Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) A Study of Self-Regulation in UiTMs Music Education Students Musical Practice By Nadia

Widyawati Madzhi Department of Music Education Universiti Teknologi MARA Abstract Musical practice is an essential element that makes one a good musician, regardless of whether one is a novice or professional musician. The importance of practice is an aspect of learning music that is often taught early in ones musical training. Practice sessions must include various methods and activities in order for it to be considered effective. One approach is through the practice of self-analysis and self-evaluation of ones learning and progress. This dimension of motivated behaviour, called self-regulation, reflects how a person takes control of his own learning to make sure that desired goals are achieved. A discussion of the self-regulation theory is included to clarify why it is an important aspect of practice and an essential ingredient in musical success. This paper describes a study of UiTM music education undergraduates self-regulation strategies on their instrument. The study aims to investigate and explore the trends of practice among 28 instrumental students, based on the three dimensions of self-regulated theory, which are motive, method and time. A survey questionnaire consisting of 5 sections was design, which asked students to respond to items regarding why they practice, what methods they use during practice and their time management strategies during practice. Implications for music education are also discussed.

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) Introduction Individual music practice is a vital aspect of a students development as a musician. Practice is defined as repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of learning or acquiring proficiency (Cayne, 1990). Musicians must practice in order to learn, improve and maintain their performing skills. Practice session can become a tedious and frustrating process if one does not have a strong desire and motivation in becoming a good musician. According to Weinstein and Mayer (1986), a successful student is methodical in his approach to learning. They actively plan their study according to short and long term goals, making progress along the way in their aim to achieve. Similarly, in music, it is understood that students need to participate in a large amount of practice, therefore, practice sessions need to be well planned to achieve the desired goals. Researchers have taken various approaches to study how musicians acquire and refine their skills as performers. Many new theories of learning have appeared within the past thirty years in the effort to understand the various issues of motivated learning and behaviour. One approach is through the practice of self-analysis and self-evaluation of ones learning and progress. This dimension of motivated behaviour is called selfregulated learning. Self regulated learning, a field in which some of the most important recent advances in the study of cognitive development have occurred, is a useful paradigm from which to study how learners acquire the tools necessary to take control of their own learning and therefore learn effectively (Bandura, 1991).

Defining Self-Regulated Learning It is important to establish precisely what self-regulated learning is and how selfregulated learners can be identified. According to Zimmerman (1986), students are self regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally and behaviourally active participants in their own learning process. In order words, these student selfgenerate thoughts, feelings and actions in order to attain their learning goals. There are of course other definitions of self-regulated learning from other researchers but generally in all definitions, students are assumed to be aware of the potential usefulness of selfregulation processes in enhancing their academic achievement (Zimmerman, 1986). A second feature of most definitions of self-regulation is a self-oriented feedback loop learning (Carver & Scheir, 1981). Self-regulation is a cyclical process because these factors change during learning and must be monitored. Such monitoring leads to changes in an individuals strategies, cognitions, affects and behaviours (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). This cyclical nature is captured in Zimmermans (1998) three-phase selfregulation model (Figure 1)

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05)

Figure 1: Cyclical Phases of Self-Regulation (Zimmerman, 1998)

PERFORMANCE Strive to reduce goalperformance discrepancy Receive feedback

FORETHOUGHT Task Analysis Goal Setting Strategic Planning Implementation Intentions

