A STUDY OF MOTIVATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL BAND: HOW TO TAP INTO THE BANDS POTENTIAL

Alexander M. Keim Valparaiso University

ABSTRACT

Motivation is a key component to a high school band. As a subcomponent of motivation, practice needs to occur if the students are to grow as musicians, and the reality of a music classroom in almost all areas is that students do not practice. With guidance from the ideas of Berry (2007), Bicigo (2010), Hanley (2010), Sichivitsa (2004), and Smith (2003), this study measures the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on practice. Participants were recorded for a week on both motivators and logged various aspects about their practice for those two weeks. The findings show the importance of intrinsic motivation in the musical classroom and give teachers many lessons in which they can grow and can reach their students.

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS

Flow of escalating problems

Students do not want to play instruments Not playing instruments leads to discipline problems No playing + discipline problems = no enjoyment in classroom

Frustration stems from:

Knowing what the problem is without the solution to fix it Seeing the vast amount of potential in the ensemble that only shows itself every so often

Research Questions

What can I do to motivate my students in a way that taps into their potential? More specifically, will intrinsic or extrinsic motivators produce more practice time? Will motivators decrease discipline problems? Will motivators increase musical pleasure? Will motivators increase focus?

CONTEXT

The Town
Population: around 24,400 Racial make-up: 82.8% White, 7.4% Hispanic, 6% Black, 2.5% Asian, 1% two or more races, and 0.03% other races 18th percentile of the U.S. median household income of $63,429 Urban fringe of a large urban area

The High School

Population: 2,485 Racial make-up: 87% White, 7% Hispanic, 3% Multiracial, 2% Asian, and 1% Black High graduation rate of 89.8%

Intermediate Concert Band: the class of this study

Grades 10-12 40 students Instrumentation: : 11 flutes, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, 1 baritone saxophone, 7 trumpets, 4 horns, 2 baritones, 2 tubas, and 5 percussion players Sexual orientation: 21 males and 19 females

PARTICIPANTS

Two largest sections of the band

Trumpets: 3 samples
17.5% of band 2 males and 1 female

Flutes: 3 samples
27.5% of band 3 females

Together
45% of entire band 10% of female population (total = 47.5% of class) 5% of male population (total = 52.5% of class)

METHOD

Two motivators, two weeks, two music samples Week 1

Indiana State School Associations (ISSMA) Group II piece: Emmanuel Variants Process

Explain practice logs Record sight-reading of the sample music Play back recording

Intrinsic motivator: listening to ones self, knowing they will repeat the process in a week

Week 2

ISSMA Group II piece: Chorale and Shaker Dance Process

Record and play back sample from previous week Students sight-reading of new sample is judged using the ISSMA rubric for solos

Extrinsic motivator: higher score in the next week = candy

DATA COLLECTION

Practice logs

DATA ANALYSIS

Information from practice logs

Mean, median, mode of amount of practice Mode of zero explanations Weekly totals of focus percentages

Compare data from extrinsic and intrinsic motivators to determine which motivator had the greatest effect on practice

FINDINGS

This chart summarizes the information obtained from the practice logs:
Calculation Practice with Intrinsic Motivator (minutes per week) 64.6 50 135 School activities, finals, sickness Practice with Extrinsic Motivator (minutes per week) 43.5 32.5 No Mode Work, no instrument

Mean Median Mode Mode of Zero Explanations Number of Focus Percentages 0-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

24 1 3 8 6

26 3 2 5 6

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Interesting results

Expected extrinsic motivator to be more effective Intrinsic motivator had much bigger effect on practice
More minutes per week Higher focus levels: 17 days vs. 13 days of 40-100% of focus

Most significant factor: mode of zero explanations

Intrinsic week

Students were busier, yet had more practice time

Extrinsic week
Reasons for not practicing sounded more like excuses Forgetting to bring instrument home shows that students did not feel like they had a reason to practice

IMPACT ON STUDENT PARTICIPANTS

Surprise from one of the flute players

Always a discipline problem Happy to see she ended up practicing the second most Significant because it shows how the intrinsic motivator helped her to focus and spend time with her music, which tends to be a problem within the class room

In a general sense, study showed participants how a little bit of practice can yield quick results
Students felt better after listening to themselves after week 1: 4 out of 6 expressed how they thought they sounded much better Students practiced less than they had during week 1 during week two, yet still received a piece of candy, which sends the message home that a little bit of practice goes a long way.

IMPACT ON TEACHER

Lessons to learn

Intrinsic motivation will most likely help students with discipline problems

Flute player example Opens door to possibly reach similar students with other possible examples Carefully chosen repertoire Recording and playing the recording back to the students Example: student who excelled in that, but does the bare-minimum elsewhere Help unlock potential Example: student on swim team who told me every day he wanted to practice but could not, which shows motivation worked, but he just simply did not have time Expectations/guesses of students practice time not even close to being correct: the guessed bottom players were on top and vice versa Student who always goofed off in back, seeming like band was social hour practiced the third most

Intrinsic motivation will help the students who have fun and work when needed to flourish

Students are legitimately busy sometimes

Looks are deceiving

As a music teacher, this poses the question: How can I intrinsically motivate my students? From this particular study, having students listen to themselves yielded results. However, what else can be effective?

This particular study only measured the effects of recording and playback, but there are many possibilities as to what else might be effective

Teacher as leader? Share expectations more so students know how high to jump? Recording the best solution?

Until the ladder ideas are tested, the teacher simply needs to take away the idea that reward systems are not as effective as intrinsically motivating their students to want to be better.

IMPACT ON THE EDUCATIONAL FIELD

Another pool of data showing how intrinsic motivators are more powerful than extrinsic motivators This study as a microcosm of:

How effective teachers with reward system could be if they switched to intrinsic motivation the sky would truly be the limit The possibilities of a larger study

This study only six students Real proof could come from a much larger sample to help understand power of motivation

What it truly could be given more time, resources, and energy.

LIMITATIONS

Very small scale study to accommodate working conditions of a typical high school ensemble class, where every minute is critical A much larger sample may yield completely different results since a sample of six is so small Cramp for time might have influenced results Even though this is a small study with some logistical limitations, this study goes beyond the scope of only this particular town and students
All of the lessons learned from the teachers perspective would most likely hold true at any other location, and likewise, similar students would most likely yield similar results Intrinsically motivating students with discipline problems elsewhere would most likely alleviate problems in other locales as well Study had a nice representation of a typical high school class make-up

REFERENCES

Berry, N. H. (2007). Motivating the reluctant student. The American Music Teacher, 56(5), 23-27. Bicigo, J. M. (2010). This is supposed to be fun, isnt it? Teaching students to practice. Alaska Music Educator, 48(2), 20-21.

Hanley, D. S. (2010). Take the repeat: Creative reinforcement of student learning in K-5 general music. Massachusetts Music, 58(3), 46-47.
Sichivitsa, V. O. (2004). Music motivation: A study of fourth, fifth and sixth graders intentions to persist in music. Contributions to Music Education, 31(2), 27-41. Smith, B. (2003). Motivation to learn: What is it and how can I promote it? AmericanString Teacher, 53(4), 68-73.