Motivational profiles in instrumental music learning: Perspectives on self-determination theory

Abstract

This study examined the motivation of child and adolescent music students to learn instruments in five Austrian music schools using a person-centered approach. Drawing on self-determination theory, two autonomous and controlled forms of motivational regulation were surveyed. The results of a cluster analysis ( N = 616) were used to construct four motivational profiles: one autonomously motivated type (high quality), one overall highly motivated type (high quantity), one moderately autonomously motivated type (low quality), and one type with poor quantity motivation. The clusters showed differences in the support required to meet music students’ basic psychological needs in music lessons, which are essential determinants in the development of autonomous motivation, in the individual activity preferences associated with playing an instrument, and in the tendency to stop playing an instrument. No differences were found between the instrument groups and gender. This study provides theoretical and practical implications of a person-centered approach to music-related motivation research.