Current status of string teacher education at university music teacher training schools in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the status of undergraduate string teacher education curriculum in Turkish universities in both eastern and western regions. To accomplish this task, the relative strengths and weaknesses of Turkish string teacher education were investigated through an intensive literature review and a survey. Seventy-one string professors at nineteen university music teacher training schools in Turkey were sent a questionnaire for the purpose of this investigation. Sixty-one of the professors (85.92%) responded. The findings indicated that there were significant differences in the application of the centralized string teacher education curriculum in universities in eastern and western Turkey. According to the respondents in both regions, the string teacher education curriculum should be restructured and new courses in string teacher training (such as String Skills/Techniques, String Methods, String Laboratory, Public School Orchestra Conducting and Public School Orchestra Literature) should be added to the curriculum. After the study was completed, a new string teacher education curriculum including these additional courses was developed. Relevant courses from other universities were examined as the basis for development of the new curriculum.