated the effects on non-music specialist trainee primary teachers’ confidence to teach music in the classroom after having experienced six keyboard-based ‘blues activities’ presented in an asynchronous e-learning environment. Participants were videotaped as they worked with music technology and a ‘remote facilitator’, to play a 12-bar improvised blues with both hands together. Participants also took part in individual, semi-structured interviews before and after engaging in the ‘blues activities’. Video and interview data was analysed employing inductive, qualitative procedures. This exploratory intervention study was undertaken with three participants and is reported as three individual case studies. After the ‘blues activities’ intervention, all participants were able to play the 12-bar improvised blues with both hands together and reported improvements in their confidence to teach music in the primary school classroom. The results also revealed improvements in participant perceptions of their own musicality when compared with ‘other musicians’ and links between perceptions of their own musicality and prior musical experience. Implications for future research and music education are discussed. Keywords: confidence; music; primary; teaching; instrumental; learning

Introduction Research in the UK has established that trainee primary school teachers who have no specialist musical training report low levels of confidence in their ability to teach music in the classroom (Hennessy 2000; Holden and Button 2006). The researchers attributed this lack of confidence to non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers’ perceptions of musical skills and their acquisition. Many trainees begin their training with a deeply rooted view that teaching music requires ‘gifts’ grounded in instrumental performance skills and the reading of musical notation (Hennessy 2000). Furthermore, there is also evidence that secondary school pupils perceive musical skills as fixed (Austin and Vispoel 1998). This indicates that by the time trainee teachers begin their university courses, they believe their musical abilities cannot be fundamentally changed (Bouffard, Boisvert, and Markovits 1998). This belief can lead them to have low expectations of their future ‘non-gifted’ pupils which initiates ‘a cycle of low expectation’ in the development of musical skills for the majority of individuals within the education system (Hennessy 2000). The current research investigates relationships between trainee primary school teachers’ perception of music as *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] ISSN 1461-3808 print/ISSN 1469-9893 online # 2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14613800802280159 http://www.informaworld.com

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‘special’ and their own musical experiences. It also examines how their perception of music as ‘special’ can impact upon their confidence to teach music in the primary school classroom.


Background The issue of non-music specialist trainee confidence in teaching music in the primary school classroom has been the focus of research over a number of years (Hennessy 2000; Holden and Button 2006; Jeanneret 1997; Mills 1989, 1996). Early research by Mills (1989) reported that the teaching of music in primary schools in the UK was often seen as the province of the ‘specialist’. Mills acknowledged the advantages of employing music specialists to teach music in the primary school classroom but identified one major disadvantage, that is, it promotes, in both teachers and pupils, the perception of music as a ‘special’ discipline (Mills 1989). Mills argued that if non-music specialists taught music to their own classes, music would not be regarded as ‘special’ but something that everyone can be involved with. Mills found that one major barrier to such teachers teaching music was their lack of confidence in their ability to play the piano and read music (Mills 1989). However, Mills asked ‘Does one need to be a pianist before leading children in a musical game? Does one need to be able to sight sing before encouraging a group of juniors to collaborate on a composition?’ (Mills 1989, 127). A later study (Mills 1996) evaluated changes in the confidence of music specialist and non-specialist trainees attributable to the content of their teacher training course. The study adopted a pre- and post-test design. The results from the pre-test data showed that tests related to ability to perform and read staff notation were significantly higher in the music specialists than the non-specialists. However, issues of ‘advising children on composing’ and ‘viewing themselves as listeners and performers’ were more evenly distributed between the two participant groups. The results from the post-test data revealed increases in competences across the board for both groups but interestingly, the gap between the groups narrowed significantly. Mills concluded that, prior to their training course, most non-music specialist trainee teachers had greater musical ability than the vast majority of the junior school children they would be required to teach. She also speculated that the musical skills of future trainees would be greater because their music education would be influenced by the introduction of Music in the National Curriculum. Other researchers argued that it was not the level of musical skill itself but the relationship between that skill and the confidence to teach music that was important (Bresler 1993; Brown 1993; Gifford 1991, 1993; Russell-Bowie 1993). In addition, Glover and Ward (1993) make the important distinction that it is more likely a lack of confidence in their own informally acquired musical skills rather than a lack of formal musical tuition that inhibits non-music specialists’ teaching of music in the primary classroom. Research in Australia and the USA conducted by Jeanneret (1997) investigated the effects of a ‘music fundamentals course’ on non-music specialist students’ confidence to teach music. Unfortunately, Jeanneret did not specify the contents of this course other than to say it provided ‘prerequisite musical skills and knowledge’ (38). The research employed a pre-and post-test survey with 222 student teachers in Newcastle (Australia), and Arizona (USA). The participants were asked to rank order curriculum subjects in order of confidence in teaching them in the primary school. The results reported significant changes in the placement of music in the rank order pre- and post-test and the researcher interpreted these results as displaying an increase in confidence to teach music in relation


