Taking the plunge: The hopes and fears of students as they begin music college

Abstract

The attitudes and experiences of 13 music students entering a conservatoire were tracked before their entry and throughout their first term at college. Aspirations and apprehensions towards the musical, academic and social aspects of college life were collected in addition to career aims, and the data analysed qualitatively to produce emergent themes. Three pivot points were drawn from the analysis, describing events or factors that appear to shape the development of the students as musicians. The first highlights the importance of the students' first performance at college, and the second focuses on overcoming possible feelings of inadequacy generated from being one of many outstanding musicians. Thirdly, the role of feedback is highlighted as an important part of the students becoming confident in all aspects of their musical work.

Tracing the Transition from Study to a Contemporary Creative Working Life: The Trajectories of Professional Musicians

“…Some of the most notable macro transitions that occur during many musicians' early adulthood are those associated with gaining admission to an institution, such as a music academy or conservatoire, with the intention of studying to become a professional musician and those associated with negotiating the passage from such study to working life (see MacNamara et al 2008MacNamara et al , 2006. With respect to the transition into study Burt and Mills (2006), have argued that, in order to help students manage this transition smoothly, we need to understand the multiple tensions and conflicts that music students encounter and struggle with. For example, notions of personal competence as compared to other students, and managing relationships with others, pose substantive challenges for students early in their advanced music studies (for example Burt and Mills 2006;Kingsbury 1988).…”

“…With respect to the transition into study Burt and Mills (2006), have argued that, in order to help students manage this transition smoothly, we need to understand the multiple tensions and conflicts that music students encounter and struggle with. For example, notions of personal competence as compared to other students, and managing relationships with others, pose substantive challenges for students early in their advanced music studies (for example Burt and Mills 2006;Kingsbury 1988). Juuti and Littleton (2010), in their study exploring the significance of entering the music academy, also underscored the challenge of reconciling what is personally meaningful with the collective space of cultural forms and social relations whilst negotiating membership of the established music culture.…”

“…Furthermore, the role of teachers, parents and peers have been construed as vital for the development of coping strategies and the kinds of positive experience needed for successful transitions into music professions (Burland & Davidson 2004;MacNamara et al 2008). Recognizing the paucity of work examining musicians' own accounts of the nature and significance of the transition process (Burt and Mills 2006; see also MacNamara et al 2006), the research reported here was designed to investigate, in the context of an ongoing longitudinal study, how musicians' professional identities are (re-)negotiated in the context of transition from study to working life.…”

Attitudes of international music students from East Asia toward US higher education institutions

“…Burt and Mills (2006) investigated 13 college music majors and found that they tended to cite the importance of the first performance after entering their schools of music; feedback about the first performance greatly influenced their confidence. Thus, to obtain positive feedback, music majors have been found to place emphasis on improved performance levels and prioritization of private lessons and personal practice (Kostaka, 2002;Wolfgang, 1990;Teachout, 2001).…”

“…There were 15 questions concerning the perceived factors: (1) 3 questions on language, including 1 written language question (Green, 2007;Ying, 2003) and 2 conversational language questions (Barratt & Huba, 1994;Fu, 1995;Macrae, 1997;Williams, Woodhal, & O'Brian, 1986), (2) 4 questions concerning social support network (Kagan & Cohen, 1990;Perrucci & Hu, 1995;Yeh & Inose, 2003), 3) 5 questions concerning connectedness to the host culture, including familiarity with the American school system (Day & Hajj, 1986;White, Brown, & Suddick, 1983), relationships with American friends (Kagan & Cohen, 1990), and relationships with professors (Burt & Mills, 2006;Williamon & Thompson, 2006), 4) 2 questions concerning Asian learning styles (Niles, 1995;Leung, 2001;Yee, 1976), and 5) 1 question concerning emotional stability (Schram & Lauver, 1988;Wan, Chapman, & Biggs, 1992;Yeh & Inose, 2003).…”