SELF- REFLECTION Self-Monitoring Self-Evaluating

According to Pintrich and Schunk (2002), the forethought phase precedes actual performance and refers to processes that set the stage for action. The performance control phase involves processes that occur during learning and affect attention and action while during the self-reflection phase, which occurs after performance, people respond to their efforts. The specific events involved in these phases include emotional, motivational, cognitive, metacoginitve and stituational components. The third common feature of all definitions of self-regulated learning is a description of how and why students choose to use a particular self-regulated process, strategy or response. Theorists differ greatly on this motivational dimension of self-regulated learning. Operant theorist argue that all self-regulated learning responses are ultimately under the control of external reward or punishment contingencies (Mace, Belfiore & Hutchinson, 2002).Phenomenologist, on the other hand, view students as motivated primarily by a sense of self-esteem or self-concept (McCombs, 2002). Social cognitive theorists give special attention to the second for student failures to use known selfregulation processes (Schunk, 2002). Schunk describes that even when students observe self-regulated strategy demonstrated by a model, they might not be motivated to imitate if the model is perceived as dissimilar to them. The ability of self-regulation theorist to explain student motivation as well as learning distinguishes them from other formulations

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) and should make them particularly appealing to educators who must deal with many poorly motivated students (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Dimensions of Self-Regulation We do not view self-regulation as a fixed characteristic, such as a personality trait, ability, or stage of development but rather as a context-specific set of processes that students draw on as they promote their own learning (Zimemrman, 1998). These processes affect one or more of six dimensions of musical self-regulation as shown in table 1. However for the purpose of this study, only the first three dimensions are discussed.
Table 1: Dimensions of Self-Regulation

Scientific Questions Why?

Psychological Questions Motive

Socialization Processes Vicarious or direct reinforcement by others Task strategies are modeled or guided socially Time use is socially planned and managed Performance is socially monitored and evaluated Environments are structured by others Help is provided by others

How?

Method

When? What? Where? With whom? Motive

Time Behaviour Physical Environment Social Factors

Self-Regulation Processes Self-set goals, selfreinforcement and selfefficacy Self-initiated covert images and verbal strategies Time use is self-planned and managed Performance is selfmonitored and evaluated Environments are structured by self Help is sought personally

Motive can be represented by the why question. This is the most fundamental question that one needs to answer on why he or she is doing a certain task. Musicians are feeling free and capable of deciding whether to practice or not. The motive dimension therefore explains how a musician comes to value his learning, choose continue learning and persist with their musical practice (McPherson & Renwick, 2001). In this dimension, self-regulation process includes self-set goals, self-reinforcement and self-efficacy (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2002). One of the most discussed aspects concerns deliberate practice, a term used to describe goal-oriented, structured and effortful facets of practice in which motivation, resources and attention determine the amount and quality of practice undertaken (McPherson & Renwick, 2001). Studies shown that a major characteristic of an expert musician is he has taken longer deliberate practice to develop his skills to a higher level. Expert musicians put forth more effort and concentration during their practice, compared to less skilled musicians. The professional musicians are

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) likely to monitor and control their playing by focusing their attention on what they are practicing and how it can be improved.

Self-motivation is also seen as one factor that contributes to ones interest in practicing. According to self-regulated learning theory, understanding why some students and not others decide to engage in an activity such as learning an instrument and practicing regularly involves studying the causes of students self-motivation and a number of a key self-motivation beliefs and processes, such as goal-setting, self-efficacy perceptions, intrinsic interest and attributions (McPherson and Zimmermann, 2002). Hallam (1997) compared differences between novice and professional performers using interviews and analysis of the novices practice sessions. Her analyses show that more capable musicians are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, posses extensive knowledge about the nature of different tasks and what they need to in order to complete them and are able to adopt a range of strategies in response to their needs. In this way, professional musicians are able to set short and long-term goals for themselves, and to mentally note what they want to accomplish during each daily practice sessions or over the weeks or months leading up to a professional performance. It is obvious that a professional musician will be highly motivated in practicing as a result of experience. In contrast, a typical beginning musician needs to be supported as they learn how to define their own practice goals. According to Barry and McArthur (1994), practice is more effective when it is goal-oriented and directly related to the task being practiced. In their survey of 94 applied music teachers, 66% reported always or almost always asking their students to set specific goals for ach of their practice sessions. However, only 14% reported or almost always requiring their student to keep a written record of their practice objectives. Method This dimension correspond to the how question. It involves planning and employing suitable strategies when practicing. In order to understand the method dimension, it is important to consider the types of skills knowledge and understandings that allow musicians to choose or adapt one particular method over others when engaging with music (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2002). Hallam (1997) suggests that practice will only become purposeful and self-determined when a student acquires a range of task-oriented strategies to draw on. McPherson and Renwick (2001) analysis of 7 beginning band students' home practice reveals that over 90% of practice time was spent simply by playing through a piece from beginning to end, without adopting a specific strategy to improve performance. The analysis showed that specific strategies, such as singing, silent fingering and silent inspection of the music each accounted for less than 2% of the beginners' total practice time. The researchers claimed that many beginners are not always aware of where they are going wrong, perhaps because they have not developed an appropriate internal aural schema to identify and monitor their own mistakes.