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to the music fundamentals course (Jeanneret 1997). In addition, results revealed a relationship between participant confidence in teaching music and their own musical experiences at school. Participants also held the view that musical skill was inherited and not learned (Jeanneret 1997). Jeanneret argued that what changed as a result of the music fundamentals course was participant ‘attitude to music’, rather than an increase in ‘personal musical achievement’, with over 96% of participants reporting a positive affect on their attitude to music (Jeanneret 1997). These results supported prior research which recommended an exploration of the student’s own musicality through ‘encountering’ music in order to address issues of confidence (Bennett 1992; D’Ombrain 1974; Gerber 1992; Gifford 1991). Research conducted by a UK researcher (Hennessy 2000) examined issues of expertise and confidence in non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers from a cohort who had received their music education after the introduction of Music in the National Curriculum. In her study, Hennessy conducted a series of semi-structured interviews designed to reveal trainee confidence in relation to prior experience and beliefs as they passed through their teacher training programme. Hennessy found that although many of the participants had some instrumental training in their primary schooling, they did not continue with this training in secondary school. She reported that all participants declared music to be the subject in which they had least confidence in teaching. She also found that many of her participants had left school with strong feelings of inadequacy, believing that unless one had good performance skills and musical literacy one would not able to teach music (Hennessy 2000). These findings were supported in a more recent UK study conducted by Holden and Button (2006) which reported low confidence in practising nonmusic specialist teachers’ ability to teach music in the primary classroom. When asked to rank order curriculum subjects from 1 to 10 in order of their confidence in teaching them (1 highest) the mean over 71 participants for music was 7.35. Participants revealed that they perceived music as a ‘specialist’ subject requiring expertise and performing ability and expressed the view that their training did not equip them to teach music effectively. Holden and Button called for increased opportunities for music-making and greater co-operation and collaboration between non-music and music specialists. Other researchers investigated the concept of ‘musicality’ as many individuals in society consider themselves to be ‘unmusical’ (Shuter-Dyson 1999). Ruddock and Leong (2005) investigated relationships between non-musicians’ concepts of ‘musical’ and their judgements of their own musicality. Ruddock and Leong (2005) asked (a) what did participants understand by the term ‘musical’?; (b) what factors contributed to this perception?; and (c) how does their perception impact on their involvement with music? They concluded that participants’ negative judgements of their own musicality were related to (a) ‘thwarted desire to make music at some period in their life’; and (b) ‘lack of analytical understanding of music and an inability to play an instrument’. Their participants also reported being adversely affected by a particular formal music learning situation in their past. The review of the literature revealed that changes in music curriculum in the UK, through the introduction of the National Curriculum and teacher training courses at some universities in the UK, Australia and the USA have not fully addressed the issue of nonmusic specialist confidence in teaching music in the primary school classroom. Student’s judgements of their own musicality is still based on the perception that music is ‘special’, requires ‘talent’ and is only accessible to a ‘chosen few’ (Hennessy 2000; Holden & Button 2006; Ruddock and Leong 2005). Music provision in Italian schools closely resembles that in English schools. In Italy, most trainee primary school teachers are non-music specialists

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and receive very limited musical training during their teacher training courses at university. Music in primary schools is usually taught by the class teacher, sometimes with support from a specialist who will often have studied performance at a music conservatory. Music in middle and secondary schools is usually taught by a music specialist who will also have studied performance at a conservatory of music and subsequently followed a postgraduate course in teaching at a specialisation school.


Aims of the research The current research hypothesised that non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers would judge their own musicality more objectively and improve confidence in their informally acquired musical abilities by ‘encountering’ music at a practical level. The study focused on providing the participants with the opportunity to make music and improve their analytical understanding. These objectives were achieved by employing informal learning techniques used by popular musicians as described by Lucy Green (Green 2001), for example, by listening, copying, simulated group playing and improvisation. Participants played an improvised 12-bar blues on the keyboard during six ‘blues activities’1 for electronic keyboard. Blues music was employed for the learning sessions because blues is a genre that underpins much of the popular music many people of the participants’ age group currently listen to. Through ‘distracted listening’ (Green 2001) during their musical enculturation, the participants would have acquired ‘tacit knowledge’ (Lilliestam 1996). For example, musical skills such as melodic, harmonic and rhythm perception and understanding musical structure in relation to blues music would enable them to engage with this particular genre without requiring any prior formal training. In addition, blues music has a relatively simple and repetitive construction that facilitates learning to play by ear. It also provided an opportunity to include creative music-making possibilities through improvisation on a blues scale. The keyboard was chosen as the vehicle for music-making as it is reasonably familiar to most people and at this initial stage in learning, does not require specific skills such as having to hold an instrument (e.g., guitar or trumpet) or learn how to produce an embouchure (e.g., flute or saxophone). In addition, it was essential to the data collection process to have a MIDI instrument to engage in the asynchronous e-learning environment. Participants worked individually in order to give them ownership of the decision-making process enabling them to work at their own pace without any peer or teacher pressure and to help create an ‘informal learning environment’ (Folkestad 2006). The learning sequence of the ‘blues activities’ was based on the theory of learning to play by ear (Green 2001; Lilliestam 1996). They were designed to allow participants to employ ‘purposive listening’ (Green 2001), motor, memory and improvisation skills in a controlled sequence of events that involved the use of separate hand activities culminating in combining the hands during the final activity. Research questions 1. Did the specially prepared ‘blues activities’, encountered in an asynchronous e-learning environment, enable participants to play an improvised 12-bar blues with both hands together on a musical keyboard? 2. Did participants’ levels of confidence to teach music in the classroom improve after engaging in musical activities designed to influence their perception of music as ‘special’?


