Recollections

These recollections of a music pupil's experience of learning with different instrumental teachers highlight the impact of teaching styles and behaviours on motivation and enjoyment of learning. Can we accept that negative learning experiences hinder progress? Is there a ‘map’ or a model of teaching styles and behaviours that promotes effective instrumental teaching and learning? What actually count as positive learning experiences? Can these be acquired in any instrumental teaching context? Clearly, this particular pupil had negative as well as positive experiences while learning – in this case – a string instrument. At several points she was made to feel bad about her progress, to the extent that it affected her general well-being. Are these experiences commonplace among other pupils?

Blame is a negative and antagonistic strategy that is far too often used by teachers in their teaching, as this pupil experienced. The hierarchy between the instrumental teacher and pupils can create a conceptual gap and a relationship of unbalanced power (Jorgensen, Reference JORGENSEN2001; Durrant, Reference DURRANT2003). Indeed, Jorgensen described how teachers adopt more dominant behaviour in the teacher–pupil relationship and ‘practice routines seemed to be left totally to the students’ own initiative and responsibility’ (p. 69). In the early instrumental learning experiences described above, the teaching approach was mainly teacher-centred rather than pupil-centred.

Similarly, the blame culture can have an impact on physical well-being and develop tensions that themselves can affect belief-systems, self-perceptions and ultimately self-esteem (Gorman, Reference GORMAN1999; Thurman & Welch, Reference THURMAN and WELCH2000; Durrant, Reference DURRANT2003). Trying and controlling pupils are born out of a history of threats to well-being – of not being ‘good enough’ and of disappointing a parent or teacher, followed by some sort of abandonment or other unpleasant consequences.

In order to gain further insight into aspects of effective teaching and learning, this study sets out to explore in detail the teaching of one particular instrumental teacher, who is recognised within her profession and the local education authority as effective. It sets out to determine the factors that constitute effective instrumental teaching and the interactions and interdependence between these factors.

Teacher effectiveness

Any model of effective instrumental teaching has a wide range of contributing factors (Abeles et al., Reference Abeles, Goffi and LEVASSEUR1992; Tschannen-Moran et al., Reference TSCHANNEN-MORAN, HOY and HOY1998). Hamann et al. (Reference HAMANN, LINEBURGH and PAUL1998) acknowledged that the teacher's social skills such as presentation and delivery, energy and enthusiasm, verbal and nonverbal communication skills and the ability to relate to and interact with pupils contribute significantly to overall effectiveness. They noted that effective music teachers tend to possess excellent skills in delivery and communication as well as in planning. Yarbrough & Price (Reference YARBROUGH and PRICE1989) put forward three stages of direct instruction: (i) attention grabbing before presenting the task; (ii) presenting the task to be learned (teacher's verbalisation) and requiring the pupils to interact with the task and the teacher (pupils’ participation); (iii) reinforcing by immediate praise or corrective feedback to pupil's right or wrong responses (approval versus disapproval). This model was introduced in elementary music teaching and ensemble rehearsals and results showed significant improvement in instrumental intonation and performance, a high rate of pupil attentiveness and positive pupil attitudes. Mackworth-Young (Reference MACKWORTH-YOUNG1990) found that the pupils' experience of their lesson affected the quality of their learning and their enthusiasm to continue. This point is reflected in the pupil's reactions illustrated above. Although there is a tendency in the professional music world to base the evaluation of instrumental teaching and learning on pupils’ performance and examination results, we need to open our minds to look for the true value of the teaching and learning process.

Grant & Drafall (Reference GRANT and DRAFALL1991) conducted a literature review on for teacher effectiveness and found that the term was commonly used to mean ‘the consequences of teachers’ actions on pupil learning as measured by standardized achievement tests’ (p. 31). They also acknowledged that teacher effectiveness is a matter of definition and it is a misconception to evaluate it by achievement tests only. Schmidt (Reference SCHMIDT1998) explored the definitions of ‘good’ teaching and found that understanding its principles depended largely on teachers’ own individual experiences with parents, colleagues, assistant teachers and pupils. The definitions of the good teachers were constructed through the collection of experiences which had transformed their individual definitions and beliefs about what ‘good’ teaching was. Furthermore, Schmidt wondered whether the characteristics of good teaching can ever be universally defined and objectively evaluated.

Hamann et al. (Reference HAMANN, LINEBURGH and PAUL1998) acknowledged that social skills, identified as emotional expressivity, emotional sensitivity and social control, significantly enhance teaching effectiveness. Creech & Hallam (Reference CREECH and HALLAM2003) stressed that a fundamental element of effective teaching is good interpersonal communication. Effective teachers maintain a dynamic dialogue between the in-school and out-of-school lives of their pupils and demonstrate dimensions of mutual control, responsiveness and involvement as part of their teaching. They also found that teachers who are highly involved share decision making with the pupils and parents.

Teaching aims and approaches

Reid (Reference REID2001) remarked that the goals of learning music are more than just gaining the technical skills of playing an instrument and performing, and that music teachers who only focus on the outcome of pupils’ performance have a limited conception of instrumental teaching and neglect the quality of the pupils’ total learning. Mills & Smith (Reference MILLS and SMITH2003) studied 134 instrumental teachers for local education authority music services in England and found the common aims for instrumental teaching were for pupils to have fun, participate and make progress. Clearly, this was not always the case in the pupils’ experiences. Rife et al. (Reference RIFE, SHNEK, LAUBY and LAPIDUS2001) reported that there were differences between pupils’ and teachers’ goals, attitudes and learning objectives in private music lessons and elementary school music education. For example, ‘students liked playing melodies on musical instruments, whereas teachers favoured listening, acquiring knowledge of harmony, melodic rhythm, and musical structure’ (p. 23). This possibly suggests that instrumental teaching has a more ‘serious’ edge than the music taught for enjoyment's sake in the classroom.

Reid (Reference REID2001) observed that teachers needed to use different teaching strategies and techniques to adapt to the needs of different pupils, and they were encouraged to design activities to allow pupils to encounter all aspects of musicality within a musical and communicative framework. According to Mills & Smith (Reference MILLS and SMITH2003), some instrumental teachers focus on the progress pupils make through lessons, other teachers focus on opportunities available to the pupils, and yet others focus on the particular teaching skills the teachers should develop. Therefore, teachers have different teaching aims in their practices and form a variety of teaching approaches accordingly.

Mackworth-Young (Reference MACKWORTH-YOUNG1990) acknowledged that ‘the conventional piano lesson is teacher-directed, the teacher has the dominant role and the pupil is seen as a subordinate, dependent learner’ (p. 74). She found that encouraging pupil-directed and negotiated learning with secondary school-age pupils contributed to effective teaching. The pupil-directed methods have been found to encourage, challenge, foster curiosity, develop self-responsibility and create favourable attitudes. However, teacher-directed methods may be more effective to achieve certain aims and objectives for different pupils. The negotiation between the teacher and the pupils could increase enjoyment, interest, positive attitudes, motivation and progress and develop a better teacher–pupil relationship.

Mawer (Reference MAWER1999) advocated incorporating music analysis to enhance instrumental teaching. The study used a string teaching method called ‘voice-leading for strings’ developed by Nelson, Rolland and Suzuki, supplemented with Kodály's hand-signs. The result of this research was that this method stimulated intellectual enquiries and creative interpretation, honed improvisation skills and aided technical issues of pitching, fingering, position shifting, ornamentation, phrasing and bowing. This approach is based on a holistic educational ethos that ‘sought to keep physical skills, aural awareness, and reading ability in balance within whole-class teaching’ (p. 180). Such an approach moves beyond the exclusive concentration on performance technique in instrumental teaching that was found to be de-motivating in the pupil's experiences illustrated above, and may well contribute to a more interactive and creative teaching style.

There is an implicit notion, probably promoted by the conservatoire model of instrumental teaching, that one-to-one teaching represents the optimum learning experience. Such a model fails to recognise the value of interaction among the learners themselves. Thompson (Reference THOMPSON1984) investigated the effectiveness of group teaching and proposed that, at the outset, lessons should be more frequent than once a week and between 40 and 45 minutes long. Detailed preparation was necessary in the early stages of teaching a group in order to involve all pupils at all times. Schmidt (Reference SCHMIDT1998) acknowledged that, in order to keep all the pupils involved, factors such as the teacher's pacing, working alternately with individuals, small sections and the ensemble are extremely important within the group teaching context.

In summary, researchers in the field have studied a range of factors in the development of effective instrumental teaching and learning. Although there may not be an agreement about universal characteristics of an effective instrumental teacher, the researchers agree that teaching aims which emphasise fostering pupils’ learning, facilitating a learning environment and promoting independent learning contribute greatly to effective instrumental teaching. In order to gain further insight, we decided to carry out an in-depth study on one particular string teacher teaching in a variety of group and one-to-one contexts, to ascertain what characteristics are identified as effective in each situation.

Methodology: a qualitative research perspective

This study focuses in depth on a single case – one violin teacher in four teaching situations. The teaching situations occurred in formal school music classes and less formal private ensemble and individual instrumental lessons. The analysis explores the dynamics and processes that the teacher undergoes in these situations. We also investigate the complexities and interdependence of various factors that occur in effective instrumental teaching by deciding upon a single case study as the research method (Hamel et al., Reference HAMEL, DUFOUR and FORTIN1993; Travers, Reference TRAVERS2001). The research questions in this study are:

1. (i) how does the subject set the teaching goals and the use of various teaching methods?

2. (ii) what are the characteristics of the subject's teaching strategies?

3. (iii) what is the subject's meta-level of reflecting on her teaching experience?

4. (iv) what does instrumental teaching reveal about the relationship between the teacher and pupils?

5. (v) what does effective instrumental teaching and learning actually mean?

We choose a single case study as a research method based on the following reasons: (i) it can be used to advance understanding of contributions in the single case and draw more valid inferences from the investigation; (ii) the design of a single case study can assess generalisation, and dismantle compound elements in the study (Kratochwill, Reference KRATOCHWILL, Kratochwill and Levin1992). We find that through conducting a qualitative single case study, we can focus more on generating rich and complex descriptions and explanations to develop understanding and interpretation of phenomena on the subject's instrumental teaching in different contexts. This study aims to contribute to some holistic and evolving understanding (Bisesi & Raphael, Reference BISESI, RAPHAEL, Nauman and McCormick1995) of effective instrumental teaching.

Neuman (Reference NEUMAN2003) stated that the characteristics of qualitative research reveal social reality and cultural meaning. In this study, the data are gathered through interactive processes and events from observations, field notes and interviews. The authenticity of the collected data is confirmed by the subject for its integrity and reliability. This study presents a picture of the specific details of a situation and relationships and reasons ‘why things are the way they are’ (Neuman, Reference NEUMAN2003: 31).

The research follows naturalistic and phenomenological approaches (Aigen, Reference AIGEN and Wheeler1995) to investigate different instrumental groups and interactions in their natural settings. The intention is to discover essential constituents of instrumental teaching and underlying themes as they emerge, drawing comparisons between styles of music teaching in the different observational settings.

The criteria of the single case selection are on the basis that the teacher:

• • was recommended by the local authority and, in particular, by one experienced headteacher in that authority who is a music graduate;

• • has a great deal of instrumental teaching experience;

• • has experiences in instrumental teaching in a variety of contexts and teaches pupils across a wide age range (from primary school to college);

• • is teaching string ensembles in the contexts of small groups and whole-classes in different schools;

• • was available during the research period: April–May 2005.

One single case was chosen for observations and interviews and as a representation of string teaching. The subject was contacted in person and on the telephone and agreed to take part in the study. She had also taught in the Tower Hamlets Project (Nelson, Reference NELSON1985) and had supportive working relationships with colleagues who had also worked in the Project.

Many hours were spent in direct personal contact with the subject (hereafter referred to as ‘D’), who was interviewed and observed in her classroom and private teaching. Analysis was made of the (recorded) conversations. Analysis of observations included consideration of non-verbal communication in order to understand the subtle interactions between D and her pupils in each learning situation.

The data were collected from:

1. (i) one observation of large group teaching in a north London primary school;

2. (ii) observations of four small group teaching situations in the same school;

3. (iii) observations of two small private group ensembles in D's house;

4. (iv) one observation of an individual pupil in D's house;

5. (v) an extensive interview with D.

After completing the observation and interview, all the verbal data were recorded on a minidisk. In the observation section, there were eight different group string teaching lessons taught by D. In the interview, D explained her personal philosophy on the teaching methods and relevant issues. The data were collected, coded and indexed so that they can be managed into meaningful categories. A systematic and logically progressive approach is required for analysis of qualitative research. Observational methods (Delamont, Reference DELAMONT1992; Neuman, Reference NEUMAN2003) were used to collect the data in a detailed and systematic way. The primary school observation for the group lessons is located in a densely populated, low socio-economic status area in north London. Table 1 indicates the nature of and the differences between the groups.

Table 1

The basic information regarding the differences among the groups

Data analysis

This study adopts a paradigm which attempts to describe systematically an instrumental teaching phenomenon and provide information about the teaching and learning situations of D and the pupils. The following observational reports describe how D designed her teaching aims and approaches in different settings.