Understanding Music Aptitude: Teachers' Interpretations

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine teachers' understandings of music aptitude. The problem was to examine how teachers select, check, suspend, regroup, and transform their understanding when they estimate the music aptitude of their students and then obtain standardized music aptitude test scores from their students. Ten classroom teachers from South Korea and the United States wrote about their experiences throughout the study and, at the end, participated in an individual interview. Categories emerging from the symbolic interactionist approach to the data included: estimation criteria, reactions of surprise when teachers informally compared their estimates to students' test scores, recognition of subjective aspects when estimating, the need to pay attention to individuals during music instruction, and requests to learn more about music aptitude. Teachers transformed their understandings of music aptitude while interacting with their students. We recommend similar experiences for teachers who seek to further understand music aptitude.