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Method


Participants Three participants (two females, one male), average age 21 years, self-selected to take part in the study after having responded to a ‘Call for Participants’ displayed on the University website. All participants were Italian, studying at a University in the north of Italy to become primary school teachers. One of the female participants had one year’s prior experience of formal tuition on piano at the age of 10 years. The other two participants had no prior experience of formal instrumental music tuition. Equipment Equipment consisted of a laptop computer (Toshiba) with music sequencing software (Musicator Delta) installed linked to a musical keyboard (M-Audio keystation 61 es) via USB lead and connected via broadband to the Internet, a hard copy of the six ‘blues activities’, six supporting MIDI files, an audio tape recorder, a video camera and tripod. Blues activities There were six ‘blues activities’ designed to enable a complete beginner to play an improvised 12-bar blues on electronic keyboard. Activity 1 presented three, left hand, two fingered blues chords in the key of A. The 12bar blues sequence was demonstrated and the participants were required to play this 12-bar sequence, with the left hand only, in time with pre-recorded piano ‘guide track’ and metronome beat. During this activity participants also learned the following technological skills: how to record themselves, save MIDI file recordings and send them via email to a ‘remote facilitator’ for guidance during and/or after the activity was completed. Activity 2 extended the experience of the previous activity from 12 to 48 bars, introduced bass and drum backing and provided an example of an improvised blues solo. Activity 3 demonstrated the ‘A’ blues scale and the participants were required to play it, with the right hand only, in time with pre-recorded piano ‘guide track’ and metronome beat. Activity 4 demonstrated four short blues ‘riffs’ and the participants were required to play them with the right hand only. Activity 5 provided the participants with the opportunity to experiment playing improvised solos, with the right hand only, by combining the previously learned ‘riffs’ and creating their own ‘riffs’ from the blues scale they had learned in Activity 3. An opportunity to have support from piano, bass and drums backing tracks was provided. Activity 6 provided the participants with the opportunity to combine the 12-bar sequence they had learned for the left hand with improvising a blues solo in the right hand. Support from drums and bass backing tracks over 48 bars was provided. Procedure The procedure for an intervention study was employed with the three participants treated as individual case studies. At Time 1, (i.e., prior to engaging in the intervention ‘blues activities’) participants were asked to rank order the following subjects: Maths, Foreign Languages, Italian, History, Geography, Music, Art, Physical Education, Sciences, into


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the order that they felt most confident to teach in the classroom, with the one they felt most confident at number 9 and least confident in at number 1. They also completed a short questionnaire (see Figure 1) and participated in a semi-structured interview. At Time 2 (i.e., after engaging in the intervention ‘blues activities’), this process was repeated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with one of the researchers and recorded to audio tape for future analysis. Stimulus questions used during the semi-structured interviews (see Appendices 1 and 2) were compiled with reference to the prior studies reviewed previously. Participants were given ‘hard copy’ of the six ‘blues activities’. They worked individually with the equipment provided in a room specially designated for the purposes of the study. During and/or at the end of each activity session participants sent recordings of their work as MIDI files attached to emails to a ‘remote facilitator’ for advice on how to proceed in the activities. Each activity session lasted for approximately one hour and was videotaped for future analysis. The camera was positioned in front of the participant in order to record their facial expressions and their interactions with the equipment provided. On average, participants required a total of nine 1-hour sessions taken over a period of 6 weeks to complete the six ‘blues activities’. Participants reported that they did not practice on a keyboard at any time other than during the activity sessions.

Measures Confidence The term ‘confidence’ in the current study is based on the concept proposed by Holroyd and Harlen (1996) and later applied in research investigating trainee primary school teachers’ confidence to teach music (Hennessy 2000): a feeling of self-assurance, a feeling that some task can probably be completed with the knowledge and skills one possesses and without having to call on others for rescue. (Holroyd and Harlen 1996, 326)

The questionnaire contained the items shown in Figure 1 because, according to Diener and Dweck (1980), knowing a participant’s ratings of ‘others’ performance allows for a clearer interpretation of their own performance evaluation. For example, a participant may rate his or her performance as an 8 on a 10-point scale; but if that participant thinks that most other people would rate 9 or 10 on the scale, then he or she may not consider 8 to be a successful score. On the other hand, if the participant believed most other people would 1. How good do you think you will be at teaching music in the classroom? Not very good Average Very good 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. How good do you think most student teachers who have not had instrumental lessons will be at teaching music in the classroom of primary school? Not very good Average Very good 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. How good do you think most student teachers who have had instrumental lessons will be at teaching music in the classroom of primary school? Not very good Average Very good 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Figure 1. Items included in the short questionnaire completed by participants at Time 1.


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only rate a 4 or 5, then his or her performance rating of 8 might be outstanding by comparison. Analysis


The collected data consisted of: . completed questionnaires (Time 1 and Time 2) . transcriptions of semi-structured interviews (Time 1 and Time 2) . emails sent and received during the activity sessions . recordings of MIDI files . video recordings of the activity sessions Descriptive statistics were sought for the questionnaire data at Time 1 and Time 2. Interview transcripts from Time 1 and Time 2 were analysed employing an iterative process based on ‘Grounded Theory’ (Glaser and Strauss 1967) which allowed concepts to emerge from the data. This meant that the source of the concepts lay with the participants in the study and not the literature. We employed the ‘constant comparative method’ (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Lincoln and Guba 1985), which involves five main stages: immersion, categorisation, phenomenological reduction, triangulation and interpretation (McLeod 1994). Emails sent and received during the blues activity sessions, recordings of MIDI files and videotaped material were read, listened to and observed in order to seek validation of the analysis of the interview transcripts through the process of triangulation (Lincoln and Guba 1985). Results In relation to Research Question 1, all three participants were able to play a 12-bar blues improvisation with both hands together after engaging with the six ‘blues activities’. In relation to Research Question 2, descriptive statistical analysis of questionnaire data comparing data from Time 1 and Time 2 revealed that all participants reported an increase in confidence to teach music in the classroom (see Table 1). In this research context, this result cannot be regarded as statistically significant but it does, however, reveal a trend for increased participant confidence between Time 1 and Time 2. The qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed the following emergent concepts: at Time 1, (a) ‘musical ability’ (personal and those attributed to being a ‘musician’); (b) ‘personal music learning experiences’; (c) ‘confidence in teaching music’; and (d) ‘ an ‘ideal’ music teacher’s abilities’ and at Time 2, (a) ‘personal musical ability’; and (b) ‘confidence in teaching music’. Comparison between the concepts ‘musical ability’ and ‘confidence in Table 1.

