Supports for and Constraints on Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance-Based Student Teaching

Abstract

While Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) approaches are often discussed in preservice music education classes, their impact on student teaching remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to describe eight student teachers’ perceptions of the feasibility of implementing CMP in the instrumental ensemble setting. Two questions guided this multiple case study: (a) What aspects of the student teaching experience or context enabled student teacher implementation of CMP-based activities? and (b) What aspects of the student teaching experience constrained student teacher implementation of CMP-based activities? Cooperating teacher modeling of CMP-based teaching and mentoring style, methods course CMP-based activities, and student teacher disposition were factors that enabled some student teachers to implement CMP-based activities. Limited rehearsal time exacerbated by student skill level and performance expectations, multidimensional self concerns coupled with a focus on specific task concerns, cooperating teacher mentoring style, lack of modeling, and conflicting definitions of comprehensive musicianship constrained participants’ use of CMP-based practices. Implications for research and music teacher education are discussed.

Supporting Music Majors’ Learning: Motivational Strategies in College Music Lessons

“…Through regular and continued social interactions in lessons, the social-emotional relationship becomes strengthened and facilitates students’ learning (Durlak et al 2015; Edgar 2013). In this social setting, instructors’ experiences and beliefs are closely related to students’ learning because much of the knowledge the instructors use is based on their experience (Sindberg 2007), and instructors’ beliefs determine their teaching behaviors, class content, and how they teach (Bruning et al 1999). “ Private lesson instructions should provide students with many opportunities that help them to build a positive belief about their ability to succeed on tasks and continue their studies.…”

Supporting the Development of Agency in Music Teacher Education

“…Participants viewed themselves as guests in school music programs with little room to enact their ideas and learnings. Similarly, student teachers in Berg and Sindberg’s (2014) study felt constrained when incorporating Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance principles they had studied in methods courses because the curricular risk was exacerbated by their sense of accountability to cooperating teachers and the desire for positive recommendation letters. Increased awareness of the potential for student teaching experiences to lead to internalized limits may be helpful to music teacher educators in subverting the effects of Stones’s (2005) theory on preservice and novice teachers.…”

Music Teacher Dispositions: Self-Appraisals and Values of University Music Students

“…Musical comprehensiveness has been suggested as a key correlate to the development of a student-centered teacher identity (Bouij, 2004). Teachers committed to musical comprehensiveness aspire for their students’ performance experiences to go beyond technical proficiency and their overall learning experiences to include a variety of musical genres and performance traditions and a range of activities, such as listening, composing, improvising, and analyzing music (Austin, 1998; Berg & Sindberg, 2014). Research has indicated that teaching with musical comprehensiveness can enhance student motivation and learning, with no loss of performance quality (Austin, 1998).…”