Characteristics of Music Teachers and the Progress of Young Instrumentalists

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the role of some key characteristics of teachers in the development of students' musical ability. Interviewing 257 children who differed in the extent of their instrumental mastery, we discovered that the most successful learners regarded their teachers differently from those children who ceased music study. The more successful learners rated their first teacher higher than did other learners on personal dimensions such as friendliness, and rated their current teacher higher than did other learners on task-oriented professional dimensions such as pushiness. Additionally, the highly successful learners studied, on average, with more teachers than did the other learners; these learners also generally received more individual instruction than did the children who eventually ceased lessons. These findings confirm the importance of matching teacher characteristics to the changing requirements of learners in enabling the development of high levels of musical expertise.