Music Education Research 

About: Music Education Research is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Music education & Teaching method. It has an ISSN identifier of 1461-3808. Over the lifetime, 759 publications have been published receiving 15935 citations.

Music and Adolescent Identity

Abstract: This paper reports four studies which investigated the function of musical preference as an identifying ‘badge’ by which adolescents express their own self‐concepts and make judgements of others. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that older and younger adolescents, respectively, hold normative expectations about the values and characteristics of fans of particular musical styles. Study 3 showed that 13‐14‐ and 18‐19‐year‐olds hold normative expectations which influence their perception of the likely social consequences (e.g. having fewer friends) of being a fan of particular musical styles. The final study investigated hypotheses generated by the results of Studies 1‐3. It demonstrated a positive relationship between adolescents’ musical preference, self‐concept, self‐esteem, and normative expectations of the ‘typical’ fans of musical styles. This study also indicated that adolescents favour people who like the same musical style as they do, without necessarily denigrating those who do not. In conjunctio...

A Longitudinal Study of Self-regulation in Children's Musical Practice

Abstract: This study investigates common trends and individual differences in children's practice according to six dimensions of self-regulation. Seven children, aged between 7 and 9 years at the beginning of the study, regularly videotaped their practice over a 3-year period. Behavioural coding addressed the content of practice, the nature of errors and off-task behaviours, and the interaction of family members. Low levels of self-regulatory behaviour, as evidenced in the children's ability to monitor and control their own learning, were found during practice. Learning strategies were confined almost exclusively to playing through pieces once or twice. Most errors were either ignored or corrected by repeating one or two notes. Results show that self-regulatory processes vary widely between students, even from the very early stages of musical development, and help to explain why some learners develop their performance skills quickly while others struggle. Implications for music education and future research are dis...

The Development of Expertise in Young Musicians: Strategy Use, Knowledge Acquisition and Individual Diversity

Abstract: This research considered the relationships between strategy use and the development of expertise in instrumental music taking into account individual differences. Fifty-five string players, with standards ranging from beginner to music college entrants, aged 6-18 were recorded for a period of 10 minutes practising a short piece of appropriate standard, which they then performed. They were also interviewed regarding their approaches to practice. The taped performance was assessed by two independent judges, marks being awarded for different aspects of performance. The findings indicated that effective strategy use in practice depended on the acquisition of appropriate aural schemata to facilitate the monitoring of progress and correction of mistakes. Strategy development was closely related to the developing level of expertise. Case studies examining the prepared performance of students at different graded examination levels, but obtaining different marks in these examinations, revealed a wide range of poss...

Self-regulating Learning Strategies in Instrumental Music Practice

Abstract: This paper reports on how two advanced conservatoire students self-regulated their use of learning strategies within practice sessions. The study capitalised on a naturally occurring activity, and the students were asked to give verbal reports both during and immediately after practice sessions as they prepared a complex piece for performance. The sessions were also videotaped. The findings indicated the students to have extensive self-regulatory skill that enabled them to optimise their learning and performances taking into account interpersonal, contextual and intrapersonal conditions. They sat specific goals, engaged in strategic planning, used self-instruction, task strategies and monitored themselves selectively at a detailed level. In addition, they evaluated themselves adopting criteria that they revised. The implication is that these advanced students demonstrated skilful self-regulatory learning. The complexity and the diversity of the cyclic self-regulation of learning strategies that these stud...