No abstract

The purpose of this studj was to identi3 beiiauioral diffences between children who dmpped ouf of piano lessons and tiiose ruiio continued for 3 years. Two widtotaped firstyear lessons of 14 pairs of piano students wem systematically observed to record the duration or frequency of o c c u m c e of selected student and teacher behaviors. Students in tach pair took lessons ruith the same teacher and had comparable initial h e l s ofpianistic ability and achievement. One child in the pair continued the piano lessons for 3years, whereas the other child dropped out during the first or second year of lessons. In general, dropouts elicited v d a l cues and tended to seek approvalfi-om the teachers more oJen than did the more persevering students. On the other hand, t h q received fmer actual approvalsfi-om the teachers, tended to accornplisir the goals set by tire teachers less often during the lessons, and obtained lower marks in tire endofyear piano exam than did their matched peers. The results of independent a n a l p s perfonned for students who dropped out during the Erst and second year of lessons suggest that beiiauioral dif/ences related to achieveinent may help identt3 late dropouts, but not earl,. dropouts. . Wakaha Sasaki is an elementary music teacher in the Thai Japanese Association School,