Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T13:08:40.062Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Instrumental and vocal teaching: how do music students learn to teach?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

Elizabeth Haddon
Elizabeth Haddon*
Affiliation:
Music Department, University of York, Heslington, York, Y010 5DD, UKheh501@york.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A survey of final-year music students at the University of York for the Investigating Musical Performance research project found that 45% (23 of the 51 students in the year group) regularly gave instrumental or vocal lessons. Semi-structured interviews with 16 students revealed a range of teaching activities including workshop leading, one-to-one lessons and group teaching. This paper examines the attitudes of the nine students engaged in giving instrumental lessons and explores their development as teachers and their understanding of some of the key concepts of teaching and learning. Findings suggest that students learned to teach through increased experience rather than formal training, and although they were enthusiastic, reporting benefits to their own learning and performing, they could have been more pro-active regarding their development as teachers and more resourceful in their approaches towards lesson content and materials, strategies relating to modelling and motivation and the teaching of practice techniques. Increased provision of support and training opportunities could be made by Higher Education institutions, by giving students feedback regarding their effectiveness as teachers, opportunities to discuss their teaching, and enabling learning through mentoring partnerships with more experienced teachers.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 57 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BEACH, N. (2005) ‘Planning for success’, in Stringer, M. (Ed.), The Music Teacher's Handbook (pp. 12–16). London: Faber Music Ltd and Trinity College.Google Scholar
BURWELL, K. (2005) ‘A degree of independence: teachers' approaches to instrumental tuition in a university college’, British Journal of Music Education, 22, 199–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DANIEL, R. (2004) ‘Innovations in piano teaching: a small-group model for the tertiary level’, Music Education Research, 6, 23–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DAVIDSON, J. D., SLOBODA, J. A. & HOWE, M. J. A. (1995/6) ‘The role of parents and teachers in the success and failure of instrumental learners’, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 127, 40–44.Google Scholar
DAY, C. (2004) A Passion for Teaching. London: Routledge Falmer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GAUNT, H. (2005) ‘Instrumental/vocal teaching and learning in conservatoires: a case study of teacher's perceptions’, in Odam, G. & Bannan, N. (Eds), The Reflective Conservatoire (pp. 249–271). London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
GIBBS, L. (1993) Private Lives: Report on the Survey of Private Music Teachers and their Professional Development and Training. London: Goldsmiths' College.Google Scholar
HALLAM, S. (1998) Instrumental Teaching: a Guide to Better Teaching and Learning. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.Google Scholar
HALLAM, S. (2006) Music Psychology in Education. London: Institute of Education, University of London.Google Scholar
HARRIS, P. (2006) Improve your Teaching! London: Faber Music Ltd.Google Scholar
HARRIS, P. & CROZIER, R. (2000) The Music Teacher's Companion. London: ABRSM Publishing.Google Scholar
JØRGENSEN, H. (2000) ‘Instrumental learning: is an early start a key to success?’, British Journal of Music Education, 18 (3), 227–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JØRGENSEN, H. (2001) ‘Student learning in higher instrumental education: who is responsible?’, British Journal of Music Education, 17 (1), 67–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEMP, A. E. (1996) The Musical Temperament. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
KRAMPE, R. T. & ERICSSON, K. A. (1995) ‘Deliberate practice and elite musical performance’, in Rink, J. (Ed.), The Practice of Performance (pp. 84–102). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MACKWORTH-YOUNG, L. (1990) ‘Pupil-centred learning in piano lessons: an evaluated action-research programme focusing on the psychology of the individual’, Psychology of Music, 18, 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MACMILLAN, J. (2004) ‘Learning the piano: a study of attitudes to parental involvement’, British Journal of Music Education, 21, 295–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILLS, J. (2004a) ‘Conservatoire students as instrumental teachers’, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 161/162, 145–153.Google Scholar
MILLS, J. (2004b) ‘Working in music: the conservatoire professor’, British Journal of Music Education, 21, 179–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILLS, J. & SMITH, J. (2003) ‘Teachers' beliefs about effective instrumental teaching in schools and higher education’, British Journal of Music Education, 20, 5–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROGERS, R. (2005) Routes into Teaching Music. Nottingham: DfES Publications.Google Scholar
SANG, R. C. (1987) ‘A study of the relationship between instrumental teachers' modeling skills and performance behaviors’, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 91, 155–159.Google Scholar
SCHÖN, D. A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals think in Action. London: Temple Smith.Google Scholar
SLOBODA, J. A. & HOWE, M. J. A. (1991) ‘Young musician's accounts of significant influences in their early lives. 1. The family and the musical background’, British Journal of Music Education, 8, 39–52.Google Scholar
SMITH, J. A. (1995) ‘Semi-structured interviewing and qualitative analysis’, in Smith, J. A., Harré, R. & van Langenhove, L. (Eds), Rethinking Methods in Psychology (pp. 18–26). London: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar