Preservice Teacher Pedagogy of Secondary Instruments: Influence of Instrumental Background

1. Preservice Teacher Pedagogy of Secondary Instruments: Influence of Instrumental Background Molly Weaver-West Virginia University, Sean Powell-Columbus State University, David Snyder and Joe Manfredo- Illinois State University Presented at the 2012 Biennial Music Educators National Conference, St. Louis, Missouri March 28-31, 2012

2. Introduction: • Most agree that secondary instrument technique courses play a significant role in teacher preparation. There are, however, many issues regarding the structure and delivery, the qualifications of the instructor, instrument groupings and course content that influence the overall effectiveness of these courses.

3. Related literature • The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) has identified “knowledge of and performance ability on wind, string, and percussion instruments sufficient to teach beginning students effectively in groups” as “an essential competency” for music education majors (NASM, 2006). • However…

4. Related literature • When 125 preservice and 105 experienced teachers were asked, “What skills and behaviors are important to successful music teaching in the first three years of experience?” preservice teachers rated the statement “Be knowledgeable and proficient with secondary instruments” as 32nd in importance from a list of 40 teacher skills and behaviors. Experienced teachers rated this skill/behavior as 37th in importance from the same list (Teachout, 1997).

5. Related literature • A survey of 25 music education faculty across the country in regard to secondary instrument classes revealed that instrument groupings, schedules, credit allocations, instructor backgrounds, class content, and instructional priorities vary widely from school to school and even class to class within schools (Austin, 2006).

6. Related literature • Fourteen first-year teachers (seven each from two consecutive graduating classes at the university) identified “some instrument methods courses” as least-valuable preservice experiences, citing a lack of consistency in these courses and inadequate content regarding pedagogy and repair (Conway, 2002).

7. Related literature • Conway, Eros, Stanley, and Hourigan (2007) examined perceptions of beginning teachers regarding their brass and woodwind instrument class experiences. • Emergent themes from the study included: the amount of content covered in woodwind and brass instrument classes is simply too much to remember, and these classes should give pedagogy precedence over performance.

8. Related literature • Teachers of college instrumental methods courses, directors of “model” high school band programs, and directors of randomly selected high school band programs (N=142) were surveyed and indicated that they believe the primary focus of the instrument methods courses (woodwind, brass, percussion, and string) should be a combination of performance and teaching skills (Cooper, 1994)

9. Related literature • A survey of 25 music education faculty across the United States regarding structure of and instructional delivery in secondary instrument classes found that only 50% of responding institutions encouraged or required students to demonstrate secondary instrument playing proficiency, and that fewer than 10% required students to demonstrate secondary instrument teaching proficiency (Austin, 2006).

10. Need for study: • Previous research efforts in secondary instrument classes have focused on describing the structure and delivery of the classes, perception of the value and relevance of these courses by experienced teachers and preservice teachers (PSTs), and the role of these classes in the music education degree program.

11. Need for study: • Previous research efforts have also suggested pedagogy and teaching skills, as opposed to performance skills, should be the main area of focus for these courses.

12. Need for study: • There have not been any attempts to investigate the influence of PST’s instrumental background and previous teaching experience upon teaching skills and pedagogy. It would be useful to determine the extent to which PST’s teaching and playing experience has an impact upon teaching skills and pedagogical content knowledge.

13. Purpose of study: • The fundamental purpose of this study was to examine the influence of instrumental background (specialist versus non-specialist) upon the instructional effectiveness and pedagogical content knowledge of teaching episodes in a secondary instrument techniques class. • A specialist was defined as an individual who’s primary applied instrument was being taught in the secondary instrument techniques class in which they were currently enrolled .

14. Purpose of study: • In addition, this study investigated the impact of private lesson and sectional teaching experience upon teaching effectiveness in these secondary instrument technique classes.

15. Method: • Four music education faculty from three different universities participated in the study. • Two brass and two woodwind techniques classes were included. • A total of 45 music education majors (11 specialists and 34 non-specialists) participated. • PST’s were asked to teach a ten-minute lesson to a beginning level student at the conclusion of the course.

16. Method: • PST’s were assessed on their effective use of verbal instruction (vi), modeling (m), and verbal feedback (vf). • PST’s use of correct content knowledge(k) was also rated. • The eight proficiencies below were rated 1 “unsatisfactory,” 2 “satisfactory,” and 3 “excellent” for each of the above categories. • Instrument Assembly • Posture • Instrument Carriage • Hand Position • Breathing • Embouchure Formation • Mouthpiece to Mouth Relationship • Tonguing

17. Method: • Each 10 minute lesson was video recorded and evaluated by all four faculty members. • Teaching effectiveness in vi, m and vf was rated (3, 2, or 1). • Pedagogical content knowledge was rated “correct”, “incomplete”, “wrong” or “did not do”. • Background information on specialty instrument, experience with secondary instruments and teaching experience was also gathered.

18. Secondary teaching assessment (sample)

19. Inter-rater reliability: The mean for the 4 items for each scale was computed for each of the 4 raters (with individual item scores ranging from 1 to 3). The mean scores were used to compute the inter-rater reliability measures. The data show that there was low inter-rater reliability on the measures. Though steps were taken in a pilot study to reach agreement on a definition and criteria for “excellent”, “satisfactory” and “unsatisfactory”, its obvious from these results, that more training for the raters was necessary.