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05)

There are various practice strategies that can be used by different instrumentalists or singers but one important concept is known as mental practice. The concept of mental practice has drawn the attention of music teachers and researchers in its potential for assisting performance. Coffmann (1990) described mental practice as the covert or imaginary rehearsal of a skill without muscular movement or sound and showed that pianists mental practice improved their performance compared with no practice. Barry and McArthur (1994) define mental practice as some type of silent study or rehearsal. Kostka (2002) describes mental practice as imagining the sounds and notation without physically performing.

Coffman (1990) examined the effects of mental practice, physical practice and knowledge of results on piano performance. Forty music education and music therapy majors participated in a pretest and posttest experiment using one of eight treatment conditions. The dependent variables were performance time, number of pitch errors and number of rhythm errors. Results revealed that all three modes were contributing to the improvement of performance skills but physical practice, either alone or with mental practice was superior to mental practice only. Time According to educational theorist, self-regulated learner students are able to plan and manage their time more efficiently than unregulated learners (Zimmerman, 1998). In relation to music, the time dimension of musical self-regulation refers to how a learner's use of time moves from being socially planned and managed to self-planned and managed (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2002). McPherson and Renwick (2001) found that 73% of their first year students' videotaped home practice, measured from the first to the last note of each practice session, was spent playing their instrument. This rose to 84% by Year Three, suggesting that these beginners were beginning to use their time more efficiently. The majority of the students' playing time was spent on repertoire. Technical work (scales and arpeggios) took up the remainder. Interestingly, the rest of these musicians' practice time was spent on nonplaying activities such as looking for printed music, talking or being spoken to, day dreaming, responding to distractions and expressing frustration. Less than 6% of nonpracticing time was spent resting Research also shows that many non self regulating children actively avoid studying or use less time than allocated (Zimmerman & Weinstein, 1994). This was proven in McPherson and Renwick's analysis of beginners' practice. The least efficient learners spent around 21% of his total practice sessions talking with his mother about his practice tasks and expressing displeasure at his repeated failure to perform correctly. Sloboda and Davidosn (1996) however contrast between formal and informal aspects of practice. They found that high-achieving musicians tend to do more amount of formal practice, such as scales, pieces and technical exercises. Professional musicians are also

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) likely to do more informal practice, such as playing their favourite pieces by ear or improvising. Slaboda and Davidson conclude that these informal ways of practicing contribute to musical success because the highest achieving students are able to find the right balance between freedom and discipline in their practice. In summary, self-regulated theory is seen as an important concept that one can use as a guide to structure and manage his practice sessions. One has to be highly motivated to be success in anything that he does and as a musician, having a regularly practice session is a must and its importance cannot be denied. The purpose of this study is investigate and explore the trends of practice among UiTM music education students based on the three dimensions of self-regulated theory. The researcher intended to investigate whether there were any similarities and differences of practice behaviours among music education students, which comprised of two groups with different background (STPM or Diploma in Music). It is hoped that through investigating the students practice behaviour, we might begin to better understand students actual understanding of what practicing is all about. Research Questions The present study was guided by the following question? 1. Are there similarities and differences in the musical practice applied by the students based on the three dimensions of self-regulated learning? 2. What are the similarities and differences in the musical practice applied by the students based on the three dimensions of self-regulated learning?