Changes in participant confidence evaluation between Time 1 and Time 2. Time 1

Pts Laura Lisa John

Time 2

Subject ‘Others’ without ‘Others’ with Subject ‘Others’ without ‘Others’ with rank instrumental instrumental rank instrumental instrumental order Self lessons lessons order Self lessons lessons 6 5 7

3 4 2

5 3 5

7 6 6

6 7 7

4 5 4

3 4 4

6 6 6

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teaching music’ at Time 1 and Time 2 revealed changes in participant attitudes to their own musical ability and their confidence in teaching music after the ‘blues activities’ intervention. The emergent concepts and researcher interpretations are reported separately for each of the three case studies. Some general findings for each participant are presented first followed by individual tables illustrating the concepts, example quotations and interpretations at Times 1 and 2 for each participant. Participant names have been changed to protect their anonymity.


Case studies Case 1 (Laura) Laura is a 21-year-old student in the third year of a four-year bachelor degree course studying to be a primary school teacher. Her main subject is Foreign Languages. She has no prior experiences of formal instrumental music tuition. Time 1 During the Time 1 interview, Laura expressed a general level of confidence in her overall teaching ability: ‘I see that putting them at ease and making them curious, you create an exchange and everybody feels at ease so that you take from them and they take from you . . .’ The above response indicated that Laura adopts a pupil-centred approach to her teaching and she has the confidence to work with the children in an exploratory way. This meant that any lack of confidence in teaching music could be attributed to her lack of confidence in her musical abilities rather than her overall teaching confidence. When asked to describe her musical skills she replied: Well I don’t know if we can say skills. Well . . . skills . . . I would say I feel the stimulus, I would be able to really make an effort in studying and learning this thing [music] because it’s really a need I have.

For examples of Laura’s concepts, interview excerpts and researcher interpretations at Time 1, see Table 2. Time 2 At Time 2, after having engaged with the ‘blues activities’, Laura believes that it is possible for people of her age to learn to become a musician but she still believes ‘talent’ is an issue: ‘Well, I believe that it is never too late . . . It also depends on the talent.’ For examples of Laura’s concepts, interview excerpts and researcher interpretations at Time 2, see Table 3.

Case 2 (Lisa) Time 1 Lisa is a 22-year-old student in the final year of a four-year bachelor degree course studying to be a primary school teacher. Her main subject is Science. She took a course of piano lessons for approximately one year, 10 years ago. This course was ‘traditional’ in nature.

Music Education Research Table 2.

Examples of Laura’s emerging concepts and researcher interpretations at Time 1.

Concept Musical ability (a) Personal


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Interview excerpts

‘I haven’t tried to play [music] a lot. I feel rhythm in different situations for example, in dancing I feel the rhythm, and I am able to enter into the rhythm of a song and to repeat it. I like very much repeating what I hear. In order to be able to repeat and reinterpret, I need to make the music mine! First I must appropriate it and then maybe I become able to repeat.’ (b) A musician ‘A musician is someone who is able to transmit what he would like to say. To ‘‘transmit’’ is for me the best expression because actually you use another language, you leave the classical [verbal] mode of communication to express through other signs, with other means.’ Personal music ‘There were some fellow pupils who studied music individually outside school learning and comparing me to them I felt a little experiences bit unprepared . . . You learned through exercises but you did not really understand what you were doing. There was something missing.’ Confidence in ‘Now, if I had to teach music I think I teaching music would have to do ‘‘doppio lavoro’’ [double work], in the sense that I should try to get informed about what I am saying because I think I am not really prepared.’ ‘Ideal’ music ‘I think [a music teacher has] at least to teacher’s abilities be informed about instruments that you present and however, to have the knowledge primarily of what you are talking about.’

Interpretation In spite of declaring that she has no musical skills, she believes she has well-developed aural skills. She does not regard these aural skills as important because they have not been taught in a formal situation.

Her concept of a musician implies a level of performance skill but focuses on the performers ability to express and communicate to the audience through their music.

Her experience of music at school left her with the feelings that even though she would have liked to be involved with music the way it was taught created a barrier to her learning.

She feels that her music education prior to entering her training at university has not prepared her to teach what she perceived as ‘real’ music at school.

A music teacher requires formal instrumental skills and the ability to read music. In other words, to teach music properly you need to have had a formal music education.

During the Time 1 interview Lisa also expressed a general level of confidence in her overall teaching ability: . . .. it’s not easy to manage the conversation with the children because you never know where they might take you etc . . . and I was pleased to see that somehow I was able to manage the whole thing and to move the conversation in the direction I wanted it to go.

