A R T I C L E

85

Music performance teachers’ Psychology of Music

Psychology of Music
conceptions about learning and Copyright © 2009
Society for Education, Music

instruction: a descriptive study of and Psychology Research

85–106

Spanish piano teachers 10.1177/0305735609336059

http://pom.sagepub.com

ALFREDO BAUTISTA, Mª DEL PUY PÉREZ ECHEVERRÍA AND

J. IGNACIO POZO
universidad autónoma de madrid , spain

abstract  There has been little research into the conceptions music performance
teachers have about learning and instruction, by either psychological or educational
researchers. The main aim of this study was to describe the conceptions of 45 Spanish
piano teachers from music conservatories, by analysing their differences according to
the variable ‘Years of teaching experience’ (YTE). Three groups of 15 teachers were
studied as follows: (1) highly experienced teachers (more than 15 YTE); (2) experienced
teachers (between five and 15 YTE); and (3) novice teachers (less than five YTE). Data
was collected using written open-ended questionnaires, and analysed by means of the
lexicometrical method. Three different conceptions were identified between these groups:
direct, interpretative and constructive. The findings suggested that the less experienced
the teachers were, the more sophisticated, complex and adapted to music education
their conceptions about learning and instruction were. Psychological, educative and
curricular implications are discussed.

keywords:  conceptions about learning and instruction, conceptual change, piano teachers,
teaching experience

Introduction
Several authors have recently described and criticized traditional teaching
approaches to music interpretation within western classical culture. As Jørgensen
(2000) has argued, in the typical settings for instrumental learning (e.g., music
conservatories), teachers have historically adopted what he called the ‘dominant
teacher approach’ (see also Baker, 2006; Schmit, 1998). Within this kind of
‘master–apprentice’ relationship, typical of past cultures of education (Bruner,
1996), the prevalent modes of student learning were imitation, reproduction and
passive reception of knowledge (Hultberg, 2002). In contrast, the many educational
reform movements that have come about during the past decades, based on research
in education and psychology, have provided compelling theoretical and empirical

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sempre :
86 Psychology of Music 38(1)

support for the assumption of what could be called the ‘constructive teacher
approach’. Indeed, as has also happened in other domains of knowledge, a number
of investigations have shown that when music teachers adopt this new ‘style’ and
encourage students to play an active and constructive role in their learning, more
sophisticated and meaningful learning outcomes are achieved (e.g., Grant & Drafall,
1991; Hewitt, 2001). However, the traditional model of instrumental instruction
mentioned above – often also referred to as the ‘conservatoire model’ (Burwell,
2005) – is still easily recognized by many performance teachers from different coun­
tries when referring to their current didactic practices. In the present study, one of
the possible factors that might be preventing this educative change is addressed:
teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction.

CONTEXT FOR THE RESEARCH: THE CASE OF SPANISH MUSIC CONSERVATORIES

For a very long time, the official classical instrumental instruction in Spain has
been exclusively developed within the context of the professional conservatories
of music.1 In accordance with Jørgensen’s perspective, Torrado (2003) stated that
music education in Spain has been historically based on very simple and naïve
psychological principles. The reflection of these traditional ‘beliefs’ about learning
and instruction is evident in several former education laws (Decreto, 1942; Real
Decreto, 1966). Their main objective was merely to make learners reproduce wide
musical repertoires, both accurately and correctly, but very little attention was
paid to other more ‘artistic’ aspects. As a result, the amount of students’ practice
was understood as the most decisive factor of their performance skills. Musical
excellence was exclusively conceived of in terms of technical expertise, and hence
the didactic strategies suggested to the teachers were based on the promotion of
pupils’ repetition, imitation and copying of prestigious interpreters. Moreover, since
students’ success was to a certain degree also attributed to their innate and natural
predispositions for music, many examinations were carried out to select the most
promising, virtuous performers (Pozo, Bautista, & Torrado, 2008).
In contrast, since the most recent educational reform introduced in Spanish
musical conservatories (LOGSE, 1990), teachers have been required to adopt more
complex and sophisticated educative practices. In other words, they have been
strongly encouraged to assume the ‘constructivist approach’ mentioned above.
First, this education law suggested that musical scores should not just be taught
at a technical or mechanical level, but especially in more artistic and epistemic
ways, e.g., analytic, aesthetical, expressive and communicative. Following the tax­
onomy proposed by Chaffin, Imreh, Lemieux, & Chen (2003), it could be said that
the learning of musical scores is understood as an integration of their artistic,
interpretative and technical/basic dimensions. Second, in order to achieve these
aims, instructional strategies designed to improve the students’ independence,
aut­onomy and self-regulatory processes have also been recommended to the
teachers (see Ginsborg, 2002; Nielsen, 1999). Finally, it has been suggested that
teachers approach situations of evaluation as another learning context because
of their formative power and not just as examinations for selecting or giving marks
to the students (see Daniel, 2001; Maugars, 2006). In short, the final goal of this

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 87

education law was to educate strategic learners and thinkers, who approach their
daily learning activities in the same way as expert performers (Chaffin et al., 2003;
Hallam, 1995, 2001; Lehmann & Gruber, 2006).
All these curricular proposals entailed a complete update of Spanish performance
teachers’ educative functions. Nevertheless, psychological and educative research
has frequently shown how difficult it is to introduce these kinds of innovations into
actual educative practices. According to the postulates of some studies (e.g., Eley,
2006), changing teachers’ didactic approaches implies modifying their conceptions
about learning and instruction as well. Even Ramsden (1990), suggesting a
direc­tional influence, has stated that ‘a change in conceptions of teaching is a pre­
requisite to change in teaching practices’ (p. 164). Therefore, in order to modify
the approaches of music performance teachers, it first seems necessary to study and
know their personal conceptions. However, this topic is an under-researched area in
the field of music education.

