The transfer of group practice strategy instruction to beginning instrumentalists’ individual practice

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study investigated the transfer of learning for effective practice strategies from large ensemble to individual rehearsal. Five middle school bands were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Two treatment conditions had teachers use an iterative, explicit instruction protocol to teach a targeted practice strategy during a sight-reading activity on a novel piece of music over a series of six lessons. The control condition included non-specific sight-reading activities. A sample of students from each band (N=66) participated in a cycle of pre-test/post-test/delay-test observations that involved a ten- minute practice session followed by a performance on a new piece of music similar to those used in the treatment sessions. Student practice sessions were analyzed for frequency of usage of the targeted strategies, and performances were rated for pitch and rhythmic accuracy. A 3x2x3 ANOVA identified a significant effect for strategy used within groups (F(1,63)=122.388, p<.001, η2=.660), but no significant effect or interactions were found between groups. The results of a 3x3 ANOVA identified a moderate-sized main effect for test cycle on performance scores (F(2,63)=2.192, p<.001, η2=.414), leading to a series of repeated measures t-tests that demonstrated significant changes in performance scores from pre- to post-test in both treatment conditions