Sources of self-efficacy in class and studio music lessons

Abstract

Self-efficacy is a key factor in performance success, yet little is known about how music educators nurture students’ self-belief within studio and class music lessons. This study explored teachers’ perceptions of pedagogical priorities in the development of self-efficacy. The goal was to understand how teachers intuitively nurture students’ performance self-efficacy and determine the optimal means by which positive self-perceptions and subsequent musical achievement could be most effectively fostered within music environments. Australian music educators ( n = 304) responded to a questionnaire asking them to share their strategies for helping students cope with common performance scenarios (exam, first concert, negative experience, and sub-par performance) and key performance issues such as music performance anxiety and confidence. Qualitative analyses coded to the four self-efficacy sources revealed that teachers preferred to focus on mastery experiences and employ verbal persuasion. The development of vicarious experience or the psychological performance skills that would benefit physiological and affective states were given substantially lower priority. There were also some significant between-group findings in the way that studio and school classroom teachers employed verbal persuasion which may be a reflection of the different teaching environments. Efforts to enhance performance self-efficacy could focus on the less-utilized sources. Further recommendations and implications for music pedagogy are outlined.

Teachers' approaches to music performance anxiety management: a systematic review

“…Blair and van der Sluis ( 2022 ) defined cognitive strategies as those that include “cognitive psychology and therapeutic interventions using cognitive and imagery strategies to manage or treat MPA” (p. 9). In the study by Gill et al ( 2022 ), fewer than half the studio tutors and classroom teachers used psychological performance skills to combat MPA, and those that did would mostly only do so if the student was already experiencing MPA problems. This further supports a key finding from Blair and van der Sluis ( 2022 ), that a significant level of training or support might be required to implement cognitive strategies into regular teaching, as these cognitive strategies are often used by experts in the field of psychology.…”

“…In this review and the literature, the terms “strategies”, “MPA management strategies”, “coping skills”, “coping strategies”, and “coping tools” have been most commonly used to refer to the ways in which educators have supported their students with MPA (Moura and Serra, 2021 ; Gill et al, 2022 ; Huang and Yu, 2022 ; MacAfee and Comeau, 2022 ). Arguably, however, the strategies are multifunctional, in that they enhance both performance skills and MPA management (Huang and Yu, 2022 ), so it might be more appropriate to identify these strategies as coinciding with the regular teaching practice of the educator, which indirectly influences MPA, rather than explicit strategies.…”

“…For example, preparation, which involves task-oriented strategies such as technical drills, mastering specific phrases, slow practice, and repetition (Moura and Serra, 2021 ), is often a teacher's priority, regardless of their students' MPA situation. In this regard, preparation improves confidence through task mastery, therefore—perhaps incidentally—minimizing MPA (Gill et al, 2022 ).…”

Self-awareness of musical ability.

“…Other studies focused on musicians’ and music students’ perceived self-efficacy (e.g., Hendricks, 2014; Nielsen, 2004), self-beliefs that are extended to actual behavior in context. In music, self-efficacy refers to people’s beliefs in their ability to learn or perform music proficiently (e.g., Gill et al, 2022; McPherson & McCormick, 2006; Ritchie & Williamon, 2007, 2012). Self-efficacy relates to professional experience in adults (Papageorgi et al, 2009), and to music instruction in primary school students (Ritchie & Williamon, 2011).…”

“…Self-efficacy relates to professional experience in adults (Papageorgi et al, 2009), and to music instruction in primary school students (Ritchie & Williamon, 2011). As Bandura's (1977Bandura's ( , 1986 theory predicts (Hendricks, 2016;Zelenak, 2020), musicians' and music students' self-efficacy beliefs about their musical skills are also associated with their accomplishments in previous performances (Papageorgi et al, 2009;Zelenak, 2015), feedback and support from others (Gill et al, 2022;Hendricks, 2014;Zarza-Alzugaray et al, 2020), observations and comparisons with other people's performances (Zelenak, 2010), and physiological and emotional responses (e.g., arousal levels and anxiety) evoked by performing music (Zarza-Alzugaray et al, 2020;Zelenak, 2010). Importantly, the quality of musicians' performances is predicted better by their perceived self-efficacy than by duration of music training and/or frequency of practice (McCormick & McPherson, 2003;McPherson & McCormick, 2006;Ritchie & Williamon, 2012).…”