CONCEPTIONS ABOUT LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION AS PERSONAL THEORIES:

SOME EVIDENCE IN THE FIELD OF MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Since the early 1990s, the conceptions that teachers have about learning and
instructional processes have been the focus of much empirical study by psychological
and educational researchers, with investigations being carried out from diverse
theoretical and methodological approaches (for several complete overviews see
Hofer & Pintrich, 2002; Kember, 1997; Pérez Echeverría, Mateos, Scheuer, &
Martín, 2006). Although different descriptive labels have been used, these studies
have consistently shown a wide spectrum of conceptions, from an emphasis on
the teacher, the content, and the notion of direct transmission of information from
teacher to learner, to an emphasis on the student’s need to construct some sort
of representation of the content, based on the notion that the teacher’s role is to
provide support and guidance in these processes.
Within our framework of research, some investigations – developed with teachers
from several domains of knowledge and education levels – have identified the
existence of three personal conceptions, with increasing degrees of adjustment to
students’ learning: direct, interpretative and constructive (see Pozo et al., 2006). In
accordance with other conceptual approaches to intuitive knowledge (e.g., Gopnik
& Meltzoff, 1997; Vosniadou, 1994), these conceptions have been interpreted as
relatively coherent cognitive theories, although sometimes quite mixed patterns
have also been found. Different epistemological, ontological and conceptual
assumptions, with growing degrees of elaboration and complexity, are supposed to
be the cognitive roots of these three theories (see Table 1).
Direct and interpretative theories possess implicit cognitive natures (Karmiloff-
Smith, 1992). They both are spontaneously and unconsciously developed by the
teachers, as a result of their daily participation in different educative contexts –
both formal and informal (Olson & Bruner, 1996) – and hence acquired with no
kind of deliberate and explicit instruction. More specifically, the direct theory has
been interpreted as the most traditional and intuitive perspective for conceiving
of learning and instructional processes, whereas the interpretative theory has been

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table 1   Assumptions of the different theories about learning and instruction (adapted from Pérez
Echeverría et al., 2001)

Direct Interpretative Constructive

Epistemological Ingenuous realism: Interpretative realism:

Constructivism:
Knowledge reflects Knowledge reflects the
Knowledge is a
the reality in reality in an evident and
construction elaborated
an evident and objective way. However,
by the subject, who builds
objective way. subject has an important
own and personal models
and active role in the
to interpret the reality
knowing process.(which can be more or less
appropriate).
Ontological States – products: Actions and processes: Complex systems:
Learning is Learning is conceived Learning is conceived in
conceived in in terms of actions and terms of complex systems
terms of states or processes (i.e., cognitive, (i.e., self-regulation
static products motivational, etc.), processes), internally
(i.e., academic which are externally managed by the learner in
contents). managed. order to build and develop
abilities or strategies.
Conceptual Simple causality: Lineal multiple causality: Interactive causality:
A direct and A direct and lineal A complex and interactive
lineal relation relation is established relation is established
is established between learning between learning
between learning conditions, learning conditions, learning
conditions and processes, and learning processes and learning
learning outcomes. outcomes. outcomes.

seen as the product of the logic and/or natural ‘evolution’ of the direct theory (as
a result of factors such as age, cognitive development and/or previous learning/
teaching experiences). Certainly, the progression from one theory to another does
not require a theoretical ‘rupture’ (but rather the inclusion of more factors, ele­
ments and relations), because the essence of their assumptions is very similar.
As Pozo et al. (2006) have argued, these assumptions are strongly rooted in the
human cognitive system, relatively generalized among teachers from different
cultural contexts, and above all strongly resistant to change without certain kinds
of deliberate intervention, as will be explained later (Strauss & Shilony, 1994). In
contrast, the cognitive nature of the constructive theory is conscious and essentially
explicit, because it is based on scientific knowledge (e.g., educational, psychological,
epistemological). Its acquisition involves a strong theoretical ‘rupture’ of the
most implicit, embodied assumptions. Consequently, it can be only acquired and
implemented by means of complex, sophisticated processes of academic and practical
instruction – based on reflection on and about both the knowledge and the action
(Schön, 1987). In this sense, it seems clear that the development of the constructive
theory is not the result of the same kind of logic and/or natural ‘evolution’, but
rather the product of a long, complex and deliberate process of ‘conceptual change’
(Pérez Echeverría, Mateos, Pozo, & Scheuer, 2001). From our point of view, this
change is understood as a process of hierarchical integration between implicit

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 89

and explicit conceptions; that is, as a progressive representational ‘redescription’

(Karmiloff-Smith, 1992; Pozo et al., 2006).
In Spain, the interest in promoting music teachers’ conceptual change has arisen
very recently, as a result of the education reform described above (LOGSE, 1990).
Indeed, the generations of teachers who were instructed under past curricula started
their teaching careers without undertaking formal preparation, because pre-service
education programmes were not connected to the acquisition of didactic strategies.
They were instructed as instrumentalists, not as teachers. In contrast, within a
span of approximately one decade, several courses related to learning principles
and instructional practices have been included among the compulsory subjects
of pre-service teachers’ education programmes (e.g., psychopedagogy, didactics,
curricular design). Their knowledge of these topics is also evaluated in competitive
examinations to achieve the position of official music teachers. However, in general
terms, these courses have tended to adopt fundamentally theoretical approaches
(based on the direct transmission of declarative knowledge), instead of more
practical and procedural ones. According to several studies on conceptual change
in different domains (Chi & Roscoe, 2002; Vosniadou, Baltas, & Vamvakoussi,
2007), these traditional types of instructional approaches are necessary to modify
the explicit conceptions of these teachers, but might not be enough to promote
the hierarchical integration between their implicit and explicit assumptions, and
to influence their actual teaching practices. In other words, the power of these
formative strategies to achieve the teachers’ conceptual change is certainly limited,
and even unlikely (Martín et al., 2006).
In the field of music, Torrado (2003) carried out the first two investigations within
the conceptual framework previously described (Table 1), where conceptions are
understood as personal cognitive theories (direct, interpretative and constructive). In
the first of them, the conceptions of 32 string teachers from Spanish conservatories
were studied. Data was collected by means of a multiple-choice questionnaire, in
which each question was followed by three options corresponding to these three
theories. Surprisingly, the majority of these teachers (49%) mainly chose constructive
options. However, in the second study, Torrado recorded and analysed the educative
practices of a selected sample composed of teachers with different conceptions.
The most important result obtained was that their educative approaches were
theoretically less sophisticated than their responses to the survey applied to assess
their conceptions. Among other factors, this difference between ‘what teachers
said’ and ‘what teachers did’ was attributed to the features of the multiple-choice
questionnaire, which probably did not allow access to the teachers’ conceptions,
but rather to their declarative knowledge. Hence, new methodological approaches
to assess these mental representations are still required. Furthermore, because of its
theoretical and applied relevance, it seems necessary to investigate which variables
could discriminate between teachers’ conceptions.

