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.
AustinJ. R.BergM. H. (2006). Exploring music practice among sixth-grade band and orchestra students. Psychology of Music, 34(4), 535–558. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735606067170
2.
BardenW. (2009). Performance assessment in band. Kjos.
3.
BarryN. H. (1990). The effects of different practice techniques upon technical accuracy and musicality in student instrumental music performance. Research Perspectives in Music Education, 1(1), 4–8.
4.
BarryN. H.McArthurV. (1994). Teaching practice strategies in the music studio: A survey of applied music teachers. Psychology of Music, 22(1), 44–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735694221004
5.
BergM. H. (2008). “Getting the minutes in”: A case study of beginning instrumentalists’ music practice. In CampbellM. R.CampbellL. K.ThompsonL. K. (Eds.), Diverse methodologies in the study of music teaching and learning (pp. 45–65). Information Age Publishing.
6.
Bonneville-RoussyA.BouffardT. (2015). When quantity is not enough: Disentangling the roles of practice time, self-regulation and deliberate practice in musical achievement. Psychology of Music, 43(5), 686–704. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735614534910
7.
BoydJ. (2013). Idea bank: Progress through incentives: How one music program helps students progress to higher levels of musicianship. Music Educators Journal, 100(1), 23–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432113496538
8.
ByoJ. L.CassidyJ. W. (2008). An exploratory study of time use in the practice of music majors: Self-report and observation analysis. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 27(1), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123308322272
9.
CorbinJ.StraussA. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230153
10.
CremaschiA. M. (2012). The effect of a practice checklist on practice strategies, practice self-regulation and achievement of collegiate music majors enrolled in a beginning class piano course. Research Studies in Music Education, 34(2), 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X12464743
11.
CrochetL. S.GreenS. K. (2012). Examining progress across time with practical assessments in ensemble settings. Music Educators Journal, 98(3), 49–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432111435276
12.
DukeR. A.FlowersP. J.WolfeD. E. (1997). Children who study piano with excellent teachers in the United States. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 132, 51–84.
13.
DukeR. A.SimmonsA. L.CashC. D. (2009). It’s not how much; it’s how: Characteristics of practice behavior and retention of performance skills. Journal of Research in Music Education, 56(4), 310–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429408328851
14.
GoolsbyT. W. (1999). Assessment in instrumental music. Music Educators Journal, 86(2), 31–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/3399587
15.
HallamS.CreechA.VarvarigouM.PapageorgiI. (2020). Are there differences in practice depending on the instrument played?Psychology of Music, 48(6), 745–765. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735618816370
16.
HallamS.RintaT.VarvarigouM.CreechA.PapageorgiI.GomesT.LanipekunJ. (2012). The development of practising strategies in young people. Psychology of Music, 40(5), 652–680. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735612443868
HewittM. (2001). The effects of modeling, self-evaluation, and self-listening on junior high instrumentalists’ music performance and practice attitude. Journal of Research in Music Education, 49(4), 307–322.
JørgensenH. (2002). Instrumental performance expertise and amount of practice among instrumental students in a conservatoire. Music Education Research, 4(1), 105–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800220119804
21.
KostkaM. J. (2002). Practice expectations and attitudes: A survey of college-level music teachers and students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 50(2), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345818
22.
MacQueenK. M.McLellan-LemalE.BartholowK.MilsteinB. (2008). Team-based codebook development: Structure, process, and agreement. In MacQueenK. M.GuestG. (Eds.), Handbook for team-based qualitative research (pp. 119–135). AltaMira Press.
23.
MadsenC. K. (2004). A 30-year follow-up study of actual applied music practice versus estimated practice. Journal of Research in Music Education, 52(1), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345526
24.
MadsenC. K.GeringerJ. M. (1981). The effect of a distraction index on improving practice attentiveness and musical performance. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 66/67, 46–52.
25.
McPhersonG. E. (2005). From child to musician: Skill development during the beginning stages of learning an instrument. Psychology of Music, 33(1), 5–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735605048012
26.
McPhersonG. E.DavidsonJ. W. (2002). Musical practice: Mother and child interactions during the first year of learning an instrument. Music Education Research, 4(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800220119822
27.
McPhersonG. E.OsborneM. S.EvansP.MikszaP. (2019). Applying self-regulated learning microanalysis to study musicians’ practice. Psychology of Music, 47(1), 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735617731614
28.
McPhersonG. E.ZimmermanB. J. (2011). Self-regulation of musical learning: A social cognitive perspective on developing performance skills. In ColwellR.RichardsonC. (Eds.), MENC handbook of research on music learning: Vol. 2, applications (pp. 130–175). Oxford University Press.
29.
MelagoK. A. (2014). Strategies for successfully teaching students with ADD or ADHD in instrumental lessons. Music Educators Journal, 101(2), 37–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432114547764
30.
MikszaP. (2007). Effective practice: An investigation of observed practice behaviors, self-reported practice habits, and the performance achievement of high school wind players. Journal of Research in Music Education, 55(4), 359–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429408317513
31.
MillsM. M. (2009). Capturing student progress via portfolios in the music classroom. Music Educators Journal, 96(2), 32–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432109351463
32.
NameyE.GuestG.ThairuL.JohnsonL. (2008). Data reduction techniques for large qualitative data sets. In MacQueenK. M.GuestG. (Eds.), Handbook for team-based qualitative research (pp. 119–135). AltaMira Press.
33.
OsborneM. S.McPhersonG. E.MikszaP.EvansP. (2021). Using a microanalysis intervention to examine shifts in musicians’ self-regulated learning. Psychology of Music, 49(4), 972–988. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735620915265
34.
PaleseR. S.DukeR. A. (2022). Thinking time in music practice. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 41(1), 34–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233211056632
35.
PittsS. E.DavidsonJ. W.McPhersonG. E. (2000). Developing effective practise strategies: Case studies of three young instrumentalists. Music Education Research, 2(1), 45–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800050004422
36.
SaldañaJ. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). Sage.
37.
SchattM. D. (2011). High school instrumental music students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding practice: An application of attribution theory. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 29(2), 29–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123310396981
UpitisR.VarelaW.AbramiP. C. (2013). Enriching the time between music lessons with a digital learning portfolio. Canadian Music Educator, 54(4), 22–28.
40.
WagnerM. J. (1975). The effect of a practice report on practice time and musical performance. In MadsenC. K.DouglasR. G.MadsenC. H. (Eds.), Research in music behavior: Modifying music behavior in the classroom (pp. 125–130). Teachers College Press.
41.
WalterD. J.WalterJ. S. (2015). Skill development: How brain research can inform music teaching. Music Educators Journal, 101(4), 49–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432115574555
42.
WolfeD. E. (1984). Improve practice with motivational contracts. Music Educators Journal, 71(1), 33–41.
43.
WuM.-J.ZhaoK.Fils-AimeF. (2022). Response rates of online surveys in published research: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 7, 100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100206
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