Method 26 students form the Bachelors of Music Education (Hons) programme in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) were asked to respond to a questionnaire related to their music practice behaviour. The subjects were divided into 2 groups, which comprises of those with Diploma in Music background (n=14) and the other with only STPM qualification (n=12). All subjects were instrumentalist with a playing experience of at least 6 months. Questions were based on the three dimensions of self-regulated theory (motive, method and time) which the first 2 dimensions were presented using a Likertscale of 1 to 7 (not at all true of me to very true of me) while questions from the time dimension were asked in the form of open ended questions.

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) Results Means and standard deviations for questions from the motive dimension are presented in Table 2. The lowest mean for the diploma group was M=5.21 for item 1 (I practice because my teacher will get upset with me if I dont) and the highest was M=6.71 for item 2 (I practice because I want to be able to play well). The STPM too had the lowest mean for item 1, M=4.83 but the highest was for item 2, M=6.58 (I practice because I want to pass my examinations and be able to graduate).

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics for Items under the Motive Dimension

Item 1 2 3

Description I practice because my teacher will get upset with me if I dont I practice because I want to be able to play well I practice because I want to pass my examinations and be able to graduate I practice because it is important to me to do my practice. I practice because I will feel bad about myself if I dont do it. I practice because I love playing my instrument. I practice because its fun I practice because I want to improve myself

Mean Diploma STPM 5.21 4.83 6.71 6.36 6.42 6.58

S.D Diploma 1.672 0.469 1.151

STPM 1.467 0.793 0.996

4 5 6 7 8

6.21 5.29 6.14 5.93 6.29

6.25 5.50 6.17 5.92 6.25

1.311 1.267 1.292 0.997 0.994

0.866 1.732 1.030 1.240 1.288

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05)

Means and standard deviations for questions from the method dimension are presented in Table 3. The lowest mean for the diploma group was M=2.88 for item 4 (I use the metronome when I practice) and the highest was M=5.65 for item 7 (I play other pieces than the pieces given by my teacher, for fun.). The STPM too had the lowest mean for item 4, M=2.50 while the highest mean was for item 8 (I try to memorize the pieces Im learning so I can be more expressive when I play them) with the mean of M=5.92
Table 3 Descriptive Statistics for Items under the Method Dimension

Item 1

Description I start my practice by asking myself What do I need to practice most today? If I cant play something I tend to give up trying. When I make a mistake I stop playing and think about how the music should be played I use the metronome when I practice. I make the effort to have a recording of the pieces that Im learning so I know how the pieces should be played I feel satisfied when I am able to get all the pitches correct when practicing. I play other pieces than the pieces given by my teacher, for fun. I try to memorize the pieces Im learning so I can be more expressive when I play them. I seek help from someone whenever I encounter any problems with my pieces I break up difficult sections of a piece into smaller sections and practice them over and over before I play the whole piece

Mean Diploma STPM 5.50 5.33

S.D Diploma 1.401

STPM 1.670

2 3

4.50 5.00

4.92 5.33

1.506 1.468

1.832 1.231

4 5

3.21 4.00

2.50 3.25

1.929 2.112

1.834 2.094

5.86

5.42

1.231

1.240

7 8

5.93 4.93

5.00 5.92

1.269 1.492

2.594 1.621

4.21

4.25

1.805

2.527

10

5.14

5.33

1.027

1.231

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) As for the time dimension, subjects were required to answer 6 open-ended questions. Questions were developed based on whether they practice everyday, every week and any time were spent on activities like playing technical work, examination pieces, known, favourite pieces and improvisation every time they practice.

Everyday Generally, only 31% respondent practice everyday with the practice time of at least 30 minutes each sessions and 3 hours the most. The STPM had more respondent practicing everyday with the percentage of 42% while for the diploma group only 21% responded that they practice everyday. Approximately 80% of those who did not practice everyday claimed that time was the biggest factor that prohibit them from practicing everyday.