Aims
The first aim was to describe, from a qualitative perspective, the different
conceptions about learning and instruction that exist among piano teachers from

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Spanish conservatories (elementary and intermediate degree). Specifically, because

of their instructional importance, we decided to focus on three specific didactic
scenarios that had not been studied in previous investigations: (1) learning outcomes
that focus attention on teaching musical scores; (2) instructional strategies; (3)
evaluation. In order to access the teachers’ most implicit mental representations
about these topics, open-response questionnaires of an indirect nature were used
and the statistical analysis of textual data was applied (Lebart, Salem, & Berry,
1998). The second aim was to explore the possible relations between teachers’
conceptions and the variable ‘Years of teaching experience’ (YTE). On the basis
of previous studies carried out within the field of music performance (Baker,
2006; Schmit, 1998), we considered that this variable could be related to the sort
of cultural and contextual conditions in which these teachers developed their
conceptions (Olson & Bruner, 1996), and especially to the kind of education that
they received as pre-service teachers. The criterion used by Ghaith & Shaaban
(1999) was used to split teachers into three groups: highly experienced teachers
(more than 15 YTE); experienced teachers (between five and 15 YTE); novice
teachers (less than five YTE). These categories were considered appropriate for two
reasons: (1) they were linked with the change in the pre-service teachers’ education
programmes mentioned in the introduction to this article (LOGSE, 1990), and hence
could allow us to find differences between the group of novice teachers and the
others; (2) they also were an indirect measure of teachers’ age, and consequently
could allow us to discriminate between the two groups of the eldest teachers, even if
they had been trained using traditional approaches.

Method
PARTICIPANTS
Forty-five Spanish piano teachers participated in the study (24 males and 21 females;
age range = 22–61 years; M = 36.71, SD = 11.10). They all had the same academic
qualification (highest degree in piano performance) and the same professional
status (official teachers). When the data was collected, all of them were working
at professional music conservatories (elementary and intermediate degrees), from
nine different cities in Spain. A total of 15 conservatories were actively involved
in the project. Because participation was voluntary, in order to obtain this sample,
a total of 61 teachers were requested to take part in the project (percentage of
participation = 73.77%).
The teachers were selected in accordance with two variables: (1) the specific level
of education in which they had developed the most expertise as teachers (‘Student’s
level of education’, with five levels); and (2) the amount of teaching experience
(‘Years of teaching experience’, with three levels). The sample composition is
reported in Table 2. There was no overlap between either of these two variables and
the specific conservatories where the respondents worked in.
Since this study focused on ‘natural groups’, there were a high correlation
between both teachers’ YTE and age,2 as was expected (Pearson’s r = .972; p < .01).
In fact, distinguishing these two factors is not really possible in this natural context
of research. Other data about this relation are reported in Table 3.

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 91

table 2   Sample composition

Years of teaching experience Total

Highly experienced Experienced Novice teachers

teachers teachers (YTE < 5)
(YTE > 15) (YTE 5–15)

Student’s 1º–2º ED 3 3 3 9
level of 3º–4º ED 3 3 3 9
education 1º–2º ID 3 3 3 9
3º–4º ID 3 3 3 9
5º–6º ID 3 3 3 9
Total 15 15 15 45

ED = elementary degree; ID = intermediate degree.

table 3   Composition of the three YTE-groups with respect to teachers’ age

Age range (years) M (years) SD

Highly exp. teachers (YTE > 15) n = 15 39–61 49.80 6.50

Experienced teachers (YTE 5–15) n = 15 28–41 34.46 4.51
Novice teachers (YTE < 5) n = 15 22–31 25.86 3.15

TASKS
A written open-ended questionnaire was used. Teachers had to complete it indi­
vidually, within a maximum period of 15 days. First, the respondents had to choose
the educative level in which they had developed most of their professional teaching
expertise so that they could be assigned to one of the five levels of the variable
‘Student’s level of education’. After that, they were instructed to respond to the
questionnaire thinking about a ‘typical student’ of that particular level, with both
the most common age and an average level of expertise on the piano for that level of
education. No details were gathered about the type of student chosen. All the tasks
and questions given are reported in Figure 1. The findings from ‘Previous tasks’ are
not reported in this article (see Bautista & Pérez Echeverría, 2008). Here, we will
focus on the answers to the ‘Target questions’ (Units 1, 2 and 3), since they reflected
our three didactic scenarios.
No space limitation was imposed, because the intention was for teachers to
elaborate their responses as deeply as possible.

