The Role of Self-Efficacy in Instrumental Jazz Improvisation Pedagogy Experiences of Three Piano Teachers

Master's Thesis March 30th, 2015

Jessica Elisabeth Lång

Music Education Sibelius Academy

University of the Arts Helsinki

S I B E L I U S A C A D E M Y ¨ Master's Thesis

Title Number of pages The Role of Self-Efficacy in Instrumental Jazz Improvisation Pedagogy: 68+5 Experiences of Three Piano Teachers Author Semester Jessica Elisabeth Lång Spring 2015 Department Music Education

Abstract People's actions are based largely on their beliefs of their abilities. If people don't believe they are able to produce an outcome worthwhile their efforts they have little incentive to act. Judgements of one's abilities, one's perceived self-efficacy, is not a fixed product, and is something that can be developed. In academic subjects, the powerful influence of self-efficacy on achievement has gained much attention. However, research linking self-efficacy to music is scarce and still in its nascent form. Considering that jazz improvisation is regarded as a particularly difficult skill to master that demands considerable amounts of self-assertiveness, perseverance, and effort in order to gain proficiency, the role of self-efficacy for jazz improvisation deserves more attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of self-efficacy for learning instrumental jazz improvisation with focus on how self-efficacy for jazz improvisation develops, what role the teacher has in developing students' self-efficacy and what kind of approaches are linked to increasing self-efficacy for jazz improvisation. Data was collected by interviewing three piano teachers on their experiences of students' self-efficacy. The resulting transcripts where subsequently interpreted and analyzed by establishing a dialogue between the text and the theoretical framework. The framework consisted of literature of jazz, the theory of self-efficacy and on previous research that has established a link between self-efficacy and jazz improvisation. The findings were then presented as a coherent narrative. The primary findings were the following: Low self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is mostly found in nonjazz music majors, mainly because it may not be a part of their self-image and because they haven't developed the necessary strategies for improvising. Developing self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is therefore especially important in early skill development and should be an acknowledged part of elementary jazz pedagogy. Jazz in itself has an impact on students' self-efficacy, which partly stems from its perceived difficulty and complexity. Practical approaches linked to increasing self-efficacy for jazz improvisation surfaced as well as approaches linked to dislodging negative self-beliefs. However, increasing perceived self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is a matter of combining individualized approaches. The findings of this study have some practical implications on jazz education. They can contribute to a broader pedagogical understanding of the processes behind learning jazz improvisation. Also, som practical approaches are presented that teachers may consider implementing in their teaching. Keywords Music education; jazz pedagogy; elementary jazz education; instrumental jazz improvisation; self-efficacy

Table of Content

Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 2

1 Introduction & Research Questions ............................................................................... 5 2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 8

2.1 Jazz ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.1.1 Attempting to Define Jazz Improvisation ...................................................... 8 2.1.2 Real Jazz ...................................................................................................... 10 2.1.3 Jazz as a Continuously Changing Artform .................................................. 12 2.1.4 The Mystery of Jazz ..................................................................................... 13 2.1.5 The Essence of Jazz Improvisation .............................................................. 14 2.1.6 Learning the Jazz Language ......................................................................... 15 2.1.7 Teaching Jazz Within the Frames of a Curriculum ...................................... 20

2.2 Self-Efficacy ........................................................................................................ 21 2.2.1 Definition of Self-Efficacy ........................................................................... 21 2.2.2 Sources of Self-Efficacy .............................................................................. 22

2.3 Linking Self-efficacy to Jazz Improvisation ........................................................ 26

3 Method ......................................................................................................................... 32 3.1 Qualitative Research ............................................................................................ 32 3.2 The Qualitative Interview .................................................................................... 32 3.3 Content Analysis .................................................................................................. 34 3.4 Reliability, Validity & Ethical Aspects ............................................................... 35

4 Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 38

4.1 Presentation of the Teachers ................................................................................ 38 4.2 What Kind of Experiences do the Teachers Have with Students' Self-Efficacy for

Jazz Improvisation? .............................................................................................. 40 4.2.1 Developing Self-Efficacy ............................................................................. 40 4.2.2 The Teacher's Role in Developing the Student's Self-Efficacy ................... 43 4.2.3 And ALL that Jazz. Jazz as Influence on Students' Self-Beliefs .................. 45 4.2.4 Summary ...................................................................................................... 46

4.3 What Kind of Approaches are Linked to Increasing Self-Efficacy for Jazz Improvisation? ...................................................................................................... 47 4.3.1 Encourage to Play and Explore .................................................................... 48 4.3.2 Individual Approach and Versatile Teaching .............................................. 50 4.3.3 Simplifying the Complex ............................................................................. 51 4.3.4 Enabling Experiences of Sounding Good .................................................... 52 4.3.5 Building a Positive Attitude to Playing ........................................................ 52

4.4 Dislodging Negative Self-Beliefs ........................................................................ 55 4.4.1 Taking the Student's Self-Doubts Into Consideration .................................. 55 4.4.2 Creating Successful Experiences ................................................................. 56 4.4.3 Using Students' Strengths ............................................................................ 57 4.4.4 Peer Learning ............................................................................................... 57 4.4.5 Teaching Thinking Strategies ...................................................................... 58

5 Discussion & Summary ............................................................................................... 59 5.1 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 59

5.2 Summary .............................................................................................................. 63

References ...................................................................................................................... 67 Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 69

Appendix 1: Interview Questions .............................................................................. 69 Appendix 2: Original Finnish Quotes ........................................................................ 70

1 Introduction

Few musical genres conjure up as many opinions on personal ability as jazz seemingly

does. Not seldom do I hear comments from musicians such as "I like jazz, but I just

don't get it" or "I play rock and pop, a little bit of everything really- but not jazz".

Especially the request of an improvised jazz solo can, in my experience, cause lively

objections from musicians who don't consider themselves to be jazz players. The want

may be there, and some half-hearted attempts may be launched, but not before the

matter of reminding everyone of not actually being a jazz player has been resolved. The

emergance of self-doubts of one's skills that seem particularly determined to surface

whenever jazz knocks on the door can be seen within a larger context. Jazz is hulled in a

sense of mystique, with its obscure language eluding outsiders, and with peculiar

practices such as artists coming together to play without having met before and without

the use of any scores. It's almost like magic.

"I used to think, how could jazz musicians pick notes out of thin air? I had

no idea of the knowledge it took. It was like magic to me at the time"

(Calvin Hill in Berliner, 1994, p.1).

The fact that there is much preparation, knowledge and practice behind improvising is

dulled by the accompanying mystique of jazz, and whoever wants to know what jazz is

can can be forced to deal with the legendary answer "If you have to ask you'll never

know," (DeVeaux, 1991, p.528) or other similar statements that maintain the idea that

jazz is something you either know or you don't. For the persistent ones who keep on

asking, there is not a particular method to approach jazz improvisation that they can

adopt that will ensure success, but instead students acquire the skills through a variety

of ways, mostly driven by their personal interests. (Berliner, 1994, p.168-169) There not

being ready methods and approaches on how to learn jazz improvisation, presents quite

the tough nut to crack for teachers, especially with beginner students.

"It is not always apparent to fluent improvisers who have grown up in the

jazz tradition what, precisely, naive learners need from them" (Ibid., p.

10).

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I myself, a naive learner, came to my first jazz piano lessons with mostly classical and

accompanying piano (vapaa säestys) experience and was completely puzzled by how

the jazz pianists could make the piano sound the way it did, and remained puzzled for

quite some time. Looking back almost a decade now, I remember that I didn't really

believe myself capable of learning to improvise, and stuck to what I did know-

accompanying. These personal experiences combined with the self-doubting attitudes

I've met are no means of measurement, but they have guided me towards exploring the

importance of personal belief of one's abilities and how such beliefs can affect one's

actions; in this case those actions being instrumental jazz improvisation. The

educational psychologist Albert Bandura (1996, p.1206) states that:

"Among the mechanisms of personal agency, none is more central or

pervasive than people's beliefs in their capabilities to exercise control over

their level of functioning and environmental demands...Efficacy beliefs

shape career aspirations and pursuits during early formative years."

Bandura postulates that personal beliefs in one's capabilities- perceived self-efficacy-

has a vital role in shaping one's future because it affects what tasks one seeks out, how

much effort one puts in given endeavors, how long one will persevere if met by

obstacles, and affects the level of achievement. (Bandura, 1997, p. 3) Research of the

influence of perceived self-efficacy has mostly been conducted in the area of academic

achievement, (Bandura 1996; McCormick & McPherson, 2003, 2006) and only until

recently been linked to music performance. Considering jazz improvisation is regarded

as such a difficult skill and that proficiency in jazz demands considerable amounts of

self-assertiveness, perseverance, effort and many years of practise, all steered by

perceived self-efficacy, there is surprisingly little research that has explored the

relationship between self-efficacy and jazz improvisation. It is the aim of this study to

examine that relationship and what role self-efficacy has in learning instrumental jazz

improvisation.