Although she seemed capable of objective self-evaluation, she was reassured by teacher mentor confirmation of her positive self-evaluation. In response to being asked how she felt about her recent teaching experience she replied: ‘I have to say, positive. I obviously asked my teacher mentor who usually judges me and also she was . . . yes, she said OK . . .’

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Table 3.


Concept

Examples of Laura’s emerging concepts and researcher interpretations at Time 2. Interview excerpts

Personal musical ‘I think I have more understanding of ability rhythm, I am aware of the cadence when an instrument starts to play, when another one starts. Also, the spaces at the beginning and at the end, the introduction . . . I imagined that if I had heard what I have played . . . I would have told myself ‘‘good result’’.’ Confidence in ‘When you understand something better teaching music you are able to transmit it better so to experiment on yourself I think is fundamental, to understand the difficulties, to experiment with the rhythms are all practice things that make you understand in a deeper way the language and maybe the difficulties that someone who experiments with these things for the first time can find.’

Interpretation She has more confidence in her own musical ability. She has been able to apply her informally learned aural skills and extend them in the practical learning environment.

Her increased confidence in her personal musical abilities and the learning experience have increased her confidence in being able to teach music.

This reassurance by external evaluation was a recurring theme for Lisa both as a teacher and a musician. For examples of Lisa’s concepts, interview excerpts and researcher interpretations at Time 1, see Table 4. Time 2 At Time 2, Lisa still required external judgement. When asked by the interviewer (someone she knows is a musician) to judge how musical she felt after having encountered the ‘blues activities’ she replied: ‘I don’t know, you have to judge if I am musical’. For examples of Lisa’s concepts, interview excerpts and researcher interpretations at Time 2, see Table 5. Case 3 (John) John is a 21-year-old student in the final year of a four-year bachelor degree course studying to be a primary school teacher. His main subject is Art. He has no prior experience of formal instrumental music tuition. John is a member of a theatre company and in this capacity has performed as a singer. He learns his vocal parts by ear through listening and copying. Time 1 During the Time 1 interview, John also seems confident in his general teaching abilities: I have worked with children in school and when I had a group, I liked to transmit something to them! . . . Not knowledge about something but really transmit emotionally something . . . I like this.

For examples of John’s concepts, interview excerpts and researcher interpretations at Time 1, see Table 6.


Examples of Lisa’s emerging concepts and researcher interpretations at Time 1.


(b) A musician


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Personal music learning experiences Confidence in teaching music ‘Ideal’ Music Teacher’s abilities

Interview excerpts

Interpretation

‘Well, I like music very much . . . to sing since I was a child. I have always had a very big passion [for singing] and in fact I am part of a little church choir which is a very relaxed one and I am fond of it. I like it.’ ‘Fundamentally, someone who can play an instrument . . . You need to have an ear, it is also an innate talent but you can develop it.’

Lisa has some musical skills that she has mostly acquired in informal learning situations. As these skills have been ‘learned’ rather than ‘taught’ she does not consider them ‘professional’.

Lisa links being musical with being able to play an instrument and having a ‘musical ear’. She believes there is an ‘innate talent’ involved in becoming a musician but anyone can develop their amateur musical skills. Lisa’s ‘traditional’ music education and ‘At middle school we played a lot the one year’s piano course have formed recorder and the teacher let us play a lot . . . I did more listening at secondary and reinforced her view of what a musician is. school’. ‘. . . for the moment I feel I am still very Lisa’s confidence in teaching music is much in a formative stage. I’m not sure not high. how confident I am in teaching music.’ Lisa seeks to teach music the way she ‘Well, . . . to know music for me is fundamental. Principally, I think that it was taught. She views music as a ‘body is important to let the children listen to of knowledge’ to ‘transmit’ through listening and fairly low level music so that they can understand the performance skills. rhythm and all the important characteristics.’

Time 2 At Time 2, John had enjoyed the autonomy of working online: ‘Well, also in working autonomously, I think I have acquired some more abilities . . . I really liked it for the fact that I was alone and free to do what I wanted.’ He also believed that anyone can learn to be a musician if they try hard enough: ‘It is sufficient that one has the will and one practices enough. Nobody is really excluded.’ For examples of John’s concepts, interview excerpts and researcher interpretations at Time 2, see Table 7. Discussion Employing the specially prepared ‘blues activities’ with the support of MIDI music files, in an aural-based, asynchronous e-learning environment allowed the participants to ‘encounter’ music during a practical task. This situation fostered improvements in participants’ aural skills while simultaneously making them aware of, and broadening, their informally acquired knowledge of harmony and structure. Statements made during the Time 2 interviews and video recordings of their ‘blues activities’ sessions revealed the learning strategies they adopted to be similar to those employed by pop musicians, for example: listening, copying, practising individually and collaboratively and improvising (Green 2001).

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Table 5.

Examples of Lisa’s emerging concepts and researcher interpretations at Time 2.

Concept


Personal musical ability

Confidence in teaching music

Interview excerpts

Interpretation

‘Yes . . . this idea remains [anyone can become a musician] in the sense that approaching and trying hard are important. Trying is fundamental.’ ‘Yes, I mean that you need to ‘‘put yourself in the game’’ so, you don’t just need to listen to a bit of music.’ ‘The exercises [in the blues activities] in particular were structured so that you had to follow the rhythm to change the notes and the chords to be able then to co-ordinate both hands together. To do that you need practice.’ ‘I hope that after this experience [blues Activities] I will be able to teach it [music] and not just learn it.’ ‘I obviously am glad to have learned something new!’ ‘Potentially, this experience is one more stimulus . . . so this positive musical experience I will transmit to the children.’