METHOD OF ANALYSIS
In order to qualitatively describe the piano teachers’ conceptions, the statistical
analysis of textual data – or lexicometrical method – was applied to the complete
transcripts of 45 textual responses to the ‘Target questions’ (Units 1, 2 and 3). The
SPAD.T programme was used (version 5.5; manufacturer: Décisia). Very briefly, this
method makes it possible to quantitatively analyse huge corpuses of textual data
by means of different Simple Correspondence Factorial Analyses (SCFAs) in which

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92 Psychology of Music 38(1)

PREVIOUS TASKS
a) Please choose an appropriate piano piece to be taught to this ‘typical student’.
b) What are the 10 most important learning outcomes that he/she should acquire to learn this
piece?
c) Organize these learning outcomes hierarchically, from 1 to 10, in accordance with their
‘Degree of Importance’ in learning this piano piece (1 = the most important; 10 = the least
important).

TARGET QUESTIONS
1. Please select the learning outcomes depending on their ‘Degree of Importance’ (1st, 2nd
and 3rd).
2. What would be the best instructional strategies to promote these three learning outcomes?
3. What would be the best strategies to evaluate the acquisition of these three learning
outcomes?

figure 1   Questionnaire used.

‘the word’ is the main unit of analysis. Its three steps allow the investigator to:
(1) analyse the existence of lexical differences between several groups of respondents;
(2) identify the most representative words used by all of them; and (3) select the
most representative answers corresponding to each group, in order to describe them
from a qualitative perspective. The lexicometry has proved to be very adequate for
analysing subjects’ oral and written responses to open questions and, in particular,
to infer children’s and adults’ conceptions about processes of acquisition and
transmission of knowledge. Since the use of this method might not be widely known
in the fields of music psychology and music education, in the following section we
will give a brief outline of how it works (for a complete overview, see Lebart et al.,
1998; for several applications of this method within the fields of developmental
psychology and education, see Scheuer, de la Cruz, & Pozo, 2002; Scheuer, de la
Cruz, Pozo, Huarte, & Sola, 2006).

Results
The corpus of textual data comprised a total of 12,137 words and 3083 different
words. The resulting diversity index was 0.2540. This measure of lexical diversity
tends to be low in these kinds of studies, since the corpuses are composed of responses
to the same questions that have been produced by subjects with similar features. The
analysis was performed in three steps, described below.

STEP 1: CONSTRUCTION OF A LEXICAL SIMPLE TABLE (LST) AND SCFA OF

THAT TABLE
The LST was a contingency table where columns corresponded to all of the different
words that formed the corpus of full written responses (without any kind of a priori
selection), and rows corresponded to all participants (45 teachers). SCFA of the LST
showed the associations between participants and contributive words (i.e., words
with a contribution to each axis that was higher than the mean) on a factorial plane.

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 93

table 4 Modalities of the variable ‘Years of Teaching Experience’: Test values

Test values

Axis I Axis II

YTE > 15 1.0 –3.4

YTE 5–15 1.2 2.1
YTE < 5 –2.8 –1.0

Lexical differences were obtained considering the variable YTE (Table 4). According
to these results, the selection of our variable as ‘active variable’ was statistically
justified for continuing with the next steps of the analysis.

STEP 2: CONSTRUCTION OF A LEXICAL AGGREGATE TABLE (LAT) AND SCFA OF

THAT TABLE
On the basis of the associations of participants and contributive words resulting from
Step 1, the texts were grouped for the LAT according to the modalities of the active
variable YTE. Columns were formed by the complete textual responses produced by
all the participants in each modality (YTE >15, YTE 5–15 & YTE <5) and rows were
formed with all of the different words appearing at least 30 times in the corpus (55
words in total). After the application of this threshold, function words (i.e., articles,
prepositions) were eliminated. The two axes resulting from this SCFA explained
62.26 percent and 37.74 percent of the ‘total inertia’ of that table, respectively
(see Table 5). It is important to explain that inertia means variance in the context
of correspondence analysis. Total inertia is the sum of eigenvalues and reflects
the spread of points around the centroid. Its value is proportional to the chi-square
statistic, which evaluates the association between two variables (in this case, text
modalities and different words).
The SCFA allowed us to view the associations between contributive words and text
modalities on a factorial plane. Three lexical groups were distinguished (Figure 2).

STEP 3: AUTOMATIC SELECTION OF MODAL RESPONSES AND QUALITATIVE

DESCRIPTION OF THE LEXICAL GROUPS, ON THE BASIS OF STEP 2
Given that Step 2 showed differences between the three text modalities, by associ­
ating each of them with a distinct set of contributive words, it was useful to study the

table 5   Statistics resulting from the SCFA of the LAT: Total inertia,
eigenvalues and percentages

Total inertia of the LAT = 0.10868

Accumulated
Axis Eigenvalues Percentage
percentage

1 0.0677 62.26   62.26

2 0.0410 37.74 100.00

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94 Psychology of Music 38(1)

figure 2   SCFA of the lexical aggregate table. Contributive words and text modalities are
highlighted in bold capital letters. This plane presents the English translation of the original
Spanish. Verbs have been translated into the infinitive form.

most typical responses of each one. It was possible by means of the Modal Response
Procedure,3 which selected the most representative responses corresponding to each
modality in decreasing order, by calculating the lexical average profile of the parti­
cipants (chi-square criterion). Therefore, this procedure showed the contributive
words identified in Step 2 in their original context of production and, hence, the
description of the lexical groups could be completed. By using this method, categories
for each dimension emerged from the contrasts among the modal responses that
characterized each group.

We now turn to the qualitative descriptions of those groups, which are based on the
answers gathered from the five most representative teachers of each modality (i.e.,
the first third of each sub-sample). At the beginning of each description, the list of
contributive words will be reported, as well as the ranges of chi-square distances cor­
responding to the five most typical responses. Next, we will give a brief overview
of the answers gathered from the three ‘Target questions’. Extracts of some modal
responses – translated from the original Spanish – will be presented to illustrate
these descriptions. Contributive words are highlighted in bold.

