The Contribution of Motivational Factors to Instrumental Performance in a Music Examination

Abstract

This paper reports on a study with 349 instrumentalists between the ages of 9 and 18 who completed a self-report questionnaire immediately before undertaking an externally assessed music performance examination. The first purpose was to clarify the degree to which internal (e.g. effort, ability, nervousness) and external (e.g. task difficulty, luck) attributions were cited by students to explain their results on the performance examination. The second purpose was to investigate a range of self-regulatory and motivational influences which predict student results in the performance examination. Results show that an ability to perform proficiently relies not only on technical and expressive skill, but also on the employment of a range of motivational resources. It is suggested that how students think about themselves, the task and their performance is just as important as the time they devote to practising their instrument

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arnold, J.A. (1997). A comparison of attributions for success and failure in instrumental music among sixth-, eighth-, and tenth-grade students. Update: Applications of Research in Music Teaching and Learning, 15(2), 19-23.

Austin, J.R. , & Vispoel, W.P. (1998). How American adolescents interpret success and failure in classroom music: Relationships among attributional beliefs, self-concept and achievement. Psychology of Music, 26, 26-45.

Asmus, E.P. (1989). The effects of music teachers on students' motivation to achieve in music. Canadian Journal of Research in Music Education. 30, 14-21.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Eccles-Parsons, J. (1983). Children's motivation to study music. (31-40) . In Motivation and creativity: National symposium on the applications of psychology to the teaching and learning of music. Washington, DC: Music Educators National Conference .

Hackett, G. , & Betz, N.E. (1989). An exploration of the mathematics self-efficacy /mathematics performance correspondence. Journal of Research in Mathematics Education, 20, 261-273.

McPherson, G. (1989). Cognitive mediational processes and positive motivation: Implications of educational research for music teaching and learning. Australian Journal of Music Education. 1, 3-19.

McPherson, G.E. , & McCormick, J. (1999). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of musical practice. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 141, 98-102.

10.

Pajares, F. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs and mathematical problem-solving of gifted students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21, 325-344.

11.

Pintrich, P.R. , & Schunk, D.H. (1996). Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications. Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

12.

Weiner, B. (1979). A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences . Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 3-25.