Advanced Conducting Project

At the Round Earth\u27s Imagined Corners by Williametta Spencer Credo in unum deum (from Great Mass in C minor) by W.A. Mozart We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace (Traditional Spiritual), arranged by Moses Hogan Ascribe to the Lord by Rosephanye Powell The Tiger by Lauren Bernofsky Laudate Dominum by Dan Davison Down to the River to Pray (Traditional), arranged by Philip Lawson

Basic psychological needs support in the high school choral classroom: student and teacher perspectives

Literature suggests that secondary choral educators can and should strive to meet their students’ basic psychological needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence during choral rehearsals. Music education researchers have given much attention to outcomes correlated with basic psychological needs fulfillment, such as well-being, motivation, and persistence intentions (Bonneville-Roussy et al., 2013; Evans et al., 2013; Freer & Evans, 2017, 2019; Legutki, 2010; Liu, 2016); however, researchers have paid little attention to comparing music teacher and student perceptions of teachers’ success at supporting the fulfillment of students’ basic psychological needs. Using Basic Psychological Needs Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) as the framework for my study, I examined teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teachers’ provision of basic psychological needs support in high school choral classrooms. Adapting the previously developed Perceived Teacher Needs Support scale (Freer & Evans, 2019) for use by both teachers and students, I surveyed 26 choral teachers and 1,082 high school choral students within a single district of a state music educators association in a suburban region of the Northeast United States, with a response rate of 68.09%. Survey responses indicated that high school choral teachers and students do perceive teachers as providing support for the fulfillment of students’ basic psychological needs within the choral rehearsal environment; however, teachers’ self-perceptions of their support-provision exceeded students’ perceptions of that support. Correlational analyses and z tests comparing mean differences between student and teacher scores revealed differences between students’ and teachers’ perceptions of basic psychological needs support for competence (z = 2.36, p = .018, d = 0.46), autonomy (z = 2.2, p = .028, d = 0.43), and relatedness (z = 1.21, p = .225, d = 0.24) (overall z = 2.1, p = .036, d = 0.41). Analyses of variance (ANOVA) among students’ scores indicated that a student’s school (each with a unique choral director) exhibited a greater effect (ACR ƞ2 = .19, autonomy ƞ2 = .2, competence ƞ2 = .2, and relatedness ƞ2 = .15) than a student’s ensemble level, grade level, or pronouns, in relation to a student’s perceptions of their teacher’s support-provision for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This study extends existing BPNT research by comparing student and teacher perceptions of basic psychological needs support within a music ensemble rehearsal setting. Recommendations for teachers include offering students greater challenges, more individualized feedback, and opportunities for democratic decision-making and student leadership. Recommendations for further study are provided