Music practice habits: teacher, parent, and student perspectives

Abstract

Music Practice Habits: Teacher, Parent, and Student Perspectives describes a research study that took place at Private Music Academy in Bloomington, Indiana. Participants were piano teachers, their students, and their students’ parents. The goal of this study was to better understand current student practice attitudes, strategies, and habits. In addition, the communication between these three groups of individuals was researched. The study was carried out via an online survey, and participants filled out the survey in June and July 2016. There were 10 teacher participants, 42 parent participants, and 35 student participants. Data were analyzed in July and August 2016.

Six research questions were addressed. What are students' reported practice habits and strategies, and how do they relate to teachers’ reported practice advice? What do parents report regarding student practice habits and teacher communication regarding practice advice? Do parents’ reports corroborate what students report? What do teachers report they communicate to parents and students with regard to practice expectations and parental involvement in practice? Do parents’ and students’ reports corroborate what teachers report? Based on students’ reported practice habits, do students become more self-regulated as they advance in years of piano study?

In general, students reported relatively good practice habits, in terms of sessions per week and minutes per day. There were 16 specific practice strategies listed in the survey, and 15 of the 16 listed strategies were identified by at least half of the 10 teachers surveyed. Although to different degrees, both teachers and students indicated the use of self-regulatory strategies.

Parent reports were generally consistent with student reports about student practice habits. However, it appears that there could be improved communication between parents and teachers regarding practice advice. For student reports on practice sessions per week and minutes per practice session, parents’ reports did indeed corroborate student reports. Parents and students were also consistent when asked whether teachers required students to fill out practice reports/logs. However, when asked about teacher involvement in practice, there were some discrepancies. Teachers and students at Private Music Academy seem to be communicating well with regard to practice strategies, especially those strategies that emphasis self-regulatory behavior. However, with regard to practice expectations, there were some discrepancies between teacher, student, and parent reports. Similarly, students and parents were not in agreement about teachers’ communication of practice expectations to parents. Also, teachers and parents do not seem to be communicating effectively. Teachers and students seem to communicate well regarding whether practice logs are required. However, students and teachers are not communicating well regarding practice time expectations. Students were found to have more practice sessions per week as they advanced in number of months/years of piano study.

Based on the findings of this study, it might be beneficial for teachers to reevaluate their means and methods for communication with both students and parents. Another possible practical implication would be for teachers to provide students with more possible practice strategies. Another potential practical implication is that self-regulatory practice habits could be encouraged by teachers. It would be interesting to survey students on what they do with their teachers’ advice on self-regulatory strategies, because in this study, only students’ reports of teachers’ communication of self-regulatory practice strategies and teachers’ reports of what they communicate to students were surveyed. As this study was more interested in getting a broad overview of current practice conditions, it might be interesting to select one family or one teacher and his or her students and their families in order to carry out a case study. In conclusion, this study has generated a general overview of the current state of practice communication and strategies of Private Music Academy.