What's new in pedagogy research?(educational research on music teachers and teaching)

Do you have an undergraduate or graduate degree in music? When you were working on that degree, were you hoping to teach in an independent studio, or were you more interested in a career as a performer or a university professor? Did you see private teaching as a goal in itself, or simply as a way to make some money on the side while you pursued your "real" career? A recent study titled "Music Majors' Attitudes toward Private Lesson Teaching after Graduation" surveyed 486 undergraduate and graduate music students at two large state universities. These students were either participating in large, auditioned performance ensembles or were enrolled in three piano studios. The majority of the surveyed students were either performance or music education majors, with a few other majors that included music therapy, music composition and arts.

The survey consisted of 28 statements with Likert scale responses ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (no opinion) to 7 (strongly disagree). The statements could be grouped in eight large categories:

Teaching and My Career as a Performer. A large majority of the students indicated that they expected or hoped to teach. Fifty-six percent agreed or strongly agreed that they would primarily teach for the money, while 26 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement. In examining the differences between the music education students and the performance students, the performers were more interested in teaching private (applied) lessons in higher education.

The Relationship between My Teaching and Playing. Eighty-four percent agreed or strongly agreed that teaching would improve their own playing, although only 38 percent had discussed this with their teachers. The performers felt this more strongly than the music education majors.

My Need for Teacher Training. A majority (82 percent) disagreed or strongly disagreed that good teaching technique was obvious and that formal training would not be necessary. Ninety-two percent disagreed or strongly disagreed that a good performer was automatically a good teacher. A minority (39 percent) indicated that they would teach their students exactly as their best teacher had taught them. There were no significant differences between the performers, music educators and other majors in this area.

The Students I would Like to Teach. In this area, there were some significant differences between the responses of the performance and the music education students. The performance students indicated that they would particularly like to teach advanced students and students who found music to be easy. The music education students were more open to the idea of teaching young students and students who struggled with learning music.

Why I Would Enjoy Teaching. The responses to the statements in this area were generally positive, with 83 percent agreeing strongly that they would enjoy seeing their students become better musicians, and 73 percent strongly agreeing that they would enjoy working at becoming better teachers. The graduate students were significantly more positive than the undergraduates in statements about improving their teaching and helping their students understand a particular point.