Research questions

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of self-efficacy in jazz improvisation

pedagogy by questioning three piano teachers on their experiences with students. By

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collecting their experiences with teaching jazz improvisation I wish to gain a better

insight into their understanding of the role of students' self-efficacy. The main research

questions are the following:

1. What kind of experiences do the teachers have with students and their beliefs in

their improvisation skills? 2. What kind of approaches are linked to increasing self-efficacy for jazz

improvisation?

Gaining more understanding for the role of self-efficacy could bring more pespective on

how it might affect students' learning processes and in what way teachers can take this

into consideration. Also a main focus is on how self-efficacy for jazz improvisation

develops and what experiences the teachers have of dislodging any negative self-beliefs.

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2 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework is divided into three parts: Jazz (2.1), self-efficacy (2.2) and

linking self-efficacy to jazz improvisation (2.3).

In research such as this, definition of the theoretical framework is required. Defining

jazz improvisation brought some difficulties though, for a straightforward explanation

does not exist, or I at least have yet to come across one. A broader view of the concept

jazz is called for in order to understand what jazz improvisation is. So instead of

attempting to define the term in short an overview is given of the different existing

opinions and narratives and in what way they are relevant to and complicate the

defining of jazz improvisation. After this overview I present one characteristic used to

define jazz improvisation that there seems to be a general consensus on, namely that

jazz improvisation is the discussion between the familiar and the unfamiliar and that the

essence of jazz is the process of change itself. By using Thinking in Jazz (1994) as

source I will give an overview of how people learn jazz improvisation and what

learning jazz consists of. This chapter aims to give an understanding of what students

are faced with when learning jazz improvisation. The last chapter of 2.1 gives some

insight into what challenges there are with teaching jazz improvisation within the

frames of a curriculum to give context to the work that the interviewed teachers

perform.

Self-efficacy is defined through the use of Albert Bandura's comprehensive work Self-

Efficacy: The Exercise of Control, the result of his vast research on the theory of self-

efficacy.

In the third and last part I present existing research that has established a link between

jazz improvisation and self-efficacy and further explain the importance of taking self-

efficacy into consideration in jazz pedagogy.

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2.1 Jazz

2.1.1 Attempting to Define Jazz Improvisation

The Oxford Dictionary of Music (2006) offers the following description for

improvisation (in general, not specifically for jazz improvisation): "A performance

according to the inventive whim of the moment, i.e. without a written or printed score,

and not from memory". This explanation can to some extent cover jazz improvisation,

but a jazz improvisation performance is rooted in years of practice, and memorizing

phrases and rhythmic figures does play a rather large part in it. Although the improviser

might not play solos directly from memory, stating that she or he does not play from

memory is misguiding. Again this wording might cause someone to believe that no

previous knowledge is needed. Also, improvisers may well use a written score, for

instance a lead sheet with melody and chords, as basis for their improvisation.

For a more elaborate and specifically jazz-related description one can turn to The Grove

Dictionary of Jazz (2002, p.313) which dedicates ten pages to jazz improvisation,

opening with describing improvisation as:

"The spontaneous creation of music as it is performed. It may involve the

immediate composition of an entire work by its performers, or the

elaboration or other variation of an existing framework, or anything in

between. All the performers in a group, or a soloist, or any intermediate

combination of players may improvise."

This explanation does not limit the use of frameworks or preconceived ideas and also

states that there are different degrees of improvisation and includes variation as a way of

improvising. Furthermore, it refers to who can improvise, stating that improvisation is

not merely restricted to playing a solo over one or more successions of choruses, but

that the practise also extends to the accompanying players, who may improvise to a

greater or lesser extent depending on how much the form allows. This description

comes closer to describing the complex mechanisms behind improvisation. When it

comes to defining jazz improvisation there isn't necessarily an unambiguous view to

adopt.

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"Defining jazz is a notoriously difficult proposition, but the task is easier if

one bypasses the usual inventory of musical qualities or techniques, like

improvisation or swing" (DeVeaux, 1991, p. 528).

The aim of this chapter is to give an insight into jazz, not focusing on stylistic traits but

more on existing views and different narratives that contribute to the understanding and

defining of jazz.

2.1.2 Real Jazz

The matter on what "real" jazz is forces strong opinions, conflicts and even movements

amongst the jazz academia and jazz community. The neo-classical movement from the

1980s for instance, with Wynton Marsalis as spokesperson, considers in its most

primitive form the true development of jazz to have ceased at the end of the 1950s

together with hardbop. (DeVeaux, 1991 p.527; Partanen, 2007 p.10) This movement in

turn raises much opposition and disagreeing voices, with some critics claiming that this

is evidence that jazz is dead, if all that remains is the preserving of previous glory.

(DeVeaux, 1991, p.527) The reaction against neotraditionalism can also be seen in

Finland, for example when the band Sound & Fury, consisting of Edward Vesala, Raoul

Björkenheim, Tapani Rinne and Pepa Päivinen, all important figures in Finnish jazz,

released an album in 1990 called Ode to the Death of Jazz. (Partanen, 2007 p. 9-10.)

Another example of where the debate on what real jazz is can be seen is in the jazz

academia, which is constantly criticized for being too estranged from the non-academic

jazz community. Jazz within the institutional walls is said to have lost its roots and is

devoid of social meaning. This distinction made between the jazz academia and the jazz

community, as though they are two completely separate things, is partly a product of the

"official" historical jazz narrative, according to Prouty (2012). Too often the

institutional developments are not seen within the context of the greater jazz tradition.

Jazz pedagogy didn't start evolving at the time when jazz became institutionalized, but

many significant educational events of the jazz communities haven't gained the

narrative importance and weight that they deserve, which has resulted in the disparity

between the jazz academia and jazz community. There is in fact a common heritage

behind them but because these have been separated by a partially exclusive narrative the

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connection is lost and the jazz academia is accused for not being "real". (Prouty 2012,

p.47, 59)

Another reason that the jazz academia is subject to this accusation is the extreme

codification the language of jazz has undergone within institutional walls, writes Louth

(2012). This concept can be explained by, for instance, the expressive playing style of

Coltrane. His phrases can be analyzed and mimicked but the emotions behind his

phrasing can hardly be felt in the same way within institutional walls, since they sprung

out of a historical and political context. Another example is the political struggle and

hardships endured amongst African-Americans that gave rise to "Freedom Suite Now"

by Max Roach and Oscar Brown Jr.. (Berliner, 1994, p.92) The codification of jazz,

which has been necessary in order for jazz to live up to academic standards and for it to

be taught, also means that the socially constructed origins can be forgotten, and thus

jazz loses its realness, according to some. (Louth, 2012, p.11)

What worries Washington (2003) is that, while jazz is increasingly gaining the

reputation of a respectable artform, the view of what real jazz is is becoming more and

more restrictive. Bebop is widely considered to be the lingua franca of jazz and every

serious jazz artist is expected to excel in this area, whereas, as Washington points out,

"there was a time when a jazz musician could be unconventional enough to play with

modernists without trying to copy their language" (Washington, 2004, p.33) Jazz is

often explained as containing different sets of practices, being defined as straight

ahead, commercial, or avant-garde. Whereas bebop is considered to be the most

important style to master in jazz, the 1960s freejazz is considered to be an avant-garde

style. Washington is of the opinion that all jazz styles and its subgenres are part of the

greater jazz tradition and that the whole jazz tradition should be explained as a perpetual

avant-garde movement. Because the avantgardism, according to him, doesn't

exclusively refer to stylistic and musical properties, but also to spiritual, political, or

social-aesthetic content. Washington states that all jazz styles at the time of their

formation were considered to be avant-garde in relation to their predecessors. For

instance, although the free jazz of the 1960s may have had some revolutionary features

it was no more revolutionary than Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite or Billie Holiday's

Strange Fruit. (Ibid., p.27-28, 33)

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The debate about what is real jazz and what is not is rendered less dramatic if one were

to adopt the understanding of jazz to be a perpetual avant-garde movement, moving

with times, continuously evolving and as an active participent in its own development.

