Undergraduate Music Education Majors Research Articles

An explanatory sequential pilot inquiry on music therapy and performance anxiety in university music education majors

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is prevalent among amateur and professional musicians. While music therapy has established itself as an effective therapy for reducing anxiety in numerous individuals with varying health issues, in depth research on the potential benefits of music therapy for managing MPA is lacking. This explanatory sequential pilot inquiry with 15 undergraduate music education majors from two large music faculties in Canada assessed the benefits of group music psychotherapy offered for 6 weeks in person or via telehealth on the experience of MPA. Test measures included the Spielberger State and Trait Anxiety Inventories (STAI) pre and post study, a pre and post study questionnaire, pre and post music psychotherapy session Likert scales for anxiety and mood, and a post study interview. Music psychotherapy interventions included breathing exercises, grounding and guided visualizations/meditations, and musical improvisation. Quantitative data, assessed for all participants combined and by group, revealed that anxiety and mood scores on the Likert scale improved after participation in six music psychotherapy sessions, while the STAI scores remained constant pre and post study. Qualitative themes suggest the benefits of music psychotherapy for changed perception and cognitions, sense of support, reduction in symptoms and overall continued and future management of MPA. The results of this study are promising, pointing to music psychotherapy as a potential short-term therapy for MPA symptom management, having practical implications for post-secondary music education and future research.

Burnout and Impostor Phenomenon Among Undergraduate Music Education Majors

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which impostor feelings and selected demographic variables predict burnout among undergraduate music education majors. Participants ( N = 143) completed the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Students. Overall, participants reported relatively high levels of impostor feelings and burnout. Results of multiple regression analyses revealed that CIPS score and year in school significantly predicted exhaustion and cynicism. Participants with higher CIPS scores (more frequent impostor feelings) and more years in school experienced greater exhaustion and cynicism. Descriptive analyses indicated that upper-division and band students experienced more cynicism than lower-division and choral/string/general music education majors, respectively. CIPS score was the only variable that significantly predicted professional efficacy. Participants with lower CIPS scores rated themselves higher in professional efficacy.

Experiences of Preservice Music Teachers at Minority Serving Institutions

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of preservice minority music teachers at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Six undergraduate music education majors at two MSIs classified as Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) completed field observations as a part of their music education requirements. I conducted individual interviews with each participant to uncover how preservice music teachers who attend MSIs describe their experiences as they matriculate through a music education program. Data were analyzed and coded to generate three themes: (a) stressful demands of the music education major, (b) immersion in school settings develops confidence, and (c) critical faculty mentoring and peer support. The experiences of preservice music teachers at MSIs are shared along with implications and recommendations for future research.

Preservice teachers’ experiences as first-time voice instructors

Authentic context learning (ACL) experiences have proven beneficial to preservice music teachers in a variety of ways and settings. While research specific to ACL within instrumental and choral music contexts is extensive, there have been no investigations of ACL in an applied voice setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate six preservice music teachers’ experiences as first-time voice instructors. Through an examination of verbal and written reflections, I sought to learn how the experience of teaching voice shaped preservice teachers’ perceptions of their own instruction and how this ACL experience shaped their identity as teachers. Six undergraduate music education majors at a large Midwestern university in the United States instructed weekly, 30-minute voice lessons for 8 consecutive weeks. Data collection methods included: (a) participants’ weekly lesson logs (b) participants’ weekly lesson reflections (c) participants’ final reflections, and (d) one, 60-minute focus group. Preservice teachers perceived modeling and kinesthetic activities to be the most effective teaching strategies, and realized their own deficiencies as vocal instructors. Music teacher educators should consider facilitating opportunities for preservice teachers to teach vocal technique in a variety of settings.

Professional identity development of preservice music teachers: A survey study of three Chinese universities

By 2019, over 70,000 undergraduates had been awarded bachelor’s degrees in music education under the Free Education for Students in Teacher Education Programme in China. Although this helped to relieve a severe shortage of music teacher supply, recent studies reported serious concerns regarding the career readiness of this population. The purposes of this study were to (a) provide a role-identity profile of 4th-year undergraduate music education majors in China, (b) identify key elements in their professional identity development (PID), and (c) explore whether these elements were different from those identified in research findings in other education systems. Survey data were collected from 1,321 music education students in three Chinese universities for content analysis. The results suggest that occupation-oriented external factors are the most influential source in career decision-making. Most participants are struggling with multiple professional identity shifts that combine music trainee, teacher trainee, and preservice teacher roles across degree programs. These present the complexity of identity development in policy-reinforced professionalism in the Chinese education system.

