A Survey of Individual Practice Requirements in K–12 Band and Orchestra Instruction

Abstract

A national survey was completed of elementary, middle school, and high school instrumental music teachers (N = 398) assessing the individual practice requirements those teachers have of their students. A majority of respondents (n = 263) required outside-of-rehearsal practice for at least one class that they taught, including 55% of elementary/middle and 49% of high school teachers. The reasons for requiring or not requiring individual practice were teacher-, program-, and student-dependent. The demographic variables Private and Urban schools, in addition to Years Taught, all predicted higher odds of requiring practice. The requirements Pass-offs and Regular Submissions were the most common, although Time requirements still played a large role. High school teachers required more weekly practice time but fewer days per week compared with elementary and middle school teachers. The main role of practice requirements was to support student learner behaviors, whereas those who did not require practice thought that other methods were more productive.

Keywords

elementary individual practice instrumentalists music practice requirements secondary survey

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