This does however bring along the uncertainty of its developmental direction. The

American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk has stated: "I don't know where

jazz is going. Maybe it's going to hell. You can't make anything go anywhere. It just

happens." (DeVeaux, 1991, p.525). People will always understand jazz depending on

whichever perspective they adopt, which narrative they give more weight, on their own

background and in which way they relate to jazz.

"... Canon, the ultimate expression of knowledge about jazz, means

different things to different people. For some, especially in New Jazz

studies, canon is about contested claim to ownership, social and cultural

currents, relationships to adjunct histories, and alternative ways of looking

at the world. " (Prouty, 2012, p.9)

2.1.3 Jazz as a Continuously Changing Artform

Another aspect that arises and proposes a challenge when defining jazz improvisation is

that jazz is subject to constant change. All music will inevitably evolve over time, but

jazz supposedly evolves at a faster pace than for instance western art music. Washington

explains that the nature of jazz is that is goes through "rapid advancements of styles and

genres" (Washington, 2003, p.27). Louth would, similarly to Washington, have the

history of jazz and the emergence of its various styles explained as a continuous

movement, with him taking the stance that it is formed by the inevitable reification of

music. The process of reification can be described as follows: Whenever an initially

improvised phrase is played again, or when it is taught or learned, it will need to be

objectified and thus loses its improvised nature. It will then function as a sort of

backdrop for a new musical statement, and that new statement will in turn be used as a

backdrop for another improvised statement and so on. Music is very seldom completely

detached from other musical conventions and must mostly be negotiated in comparison

to something else, as is the case with jazz improvisation. In conclusion, all improvised

music must paradoxically become generalized, reified, in order for it to be taught or

learned or used as inpiration for further musical improvisation. Although this process of

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reification and rebirth also happens in European art music, Louth writes that jazz moves

faster through these phases because of it being improvisation based. (Louth, 2012, p.11-

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2.1.4 The Mystery of Jazz

Jazz improvisation "has often been viewed as a gift that does not lend itself to

instruction"(May, 2003, p. 245). This kind of view of learning jazz creates a rather

mystical idea of what jazz is. Berliner (1994, p.1) raises the matter of the still prevailing

mystery around jazz improvisation. For the outsider, jazz improvisation may seem like

magic, with performers seemingly "picking notes out of thin air", getting together for

the first time and playing something straight out of their heads. Berliner notes that this

idea is supported partly by jazz musicians themselves with statements such as:

"I have no idea what I am going to do when I take a solo. That's the thing

that I don't understand myself, and I've been asked about it so many times.

When I play a solo, I never know any more about what I am going to play

than you do" (Doc Cheatham in Berliner, 1994, p.2).

Another one of Berliner's interviewees says he does not "want to go into a solo with

anything preconceived..." He finds it "best to go in with an open mind and let it

develop". (George Duvivier in Berliner, 1994, p.2) Berliner goes on pondering that

statements such as these are, while not inaccurate, incomplete and does not give an

overall understanding of the mechanisms at work behind jazz improvisation. Berliner

finds the the following expressed view closer to the truth:

"Improvisation is an intuitive process for me now, but in the way in which

it's intuitive, I'm calling upon all the resources of all the years of my

playing at once: my academic understanding of the music, my historical

understanding of the music, and my technical understanding of the

instrument that I'm playing. All these things are going into one

concentrated effort to produce something that is indicative of what I'm

feeling at the time I'm performing." (Arthur Rhames in Berliner, 1994,

p.16.)

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Behind every improvised idea there is in fact preparation and accumulated knowledge,

but the still remaining mystery around jazz sustains the idea that jazz is something you

either can or can't play. (Berliner, 1994, p.17.)

2.1.5 The Essence of Jazz Improvisation

Amongst the disagreeing opinions on what jazz is, there seems to be one recurring

characteristic trait agreed upon found to describe the mechanisms of jazz improvisation.

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2002 p.322) describes it as follows:

"The essence of improvisation in jazz is the delicate balance between

spontaneous invention, carrying with it both the danger of loss of control

and the opportunity for creativity of a high order, and reference to the

familiar"

This discussion between spontaneous invention and predetermined elements is

discussed at length by many jazz artists, jazz educators and scholars such as Berliner

(1994, p.146), Prouty (2012), DeVeaux (1991, p.528-529), Louth (2012, p.19),

(Kernfield, 2002, p.314) and is a property that can be found in almost all jazz. Even free

jazz, contrary to what one might initially think, exerts some kind of reference to

structure or pre-determined elements.

"Free-jazz may be as dependent on themes as other styles of jazz, though

the themes and the way they are treated are often of unusual character.

Even when there is no theme used, certain prearranged schemes, such as

the sequence in which soloists should play and the signals by which

players will communicate decisions, are usually followed" (Kernfield,

2002, p.315).

Charles Mingus, titled as the father of the jazz avant-garde by Washington, was a truly

innovative jazz musician who started his career by playing with Louis Armstrong, Duke

Ellington and Charles Parker before becoming a bandleader. His music is hard to

categorize due to his uncanny way of blending repertoare, styles, playing techniques and

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interdisciplinary expression forms. Mingus, who was a harsh critic of the term avant-

garde being applied to only a part of jazz music and of players who saught for a new

sound without understanding the jazz heritage, wanted to create a record with Duke

Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Thad Jones and others who "could really play".

In a letter to Duke Ellington he wrote "I wanted to show what would happen if some

musicians who could really play the chord changes, who could really play a tune and

not get lost, were to improvise and play free - everybody do what they want to do to

outdo the avant-garde". (Washington, 2003, p.37) This serves to exemplify that pre-

conceived knowledge is needed even in, or especially in, free jazz and that jazz

improvisation is very much dependent on the interchange between novel ideas and

predetermined elements whatever style.

"The essence of jazz lies not in any one style, or any one cultural or historical

context, but in that which links all these things together into a seamless

continuum. Jazz is what it is because it is a culmination of all that has come

before...The essence of jazz is the process of change itself" (DeVeaux, 1991,

p.528).

2.1.6 Learning the Jazz Language

One of the many attempts to demystify the process of learning jazz improvisation is

found in Berliner's work Thinking in Jazz (1994). Because of the weight his work is

given in this chapter a short introduction seems in order. Thereafter I go on presenting

some of the main thoughts in the chapters I found relevant in giving an insight into the

processes of learning to improvise. Not all the aspects could be taken into consideration

due to time and space limitations, for instance the collective aspects of improvisation

aren't described. For a more extensive insight the reader is referred to the source itself.

In, what has become one of the most extensive works of jazz studies, professor of

ethnomusicology Paul F. Berliner reveals how jazz musicians learn to improvise. The

material used in his research is a combination of reviewed literature, analyzed

participant observation, transcriptions of improvisations, the author's experiences as a

jazz trumpeter, and interviews with more than fifty professional jazz musicians. During

his research Berliner became convinced that "despite stylistic changes over time, jazz

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retains the continuity of certain underlying practices and values associated with

improvisation, learning and transmission" (1994, p.14). By revealing such practices and

values he intended to demonstrate that there in fact is a functioning pedagogy within the

jazz tradition. (Ibid., p.1-14)

The four following areas in learning jazz improvisation are covered

a) Jazz tunes as basis for improvisation.

b) How do you learn the vocabulary needed for solos?

c) From imitation to assimilation to innovation

d) How different ways of thinking about music can help your playing.

(a) Jazz tunes as basis for improvisation (Ibid., p.63-94)

One basic aspect of learning jazz improvisation is learning tunes. Tunes that are

considered standard form the basis of jazz musicians' repertoire and are used as basis

for collective playing at jam sessions or other performances. These jazz standards are

studied and learned extensively by heart, and advanced jazz musicians are also

expected to be able to play them in all keys. There are different ways of learning tunes.

One way is by using written materials found in for instance fakebooks, usually in the

form of a lead sheet containing the melody and chords. However, there are some

negative aspects with this approach. One of Berliner's interviewees remarked:

"Fake books van really stultify your development if you have the wrong

attitude to them. Really, the best way to learn is to take tunes off records,

because you're utilizing your ear. It takes a lot of knowledge and

experience to be able to do this, but it becomes easy to hear pieces in their

component parts if you actually do the work yourself..." (Howard Levy in

Berliner, 1994, p.93 )

Most jazz musicians concur that the best way to learn jazz is by ear, for example by

taking off tunes from recordings. Jazz musicians must rely greatly on their ears and

learning tunes by ear develops that skill. For a classically trained musician who has

mainly relied on written scores this aural skill will take a while to develop. Another

way of learning tunes is by visual representation, for instance by imitating the physical

movement of a player. Learning a tune by scat syllables is another method and has,

according to Berliner, some benefits: The player doesn't become reliant on muscle

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memory or visualization and isn't slowed down in learning the song because of

insufficient instrument technique.