HIGHLY EXPERIENCED TEACHERS (YTE > 15)

Contributive words: control, correctly, difficulties, important, necessary, out-
come, reading, sound, technical, techniques and troubles. Range of chi-square
distances from .750 to .820.
The most representative teachers of this group described learning outcomes of a
technical/basic nature, which were expressed in terms of ‘content’ related to the
most difficult passages of the piano pieces. Musical scores were conceived as series

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 95

of notational signs and symbols to be accurately read and reproduced by the pupils,
or even as a group of difficulties to be individually overcome. For these participants,
learning to perform a piece required breaking it down into independent, small and
isolated basic elements:
l ‘Reading of the notes.’
l ‘Irregular values: three sounds against two.’
l ‘Correctly memorizing the left hand of the first section, because of its degree of difficulty.’

These teachers strongly focused on the technical skills required to play the piano,
with a great emphasis on the notion of ‘correction’. For them, the object of teaching
was the accurate mastery of the physical instrument:
l ‘Correction of the technique: fingering on difficult passages.’
l ‘The technique of passing the thumb and hand rotation (especially in the last section of
the Sonata). Accurate control of the tempo.’
l ‘Sensitive articulation of the first finger (from bar 1 to 9).’

These participants considered that instructional strategies were useless to promote

or facilitate most of the learning outcomes above. From their point of view, students
are supposed to acquire the said skills and knowledge by themselves, through large
amounts of intensive and individual practice:
l ‘Playing the piano correctly requires a lot of time. No matter what I say or what I do
during my lessons, if the pupil doesn’t study, he will not achieve any kind of satisfactory
outcome. Therefore, to explain these techniques in a special way is neither necessary
nor important.’
l ‘[…] These activities [related to the articulation of the first finger] have to be practised at
home, not during the lessons, because […]’
l ‘[…] It is assumed that the student has to be able to read the musical text by himself. I
don’t have to do anything for that.’

Consequently, certain features of the students (such as their motivation, their talent,
or their innate predispositions for music) were emphasized as the basic requirements
for music performance learning. For these teachers, the pupils who are really gifted
and capable of playing the instrument should be able to solve their difficulties
spontaneously and intuitively:
l ‘[…] The boys who are truly gifted and motivated in playing the piano tend to solve their
troubles without my help. Those that are not interested or do not have these innate
predispositions will not benefit from my explanations, even though I show them the way
clearly. They tend to give up on the instrument.’

In some exceptional cases, however, observational learning (modelling) was

presented as the only powerful instructional strategy:
l ‘If it were necessary, the student could observe how I solved these technical
difficulties, and he later could practise my solutions on his piano, copying what he had
just seen.’

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96 Psychology of Music 38(1)

Finally, evaluation was conceived as the external ‘judgement’ of the students’ tech­
nical skills and abilities to reproduce wider repertoires. Teachers contextualized this
judgement in two different settings: private lessons and final examinations. Within
the first context, evaluation was only considered negatively, when pupils did not
achieve the expected learning outcomes. In this case, the strategies most commonly
referred to were to warn the students about their difficulties and/or mistakes, and to
suggest more time for individual practice and personal effort. Consequently, one of
the functions attributed to evaluation could be qualified as ‘diagnostic’:
l ‘In the following class, I would check how the student plays the piano piece, paying
attention to the sound and the general outcome. Straight away, I would see the troubles
and technical difficulties that he had not overcome, and I would ask him to work on
them on his own.’
l ‘[…] If they have not achieved these outcomes after one or two weeks, the most likely
reason could be the lack of study. In this case, I would send them away to work harder.’

Final examinations (i.e., exams, auditions, concerts) were understood as the best
contexts to assess or mark the degree of students’ expertise, as well as to select the
most promising and gifted pupils. Therefore, the other functions attributed to the
evaluation could be qualified as ‘quantitative’ and ‘selective’:
l ‘[…] The aim is to progressively remain with the truly worthwhile students, with those
who achieve the level demanded by the curriculum.’
l ‘The best way to evaluate students’ expertise is listening to their performance during the
examinations or final auditions. Within this context, it is possible to quantify their final
outcomes and learning results.’
l ‘[…] It makes no sense to teach students who have no talent for music: it is important
and necessary to select the best.’

EXPERIENCED TEACHERS (YTE 5–15)

Contributive words: activities, home, study, (to) make, (to) perform, (to) play,
voices and work. Range of chi-square distances from .712 to .807
The most representative teachers expressed learning outcomes of an analytic and
technical/basic nature, which were described in terms of actions and/or cognitive
pro­cesses specifically related to the acquisition of their target piano pieces. The
notion of ‘correction’ was also frequently identified among these teachers’ responses.
There­fore, it could be argued that their main goal when teaching a piano piece is for
students to acquire the skills and knowledge that allow them to play this particular
piece, in a certain and predetermined ‘correct way’:
l ‘To perform the work correctly, within its style.’
l ‘To play the piece applying the most suitable technical skills, with a correct control of the
sound.’
l ‘Carrying out the melodic analysis of the piano work, focusing on the juxtaposed voices
and counterpoints.’
l ‘To analyse and study the formal structure of the work, by following the activities
assigned by the tutor. In this way, the student will be able to create an accurate ‘picture’ of
the score in his mind […]’

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 97

These teachers assumed that the learning outcomes required of the students should
be adjusted to their current skills, both psychomotor and cognitive. In this sense, as
the next extracts suggest, the importance of the pupils’ mediator role in the teaching
processes seemed be acknowledged:
l ‘It is not appropriate to explain musical analysis to very young students: they do not have
the preparation to understand it properly. Teachers have to wait until they are older […]’
l ‘[…] A great mastery of piano technique is necessary before studying this piece. Without
these prior skills, to perform the piano work correctly would be impossible for this
“typical pupil”.’

