High School Instrumental Music Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Practice: An Application of Attribution Theory

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore high school band students’ perspectives of instrumental music practice from within the attribution theory paradigm and to attempt to elucidate the secondary student’s attitudes toward practice. High school band students from three Midwestern school districts ( N = 218) completed a survey that was used to collect data related to (a) the high school band student’s view of practice as a growth activity, (b) the high school band student’s view of practice as necessary for musical success, (c) the high school band student’s attribution of success by their musically talented peers to practice, and (d) to observe whether there was a difference in views regarding practice because of the student’s grade level. Results indicated that internal attributions of ability and effort were rated the highest of all belief areas, whereas external attributions of task difficulty and luck were rated lowest. Reported amount of time practiced correlated significantly with intrinsic motivational beliefs and internal attributions regarding practice. The number of years of private lessons provided weak correlations in all belief areas with the exception of External Motivation: Avoid Failure. Gender appeared to be significant in the area of attribution of effort with female participants rating statements higher than male participants. Engaging in private study correlated to significant findings in all belief areas with the exception of effort.