Early childhood fieldwork for music education majors

Fieldwork experiences for undergraduate music education majors provide opportunities to gain pedagogical content knowledge as well as a deeper understanding of child development and musical behaviour. Early childhood music fieldwork experiences are vital to preservice music educators in order to gain insight into the specific needs of young learners and increase preparedness to teach in a variety of musical settings. Critical examination of the fieldwork opportunities provided to undergraduate music education majors in the early childhood music setting could benefit all preservice music educators. This article will describe one early childhood fieldwork placement and its impacts on the preparation of three undergraduate music education majors. Implications related to the importance of early childhood music education fieldwork experiences for preservice music educators are discussed.

Perceptions and Preparedness: Preservice Music Educators and Popular Music Teaching Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of undergraduate music education majors regarding the skills needed to teach popular music classes, and their comfort level with those skills. Preservice music educators ( N = 81) completed a researcher-designed questionnaire describing their previous experiences with popular music, their perceptions of necessary teaching skills for popular music instruction, their comfort level with those skills, and their overall feelings of preparedness to teach popular music. Respondents rated the teaching skills of ear training, piano/keyboard, and informal learning practices as most important. In addition, respondents indicated that they were most comfortable with the teaching skills of singing, music theory, and informal learning practices. In general, respondents felt moderately prepared to teach popular music, but many believed they were lacking important knowledge and skills, including proficiency on various instruments, understanding how to integrate popular music, and music software proficiency. Implications for music educators are discussed.

A Cultural Immersion Field Experience: Examining Preservice Music Teachers’ Beliefs About Cultural Differences in the Music Classroom

While the United States is becoming increasingly diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, primary language, religion, and culture, many educators feel unprepared to teach students from socioculturally diverse backgrounds. In this case study, I explored the impact of a cultural immersion field experience on preservice music educators’ beliefs and assumptions about teaching students whose backgrounds differ from their own. Nine undergraduate music education majors were placed with one of two elementary music teachers in a community that has a large proportion of Arab and Muslim Americans and immigrants. Participants did not immediately recognize the ways in which culture affected music teaching and learning. Through firsthand experiences in classrooms and the local community, however, they developed greater empathy for and understanding of Arab and Muslim students, began to recognize their own implicit biases, and developed a deepened understanding of the impact of culturally responsive teaching in the music classroom.

Music composition for iPad performance: Examining perspectives

This qualitative research investigated a music composition created specifically for performance on iPads. It examined perspectives of the composers, performers and audience member participants. Composers were undergraduate music education majors with concentrations in music composition, performers were undergraduate music education majors, and audience members included music majors, composers, music theory professors and conductors of traditional large ensembles. Data included the notated composition and written reflection statements by the composers, performers and audience members. Reflection questions guided the statements, and included: how does composing for iPad instruments differ from composing for more traditional instruments? How do you feel performing on an iPad differs from performing on more traditional instruments? What were the challenges that you encountered and how did you respond to them? And, what did you like best and least about this composition and/or performance? The data were analysed for emergent themes, and the themes discussed.

The Status of Music Education Conducting Curricula, Practices, and Values

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of conducting courses completed by undergraduate music education majors. Questionnaire items addressed course structure and content, pedagogical values, and the relative emphasis instructors placed on various areas of teacher knowledge as represented by Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge framework. Music education divisions require two conducting courses for a variety of degree specializations. Instructors are mostly well-educated males at the assistant or full professor rank, with extensive college teaching experience but comparatively little experience in K–12 music teaching. Music education faculty and conducting instructors both ranked music content knowledge as most important, followed by music pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge. Opportunities to conduct in authentic learning contexts were nominal. Implications for practice, policy, and research are presented.

