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The Effect of Three Compositional Structures on the Compositional and Instructional Self-efficacy of Pre-service Music Teachers
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The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to compare the effects of three different composition tasks with varying degrees of structure on pre-service music teachers’ creative self-efficacy as composers and their instructional self-efficacy as pedagogues of composition; and 2) to describe through pre-service music teachers’ talk perceptions of composition and their experiences completing the three composition tasks. Participants (N = 29) were music education majors from three different sized universities in the northern-central region of the United States. At the beginning of the study, the participants answered a researcher-design self-efficacy questionnaire that measured (a) their self-efficacy as composers and (b) their self-efficacy as teachers of composition. Next, they composed three compositions of various task structures (unstructured, poem, and rhythm). Immediately after completing each task they again completed the self-efficacy questionnaire. Statistically significant mean differences between the pre-task administration of the measuring instrument and all three composition tasks were found for the pre-service teachers’ compositional self-efficacy. Statistically significant mean differences were also found between the unstructured task and the rhythm task, but not between the rhythm and poem tasks or the unstructured and poem tasks. For the pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy as pedagogues of composition question, the results were also statistically significant between the pre-task administration of the measuring instrument and all three composition tasks. Statistically significant mean differences were also found between the unstructured task and the rhythm task as well as the poem and rhythm tasks, but not between the unstructured and poem tasks. Additional data were gathered through semi-structured one-on-one interviews. Through their talk the pre-service music teachers commented that they enjoyed the overall composition process. This experience also seemed to challenge the participants’ assumptions about composition and appeared to make creative experiences more tenable and relevant to their future classroom experiences. The results of this study suggest …