Instructional strategies described by these respondents were based on the use of

verbal explanations and instructions, of examples and metaphors, of visual or aural
models, etc. with the goal of externally managing the students’ actions and cog­
nitive processes. In other words, for these participants, music performance teaching
seemed to require the hetero-regulation of pupils’ behaviours and thoughts in the
acquisition of the ‘good’ versions of the scores:
l ‘[…] When you play or study this passage, please think that the sound has to be very
ethereal. You should study this section with separate hands.’
l ‘During my lessons, I usually play the same musical fragments on the other piano and give
examples and explanations to the students. I try to make them understand me as much as
possible to be able to know the right meaning of the piece.’
l ‘I would explain in a variety of ways the activities that have to be done at home […]’
l ‘I would demand that he listen to a good version of the piece so that he could observe his
final goal and be able to imitate it.’

With regard to the evaluation, these participants described strategies contextual­

ized within the context of the weekly lessons, and designed to externally detect and
overcome the students’ difficulties, problems and mistakes. In other words, evalu­
ation was attributed an external ‘corrective’ function. Indeed, it was only considered
negatively, when pupils were not supposed to achieve the intended learning out­
comes. In such cases, new explanations, instructions and/or examples, more
adjusted to the students’ needs, were suggested by these teachers:
l ‘[…] If I saw that he wasn’t clear about the structure of the Impromptu, I would try to
explain it to him a little better, using simpler words.’
l ‘During the lessons, when students are not able to play as they should […], I try to find
new ways to get them to understand my instructions and suggestions.’

The requirement of both more obedience to the teachers’ guidelines and more time
for practice and personal effort were also mentioned:
l ‘It can be seen in the classroom whether the student does what he is told or not. Basically,
when they don’t do what they are supposed to, the result is not convincing. I make them
realize this and insist again that they follow the steps I have set out for them.’

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98 Psychology of Music 38(1)

NOVICE TEACHERS (YTE < 5)

Contributive words: ability, capable (able), knowledge, music, musical, piece,
student, (to) develop and (to) understand. Range of chi-square distances from .617
to .730
The most representative teachers of this group expressed learning outcomes of
an artistic, interpretative and technical/basic nature. The focus of teaching musical
scores was seen as an integration of these different aspects, which were specifically
related to the following issues:

(a) The students’ personal understanding of the artistic sense and meaning of the
scores, by means of the musical analysis (i.e., aesthetic, stylistic, harmonic,
melodic). Learning musical scores was essentially conceived as a means of self-
expression and communication, and pieces’ meaning was interpreted through
the pupils’ own knowledge and personal experiences:
l ‘First, this student should explore the meaning of the score on his own, in order to be able
to identify his personal feelings and emotions […]’
l ‘Feel the musical work as a whole. Understand the piece in its totality.’
l ‘Analyse the harmonic, melodic and formal discourse of the whole musical work […], in
order to understand its meaning, its style and its aesthetic. This is the best way to be able
to express our own feelings and musical ideas.’
(b) The students’ strategic mastery of piano techniques and other psycho-motor
skills, in connexion with their interpretative and communicative intentions:
l ‘The student has to acquire or “construct” knowledge to choose the most suitable piano
techniques for this piano piece on his own, taking into account his artistic intentions.’
l ‘To develop self-control of the body (arms, hands, fingers, etc.) and the sensation of
relaxation, in order to feel the necessary freedom to express the feelings.’

As the modal responses above show, these teachers generally described the learning
outcomes in terms of general and transferable abilities, of a cognitive and meta-
cognitive nature, which were related to the development of students’ autonomy and
independence. Thus, learning musical scores was understood as a means to promote
pupils’ self-awareness, as well as the generalization of their knowledge to approach
new different pieces on a deep and creative level:
l ‘[…] Students have to develop a musical criterion that enables them to cope with the
study of new pieces.’
l ‘To develop the ability to carry out their personal work efficiently throughout time […]’
l ‘Progressive development of his/her self-listening and own regulation while learning this
Baroque piece.’

With regard to the instructional strategies, this group of teachers underlined the
importance that pupils’ reflection has as ‘learning’s motor’. Dialogues, debates,
reflexive questions, etc. were consequently considered the best approaches to stimu­
late students’ learning, because it was understood in terms of autonomy and critical
thinking. In this sense, as the next extracts suggest, it seems that the role attributed
to the pupils in their learning processes was conceived as active and constructive:

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 99

l ‘The teacher converses with the student in order to see how he feels the music: “Which are
the softest cadences? How do the scales progress?”.’
l ‘[…] So the best way to teach these musical aspects is by means of questions, in order to
make the student think and reflect.’

Finally, these teachers described strategies of evaluation that fundamentally pro­

moted the students’ self-evaluation (about their outcomes and processes, about the
suitability of their learning strategies, about their strengths and weakness, etc.). In
other words, evaluation was attributed a ‘formative’ function:
‘[…] Asking the student certain questions so that he realizes why things have worked well
for them or, on the contrary, badly.’
‘[…] I would demand that he play the entire first movement during the lesson time, in order to
see if there are fluctuations in the tempo, and so that he could analyse himself and think about
if he has carried out his personal tasks well. In the case that they had not been carried out well,
I’d try to get the student to think about how to improve them.’

Consequently, traditional examinations, based on a normative and external

quantification of students’ expertise, were explicitly rejected by these teachers:
l ‘[…] Besides, in traditional piano exams, the students don’t learn anything useful because
they are not given any feedback on their performance. Furthermore, they are not asked to
give any self-evaluation. These examinations only make the students feel scared!’