A common way of learning tunes is by beginning from harmonically simple songs such

as a basic 12-bar blues to the more harmonically complex jazz blues. After the blues

other musical forms are studied, for instance the AABA format such as the thirty-two

bar song I got Rhythm, and then onto ABAB and ABAC song forms. These forms are

typical of American popular songs and slowly musicians begine to see similarities

between songs and their forms. Recognizing such parallells are crucial for jazz players,

and is relevant not only in forms but also in chord qualitities and chord groupings such

as the II7-V7-I7 progression. If there is no mentor guiding the song choices, however,

the student can just as easily start off with the most complex songs unaware of their

level of difficulty.

An important realization for the student is there isn't one correct version of a tune found

in a fake book or on a record but that a jazz piece functions more as a frame or as basis

for building one's own version. Every version of a tune is different and can for instance

be changed through harmonic reharmonization, chord substitutions, different voicings,

melodic embellishments and rhythmic phrasing. It's about finding your own way of

playing the piece. When learning to play solo's, tunes can be very helpful vehicles. One

musician describes how he learned to improvise with the help on songs:

"After I had been playing the melodies straight for awhile, I started making

little embellishments around them. Gradually, my embellishments became

more extensive, and eventually I learned how to improvise (Warren Kime in

Berliner, 1994, p.71).

(b) Learning the building blocks of solos (Ibid. p.95-119)

Berliner compares learning jazz improvisation to that of a child learning their native

language by imitating older speakers. Only by immersing themselves in the oral

literature and with guidance of mentors can students learn to discern the components of

the jazz vocabulary.

By learning phrase components and conventional phrases students can learn to utilize

them in their own solos. This can be done by studying the solos of other fluent speakers.

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One way many musicians learn solos is by listening to recordings and singing or

whistling the solos. In the beginning much of the language used in a solo will elude the

student, but slowing down the record or dividing the solo into smaller parts can help.

Students can also turn to written sources, but much of the solo's information, such as

phrasing and accentuation, isn't revealed in the transcription and they are considered to

be "skeletal representations". Also, an integral part of developing one's jazz skills is lost

when using ready transcriptions because no ear training is practised. When transcribing

and analyzing solos students gradually learn to discern the different components, the

building blocks, that the solos are comprised of and can thereafter start to use these

components when constructing their own solos. Musicians need to build up strong

mental constructions of the jazz vocabulary, the stronger these images the more

effective use they can make of them in their playing. To strengthen these mental

conceptions students can learn to convert images from one form to another. For instance

an initially sung phrase can be theoretized by verbalizing which notes are played or by

visualizing the notes on one's instrument.

"Control over alternative forms of imaging leads improvisers to master the

language of jazz... It does not seem an exaggeration to say that jazz

musicians achieve this mastery from every conceivable standpoint,

including sounds, shapes, musical symbols, and physicality." (Berliner,

1994, p.114)

(c) From imitation to assimilation to innovation (Ibid., p.120-145)

"It all goes from imitation to assimilation to innovation. You move from

the imitation stage to the assimilation stage when you take little bits of

things from different people and weld them into an identifiable style-

creating your own style. Once you've created your own sound and you

have a good sense of the history of music, then you think of where the

music hasn't gone and where it can go-and that's innovation." (Walter

Bishop Jr. in Berliner, 1994, p.120)

Many students select a major figure in jazz as their model and learn to imitate them,

copying things such as sound and vocabulary. After a while they begin to understand

where their idols got their inspiration from, leading them to older artists and styles.

19

Understanding the heritage helps the students understand why their idols sound the way

they do; helps them understand the attributes that shape their musical personality.

"It helps your playing to have som tradition behind you... Unless you

understand James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, you don't really understand

Ahmad Jamal, or Bud Powell, or Herbie Hancock."(Kenny Washington in

Berliner, 1994, p.124)

Some jazz musicians assert that they can recognize their idols by listening to the

sound or attitude or the way they touch the keyboard. Developing your own sound,

your own musical personality is partly dependent on how one interprets music. A

phrase for example can sound different depending on the use of articulation,

accentuation and phrase lengths. Other stylistic traits can involve the use of either

vertical playing, where emphasis is on chord changes or of horizontal phrasing,

emphasizing more lyrical melodies. Some techniques are dependent on instruments,

for instance playing the bass in a percussive style or slurring and tonguing pitches

on the saxophone. One can also combine unexpected techniques such as classical

contrapuntal practices with musical traits of Herbie Hancock to form innovative

new approaches and one's own musical personality.

(d). Different ways of thinking (Ibid., 146-169)

There are different ways of thinking when approaching improvisation, for example in

chords, scales or intervals. Thinking in chords would entail using the notes of the chords

as basis for your improvisation. If you think in scales you can match the chord with an

appropriate (or inappropriate) scale. Thinking in intervals can be useful when

confronted with difficult chords. The most fundamental approach to improvisation is by

thinking in rhythm, commonly referred to as time-feel. This may be a difficult concept

to grasp, but is one of the most essential aspects of playing jazz. Time-feel doesn't refer

to the actual rhythmic constructs that make up the music, such as eighths notes or

syncopation; rather, to the way how a player interprets the beat. The beat can be pulled

slightly forward, "playing ahead of the beat" or backward, "playing behind the beat",

without making any difference in the overall tempo. The way players interpret the beat

determines the ambiance or the feel of the music.

20

"There should be ten, fifteen different kinds of time. There's a kind of time

that has an edge on it for a while and then lays back for a while.

Sometimes it rolls over the bar, and sometimes it sits more on the beats.

That's what makes it interesting. You can set a metronome here and, by

playing with an edge or playing behind it or right in the center, you can get

all kinds of different feelings. That's what makes it come alive. People are

human, and rhythmic energy has an ebb and flow" (Fred Hersch in

Berliner, 1994, p.151).

2.1.7 Teaching Jazz Within the Frames of a Curriculum

"...there is more to jazz than what is in the curriculum" (Prouty, 2004, p.9).

The doctoral dissertation of Walter Barr has long been regarded as a "model" for the

jazz curriculum itself where his purpose was to describe common practices in

improvisation. Typical for the jazz education curriculum within the academia is the way

the course repertoire is determined by the complexity of harmonies. Usually, harmonic

structures become more complex the more advanced the course. This emphasis on

harmony has been criticized for creating too much homogeneity amongst players in the

academia, resulting in everybody sounding the same and in the loss of originality,

compared to the jazz community in which many players had little theory training and

therefore had to find their own individual way, according to some critics. Besides the

focus on harmony, theoretical grasp and understanding are usually also a point of focus,

while creativity and individuality are given less weight in this curriculum. On this

matter one needs to bear in mind the demands of institutions on the jazz academia that

don't affect the jazz community- at least not to the same extent. Academic requirements

such as forming a curriculum, and applying evaluation methods are of course necessary

in an institutional environment. This in combination with a limited time phrame affects

what aspects of jazz are given more attention and which aspects may be

underemphasized. Musical aspects such as creativity and individuality are nevertheless

expected from advanced students' playing, and this may be a source of frustration for

students. Prouty claims that the current methods used in jazz improvisation can make it

21

difficult for educators to incorporate the more creative aspects into their teaching.

(Prouty, 2004, p.2-11; Prouty, 2012, p.73-74)

2.2 Self-Efficacy

In the following chapters a summarized review is given of Albert Bandura's work Self-

Efficacy: The Exercise of Control (1997) focusing on the four main information sources

on which people base their judgements of their own abilities. Self-efficacy plays an

important role in Bandura's social cognitive theory, which is an analysis of human

agency.

2.2.1 Definition of Self-Efficacy

Bandura defines self-efficacy as follows: "Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in

one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce

given attainments." (Bandura, 1997, p.3)

Believing in one's abilities is a powerful incentive. People constantly make judgments

of their own capabilities and predict what the outcomes might be if they were to act. If

they think themselves uncapable of a certain feat they're unlikely to take action, but if

they predict an outcome worthwhile their efforts they have a good incentive to act. Self-

efficacy thus, is the basis for action. Believing in one's abilities to produce an intended

result has varied effects, influencing one's pursued course, the effort one puts into a

task, the level of perseverance and one's reactions during difficulties, whether one's

thought patterns are self-hindering or self-aiding and how well one performs. (Ibid., p.2-

3, 24)

Developing an appraisal for one's abilities is especially important in the early

developmental stages of a skill, when one is still unsure of one's capabilities. Further on

in one's development, the need is not as great. "Once people develop a mind-set about

their efficacy in given situations, they act on their established self-beliefs without

further reappraising their capabilities" (Ibid., p.18). Morever, one's self-efficacy is not

22

inherently permanent and unwavering but is constantly changing and can be developed

or dislodged. This is particularly interesting from a pedagogical perspective, since

teachers are in a key position to affect the beliefs of students, which in turn affects the

direction of their lives. (Ibid., p.106) Since self-efficacy is something that can be

developed or dislodged it is important to understand how. The theory of self-efficacy

provides understanding for the mechanisms behind the appraisals of one's abilities and

offers pedagogical understanding for what kind of approaches are linked to increasing

self-efficacy.

