The relationships among teacher self-efficacy for music, singing, and adolescent voice change instruction

Singing is complex, and for choral music educators to be well versed in the physiological processes that promote healthy and long term singing for large groups of students is especially difficult. Adolescent voice change is a universal experience for young singers and adds variables that further complicate singing instruction (Smith & Sataloff, 2013; Sundberg, 1987) for choral music teachers. Adolescent voice change is said to be the “biggest challenge” choral music educators face (Smith & Sataloff, 2013), however, there is limited research that examines the realities of teacher instruction surrounding adolescent voice change in choral settings.

The current investigation explores choral music educator perceived instructional ability for adolescent voice change through the lens of teacher self-efficacy constructs. Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is defined as the teacher’s belief of his or her ability to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning, even when students may be difficult or unmotivated (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). These beliefs are a determining factor in how a teacher approaches a task (Bandura, 1977), and may influence student experiences related to voice change. The following are some of the findings from the current study: (a) music teachers demonstrate varying levels of TSE for adolescent voice change instruction, (b) levels of TSE increase with years of teaching experience, (b) levels of TSE relate to the amount of instructional time students receive from teachers about voice change, (c) and music teachers do not view their own formal music teacher training as the best place to learn about adolescent voice change and instruction.