Conclusions and discussion

The application of the lexicometrical method has shown the existence of different
conceptions within the field of music performance about teaching and learning,
which are very similar to those identified within other domains of knowledge (Hofer
& Pintrich, 2002; Kember, 1997; Pérez Echeverría et al., 2006). Furthermore, the
conceptions most commonly held by these three groups of piano teachers have
shown great theoretical consistency (Gopnik & Meltzoff, 1997; Vosniadou, 1994),
because the different assumptions described in Table 1 have been clearly identified
within their responses to the open-ended questionnaire applied. Indeed, the answers
of the most representative participants of each group allow us to make the following
categories:

l Direct theory: Highly experienced teachers (YTE > 15). Music is conceived of
from very realistic epistemological assumptions, since only one interpretation
of the scores is considered to be valid and correct (Hallam, 1995). As a result,
learning outcomes of a technical/basic nature (Chaffin et al., 2003) are
understood as meaningful in themselves. Applying instructional strategies
in order to improve students’ performance is conceived of as unnecessary (see
Jørgensen, 2000), because learning is essentially viewed as the result of their
innate/natural predispositions and personal effort (Torrado, 2003). In addition,
learning is conceived of in terms of ‘contents’ (states or final products) and,
hence, evaluation is interpreted as a ‘judgement’ or assessment about the
reproduction of these contents (Maugars, 2006). Therefore, the conceptions of
these teachers are focused on the final outcomes of learning, and the students’
role is conceived as passive and reproductive.

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100 Psychology of Music 38(1)

l Interpretative theory: Experienced teachers (YTE 5–15). Music interpretation is

also understood in terms of the ‘correct vs. incorrect’ dichotomy (Hallam, 1995),
although the students’ transforming role in the acquisition of the musical
scores is recognized. Consequently, it seems that music is conceived of from
an advanced realistic epistemological perspective. Since from this assumption
there is no room for students’ self-expression or creativity, learning outcomes
of a technical/basic and analytic nature are considered enough (Chaffin et al.,
2003). Learning is understood in terms of actions and externally managed
processes, and consequently instructional strategies are based on the notion
of teachers’ hetero-regulation of the students (by means of instructions, direct
explanations, modelling, etc.). Finally, evaluation is attributed a ‘corrective’
function in which the students’ self-evaluation is not promoted. In short, these
teachers’ conceptions are focused on the student, whose role is conceived as
active but reproductive.
l Constructive theory: Novice teachers (YTE < 5). Creative and personal inter­
pretations of the scores are allowed and the students are encouraged to
explore them (Hallam, 1995), since music itself is conceived in constructivist
epistemological terms. Learning outcomes are understood as a way to promote
a comprehensive whole of artistic, interpretative and technical/basic musical
capacities (Chaffin et al., 2003). From sophisticated ontological and conceptual
assumptions, instructional strategies look for the continuous promotion of
students’ reflection and meta-cognitive processes, self-regulation and autonomy
(Burwell, 2005; Hallam, 2001; Nielsen, 1999). Situations of evaluation are also
understood as a learning context, working fundamentally with a ‘formative’
function (Daniel, 2001). In conclusion, the conceptions of these teachers are
focused on the students, whose role is conceived as active and constructive.

These findings show that the generations of eldest teachers, with more educational
experience, hold conceptions based on traditional and intuitive psychological
assump­tions. Three likely explanations could be argued to interpret why they still
maintain these theories, even though they are incompatible with the current curri­
cular proposals. First, as for instance Mills & Smith (2003) showed in their study,
these teachers’ conceptions might have been influenced by the teaching that they
received. Following Bruner’s perspective (1996), it seems clear that they all were
instructed within a historical and sociocultural context in which very traditional
ideas about education predominated, that is, under past cultures of learning (see
also Pozo et al., 2006). These learning experiences could have caused them to
unconsciously acquire implicit ideas about teaching, which are difficult to make
explicit, and, hence, make these teachers very resistant to change without edu­
cation specifically targeted at doing so (Strauss & Shilony, 1994). Second, and
in connection with this last idea, the pre-service instruction received by these
teachers was exclusively focused on their instrumental skills. As was explained in
the introduction to this article, they started their careers without undertaking
formal teacher preparation. In this sense, their lack of academic knowledge about
principles of learning and instruction, as well as about didactical practices, could
be another possible reason for their current conceptions (see Baker, 2006; Schmit,
1998). Finally, another plausible explanation could be that their long contact with
educative contexts, or even simply the passage of time, has made their theories more
traditional (Martín et al., 2006). These three hypotheses beg further investigation.

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 101

In contrast, the empirical evidence suggests that the new generation of teachers
hold complex and sophisticated conceptions, grounded strongly in a scientific point of
view. From our perspective, this finding could be attributed to three possible factors.
The first one is connected to their low amount of teaching experience. According to
the study of Martín et al. (2006), the short period of time spent by these participants
within actual educative settings might not have been enough for them to be
completely aware of the real constraints and difficulties of the teaching tasks. For
this reason, their theories might be – to a certain extent – kind of ‘idealistic’ because
of their lack of practice/experience. The second factor is related to the age of these
teachers, as well as to the features of the culture of learning in which their personal
development has taken place (Bruner, 1996). Over the last two decades, the modern
knowledge/information society has provided rich, stimulating learning contexts to
satisfy the current social demands. For active civic participation in modern science-
and technology-based societies, learners have been required to adopt more active
and strategic roles in their processes of acquisition of knowledge (Pozo et al., 2006).
Perhaps this transformation in the modern ‘cultural mentality’ about learning
itself, and also the developmental experiences of these young teachers, could have
caused them to reject those past approaches based on the culture of reproduction
and direct transmission of knowledge. In this sense, their conceptions might be attrib­
uted to the effect of their generation. Finally, in connection with this last idea, these
conceptions could be explained as a consequence of the academic instruction that
these teachers received. As was reported in the introduction, the highest degree in
music performance in Spain currently includes many theoretical courses on the
constructive principles of learning and instruction (LOGSE, 1990). Consequently,
perhaps these teachers answered our questionnaire with the responses that they
learned to be the most ‘valid’ from an educational and scientific perspective.
How­ever, with this piece of research it is not possible to know to what extent the
explicit conceptions acquired by them are reflected by their actual approaches to
edu­cation. According to some studies carried out within the field of music (Baker,
2006; Schmit, 1998), these teachers might find it difficult to implement appropriate
practices to support constructivist musical learning. In this sense, and beyond
Ramsden’s (1990) perspective, it could be argued that a change in the teachers’
conceptions may be necessary but not enough to change their educative practices.
Once again, the actual application of the constructivist approach would require a
strong conceptual change, a hierarchical integration between implicit and explicit
conceptions (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992; Pozo et al., 2006). However, as a result of this
last reasoning and using Vigotskii’s classical concept (1979), it could be stated that
this deep change would be – at least – within the zone of proximal development for
these young teachers, since their personal theories about music education already
clearly reflect constructive assumptions.
In conclusion, it seems necessary to design professional education programmes
based on the logic of the conceptual change (Chi & Roscoe, 2002; Vosniadou et al.,
2007), which help these Spanish piano teachers to change both conceptions and
practices, according to the proposals that have arisen from the psychological/edu­
cational research and the curriculum. Pre-service and in-service programmes should
involve teachers in sophisticated processes of reflection on and about the knowledge