2.2.2 Sources of Self-Efficacy

Information does not transmit unaltered and unaffected into a persons mind, changing

their self-efficacy directly; rather, a person processes the information depending on her

or his pre-existing self-beliefs. Whatever the source of information, it is through

cognitive processing that self-appraisal of one's abilities is altered. For instance,

information is often processed in self-confirming ways. Information that is consistent

with pre-existing self-beliefs tends to be treated as further evidence of those beliefs,

while information that does not agree with one's self-beliefs tends to be minimized or

disregarded. (Ibid., p. 79-82) Undoing negative self-beliefs is possible but requires

"explicit, compelling feedback that forcefully disputes the preexisting disbelief in one's

capabilities" (Ibid., p.82). There are four principle sources from which self-efficacy

beliefs are constructed: (a) Enactive mastery experience, (b) vicarious experience, (c)

verbal persuasion and (d) physiological and affective states.

(a) Enactive Mastery Experiences

The most influential source of information that affects perceive self-efficacy is

experiencing a successfully controlled performance, as it is the most direct and

authentic evidence that one is capable of succeeding. While success enhances self-

belief, failure undermines it, especially in the beginning of skill development before one

has built up a robust sense of self-efficacy. Teachers can aid the creation of successful

mastery experiences by structuring the learning process in a manner that suits the level

and tempo of the student. However, a successful experience in itself does not alter a

23

person's self-efficacy, but depends on what kind of information the person attends to

and in what way the information is cognitively processed. (Ibid., p.80-81) The factors

that affect how people will process information and alter their efficacy through

performance experiences are explained in short here.

People develop a stabilized view of themselves through various experiences, a sort of

structured self-system. This system holds an important role in regulating people's

mental state for without it people would shift their view of themselves continuously. It

also influences what kind of information people attend to, interpret, organize and

retrieve from their memory when making judgements of their abilities. Usually

information is treated in self-confirming ways. For example, if somebody is certain that

they are not athletic, bad performances will strenghten that belief and subsequenty little

or no effort will be put into physical exercise actually needed to become a proficient

athlete. Only through a robust sense of self-efficacy are the cognitive and self-regulative

abilities created that are required for effective performance. Negative self-efficacy can

be dislodged, but it often requires extra effort, since it might be in conflict with people's

preexisting self-knowledge. (Ibid., p. 81-82)

Not all successful achievements have an effect on one's self-beliefs. Succeeding at a

perceived easy task for example won't necessarily increase self-efficacy, whereas

succeeding at a perceived difficult task probably will because it contains new

information of one's efficacy. Perceived task difficulty, thus, affects the cognitive

processing of information, which in turn affects one's self-efficacy. Contextual factors

also affect the cognitive processing of information, such as how much external aid one

gets, the adequacy of available equipment or performance circumstances. For instance, a

person who is aided in a task might not believe that personal capabilities were the

reason for the achievement but instead gives credit to the assistance provided. Or if a

musician plays poorly during a concert while the technical equipment doesn't work

satisfactorily, the player might ascribe the underachievement to circumstantial

impediments rather than question her/his abilities. Another influence on how people

process information is the amount of effort expended on a task. Assigning little effort

into a performance and then failing won't affect one's self-beliefs as much as a well-

prepared performance gone bad will. (Ibid., p.82-85)

24

People's memories aren't filled with perfectly accurate portrayals of past events, but are

the product of selective monitoring. How people remember events, what they choose to

focus on and what they retrieve from their memory has an impact on self-efficacy.

(Ibid. p.85-86)

In the beginning and intermediate stages of skill development, gains come rapidly, gross

mistakes are eliminated which makes it easy to perceive one's course of development.

In advanced stages more complex competencies are required, and skill developments

are more intricate and therefore harder to perceive. Not experiencing any development

may cause one to believe one has reached one's capacity, discouraging one from putting

in the needed effort for further achievement. (Ibid., p. 87)

(b) Vicarious Experience

In order to measure one's capabilities, people use the attainments of others as

comparison. People often seek out models who possess the competencies that they wish

to obtain themselves, and besides providing a social standard, effective modeling

transmits knowledge and teaches effective skills and strategies.

There are different kinds of modeling influences, depending on how a society is

structured, and they serve different functions depending on the types of information

they convey. Abstract modeling teaches people thinking skills. By observing rules and

strategies observers learn to apply them to different situations, enabling them to adjust

to changing circumstances. In complex activities, the model may need to verbalize

her/his thinking strategies in order for the observer to understand them. In self-

modeling teachers can structure performance tasks in a way that ensures successful

experiences, which are recorded and played back to the student, and in that way

strengthening their self-efficacy. People can enhance their efficacy beliefs by

visualizing themselves confronting challenging situations. Simulating a successful

performance, using cognitive self-modeling, can improve actual performance, but the

gains tend to be modest. (Ibid., 87-95)

A model who is similar in terms of levels of ability, something Bandura refers to as

perforamance similarity, has more relevant information for one's appraisal of efficacy.

25

Models who are considerably more skilled carry little information on one's abilities,

whereas models who are slightly higher or similar in ability tells ond more about one's

level of proficiency. As a general rule, if people with similar skills succeed it raises

one's self-effcacy, while if they fail it is lowered. Some activities are stereotypically

linked to certain attributes such as gender, age, ethnicity and educational level, which

Bandura refers to as attribute similarity. For instance models of similar race and

gender are viewed as more credible and instill stronger efficacy beliefs than models of

different race and gender. Peer learning, where age is the combining factor, is another

example. Seeing fellow students succeed at a task holds more information of one's self-

efficacy than seeing a teacher succeed. (Ibid., p.96-98)

(c) Verbal Persuasion

Verbal persuasion alone is not very influential on peoples' self-efficacy. However, if

someone doubts their skills and if a model expresses faith in them instead of doubt it

may help in increasing the effort expended and in sustaining it. False praise will most

likely have the opposite intended effect, leading to failed experiences when expectations

aren't met and diminishing the person's sense of self-efficacy. Furthermore, evaluation

feedback can either strenghten or weaken students' self-efficacy, depending on the

manner in which it is presented. In evaluation where the focus lies on pointing out the

deficiencies of a performance and where achievement is taken for granted, students'

sense of efficacy will be affected negatively. Whereas if the focus lies on measuring the

development gained, self-efficacy is affected positively. Not all verbal feedback

however, will influence people's judgements of themselves. For instance, a skilled and

widely recognized jazz musician who comments on a young person's playing will be

perceived as a more credible source of efficacy information than a close relative. The

more knowledgeable and credible the person giving feedback is, the more valuable will

that information be perceived. (Ibid., p.101-105)

(d) Physiological and Affective States

High arousal, for instance stress, affects a performance negatively. Therefore, people

expect to underachieve when they are stressed, and make judgements of their

26

capabilities based on their physiological and affective states. Mood states also affect

people's self-efficacy judgments, since mood states affect how events are interpreted

and how events are remembered. By reducing stress levels and negative emotional

tendencies one can alter self-efficacy beliefs. All arousal is not negative though.

Moderate levels of arousal has in general a positive affect on a performance. (Ibid.,

p.106-107)

2.2.3 Linking Self-Efficacy to Jazz Improvisation

To the question What is jazz? the legendary answer is: If you have to ask you'll never

know. (DeVeaux, 1991, p.3) What do beginner jazz students make of this? Will they

understand the context from which it is sprung or will they draw the conclusion that jazz

is either something you inherently can or can't play? Other misleading statements from

musicians such as "I have no idea what I am going to do when I take a solo" and "I

don't want to go into a solo with anything preconceived" (see chapter 2.1.4 for unaltered

citations) support this same idea that improvisation is something you just know.

However flawed this assumption may be and even though beginner jazz students may

very well remain unaffected by such cryptic remarks that imply that jazz can't be

learned, they still need to navigate their way through the complex world of jazz.