Engaging with the blues activities seems to have reinforced the idea that acquiring musical ability is about trying hard and practice. Focussing exclusively on listening to music is not enough. Practical work is also necessary. In addition, she no longer talks about music being an ‘innate ability’.

This represents an increase in confidence to teach music probably based on achieving some success at performance skills.

Well, I listened a lot to the tracks that were already there to take them as a model and most of all in the last lesson. Because you had to play it directly without the support of the tracks, I opened the previous lesson to listen again to it. Then, I also opened my version to listen to the difference. For me, someone even if he is not particularly expert, has the ability to hear where the tracks are different when you arrive a little bit late and to confront . . . I understood many things in this way. First, I experimented and I made many mistakes . . . then I listened again many times and I understood where the error was because you really hear it! For example, at the beginning I made mistakes playing the notes of the chord singularly instead of playing them both together! Then listening repeatedly, I got enlightened! (Laura, Time 2)

All participants reported enjoying engaging with the ‘blues activities’ and for them success was achieved in a relatively short period of time (nine hours maximum per participant over a period of six weeks). Contrary to expectation, very little ‘facilitating’ via email was required as the activities, supported by the MIDI files, proved to be largely selfexplanatory. Researcher observation and evaluation of participant recorded MIDI files and video recordings of the sessions revealed increased participant musical competence and confidence after engagement with the ‘blues activities’. This provided validation of the qualitative analysis of the interviews through the process of triangulation (Lincoln and Guba 1985). All participants also reported that they enjoyed the autonomy of working without a teacher being present. A more detailed analysis of the individual learning strategies adopted is required for future development of these activities (see Seddon and Biasutti, forthcoming). The results of the descriptive statistics from the questionnaires revealed some interesting anomalies (see Table 1). In relation to the rank ordering of curriculum subjects, Lisa, the only participant with experience of instrumental lessons, rank ordered her


Examples of John’s emerging concepts and researcher interpretations at Time 1.


(b) A musician


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Personal music learning experiences Confidence in teaching music

‘Ideal’ music teacher’s abilities

Interview excerpts

Interpretation

‘I don’t have any musical experience but I am part of a theatre . . . Yes, I do the vocal accompaniments in the sense that I adapt myself to the notes, I can reproduce them if someone makes me hear them and I tune with them at the same time . . . I can play the flute [recorder] but I cannot read the notes.’ ‘ . . . musicians are artists. In my company there is a man . . . he can play any kind of instrument . . . and you can really see the passion he puts in . . . I think that a musician is like that even if he is not at a high level it is sufficient that he can play’ ‘Oh God, I’ve had a bad experience. Well, it has happened to me I sang a note out of tune and this was a very negative experience.’ ‘I think I need to deepen a lot my knowledge [of music] and to know well.’

He has quite well-developed aural musical abilities but he does not read music.

He relates being a musician to performance on an instrument.

Negative music learning experiences in the past have contributed to his lack of confidence in his musical abilities.

He lacks confidence in teaching music because he feels the musical skills he has are not appropriate for teaching music in school. ‘To be able to read the score. To know the He feels a music teacher needs a various tones, tempos, actually I cannot ‘traditional’ formal music education to say precisely because I don’t know much be able to teach music in school. about music.’

confidence in teaching music in relation to other curriculum subjects at Time 1 lower than the other two participants who had no prior experiences of instrumental lessons. However, her ranking of music at Time 2 increased by two points while the other two participants’ ranking remained the same. This could indicate that having instrumental lessons for a short period prior to teacher training and subsequently stopping them impacts negatively on trainee teacher confidence in teaching music. This interpretation is supported in research which reported links between terminated instrumental lessons and lack of trainee teacher confidence in teaching music (Hennessy 2000). In addition, stopping instrumental lessons may result from perceived failure which also impacts negatively on judgements of personal musicality (Ruddock and Leong 2005). In contrast, Lisa’s two-point increase in confidence to teach music after her engagement with the ‘blues activities’ could indicate this kind of engagement with music was more beneficial to her confidence in teaching music. Further research with a larger participant pool is required to investigate this phenomenon. Although all three participants indicated an increase in confidence between Time 1 and Time 2, it is interesting to note their confidence ratings in relation to ‘others’ with and without prior experience of instrumental lessons. Laura at Time 1 indicated lower confidence than both her trained and untrained peers. At Time 2 her confidence was higher than her untrained peers and also rose against her trained peers. Lisa at Time 1 indicated higher confidence than her untrained peers but lower than her trained peers. At Time 2 this

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Table 7.


Concept

Examples of John’s emerging concepts and researcher interpretations at Time 2. Interview excerpts

Personal musical ‘Actually before having this experience I ability thought I was a little musical and now I think I am a little less ‘‘impedito’’ so a little more musical.’’ ‘I think I have improved my ear a bit. Listening to the backing tracks I was able to listen well . . . In addition, improvisation I liked doing it very much! I did what I wanted on my own! And now in this thing I feel a bit more musical, most of all in being able to adapt what I am playing to the backing track.’ ‘ . . . the course made me feel more aware of what I can do as a musician and in life.’ Confidence in ‘ . . . now, thanks to the course experiteaching music ence, I became aware of the fact that it [music] is not as difficult as I thought. I feel a bit better than before on condition that I prepare the lessons well.’ ‘In addition to preparing the lessons I don’t really believe it is so important to know the concepts but to be creative and expressive and to be convinced of what you know.’