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102 Psychology of Music 38(1)

and the act of teaching (Schön, 1987) by emphasizing meta-cognitive activities

through which teachers become aware of how they use their implicit conceptions
and/or explicit knowledge to make decisions about didactic practices (Martín et al.,
2006). This would be the most important step to replace the traditional ‘dominant
teacher approach’ with the new ‘constructive teacher approach’ (Burwell, 2005;
Jørgensen, 2000) in order to achieve the educative change that Spanish reform
movements try to promote.
Some considerations need to be underlined with respect to the weaknesses and
limitations of this study, as well as about the future lines of research. First, further
efforts should be made to clarify the role of the different variables involved in this
study (i.e., YTE, age and kind of academic instruction received), because the sample
used here does not allow us to know the specific importance of these factors in
explaining the differences found. Second, it would be necessary to analyse the gen­
eralizability of the findings presented by comparing the conceptions of teachers who
have been instructed under different approaches and/or education pro­grammes.
Finally, even though the topic addressed here has a high psychological importance
by itself, it should be followed up with: (1) further examinations of what these piano
teachers actually do in their teaching practices, in order to clarify the complex
relations between conceptions and actual behaviours (Torrado, 2003); and (2)
intervention studies to modify undesirable practices and promote the application of
constructive approaches.

acknowledgements

This study was supported by the project SEJ2006–15639-C02–01, directed by Mª del Puy
Pérez. The manuscript was written during the first author’s stay at The Institute of Education,
University of London. We would especially like to thank Susan Hallam, Andrea Creech and
Zoë Schempp for the generous comments on earlier drafts received during that period. We
would also like to thank Nora Scheuer, Montserrat de la Cruz and Nora Baccalá for their
methodological advice.

notes

1. These institutions work outside of compulsory education and structure music syllabuses
in three stages: elementary, intermediate and highest degrees (four, six and four years,
respectively). The first two are studied at the same schools and are taught by the same
staff of instrumental tutors (with qualified teacher status). Throughout these stages
and in addition to studying their main instrument, learners are required to attend other
courses (e.g., History and Aesthetics, Harmony, Analysis, Chamber Music). The highest
degree is studied at different conservatories and under the supervision of teachers with
higher professional status (professors). Beginners usually start their education before
they are nine years old. Only a small proportion of students finish the highest degree,
graduating when they are approximately 23 years old.
2 . In this analysis, both factors were considered as quantitative variables. Their values were
measured in natural numbers corresponding to the total amount of years.
3. In this analysis, the responses of the 45 teachers were considered as 45 different vectors
(i.e., the lexical profiles of the answers). Each component of these vectors was the

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 Bautista et al.: Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction 103

frequency that the 55 different words were used by each teacher. The lexical average
profile of each modality – composed of a set of 15 vectors – was obtained by calculating
the mean of its own 15 lexical profiles. Therefore, it was possible to calculate the distance
between the lexical profile of each response and the lexical profile of each modality.
The statistic chi-square is the measure of distance most commonly used. The responses
considered to be the most typical were those that were closest to the lexical average
profile (i.e., those with the lowest distances).

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a l f r e d o b a u t i s t a is a PhD candidate in the Department of Cognitive Psychology at

Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. His educational background comprises two
different majors: cognitive/educational psychology and music performance (piano). He is
currently finishing the writing of his thesis, which is focused on piano teachers’ and students’
conceptions of learning and instruction. He lectures and is a teaching assistant for various
courses and seminars on the psychology of learning, for both university students and music
conservatory teachers. Alfredo is also the manuscript and copy editor for Infancia y Aprendizaje,
one of the most prestigious refereed journals published in the Spanish language on learning,
developmental psychology and education.
Address: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Psicología., C/ Iván Pavlov, 6, CP:
28049, Madrid, Spain. [email: [email protected]]

ma del puy pérez echeverría is a permanent Lecturer in the Department of Cognitive

Psychology at Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. Her teaching for undergraduate
students covers two main topics: psychology of thought and learning strategies. She is
currently working on a number of different strands of research, such as mathematical
learning, implicit theories in several academic domains (including music) and the role of
external representations in processes of conceptual change. Her teaching for doctoral students
focuses on these issues.
Address: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Facultad de Psicología. C/ Iván Pavlov, 6, CP:
28049, Madrid, Spain. [email: [email protected]]

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106 Psychology of Music 38(1)

j. ignacio pozo is the Head of the Department of Cognitive Psychology at Autonomous

University of Madrid, Spain, where he teaches topics related to psychology of learning.
His research focuses on the processes of knowledge acquisition and conceptual change in a
number of specific domains (e.g., physics, chemistry, history, geography, grammar, music).
He is the author of several books about these topics. He is also the Editor-in-chief for the
journal Infancia y Aprendizaje.
Address: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Facultad de Psicología. C/ Iván Pavlov, 6, CP:
28049, Madrid, Spain. [email: [email protected]]

Downloaded from pom.sagepub.com at UCLA on March 31, 2015