However, this too proposes a challenge, since there is no evident consensus on what

brings jazz together stylistically, culturally or historically. The only consensus there

seems to be is that the essence of jazz is a balance between the known and the unknown,

(see chapter 2.1.5) although this somewhat philosophical stance doesn't exactly clear

things up for a beginner. For students just getting to know jazz it is probably difficult to

understand what needs to be learned, regardless of whether they are aware of the

contemplations above described or not. As Bandura (1997, p.2) explains, people tend to

avoid tasks if they don't believe they can produce an outcome or a desired result

worthwhile their efforts. In order to become a proficient jazz player a lot of persistent

effort needs to be made, but with jazz the question of what exactly it is one needs to put

effort into, and what the desired result is hangs lingering, only vaguely answered. This

is the reason why it is especially important to understand what kind of approaches are

linked to increasing self-efficacy in jazz improvisation.

27

The importance of self-efficacy in jazz improvisation can be read in, amongst others,

Berliner's work. Although he doesn't use the same terminology as Bandura, for apparent

reasons, one can discern the importance of self-efficacy in his texts. For instance, he

observes the importance of regarding a skill to be within one's capabilities:

"Children who grow up around improvisers regard improvisation as a skill

within the realm of their own possible development. In the absence of this

experience, many view improvisation as beyond their ability" (Berliner,

1994, p.31).

He also comments on what role the teacher has in steering children's actions to

improvise, indirectly implying that teachers have the power to form children's self-

efficacy.

"Music teachers in the schools can encourage the early inclinations of

talented youngsters to embellish compositions assigned during lessons and

improvise their own pieces, or they can inhibit such inclinations." (Ibid.,

p.31)

Berliner also talks of attribute similarity as a source of influence on self-efficacy (see

chapter 2.2.2)., in other words seeing people similar to oneself succeed in jazz

improvisation and its role on one's self-beliefs. Berliner raises this by comparing the

cultural differences between black and white communities in the past, stating that "the

capacity for jazz improvisation and other musical skills has, at times, been confused

with the benefits of different training and subject to racial sterotyping". (Berliner, 1994,

p.31) To exemplify this he uses Red Rodney's experience of the changes his self-beliefs

underwent after meeting Gillespie and Parker.

"Even though Red Rodney and his white peers played in swing bands in high

school, they thought that improvising was something special that only the

'black guys' did well. In contrast, the white playes were the good readers, the

good session players. It was an important turning point in Rodney's view of

his own potential to become an improviser when Dizzy Gillespie took a

personal interest in him and initiated his association with Charlie Parker"

(Ibid., p.31).

28

McCormick and McPherson conducted two interconnected studies in 2003 and 2006 on

what role motivation has with young musicians in graded performance examinations. In

both studies self-efficacy was the best predictor of achievement in examinations.

McCormick and McPherson express their concerns on the little amount of research that

has been done on the role of self-efficacy in music, since there is an abundance of

evidence showing the powerful influence of self-efficacy on academic achievement.

Based on the results of their study they recommend more research to be done to find

better ways of identifying students with low self-efficacy and approaches that increase

self-efficacy. (McCormick & McPherson, 2006, p. 322, 332-333) They conclude that:

"Self-efficacy theory deserves more focused attention by music researchers.

This is especially important in a discipline that involves high levels of self-

regulation and mental discipline, in the form of practising at home for long

periods and for many years, in order to achieve success" (McCormick &

McPherson, 2006, p.334).

A related study is conducted by Schmidt (2005) in which motivational and self-concept

were found strongly correlated with students' effort and achievement in instrumental

music. He concludes that motivation is a crucial element in instrumental music

education at all levels and encourages researchers to investigate the link between

student motivation and performance achievement as a function of parent and teacher

behaviors and attitudes. (Schmidt, 2005, p. 134,137)

Davison (2006) conducted a study inquiring whether different approaches increase self-

efficacy in improvisation among intermediate instrumental music students. He did so by

examining the effects of two modes of instruction (aural and aural/notated transcription)

and whether there was a difference in the self-efficacy of the students depending on the

mode of instruction. Results showed that mode of instruction did not have a difference

on students' self-efficacy. However, both methods increased self-efficacy significantly

for improvising, although because of the lack of control group it is impossible to tell if

there would have been a similar increase in self-efficacy with normal instruction. What

also surfaced in his study was that peer tutoring was reported to have the most effect on

gaining confidence for improvisation. Davison concluded, after stating that research on

self-efficacy in music education is still young, that future researchers could examine

29

modeling conditions in other music areas such as jazz improvisation. (Davison, 2006, p.

42, 52-53) He stresses the importance of using approaches linked to increasing self-

efficacy with self-doubting students.

"Many students, even when presented the opportunity to improvise, will

refuse to participate in such a personal musical undertaking. For self-

doubting students, a lack of self-efficacy for improvising may prove to be

a hurdle too large to overcome without careful instruction." (Ibid., p. 53)

Davison hopes that future research will lead to teaching approaches that "facilitate

meaningful participation for a greater number of music learners" (Ibid., p. 54).

Watson (2008) is one of the few who has studied the role of self-efficacy in

instrumental jazz improvisation, and is the first to examine the effects of instructional

material on achievement and self-efficacy in instrumental jazz improvisation. One of his

research questions was in what way the mode of instruction, in this case either aural or

notated, influenced self-efficacy of music students in higher education who had limited

to no prior experience of jazz improvisation. His results relating to self-efficacy (p.145-

146) show that:

• Students who received aural instructions made significantly greater achievement

gains than the ones who received notated instruction.

• Instruction increased students' self-efficacy for jazz improvisation, regardless of

mode of instruction.

• No relationship was found between subjects' self-efficacy for jazz improvisation

and achievement in jazz improvisation.

• Background variables had little implications on self-efficacy with one exception

being gender. Females reported lower self-efficacy for jazz improvisation than

males.

• Previous jazz ensemble improvisation had a low but significant affect on

subjects' self-efficacy.

His findings have some implications regarding pedagogical approaches in jazz

improvisation. Jazz educators should be cautious of using notated exercises as the

dominant mode of instruction, since aural instruction showed greater achievement

30

gains. Furthermore, besides improving skills, instructional methods should also foster

self-efficacy and that the use of such methods would in theory increase motivation for

involvement. Such a link would, however, need to be investigated. His findings, he

points out, cannot be generalized to other populations since his objects were all

collegiate music majors. For instance, he wonders what kind of instructional modalities

would be most effective with students in early skill development or with advanced jazz

students. (Ibid., p. 150, 153)

The fact that women showed less self-efficacy for jazz improvisation in Watson's study

is worth considering. The instrumental jazz field is widely underrepresented by women,

as McKeage (2004) shows in her study that examines the relationship between gender

and participation in high school and college instrumental jazz ensembles. In reviewing

statistics in the US, she shows that women are considerably underrepresented in high

school, in universities and as instrumental jazz faculty members in postsecondary

education. Her study, consisting of a little over sixhundred undergraduate college band

students in USA, shows that female participation was significantly less than male

participation in high school and declining drastically in college. The womens' stated

reasons for discontinuing jazz studies were: primary choice of instrument, usually being

a nonjazz instrument; they do not feel as comfortable in jazz ensembles as in traditional

band and; they are not able to connect career aspirations with jazz (McKeage points to

the lack of female role models in instrumental jazz in the professional ranks as a

possible reason). (McKeage, 2004)

In Wehr-Flowers's (2006) study on gendered differences of students' confidence,

anxiety and attitude toward learning jazz improvisation it is suggested that what is

influencing female participation in jazz improvisation activities are social-psychological

issues and not ability, lack of skills or talent. Her study consists of a survey covering

students from middle school to college and community jazz programs. Results indicate

that females are less confident, more anxious and have less self-efficacy (attitude)

towards learning jazz improvisation. She discusses different ways of tackling this

problem, for instance by forming small peer groups, or all-female groups.

May (2003) examined what factors and abilities influence achievement in instrumental

jazz improvisation. She found self-evaluation of improvisation to be the best predictor

of achievement by asking students to assess their own improvisation ability. Her

31

findings, suggest that the relationship of self-evaluation to the development of jazz

improvisation should be investigated. Also, she calls for more research-based

systematic instructional techniques for jazz education.

The above stated research all suggest the importance of studying approaches linked to

self-efficacy for music performance and jazz improvisation. Also an area of research in

need of exploring is how self-efficacy for jazz improvisation develops

32

3 Method

In 3.1 epistemological perspectives linked to qualitative research are described in order

to clarify the nature of qualitative research and how it affects the gathering of

information. Chapter 3.2 presents the characteristics of the qualitative interview and the

manner in which the interview questions were constructed. Chapter 3.3 gives an account

of the data collected through the interviews and of the method of analysis that was used.

