A first comparison of pre-service music teachers’ identities as creative musicians in the United States and England

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the creative musical identities of pre-service music education students in the United States and England. A 20-item survey was created based on previous work in the area of music teacher identity (Isbell, 2008). Survey items related to music making activities typically associated with creativity in music education, including composition, improvisation, popular music, and ‘new music’ ensemble participation, were completed by students ( n = 159) from nine different universities in the United States and nine universities in England. Findings suggest that pre-service music education students in the US feel less confident about their abilities to compose music, less comfortable teaching composition, and are less likely to plan on ‘teaching students to compose/improvise their own original music when [they] get a job as a music teacher’ than their English colleagues. Differences in primary and secondary socialization are proposed to account for the differences in survey responses between the two populations. The authors propose that music educators in the US might benefit from consideration of incorporating some practices from the system in England.