Preservice teachers’ experiences teaching an adult community music ensemble

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of four preservice music teachers as leaders of adult chamber ensembles. Through examination of these teachers’ reflections, we sought to answer the following questions: (a) What impact does leading an adult chamber ensemble have on preservice teachers’ perceptions of their instructional behaviors? (b) Which specific instructional behaviors do preservice teachers focus upon when teaching adult learners? (c) How might preservice teachers project their experience teaching adult learners in a community music program to future experiences teaching in formal school settings? Four undergraduate music education majors at a large Midwestern university school of music in the USA participated in this study. Each participant served as a staff member for the university-sponsored New Horizons Band, teaching a weekly, 30-minute small ensemble rehearsal for eight consecutive weeks. Participant responses were examined four ways: (a) responses to a pre-questionnaire, (b) video diary entries, (c) interview transcript, and (d) responses to a post-questionnaire. Preservice teachers’ credited their experiences leading New Horizons chamber groups for their perceived development and mastery of specific instructional behaviors. Implications for music education include the need to engage preservice teachers’ in authentic teaching experiences, promoting transfer to future instructional settings.

Developing the Emotional Intelligence of Undergraduate Music Education Majors: An Exploratory Study Using Bradberry and Greaves’ (2009) Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Research focused on the relationship of emotional intelligence (EI) to academic and professional success in education, and whether and how it might be taught and learned, is inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which undergraduate music education majors experienced a change in EI after implementing strategies from Emotional Intelligence 2.0. Participants included 10 junior-year music education majors enrolled in a semester-long music teaching foundations course. Participants predicted their EI scores, completed the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal pretest, and, following instruction, completed the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal posttest. Results indicate a significant difference between predicted and pretest scores, as well as between pretest and posttest scores. While undergraduate music education majors overestimated their EI prior to instruction, EI was improved by using the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 model in combination with classroom instruction.

Lessons from Lithuania: A pedagogical approach in teaching improvisation

The purpose of this study was to uncover the approach that a professor in Lithuania utilized in successfully teaching undergraduate music education majors how to improvise during a one-semester course. The research questions focused on the participant’s philosophy of teaching and learning, his methods for motivating students, the learning experiences he provided, and pedagogy that provided sequence of instruction and learning activities for the students. The research design consisted of a qualitative case study approach in which I interviewed the participant formally (three lengthy interviews), informally (seven casual conversations), and made six 90-minute observations of his improvisation classes. Inductive data analysis was employed to identify emergent themes. Those themes included (a) the freedom to create, (b) the act of convincing the students to engage, (c) the establishment of expectations, (d) the pedagogy and sequence of instruction that precipitated skill acquisition, and (e) the classroom environment that enhanced improvisational outcomes. The implications for teacher education are discussed.

A national survey of music education majors’ confidence in teaching improvisation

The purpose of the study was to investigate undergraduate music education majors’ confidence in teaching improvisation, according to the NAfME (1994) K–12 Achievement Standards. Specific research questions were: 1) How confident are music education majors in implementing the 11 improvisation achievement standards for grades K–12? 2) How confident are they in their own improvisation ability? 3) How interested or motivated are they in learning more about how to teach improvisation? 4) Are there differences in confidence among music education majors by year in school? 5) Are there differences in confidence among music education majors by primary instrument? Participants were 397 undergraduate music education majors from National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) accredited institutions in the United States, whose confidence in teaching improvisation decreased as grade level increased. Sophomore and senior means were higher than freshman and junior means, and slight differences were observed by primary instrument (woodwind, piano, brass, voice, string, percussion, in increasing confidence). Participants reported slight to moderate confidence in their own ability to improvise, but moderate to great interest in learning more about how to teach improvisation.

Connecting ideas to practice: The development of an undergraduate student’s philosophy of music education

This article considers the personal reflections of an undergraduate music education major on both the significance of his experience as a participant in the Seventh International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education, held at Michigan State University, in the United States, in June 2011, and on his place as a pre-service music teacher poised to enter the profession. The first author’s reflections regarding what the conference meant to him as a future music educator has implications for individuals who help prepare the next generation of music teachers, and scholars in all fields who desire for their work to reach a particular audience that could benefit from their work. The article takes the form of a personal narrative reflection, not generalizable to all populations of undergraduate music education majors, but certainly transferable to similar situations where undergraduates are considering waves of change in degree requirements and curricular expansion.