In 3.4. reliability, validity and ethical aspects are discussed.

3.1 Qualitative Research

In a postmodern viewpoint knowledge is not definite and waiting to be uncovered by

the researcher; rather, reality is seen as a social construction, where the focus is on

interpreting the meaning of the social world. So instead of viewing knowledge as

something to be discovered, knowledge is seen as something to be produced, and it is in

the relationship between the person and the world that knowledge exists. Morever, what

kind of meaning and knowledge that is produced depends on the researcher's angle and

values. Human subjectivity thus plays an inevitably crucial role. This kind of

postmodern viewpoint serves its own purposes the same as a positivist viewpoint

functions well when collecting data. The point of clarifying these epistemological

conceptions is not to force philosophical opinions on the reader, but to help in

understanding the nature of the knowledge that is produced by the qualitative interview.

(Kvale-Brinkmann, 2009, p. 64-76)

3.2 The Qualitative Interview

In a postmodern approach to interviewing, the qualitative interview is seen as a place

for constructing knowledge, by trying to understand the world form the respondent's

viewpoint, to reveal their experienced world and to produce meaning from their

experiences. (Kvale-Brinkmann, 2009, p. 17, 69) It is thus up to the researcher to

analyse the information, find meaning and present it in a comprehensible narrative.

(Bell, 1999, p.17)

33

As with any method, there are both strengths and weaknesses to consider. The

advantages of a qualitative interview over a questionnaire are that the researcher can

follow up statements with further questions for clarification or to question and probe

responses. Also, information that can give more depth to statements, such as hesitation

or the tone of voice, can be taken into account. Another major strength is that this

method of narrative inquiry enables readers from different backgrounds than the

respondents or the researcher to develop an understanding for the motives and

consequences of actions. The methods weaknesses are that the process of interviewing,

transcribing and analyzing are time-consuming, which has an impact on the amount of

study subjects that can be included in a research project. Another problem is that the

respondent might not open up to the researcher and thereby withhold relevant

information, and since this method is highly subjective, there is always a danger of bias.

The researcher can for instance use leading questions and let their preexisting

knowledge lead the respondent's utterances. (Bell, 1999, p. 16-7, 135)

Criticism is often aimed at the subjective nature of the method, with critics stating that

scientific methods should be neutral and not be affected by the researcher's subjectivity,

interests and values. Researchers who are sceptic of the qualitative research interview

often refer to positivism, which emphasizes that knowledge should be quantifiable.

Since there aren't a ready set of questions that can be applied to all areas in self-efficacy,

I had to construct the interview questions myself. This was done by examining how

self-efficacy questions could be assembled on a questionnaire. (Bandura, 2006, p.307-

337) Next I will give an overview of the different factors that need to be taken into

consideration when constructing relevant questions on self-efficacy. The type of

questions that are used on tests measuring people's self-efficacy is dependent on the

domain that is studied. So a study in people's beliefs in their abilities to lose weight

would produce different questions than a study in people's self-beliefs in jazz

improvisation. When constructing questions it is vital to understand the factors that

determine the quality of functioning within the particular domain of interest. For

instance, if a student plays well beneath her/his capabilities during a group lesson, peer

pressure or performance anxiety can be understood as a partial cause for any lessened

self-efficacy, while studying the student's relationship to her/his mother would in this

case probably not be relevant. The behavioral factors over which students can exercise

34

control are of special interest, and are the kind of aspects relevant to a comprehensive

self-efficacy assessment. In jazz improvisation factors such as self-regulatory skills that

affect the amount of practice, the effort put into a sub-skill, the student's own interest

that sparks motivation, anxiety factors and use of memory devices are examples of what

students can exercise control over and are thus relevant to a study in self-efficacy. A

direct way of studying students' self-efficacy in jazz improvisation would be to send out

a question survey to music students who receive tuition in jazz improvisation inquiring

about their beliefs in their skills in the areas they can exercise control. In this study

however I'm interested in how teachers experience they can affect students' self-

efficacy, and what kind of approaches they find increase students' self-efficacy. The

interview questions were formed by focusing on some of the most important areas in

jazz improvisation that students can exercise control over, which teachers in turn are in

the position to influence.

3.3 Content Analysis

One way to analyze and structure the collected data of transcribed interviews is through

the use of categorizing. Categorizing allows for interpretation of meaning and for

presenting the findings as a structured narrative. Because of the researcher's existing

assumptions and her role in questioning the text she is an active contributer of the

interpreted meaning. Categorizing involves the systematic search for common features

and conceptions in a text, and reduces the meaning of longer descriptions into a few

simple categories in which the essential points are presented. From these categories

themes emerge; themes can be decided before the interview or they can be developed

during the analysis process. The researcher then examines the categories from the

standpoint of the study's specified purpose. In the last step the central themes of the

interviews are structured to form a coherent narrative.

Open-ended questions were used in order to avoid bias resulting from leading questions

and to gain the interviewee's own perspective and full descriptions on certain

predetermined topics. All three interviews were conducted in February 2015 in

Helsinki, Finland, and the language used was Finnish. The first interview was held in a

secluded space with little disturbance except for two people who briefly interrupted by

opening the door. This interview lasted 1h 11min. The second and third interviews were

35

held in a café and a restaurant respectively, which held some negative implications for

the recording quality. The second interview lasted 1h 9min and the third 1h 14min. All

interviews were recorded on a Zoom Q2HD recorder and also with the QuickTime

Player recording funtion on my laptop as an extra precaution. I ended up transcribing

the first and last interviews with the Zoom recording and the second interview with the

QuickTime Player recording. The interviews resulted in 71 pages transcribed data using

a 12 point font size and 1.5 line spacing.

Since self-efficacy is studied by examining the areas of which the students can have

control over there were specific topics I wanted to address, some themes were already

decided before the interviews were held. Due to the use of open-ended questions which

allowed for free interpretation of topics new themes emerged during the analysis stage.

In interpreting the meaning of the text the themes were in constant discussion with the

theoretical frame as to seek out the aspects relevant to this particular study. The

weakness with this kind of content analysis is the risk of failing to identify categories.

(Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p.1280)

3.4 Reliability and Validity & Ethical Aspects Reliability refers to whether the interview subjects would give the same answers were

another interrogater to ask the questions. Reliability is not only relevant in the analysis

stage but should also be taken into consideration during the interviews by avoiding

leading questions or suggestive interrogation, thus a certain naivity and openness is

needed from the interviewer. During the interviews I introduced all the topics as open as

possible, during the end of the interviews when the themes seemed exhausted I

sometimes narrowed in on certain subjects, but I assess the possibility for bias to be

relatively little. Although one should aim to increase the reliability of the interview

results, too much weight given this subject can stultify creative and diversified findings.

(Kvale-Brinkmann, 2009, p. 262-264)

In a qualitative study the validity refers to whether a method measures what it was

intended to measure. The validity of findings in a qualitative research should be seen in

the light of the philosophical question What is truth? From a postmodern stance

knowledge is considered to be formed in dialogue; there is no objective reality to which

36

knowledge can be measured, as is illustrated in chapter 3.1. This perspective on

knowledge has certain consequences for qualitative research. The following aspects are

raised as relevant in determining the validity of results:

• Does the researcher control, question and theoretically interpret the results?

• Weight is given to communication of knowledge, and also to aesthetic and

rhetoric aspects.

• Can the knowledge be utilized efficiently?

Validity is not something to be accounted for at the end stages of a conducted research;

rather, the focus should be on quality control during the entire process of the study,

which is divided into the following seven stages, as presented by Kvale and Brinkmann

(2009, p. 264-267):

1. The validity of a study is dependent on how good the theoretical assumptions are

and how logical the reasoning is when defining the research questions in relation

to the theoretical frame.

2. How adequate the design of the interview and the interview methods are define

the validity of the produced knowledge.

3. The reliability of the interview subjects' accounts and the quality of the

conducted interviews are of importance.

4. The validity of the transcripts.

5. How valid are the questions to the text and how well can the logic of the

interpretations be defended?

6. Deciding on what form of validation is relevant to one's study.

7. Does the report give a valid account of the study's main results?

My research was a result of extensive reading on the general subject of jazz. Gradually

the literature was narrowed down to a more specific area and longer down the road,

after guaranteeing that there was indeed a need for this kind of research, the outline for

this study was decided. The formation and relevance of the interview questions and the

interview methods are clarified as transparently as possible in previous chapter 3.2.

