This article provides a conceptual overview of a self-determination theory approach to motivation in music education. Research on motivation in music learning is active and has influenced the field considerably, but it remains theoretically patchy, with a vast array of theoretical perspectives that are relatively disconnected. Reflecting motivation research more generally, music education still lacks a parsimonious, unified theoretical approach to motivation. Self-determination theory offers a way to address this issue, because it is a broad theory of motivation that examines the nature and sources of motivational quality. This article describes two key components of self-determination theory. First, the tendency towards personal growth and a more unified sense of self is supported through the fulfilment of the basic psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Second, behaviour is more enjoyable and contributes more to personal wellbeing when motivation is internalized and more closely aligned with the self. These two features of self-determination theory are related, such that motivation is internalized to the extent that basic psychological needs are fulfilled. These processes are supported by recent self-determination theory research in music education. Previous research on motivation from other theoretical perspectives also lends support to the self-determination theory approach. The approach therefore provides a means of theoretically unifying previous research. An integrated model is presented as the basis for future research on motivation for music learning in the context of psychological wellbeing more broadly.

This article addresses individuals' decisions to continue or cease playing a musical instrument from a basic psychological needs perspective. Participants began learning music 10 years prior to the study and were the subject of previous longitudinal research. They completed a survey investigating the three psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy in the contexts of when they were most engaged in playing their instrument during high school, and in the time leading up to when they ceased playing. Decisions to cease music instruction or playing an instrument were associated with diminished feelings of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, compared to when they were most engaged. Open-ended responses to a question about why they ceased playing supported this finding and showed that participants refer to reasons directly related to feelings of psychological needs being thwarted. This article therefore proposes that motivations to cease or continue playing a musical instrument demonstrate a natural propensity to more vital, healthy forms of behaviour. The study offers preliminary evidence for a framework that may help to unify previous research in music and supports motivational research in other areas.

This study examines empirically the possible relationships between the emotional quality one can attribute to musical stimuli (expressed emotion, or external locus of emotion) and the subjective emotional response one can have as a result of listening to music (felt emotion, or internal locus). The relationship between the two loci of emotion is often assumed to be positive, that is, when listening to music, one feels the emotion that the music expresses. Gabrielsson has suggested, however, that this assumption is simplistic, and has proposed a model that describes other possible relationships. The present study quantitatively investigates Gabrielsson's proposal. Forty-five participants responded to questions about both expressed emotion and felt emotion for two familiar experimenter-selected pieces (Pachelbel's Canon and Advance Australia Fair, the Australian national anthem) and one or two pieces of their own selection. Participants were asked to “imagine” their self-selected pieces in the absence of recordings or a live performance. An experimenter-selected piece was both sounded and imagined, and no significant difference was observed in responses between the two conditions. Quantitative criteria were generated in order to compare the loci (internal and external) of each piece in geometric space. Results showed that the positive relationship, where the internal and external locus emotions are the same, occurred in 61% of cases. In general, these pieces were preferred more than those exhibiting non-positive relationships. Implications for practices that tacitly assume a 100% positive relationship, or are not specific about the locus of emotion, are discussed.

This article describes the development of a music practice microanalysis protocol that is based on the three-phase model of self-regulated learning (i.e., Forethought, Performance, and Self-Reflection). Up until now, most studies on music practice have tended to focus on behavioural aspects. The expanded view presented here outlines a technique for mapping the types of behaviours (actions), cognition (thoughts), and affect (feelings) that can help focus musicians’ practice. To explain the technique, we describe the practice of two first year Bachelor of Music students studying at a prominent university music school who are compared at three time points across one semester as they prepare an étude for a performance exam. These case studies demonstrate two broadly contrasting self-regulated learning profiles of how microanalysis can be used to cue students to think about what they are doing and then reflect critically on the strategies they can use to improve their playing. As a technique, microanalysis can inform educational interventions aimed at breaking the cycle of habits that typify musical practice by encouraging musicians to become more behaviourally, metacognitively, and motivationally involved in their own learning.

The main objectives of the present research were to test a conceptual model linking motivational processes involved in coping with the stress of university assessment, and to examine gender differences in these processes. Self-determined motivation was hypothesized to predict coping strategies and the response to assessment-related stress, and coping was hypothesized to play a considerable role in short-and long-term outcomes of assessment. We examined this model using multiple group path analysis in Mplus. In Study 1 (N = 265), music students' use of engagement-coping strategies led to stronger musical career intentions, while disengagement-coping strategies led to weaker intentions. In Study 2 (N = 340), students' increased use of engagement coping, and decreased use of disengagement coping strategies led to higher grades, higher positive affect and lower negative affect. In both studies, engagement and disengagement-coping were predicted by autonomous and controlled motivation, respectively. Motivation also indirectly predicted academic outcomes through stress appraisal and coping. While women experienced higher levels of stress, men were more negatively affected by the use of disengagement-oriented coping. Gender differences were also found on the links between engagement-oriented coping and outcomes. These results fill an important gap in the literature regarding gender differences in the outcomes coping in education, as well as contributing to a better understanding of the processes linking motivation, coping and academic outcomes.