Effects of a Preparatory Singing Pattern on Melodic Dictation Success

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of a preparatory contextual singing pattern on melodic dictation test scores. Forty-nine undergraduate music education majors took melodic dictations under three conditions. After hearing an orienting chord sequence, they (1) sang a preparatory solfége pattern in the key, meter, and tempo of the target dictations in the first condition; (2) prepared themselves silently during an equivalent time interval in the second condition; and (3) took the dictations immediately in the third condition. A repeated measures ANOVA and post hoc analysis revealed that participants scored significantly higher when they heard the dictation immediately following the chord sequence than when they sang the preparatory pattern first. Participants may have been distracted by the additional task of singing, interfering with their focus on the ensuing dictation. They reported a variety of preparatory strategies during the silent interval condition, suggesting that dictation students may benefit from learning multiple strategies and choosing what works best for them. Future research might investigate the relationship between strategies used during dictation and strategies used just prior to dictation. Implications for music educators include the need for careful decisions regarding when and how to combine musical tasks for student learning.

Influence of Education, Performance Level, and Presentation Medium on Evaluations of String Orchestra Performances

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of education level (high school orchestra students, undergraduate string music education majors, and in-service orchestra teachers), ensemble performance level (good, average, and weak), and presentation medium (audio-only and audiovisual) on the evaluations of string orchestra performances. Participants (N = 96) evaluated audio-only or audiovisual recordings of good, average, and weak string ensembles. A repeated-measures ANOVA test revealed that string education majors rated intonation more favorably than inservice teachers. All participants were able to discriminate between the good, average, and weak performances when evaluating tone, intonation, and rhythmic precision. Ratings for musical effect did not differ significantly between the good and average groups. Participants assigned significantly lower tone and intonation ratings in the audio-only presentation medium than the audiovisual. Finding evidence of when musicians learn to accurately assess music performances can be useful both for in-service music teachers and teacher educators. If this ability is apparent in high school students, they can have a larger role in the rehearsal process.

Staying in Tune With Music Education

A nationwide sample of undergraduate music education majors ( N = 260; 69% completion rate) completed an electronic survey to determine awareness of music and general education policy and advocacy efforts. Students reported concern with the impact of policy on school music programs and their future careers. They were informed about music education policy issues at the state level but less so at national and local levels. Although respondents indicated involvement with professional associations, they rarely or never participated in policy initiatives. Methods courses provided policy information; professional organizations effectively convey policy information to undergraduates. NAfME Collegiate chapters offer music and general education policy-based activities, though many respondents were uninformed of their chapters’ efforts. Students were unfamiliar with key buzzwords, people, and acronyms of present-day education policy. Involving students in educational policy endeavors will equip them with a knowledge base from which to speak and act, securing the future of music education.

Undergraduate music education majors’ perceptions of their development as conductors: Insights from a basic conducting course

This multiple case study examined undergraduate music majors’ perceptions of their experiences while enrolled in a basic conducting course. During the semester, three sophomore music majors with an emphasis in band, choir, or orchestra each participated in three interviews, completed weekly reflection logs, and attended an end-of-the-semester videotaped conducting review. Analysis of the data revealed that participants focused on issues related to conducting gesture, often expressed uncertainty about their leadership and conducting abilities, believed that score study increased their confidence and conducting effectiveness, and that only after conducting an ensemble did they begin to gain awareness of the complexities of conducting. Furthermore, participants expressed the desire for more individualized feedback and conducting opportunities. These results suggest that undergraduates enrolled in conductor preparation programs might benefit from pedagogical activities that (a) connect their nonverbal conducting behavior to score study practices and (b) help students gain greater confidence when leading an ensemble.

Examining Lesson Plan Use Among Instrumental Music Education Majors During Practice Teaching

Undergraduate instrumental music education majors ( N = 18) taught a series of 5-minute lessons to an ensemble of their peers. Investigators compared participants’ written lesson plans with activities demonstrated during teaching, and calculated frequencies and durations of teacher episodes, student episodes, and overall rates of pacing. Results suggest that although written plans tended to contain vague and nonspecific language, participants relied on their lesson plans during teaching in terms of general content. Analysis of teacher time use indicated that participants were able to significantly reduce teacher talk time and reduce latency time at the beginning of lessons. Findings are similar to previous research in some areas of time use but contrast with results of previous research in relation to participants’ reliance on lesson plans during teaching. The authors use these results to recommend deeper investigation into the nature of transfer of learned lesson-planning skills across various teaching contexts.