Interpretation He feels more musical having had success at learning to play a blues. His musical skills now include improved listening skills and new performing skills.

He is no longer focussed on the more formal and traditional skills. He now values his improved informal musical skills in the context of music teaching.

situation was unchanged. John at Time 1 indicated lower confidence than both his trained and untrained peers. At Time 2 his confidence was equal to his untrained peers and rose against his trained peers. For Laura and John this could indicate that because they achieved success during the ‘blues activities’ their view of music as something ‘special’ may have been challenged. For Lisa at Time 1 this could indicate having had some piano lessons made her feel more confident in engaging with the keyboard-based ‘blues activities’ than her fellow participants. This interpretation is supported by her remarks in her interview: In six weeks, it [blues activities] asks a lot. As I have already studied [piano] for one year, I think I am a bit advantaged but thinking of the people who have never had any approach to the instrument . . . (Lisa, Time 1)

However, she still lacked confidence in teaching music when comparing herself to her trained peers. The results from the analysis of the interview sessions at Time 1 revealed that all three participants had some musical abilities prior to engaging with the ‘blues activities’. In spite of this, they all lacked confidence in their personal musical abilities because those abilities did not match what they believed a ‘musician’s’ abilities should be. This finding supported results of research by Ruddock and Leong (2005) who reported participants’ negative judgements of their own musicality in relation to what they considered being ‘musical’. In



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other words, participants lacked confidence in their own informally acquired musical skills which supported the results of research that found this lack of confidence inhibited nonmusic specialists’ teaching of music in the primary school classroom (Glover and Ward 1993). All three participants in the current study related being a musician to playing an instrument, reading music and having a ‘musical ear’. They also gave importance to ‘innate talent’ and ‘starting to learn at an early age’ supporting the findings of Hennessy (2000) which reported links between participants’ perceptions of musicality and special ‘gifts’. However, in spite of this perceived ‘talent’ requirement, all participants believed anyone could become a musician if they tried hard enough. This apparent contradiction probably reflected diverse notions of what it means to be a ‘musician’. To a certain extent this finding contradicts the findings of Austin and Vispoel (1998) and Bouffard, Boisvert, and Markovits (1998) who reported adolescents and beginner trainee teachers regarded musical ability as ‘fixed’. All participants reported having had ‘traditional’ music lessons at school that focused on a combination of performance skills, musical literacy and listening to music in a historical context. For Lisa, this experience, combined with her ‘traditional’ 1-year piano course, was not perceived as a negative experience, possibly because her piano course enabled a more positive engagement with her school music lessons. However, for Laura and John, personal learning experiences at school were negative and fostered feelings of failure. This finding supports research by Ruddock and Leong (2005), who found links between participant negative judgements of personal musicality and ‘a thwarted desire to make music at some period in their life’ (Ruddock and Leong 2005). At Time 1, all participants also reported low levels of confidence in their ability to teach music in the classroom because of a mismatch between their perceived personal musical skills and those they reported as being important for a music teacher. This finding confirmed the results of prior research (Hennessy 2000; Holden and Button 2006; Jeanneret 1997; Mills 1989) and supported the notion of a ‘cycle of low expectation’ (Hennessy 2000). The findings from the analysis of the interview sessions at Time 2 revealed that all participants expressed feelings of increased confidence in their personal musical abilities and their ability to teach music in the classroom. These findings from the qualitative analysis of the interviews supported the trend for increased confidence found in the results of the quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data. Laura seemed much more confident in her own musical abilities and felt that her increased competences would enable her to teach music in the classroom. Lisa was more focussed on the ideas of practice and developing aural skills being more important than ‘innate’ ability for improving musical abilities. She also expressed that she would now be able to teach music, not just to learn it. John expressed the most increase in his personal musical ability which he also felt had increased his confidence in teaching music in the classroom. In addition to this, he seemed to have adopted the idea of including the concepts of creativity and expression being important in music curriculum. It could be argued that by facilitating feelings of personal success at various aspects of music that participants considered fundamental to a person’s musicality (e.g., engaging with an instrument, knowledge of musical form and structure and experience of improvisation) participant confidence in their musical abilities was increased and in this way the ‘cycle of low expectation’ was interrupted. This argument is supported by the results of research which found that student’s own musicality should be explored through ‘encountering’ music rather than being instructed in it in order to address issues of confidence (Bennett 1992; D’Ombrain 1974; Gerber 1992; Gifford 1991; Jeanneret 1997). The small-scale nature of the current study prevents any generalisation from the results. In

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addition, participant self-selection might have contributed to a more highly motivated and confident participant pool than the average trainee primary school teacher. In addition to this, the individual working situation provided by the asynchronous e-learning environment might be less effective with less motivated and confident participants. However, what the current study’s results do provide is evidence of the efficacy of the ‘blues activities’ in the asynchronous e-learning environment and the opportunity to develop a broader confidence questionnaire based on the findings of the qualitative data. Such a questionnaire, with closed-ended questions, could be employed in a larger-scale quantitative study to investigate further the effects of this type of learning on the confidence of a larger group of non-music specialist trainee teachers.