20. Analysis: • Mean scores on vi, m and vf within the eight proficiencies were then compared between “specialist” and “non-specialist” and “experienced” and “inexperienced” subjects. • “Experienced” was defined as at least one semester of either private lesson or sectional teaching in this study. • This same procedure was also done for content knowledge (k).

21. Analysis: • The first four proficiencies (instrument assembly, posture, instrument carriage and hand position) were group together under1-4 as were the last four proficiencies (breath support, embouchure, mouthpiece to mouth and articulation)under 5-8. • These grouped proficiency means were also compared between “specialists” and “non-specialists” and “experienced” and “inexperienced” subjects using t-tests and multivariate measures.

22. Subject characteristics: • N=45 : 3 freshmen, 26 sophomores, 13 juniors, 2 seniors, and 1 graduate student • Institution A- 21 students (14 ww and 7 brass) • Institution B -7 students (ww class) • Institution C-17 students (brass) • Eleven out of the 45 total subjects were classified at “specialists”. • Twenty five out of the 45 total subjects were classified as “experienced”.

23. Results: Specialist vs non-specialist means

24. Results: t-test comparing specialists vs non-specialists

25. Results: Oneway ANOVA specialists vs specialists

26. Results: Experienced vs inexperienced means

27. t-test results comparing experienced vs inexperienced

28. Means compared between (1) vi, (2) m and (3) vf in 1-4

29. Results comparing means on (1) vi, (2) m, and (3) vf in 1-4

30. Means compared between (1) vi, (2) m and (3) vf in 5-8

31. Results comparing means on (1) vi, (2) m, and (3) vf in 5-8

32. Discussion: • No significant difference was found between specialists and non-specialists in teaching effectiveness or content knowledge. This finding suggests that students who have no previous background as a performer on a woodwind or brass instrument can be as effective as specialists.

33. Discussion: • Findings also imply that non-specialists should be held to the same standard as specialists in regard to teaching effectiveness and content knowledge.

34. Discussion: • The results show that PST’s with prior teaching experience scored significantly higher on the verbal feedback parameter only. Perhaps private lesson or sectional teaching experience provides PST’s with more opportunity to give verbal feedback, making them more effective in this area.

35. Discussion: • Scores for verbal feedback were significantly lower (p < .05) than scores for verbal instruction and modeling for all groups.

36. Discussion: • This suggests that instructors of instrumental techniques courses might consider providing more opportunities for the development of verbal feedback skills within the course.

37. Suggestions for Future Research: • Future research should continue to refine the definition and standardize the criteria for “excellent” and “satisfactory” in the areas of verbal instruction, modeling and verbal feedback when teaching secondary instruments.

38. Suggestions for Future Research: • Since verbal feedback scores were the lowest for all groups participating in this study, future studies may want explore the use of verbal feedback by preservice teacher’s in other early clinical experiences.

39. Suggestions for Future Research: • Teaching experience correlated with improved verbal feedback scores in this study of brass and woodwind technique classes. Future research should look at the effects of teaching experience on non-specialists in secondary string and percussion settings as well.

40. Suggestions for Future Research: • There was no significant difference found in pedagogical content knowledge between specialist and non-specialist preservice teachers. Common sense would tell us there should be, so future studies that allowed subjects to teach longer lessons or lessons focused on content other than that of a beginner lesson may prove informative.

41. References: • Austin, J. R. (2006). The teaching of secondary instruments: A survey of instrumental music teacher educators. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 16(1), 55-64. • Conway, C. (2002). Perceptions of beginning teachers, their mentors, and administrators regarding preservice music teacher preparation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 50(1), 20-36. • Conway, C., Eros, J., Hourigan, R., & Stanley, A. M. (2007). Perceptions of beginning teachers regarding brass and woodwind instrument techniques classes in preservice education. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 173, 39-54. • Cooper, L. G. (1994). A study of the core curriculum for the preparation of instrumental music educators. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1994). Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(1), 37. • Jennings, D. L. (1988). The effectiveness of instrumental music teacher preservice training experiences as perceived by college and high school band directors. (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, 1988). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50(4), 825. • National Association of Schools of Music. (2006). Handbook 2007-2008. Reston, VA: Author. • Reimer, B. (1956). College course in supplementary instruments. Music Educators Journal, 42(6), 42, 44. • Russell, J. A. (2007). I know what I need to know: The impact of cognitive and psycho-social development on undergraduate music education major’s investment in instrumental techniques courses. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 171, 51-66. • Stegall, J. R., Blackburn, J. E., & Coop, R. H. (1978). Administrators’ ratings of competencies for an undergraduate music education curriculum. Journal of Research in Music Education, 26(1), 3-15. • Teachout, D. J. (1997). Preservice and experienced teachers’ opinions of skills and behaviors important to successful music teaching. Journal of Research in Music Education, 45(1), 41-50. • Weaver, M.A. (2010). Orchestrating secondary instrument playing and teaching proficiencies for future music educators: Effective curriculum configuration, delivery, and administration. In M. Schmidt (ed.), Collaborative Action for Change: Selected Proceedings from the 2007 Symposium on Music Teacher Education (pp. 183-197). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

42. Questions: • Do you have any questions? • This PowerPoint is available at www.cfa.ilstu.edu/dsnyder/news by going under “research presentations”