Assessing Practice Habits: A Study of Collegiate Instrumental Teachers’ Estimation of Students’ Practice Habits Versus Students’ Self-Report

Authors

  • Chooi Wee Lau Mahidol University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37134/mjm.vol9.2.2020

Keywords:

collegiate instrumental teacher, estimation, instrumental lesson, music practice, practice habits

Abstract

This survey research aims to assess the collegiate instrumental teachers’ ability to estimate students’ practice habits in the practice room based on the students’ performance during the instrumental lesson and to collect collegiate instrumental teachers’ suggestions on estimating students’ practice habits in the practice room. A questionnaire in two forms was designed for 15 collegiate instrumental teachers and 30 music performance undergraduate students who were selected through a convenience sampling approach. The percent agreement (PA) and Cohen’s kappa (𝜿) were utilised to examine the inter-rater reliability between the results of both participants on the practice habits that focus on the practice time, practice sessions, goal setting, focused attention, mental practice, technique practice, metronome practice, practise with an electronic tuner, and practise with other practice strategies. The low average results, 31.50% on the percent agreement and .0437 on the Cohen’s kappa revealed that collegiate instrumental teachers cannot effectively estimate their students’ practice habits in the practice room based on the students’ performance during the instrumental lesson. However, an interesting observation was made from the suggestions given by the teachers, that is, the importance of communication of practice habits as well as observation of them in the private lesson studio. To improve, a system that teaches the key indicators of estimating students’ practice habits or a training package or method to observe students’ use of practice habits in the practice room is recommended to develop for future teachers.

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Author Biography

Chooi Wee Lau, Mahidol University

Lau Chooi Wee is a candidate in Master of Arts (Music) from the College of Music, Mahidol University, Thailand. She has received a Bachelor of Music from the University Putra Malaysia.

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Published

2020-08-26

How to Cite

Lau, C. W. (2020). Assessing Practice Habits: A Study of Collegiate Instrumental Teachers’ Estimation of Students’ Practice Habits Versus Students’ Self-Report. Malaysian Journal of Music, 9, 17–28. https://doi.org/10.37134/mjm.vol9.2.2020