Instrumental music teaching and learning in Australia

This book investigates instrumental music teaching in Australian higher education and describes typical teacher and student behaviour in this under-researched educational setting. The study examines a wide range of areas associated with instrumental music teaching such as lesson structure, lesson content, teaching methodology and teacher/ student relationship. To avoid narrow specialisation three instrument groups (piano, strings and winds) were selected in a gender and geographically balanced sample. The researcher developed an observational instrument to analyse teacher/student interactions and used cluster analysis to identify sub-groups with similar characteristics. This was applied to isolate patterns of behaviour exhibited by teachers and students and to define teaching and learning styles present in advanced applied music teaching. The findings enhance current understanding of studio music teaching and provide new insights into many aspects of instrumental pedagogy.