Implications for teacher training and music education There is a generally held perception among non-music specialist trainee teachers that music is a ‘special’ subject (Hennessy 2000; Holden and Button 2006). This ‘special’ perception of music reflects one that still persists in Western Society (Ruddock and Leong 2005; ShuterDyson 1999). The ‘special’ perception of music probably results from the generally held but questionable belief that success at music requires ‘talent’ that is an ‘innate’ ability (Sloboda 1996). There is also a relationship between performance skills, musical literacy and analytical skills that is directly related to the training of professional musicians. Many specialist music teachers begin their musical training aspiring to become professional performers but, because a relatively small number actually become performers, they choose to teach music instead (Baker 2005, 2006). Even specialist music teachers who from the outset of their training choose to focus on teaching music, find themselves engaged in university courses that place high value on performance skills, musical literacy and analytical skills (Baker 2005, 2006). It is hardly surprising that when they become music teachers they also place high value on these skills and teach all their pupils according to their ‘professional’ musical values. This situation is probably good for the small minority of pupils who aspire to follow similar careers but less good for the majority of pupils who want to ‘encounter’ and enjoy music in a more general sense. At the same time, non-music specialist teachers intuitively judge their informally acquired musical skills against those of their music specialist colleagues. This comparison can lead to negative perceptions of their informally acquired musical skills and help to perpetuate the notion of music as a ‘special’ subject. This situation contributes to the ‘cycle of low expectation’ of success in music for non-music specialist trainee teachers and their pupils. It should be emphasised that teacher training courses at many universities in many countries do provide excellent opportunities for music specialist and non-specialist trainee teachers to learn how to engage children in ‘creative’ musical activities in the classroom such as: performance, composition and improvisation employing ‘classroom’ instruments and music technology. This is good educational practice but often trainee teachers and their recipient pupils regard this type of activity as not ‘real’ music. As a result, their perception of music as ‘special’ remains and the ‘cycle of low expectation’ is not challenged. In Italy in particular, this perception may be reinforced by the practice of identifying potential performers at an early age and providing specialist training with visiting specialist teachers trained at a conservatory of music. If larger-scale research can confirm the results of the current small-scale study, non-music specialist trainee teachers could be provided with the opportunity to ‘encounter’ music from a musical genre that underpins the vast majority of music from their culture. Success in this situation could challenge their ‘special’ perception of music and the ‘cycle of low expectation’ may be interrupted. Employing


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informal learning strategies based on those used by pop musicians provides the opportunity for non-music specialist trainee teachers to play a 12-bar improvised blues on a ‘real’ instrument and begin to realise it is not necessary to be ‘special’ to engage with music. In addition, the online asynchronous method of delivery for the activities addressed issues of restrictions in time allocation and available resources raised in prior research (Glover and Ward 1993; Tillman 1998). Non-music specialist teachers who have confidence in their informally acquired musical abilities would then be able to challenge their pupil’s perception of music as ‘special’ at an early age which would again challenge the ‘cycle of low expectation’ from a different point in the cycle.


Acknowledgements We would like to thank Saralisa Murroni for her help with the translation of the interview transcripts from Italian to English during the qualitative analysis of the interview data.

Note 1. Copyright # Dr Frederick A. Seddon, 2005.

Notes on contributors Frederick A. Seddon is currently a researcher at the Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Educazione, Universita’ degli studi di Padova where he conducts research for the research project ‘Nuove tecnologie e processi ideativi e compositivi nell’educazione musicale’. He formerly worked as a Research Fellow at the Open University, in the UK, an Instrumental Tutor and Head of Music in a Secondary school. His PhD (completed in 2001 at Keele University, UK) investigated adolescent computer-based composition in relation to instrumental experience. He was a member of the editorial board of the British Journal of Music Education from 2002 to 2007 and is currently on the International Advisory Board of Music Education Research. He has published several articles in international peer-reviewed journals, contributed chapters to edited books on collaboration and music education and presented his work at many national and international conferences during the past 10 years. Michele Biasutti, PhD is currently an Associate professor at the Faculty of Psychology, Padova University, where he conducts research in psychology of music and music education. He is a member of the board of Italian Associations and Scientific Director of a research project financed by Italian Institutions. He is a member of the editorial board of international journals and he has published articles in international peer-reviewed journals. He was the conference director of the international conferences Psychology and Music education (PME04) and Training Music Teachers (TMT07) and author of six books.

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Appendix 1. Open-ended questions for semi-structured interview (Time 1) a. b. c.


d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l.

Will you please describe your feelings when you are teaching? Will you please describe your musical abilities? Will you please describe how you felt about the music lessons you had when you were at school? Will you please describe how you feel about singing in front of someone? Will you please describe any good musical experiences you have had? Will you please describe any bad musical experiences you have had? What does being a musician mean to you? Do you think anyone can be a musician if they try hard enough? Do you think anyone can be a music teacher if they try hard enough? Will you please describe what general abilities you think are necessary in order to be a music teacher in the primary school classroom? Will you please describe what musical abilities you think are necessary in order to be a music teacher in the primary school classroom? Please describe how confident you feel about teaching music in the classroom and please say why you feel as you do.

Appendix 2. Open-ended questions for semi-structured interview (Time 2) m. n. o. p. q. r. s. t. u.

Will you please describe how ‘musical’ you think you are? Do you think anyone can be musical if they try hard enough? Please describe how confident you feel about teaching music in the classroom and please say why you feel as you do. Will you please describe how it felt to learn to play a ‘Blues’ tune on the keyboard? Does being able to play a ‘Blues’ tune make you feel any different about yourself as a musician? Does being able to play a ‘Blues’ tune affect how confident you feel in being able to teach music in the classroom? If so why? Can you describe how it felt learning to play a ‘Blues’ improvisation without being able to talk directly to the facilitator? Can you describe how helpful having email contact with the facilitator was? How clear were the activity texts you received?