Every Week All respondents, regardless of which group they belong to, practice every week. However, the number of practice times differs from one group to another. 50% of respondent from the STPM group practice 5-6 times a week as compared to those from the diploma group whom 58% of them practice only between 2-3 times a week.

Any Time Spent on Practice Activities? 1. Technical Work (eg.scales, arpeggios etc.) Approximately 60% of the respondents did not spend any time practicing technical works each time they practice. 50% from the STPM group stated that they did technical work as compared to only 48% from the diploma group. In general, the reason for not doing technical work was because of time limitation, much of the time spent during practicing was to focus on the playing of examination pieces. 2. Examination Pieces All respondents agreed that their practice session was all about practicing examination pieces. Time spent playing the pieces was at least 20 minutes and the most is 2 hours. 50% of the respondents from the STPM group stated that they practice 1 hour on pieces while 71% diploma respondents claimed that they practice 2 hours on pieces. 3. Known, Favourite Pieces 85% of the respondents play some popular and favourite pieces every time they practice with 92% from the STPM group and 79% from the diploma group. Time spent for the STPM group was within 10 minutes to 1 hour while the diploma respondents spent within the range of 15 to 3 hours.

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) 4. Improvisation In general, only 46% of the respondents did some kind of improvisation activities during their practice sessions with 67% form the STPM group and only 29% from the diploma group. Time spent for the STPM group was within 5 minutes to 1 hour as well as for the diploma group. Two most common reasons for not wanting to improvise during practice sessions were because of time constraint and they feel that they were not creative enough to be able to do improvisation.

Discussion From Table 2, it is possible to make the conclusion that there were no significant differences for both groups in terms of motive dimension. In general all students seem to focus on doing well for exams and the personal satisfaction. Both groups had the lowest mean for item 1 which was the reason they practice was that they felt that their teacher would get upset if they didnt. The highest mean for diploma was for item 2 which was I practice because I want to be able to play well. However, the STPM opted for item 3 which was I practice because I want to pass my examinations and be able to graduate. From these results, it can be seen that there maybe a difference in terms of motivation and what drives them to be success in both groups. The STPM maybe attracted to external motivation while the diploma may have a higher intrinsic motivation values in them. As for the method dimension, both groups had the lowest mean for item 4, which was I use the metronome when I practice. Highest mean for diploma was for item 7 that was I play other pieces given b my teacher for fun while the STPM opted for item 8 that was I try to memorize the pieces Im learning so I can be more expressive when I play them. From the results, it can be seen that the students are lacking in practice strategy as means showed higher ratings for getting right notes and playing pieces for fun rather than focusing on other important aspects of practicing like using the metronome. One factor that may contribute this situation is the late start in learning musical instruments for both groups. The students have a lot of basic aspects that needs to be learned like how to read notes for example. Because of that, much of their focus is placed on the rudiments of music and this forbid them from focusing on other important aspects of musical playing. In general, the students most students practice every week but not everyday and time constraint is the biggest factor of why they cannot practice everyday. With at least 6 classes comprises of education and music education courses they are given a large amount of assignments, quizzes and projects that need to be fulfilled. In addition, some students are tired by the end of the day, with quite a number of classes that they need o attend to and this also affects their practice time. Because of time constraint also, they only focused on playing the examination pieces whenever they have the chance to practice with other important aspects of practicing like playing technical exercises is being left out.

Persidangan Pendidikan Muzik Malaysia 2005 (MusEd05) Conclusion This study has resulted in the need of more study to be conducted on adults who learn musical instrument at a later age. It is important that these group of students must always be aware that they have to work extra hard in learning music but they must also remember that nothing is impossible and there are a number of examples that a person can be a successful musician even though he had a late start in playing the instrument. Perseverance is the keyword and if they hold on to this powerful word one can expect a miracle to happen.