Effects of Internal and External Focus of Attention on Novices’ Rehearsal Evaluations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of internal and external focus of attention on novices’ rehearsal evaluations. Thirty-two undergraduate instrumental music education students led bands in a series of three 6-minute rehearsals on their assigned excerpt. Prior to these rehearsals, participants were led in score study and rehearsal preparation activities. Internal group ( n = 16) participants’ preparation related to knowledge of the score, whereas external group ( n = 16) participants focused their preparations on observable rehearsal behaviors with a minimal amount of time devoted to score study. No significant differences were found between conditions for any of several dependent measures, including participants’ self-evaluation of their teaching, participants’ evaluation of ensemble performance, ensemble members’ evaluations of conductor rehearsal effectiveness and of conductor score knowledge, and independent audio evaluation of the final ensemble performance run-through. Results of repeated-measures analyses did indicate significant improvements in participants’ and ensemble members’ evaluations, for both experimental groups, between the first rehearsal and the second and third rehearsals. Both methods may have helped novice conductors prepare to rehearse, but their direct experience in working with ensembles may have been comparatively more informative in preparing them for future rehearsals.

Effects of Ensemble Size and Repertoire Difficulty on Ratings of Concert Band Performances

“…Participants were provided with a brief vignette describing each performing ensemble on the stimulus recording (including number of musicians). Following precedent in previous research studies (Montemayor & Moss, 2009; Silvey & Montemayor, 2014), we used Bergee’s (1995) three primary factors for concert band adjudication. Immediately following each vignette, an evaluation form appeared with which participants assessed the primary factors of ensemble tone quality/intonation, musicianship/expression, and rhythm/articulation on a 10-point Likert-type scale (ranging from 1 = poor to 10 = excellent ).…”

An Observational Study of Score Study Practices Among Undergraduate Instrumental Music Education Majors

“…Effects of recordings on the score study process itself, however, seems to be a new area of inquiry. Anecdotal evidence from previous research studies (see Montemayor & Moss, 2009;Silvey & Montemayor, 2014) and our own experiences as teacher educators suggest that novice conductors prefer to have a model recording when possible, and it seems likely that the answers to our research questions (i.e., how novices generate an internal aural image from a conductor score) could look very different in either the presence or the absence of such a recording. Given that recordings (albeit of varying quality) of many selections from contemporary band repertoire are now more readily available than ever via commercial recordings and as YouTube videos (Whitaker, Orman, & Yarbrough, 2014), knowing how such recordings might affect novices' score study processes and their subsequent conducting performance seems important for developing and refining score study instruction in university conducting preparation programs.…”

Linguistic Indicators of Reflective Practice Among Music Education Majors

“…Although previous researchers have examined the content of students’ reflections on their teaching (Baumgartner, 2011; Silvey & Montemayor, 2014; Stegman, 2007), none have used psycholinguistic analysis—defined by Crystal (2008) as the study of how language relates to underlying psychological processes—to investigate the reflections of preservice music teachers. By categorizing and quantifying elements of language through psycholinguistic inquiry, researchers have found that the frequency with which people use certain types of words in written or spoken discourse can reveal a surprising amount about their personality, personal relationships, emotional states, and focus of attention.…”