Attitudes and practices of Japanese and American music teachers towards integrating music with other subjects

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare attitudes and practices among general music teachers in Japan (n = 135) and the USA (n = 136) concerning the integration of music with other academic subjects. Teachers completed a researcher-designed questionnaire, and results revealed significant differences in both areas. Music teachers from the USA obtained higher attitude ratings towards the use of music integration, while music teachers in Japan integrated music with other subjects to a lesser extent. Teachers in both countries were most likely to integrate music with reading, language, science and math. History and social science integration with music was the least common area of integration among Japanese music teachers, while among American music teachers the practice of integrating music into history and social science content was more common. Several of the attitude correlations (i.e. science and mathematics integration, art integration) were not significantly related among Japanese teachers.