“Talent” Beliefs in Music Education: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
When considering equity in music education, our aim is to address situations in which some students are denied a high-quality music edu- cation or are provided a lesser-quality music education than other students.
Culture, race, Heather N. Shouldice
ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeco- nomic status, and community type (rural, urban, or suburban) are some of the most commonly examined factors relating to issues of equity in music education. However, something much subtler can have an impact on the degree to which each of our students has access to a high- quality music education: our beliefs about our students’ musical abilities. Specifically, the be- lief in selective and innate “talent”—the idea that some are born with musical ability or po- tential while others are not—can be an obstacle to equity in music education because this belief may lead music teachers to provide inferior and even harmful music learning experiences for some students.
Existence of Talent Beliefs Although ethnomusicological studies of various cultures have shown that the belief in selective, innate musical talent is not universal, this as- sumption is prevalent in Western culture. Many among the general population believe that mu- sical ability is the result of a “natural talent” or “gift” that is present only in a subset of the pop- ulation, a belief which tends to become more prominent as children get older (Asmus, 1986; Davis, 1994; Hallam & Prince, 2003). I have witnessed this belief firsthand in my own teach- ing. For four semesters I taught a course aimed at preparing elementary education majors to incorporate music into their future classrooms, and each semester I would hear comments from students proclaiming their lack of musical abil- ity, such as “I have zero musical talents” or “Be kind to those of us who can’t sing, like me.” These students’ statements implied not only a belief in innate, selective musical talent but also the belief that musical ability was something they did not—and even could not—possess.
Many music educators also believe in the idea of selective, innate talent.
Results of a study
by Brändström (1999) suggest that, while some music teachers believe that all human beings are musical, others believe that musicality is biolog- ically inherited and “reserved for a minority of individuals” (p. 23). Clelland (2006) also found that numerous music teachers believe that some children are not inherently musical. Results of a study I conducted (Shouldice, 2009) indicate that many music teachers agree with the state- ment “To be good at music, a person needs to have a talent for music;” one such teacher ex- pressed the belief that “to be truly musical I think is a gift” (p. 148), while another stated, “Some people can’t be … ‘a musician’ because they might not have that talent’” (p. 133). In a later survey of 192 elementary music teach- ers (Shouldice, 2012), I found that, while 97% agreed with the statement “Anyone can learn music,” 25% did not agree with the statement, “Anyone can be good at music.” Additionally, 42% agreed with or were undecided about the statement “A lack of talent makes it difficult for a person to acquire musical skills.”
Effects of Talent Beliefs Teachers’ beliefs have an inevitable impact on what they do in the classroom with students. The beliefs of teachers may be overt and con- sciously influence their decisions and behav- iors, but just as often they are implicit and un- articulated, guiding teachers’ actions in ways of which they may not even be aware. One signifi- cant subset of teachers’ beliefs that likely affect their classroom practice are their expectations for their students, particularly student learning and success, and the ways in which these be- liefs are communicated to students. “The early school years are an important formative period when children’s beliefs about their [own] abili- ties are based on academic expectations and ability evaluations conveyed by their teachers” (Vartuli, 2005, p. 77).
Music teachers’ beliefs about their students’ musical abilities—particularly their judgments
14
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48