Macarthur, Stephanie, Davidson, Jane, and Krause, Amanda (2024) Tracing the impact of 7-year-old beginner cellists' early learning on longer-term engagement. In: [Presented at the 36th International Society for Music Education World Conference]. From: ISME 2024: 36th International Society for Music Education World Conference, 28 July - 2 August 2024, Helsinki, Finland.

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Abstract

When children begin instrumental music tuition, they learn a wide range of cognitive, expressive, and psychomotor skills. Their ability to acquire and combine these skills impacts their musical development, motivation, and ongoing interest. Understanding children’s perspectives during this critical phase of early learning provides educators with unparalleled insight into key areas of early musical engagement and childhood development that are vital for informing effective pedagogical practice. However, young musician’s lived experiences of musical skill development during middle childhood are rarely examined in music education research. To address this gap, the present study adopted a novel pairing of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Participatory Action Research methodologies to address three aims: 1) to investigate how 14 seven-year-old beginner cellists approached and encountered their learning for the first 18 months of tuition, 2) to explore how early experiences impacted their predicted and actual longer-term musical engagement for up to an additional four years, and 3) to examine the role of the teacher in the children’s learning. A case study approach was conducted by the teacher as researcher, alongside the child participants and their parents who all contributed to the research process. Data were collected through regular semi-structured interviews with the participants, the teacher’s lesson observation, participation and reflection protocols, skill development rubrics, and teacher/learner/parent weekly lesson diaries. Collation, comparison, and integration of results revealed detailed, distinctive portraits of the children’s formative experiences and perceptions of learning to play the cello. Key themes included their initial reasons for learning, encounters in practice and performance, successes and challenges in skill integration, emergent diverse learning needs, as well as the critical role of teacher reflexivity in providing continuously evolving, adaptive teaching processes for each child. The results are presented as individual case studies traced across the entire timeline of the project. These depictions illustrate the significance of key elements in children’s early musical investment, their management of intrapersonal traits, their affinity for their instrument (especially their enjoyment in its sound and the emotional regulation achieved through creative musical play), and their meaningful involvement in musical activities with peers, mentors, and family members in sustaining motivation. The study also examines unexpected, contrasting experiences of learner autonomy in their relationship and interactions with parents. The important unique findings underscore the vital importance of valuing individual learner voices and providing safe learning environments in instrumental music pedagogy as these factors contribute to fostering productive longer-term learner engagement outcomes.

Item ID:	83346
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Keywords:	psychology of music, music psychology, social and applied psychology of music, music education, music performance, Beginner cellist, motivation, instrumental music pedagogy, IPA, Participatory Action Research
Related URLs:	https://www.isme.org/
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2024 02:23
FoR Codes:	36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3603 Music > 360303 Music education @ 50% 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5205 Social and personality psychology > 520505 Social psychology @ 50%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1301 Arts > 130102 Music @ 50% 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology @ 50%
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