What's new in Pedagogy research? - Professional Resources - music teachers and college music students survey about use of practice time

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2003 by Rebecca Grooms Johnson

Ever since the first person showed a friend how to clap their hands or beat on a rock in rhythm, teachers have expected their students to practice. Most teachers think the main goal of every lesson is to prepare the student to practice until his or her next lesson. But how do our expectations as teachers compare to what really is going on during the student's practice time? In a study titled "Practice Expectations and Attitudes: A Survey of College-Level Music Teachers and Students," (1) Marilyn Kostka surveyed 134 undergraduate and graduate music majors and 127 studio teachers at various colleges and universities. The survey consisted of the following questions, with the student-adapted questions in italics.

* What is your specific instrument or vocal part?

* How many years have you taught private lessons? (How many years have you studied your major instrument?)

* In general, which of the following skills do you feel are most and least important in your students' (your) practice? Please rank them in order from 1 (most valuable) to 5 (least valuable).

a. technique

b. musicality

c. sight-reading ability

d. tone quality

e. memorization skills

* On what activity do you expect your students to spend most of their practice time? (On what activity do you spend most of your practice time?) (warm-ups, technique, repertoire, sight reading and so forth)

* On what activity do you expect your students to spend the least amount of time? (On what activity do you spend the least amount of time?)

* Approximately how many hours do you expect your students to practice per week? (Approximately how many hours do you practice per week?)

* Do you suggest that your students have a regular plan or routine for practicing? (Do you have a regular plan or routine for practicing?)

* If "yes," please briefly describe.

* Have you discussed practice strategies with your students? (Have you discussed practice strategies with your teacher?)

* Please circle the letter which best describes how you, personally, feel about practicing:

a. tedious but necessary

b. relaxing

c. challenging

d. fulfilling (2)

The survey results were interesting, though perhaps not unexpected. The teachers reported that they expected an average of fourteen and a half hours of practice a week (averaged over all the surveyed instruments); but the students estimated they practiced a little less than ten hours a week. Ninety-four percent of the teachers indicated they suggested a regular practice routine, while only 45 percent of the students said they used a regular practice routine. All teachers indicated that they discussed practice strategies with their students, but only 69 percent of the students said they had discussed this with their teacher. When describing their personal feelings about practicing, 38 percent of the students chose "challenging," and 22 percent chose "fulfilling." Among the teachers, 76 percent chose "fulfilling," while 20 percent chose "challenging." Ranking the importance of the five music skills (musicality, technique, tone quality, sight reading and memorization), the teachers and students tended to agree on their relative importance, with "musicality" being the most important to both groups. Memorization skills were ranked last by both groups, and this gave rise to the question of whether memorization was broadly required over the instrument groups, or whether the strategies for memorizing were simply not discussed in the lesson.

Reflections

At first glance, the results of this study might cause one to ask, "What are we saying, and is anyone out there listening?" It also might raise the issue that if music majors and professors have this much of a dichotomy in perception, it could only be worse with children! We mustn't draw too many conclusions because the students surveyed in this study did not work with the professors who were polled--they were two separate groups of participants. One might, however, guess that their answers were fairly typical, if not universal. Perhaps the most reasonable lessons to learn from this survey are that students practice less than we would wish (no surprises there), that we as teachers need to more clearly articulate practice strategies for each piece and that our students need to discover the fulfillment we feel when practicing. It would be interesting to ask our own students these questions; however, without the blanket of anonymity, I am not sure how honest the answers would be!

NOTES

(1.) Kostka, Marilyn, "Practice Expectations and Attitudes: A Survey of College-Level Music Teachers and Students," Journal of Research in Music Education. 50, (2002): 145-154.

(2.) Ibid., 148.

--Rebecca Grooms Johnson, NCTM, Ph.D. National Pedagogy Chair Director of Keyboard Pedagogy Capital University Columbus, Ohio