Introduction
Research in music education is an area of research that lacks a philosophical grounding of research (Bennet Reimer, ed. Colwell, p.3). quantification of music education research has faced severe criticism because it is believed that music is immensely complex and the presence of the aesthetics element makes it impossible to quantify its aspects.
But the idea attained prominence in the 1930s by researchers like Carl Seashore. Proponents of the idea of quantitative research believe that it is not the music itself but the responses to different music teaching that is quantified (Madsen and Madsen, 1970, p.50, quoted in Colwell, p.96). The article under review is “The Effects of Choral Music Teacher Experience and Background on Music Teaching Style” by Alan Gumm.
Main text
The research methodology that has been used by Gumm consists of both correlational as well as experimental methods. Further this has been measured through observing music teachers in classrooms along with a questionnaire. The main purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive music teaching technique which can be universally used. keeping in mind this aim Gumm had tried to compare the music teaching techniques of “novice” and “experienced” teachers and their effect on students.
The primary question that the research sought to answer is “What effect does choral music teacher experience and background have on music teaching style?” and the secondary questions which were also of concern in the research are “What are the relationships between background variables, including experience?”, “In parallel to a common criterion of effective music teaching behavior research”, and “what are the relative effects of background and music teaching style on music festival participation and success?”
The methodology employed by Gumm in the research was primarily based on collection of the data which was not done in the earlier phases of this experimental research. A questionnaire with demographic and educational details and their music education background details were asked along with a few questions regarding the teacher’s basic professional affiliation was asked. Teachers were asked to rate from a list of 134 music teaching styles which ones they “never” use to “always” on a 5-point Likert scale. The statistical analysis was done on finding the correlation and the dependency of the teaching styles and the experience of the teacher and the Chi-Square significance test.
The results of the research are indicative of the music teaching styles vis-à-vis ethnicity, age, experience etc of the teacher.
According to Phelps et al. (p. 185) the three concepts associated with experimental research are controlled observation, reliability, and validity. In Gumm’s research the method of controlled observation was employed wherein he observed the teaching styles of music teachers. Gumm inferred the teaching priorities of the teachers through their choice of music teaching behaviors. The reliability of self-rating techniques which Gumm undertook has been proven to be reliable by previous researchers like Bennet(1976), Cicchelli (1984), and Schultz and Switzsky (1984).
Gumm believes that the method of self-rating gives a more accurate finding of the teacher’s orientation than general observation which is a more objective methodology. So first the research gathered the music teacher’s self-perceptions regarding the music teaching styles and their focus, orientation and intent in the overall behavior of teaching of the respondent. Previous research has shown that teaching styles are stable over time but teaching behaviors vary.
Representing these priorities, eight dimensions of music teaching style identified and validated in the research were labeled Assertive Teaching, Time Efficiency, Nonverbal Motivation, Positive Learning Environment, Group Dynamics, Artistic Music Performance, Music Concept Learning, and Student Independence.
The eight dimensions of music teaching style were divided statistically into two higher-order factors, with the breadth of active behavioral learning inferred as the common focus of the first four dimensions listed above and the depth of student reflective cognitive learning as the focus of the latter four dimensions. The research instrument thus used by Gumm in music teaching style research was shown to be valid and reliable for use with teachers and students in choral and instrumental music.
The data was collected from choral music teachers from 2000 public and private schools randomly selected, in the US. The resultant sample was 473 choral music teachers. The statistical analysis that was done was based on categorical principal components analysis with optimal scaling was used to find the relationships between teacher background variables. Then categorical regression analyses were done with optimal scaling were used to investigate the effects of teacher background on music teaching style and to investigate the effects of teacher background and music teaching style dimensions on choral music festival participation and success.
Optimal scaling procedures allowed the full range of categorical (nominal) and quantitative (ordinal and numerical) variables to be analyzed in a single model for each dependent variable. Then the significance level was calculated by Chi-square. Since the method employed was taken from statistical researches the study could be generalized for any kind of music teaching research. Further, the literature support provided by Gumm validates the reliability of the methodology employed for the research.
The results thus found in the research showed that time and advancement in the music teaching profession was the common link between the variables of the first component, and that specialization in the music education field was the common link between the variables in the second component, except for gender.
This implies that music teachers in larger schools seemed to have a more varied and deep music teaching style and music teachers seemed not to differ substantively in music teaching style in short ranges of experience. Instead, a series of multi-year developmental stages can be deduced from the results. A distinct connection was found between gender and specialization implied that females and males tended toward different areas of specialization.
The standardization of music teaching method as is the purpose of Gumm’s research was also a research issue for Britton (1950, 1989). He too tried to formalize the music teaching style and had conducted extensive research with a lot of stress on validation and had documented his study. (Colwell, p.75)
Summary
The study’s design was based on experimental study but it did not have any hypothesis which was tested. This would have validated the experiment more strongly. Further in experimentation research, usually there is an experimental situation that is created wherein the teachers would have been shown a experimental video of music teaching scenario and then they would have been asked to pinpoint as to what was wrong or right in the video of music teaching and what he would have done in such a scenario. This would have given a clear picture of what the teacher feels eliminating the self-rating bias and given a more reliable result.
Reference:
MENC Handbook of Research Methodologies, edited by Richard Colwell. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Phelps, Roger P., Ronald H. Sadoff, Edward C. Warburton, and Lawrence Ferrara. “Quantitative Research: Experimental Methods and Statistical Techniques.” In A Guide to Research in Music Education, 185-203. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, INC., 2005.