With Finnish not being my mother tongue, it was a personal challenge to conduct and

transcribe the interviews in this language. There was some clumsiness on my part in

asking the questions, but I found no larger problems in understanding the teachers

37

during the interviews and could therefore ask relevant follow up questions. Due to the

background noise on two of the recordings, some words remained unintelligible, but the

meaning in the statements was not lost though. During the analysis phase there was an

ongoing discussion between the transcripts and the background literature, with focus on

self-efficacy. I am certain that there could have been more connections made, but the

limited time frame was one impediment to making any possible further deductions. The

reported findings, however, correlate well with the research questions and their

implications and applicability are accounted for.

There are certain ethical aspects to take into consideration when conducting a research.

The author should be aware of the perspective of reality one creates through publicized

writings. Furthermore the consequences of one's research should be taken into

consideration which means that the results need to be presented in a both scientifically

and ethically sustainable format. Ideally the results should produce both scientific

knowledge and aid in improving the conditions of people. Regarding the respondents'

ethical aspects one must firstly receive informed consent, having explained he purpose

of the study and in what way the interview will be used. Secondly, anonymity, if agreed

upon, needs to be maintained. (Ibid., 292-293) Some information was omitted in this

research in order to remain the teachers' anonymity, but there was some discussion on

the risks of being recognized due to the small music community in Helsinki.

38

4 Analysis

The findings of this study are structured in three main parts. Chapter 4.2 is dedicated to

describing how, in the teachers' experiences, self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is

developed. Chapter 4.3 describes what kind of approaches are linked to increasing self-

efficacy in jazz improvisation and chapter 4.4 examines how negative self-beliefs can

be dislodged. First however, a presentation of the teachers is given.

4.1 Presentation of the Teachers Due to the rather small music community in Helsinki I have chosen to withhold

background information that may jeopardize the informants' anonymity, and only reveal

what seems relevant and gives context to their narratives. All three teachers have

studied at the Sibelius-Academy and have been teaching piano between 17 and 20 years.

All names have been changed.

Oskari came into contact with jazz at a young age. His father was a musician and had a

broad collection of jazz records from artists such as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley

and Charlie Parker, which he says was part of "defining his jazz". He remembers his

first song that he played at home, Take Five, at the age of six. His formal music studies

began at a music school when he was nine. At that time the overall attitude within the

music school towards jazz and other popular music ("rytmimusiikki") wasn't very

positive, and classical music was the only accepted form of music played. This,

however, didn't disparage Oskari from finding out about jazz himself, and he spent a

great amount of time transcribing solos and playing by ear. He also, somewhat

unorthodoxly, learned the classical pieces at the music school by ear in the beginning,

imitating his teacher's playing, and not until his midteens did he learn to read music. He

teaches all levels of music students in higher education, but mainly students who have

little or no experience to intermediate levels.

Senna grew up surrounded by music, listening to popular songs or schlagers

("Iskelmiä") and jazz. Her father was an amateur musician and a jazz enthusiast and her

parents were active music consumers who played records at home and who went to

concerts and music festivals such as Pori Jazz. Senna began music school at the age of

39

six and encountered the same kind of repertoire as Oskari, mainly classical. However,

her piano teacher also had a liking for pop/jazz music, and although it didn't belong to

her music school repertoire, it wasn't frowned upon. She had various different

experiences with playing popular music. At home she played popular tunes and

American standards. In her high school class, which was music-oriented, she

accompanied at events and played in pop/rock bands. She gained experience of playing

in big bands during her adolescent years at, amongst others, a summer camp two years

in a row and when she was 18 she was asked to join the city's big band. She found it

hard to pinpoint a specific time when she started to improvise: "I didn't maybe at first

think that this is improvising and playing solos", she remembers. It seems that she got

acquainted with jazz improvisation gradually and did not particularly separate jazz

improvisation as a secluded part of her musical studies.

Milla had a different kind of awakening towards jazz improvisation and popular music

than Oskari and Senna. She had had a very strict classical tutoring, from the age of six

years until her high school years. In high school she started to feel anxious about her

piano studies and ceased playing for a while, thinking that this was the end of her

musical studies. Her way back into music, she tells, was through improvisation and

playing by ear, initially without any aid or tools, and mainly through experimenting on

her own. For a long time she found improvising difficult but because it interested and

fascinated her, she kept on pursuing it. Due to the fact that she already had a vast

knowledge of music, having played very advanced classical pieces and then suddenly

needing to produce something out of nothing, was partly what made improvising so

difficult for her. For her, improvisation at first meant the same as jazz improvisation, the

two as good as being synonymous, and it was mainly in this genre that she first began to

improvise, which according to her is a difficult way into improvisation instead of using

simpler diatonic harmonies as found in folk music. Gradually she broadened her sense

of what improvisation could entail and remarks that jazz improvisation is only a very

small part of improvisation and that her interests nowadays spans over improvisation in

a broad sense, and not specifically jazz improvisation. During her music studies at the

university she continued to delve into improvisation and nowadays she teaches and

performs mostly with improvisation.

40

4.2 What Kind of Experiences do the Teachers Have With Students'

Self-Efficacy for Jazz Improvisation?

The purpose of this chapter is to at give an understanding of factors relating to students'

self-efficacy for jazz improvisation, and is divided into three parts: Firstly, how students

develop self-efficacy in jazz improvisation; secondly, what role teachers have in

affecting students' self-beliefs and; thirdly, how jazz as an idiom can influence students'

self-efficacy.

4.2.1 Developing Self-Efficacy

Oskari mainly teaches music students in higher education, were the students have a

broad knowledge of music but may or may not have previous experience with jazz

improvisation. Although he hasn't encountered students who have a negative attitude

towards learning jazz he does often encounter students who are easily discouraged by

improvisation. In his experience there are some students who throw themselves into

improvisation and who don't get discouraged easily when they 'fail', and then there are

those whose failed attempts easily affect their self-esteem, become emotionally

burdoning and dampen further motivation to improvise. He has noticed a clear

distinction between men and women, his male students often belonging to the first

description and his female students often being affected emotionally by failure and not

as eager to throw themselves into improvisation. Milla who also has vast experience

with teaching music students in higher education but who also teaches students between

the age of five and 70 of all levels doesn't make such a sharp distinction between men

and women and their attitude towards improvisation as Oskari does. Both male and

female students can either improvise eagerly or be discouraged by improvisation.

"I've taught women who have no problem improvising and I've taught men

who don't improvise at all. I've taught women who don't want to improvise

and men who do. All have been represented, so I wouldn't at all state that

girls do this and boys that."1 (Milla)

She finds it extremely dangerous to generalize the behavior of women and men, for

even though there may be gendered differences they are found in later stages of

students' music studies and is the result of background factors. The problem, she says, is

41

in pedagogy, not in gender and if there are students who are discouraged from

improvisation in later stages it is important that they are met as individuals, not have

approaches applied on them depending on their gender. However, although Oskari

recognizes an apparent gendered distinction in his students, he doesn't specifically

attribute students' behavior to their gender, but rather to their family background and

upbringing. For instance, one of his female students who didn't become discouraged

when her playing didn't "sound like it should" told him upon asking that she had been

brought up without a father and that her mother always expected her to undertake tasks

without much complaining. Her attitude towards learning jazz improvisation was bold

and exploring; if she didn't succeed at once she tried again without letting it affect her

emotionally. Another relevant factor on students' self-beliefs that Oskari mentions is

previous musical experience with pop/jazz music. Many of his male students have been

in contact with pop/jazz before, often by playing in a band in school, while his female

students more often come from classical backgrounds.

"Boys have more often studied pop/jazz music earlier than girls. Girls often

come from classical backgrounds and don't know anything about pop/jazz,

while boys have played in bands in school. It would probably be another

study how much girls actually get to play band instruments and improvisation

in school, as boys already dare to test everything in school. The level of

departure is maybe a little different for girls than boys."2 (Oskari)

How much boys and girls are encouraged from early on to explore bravely and

experiment does also according to Senna have an impact on students' attitudes.

According to her there's a certain mindset that is needed in instrumental jazz

improvisation. "After all, it is a certain view of life, how you jump into it"3. As jazz is

improvisational by nature, it is quite understandable why one needs an experimental

kind of mindset. In jazz improvisation you cannot know where it will take you and what

will happen next, which Senna says can be a stressful situation for somebody. For her,

this uncertainty is not stressful but rather one of the reasons why she does it.

All interviewees have experiences with students who believe in their skills to improvise

and with students who doubt their abilities. What they all seem to agree on is that the

level of self-efficacy is dependent on background factors, and although there may be

gendered differences in later stages (as Oskari attests to whereas Milla doesn't) it is not

42

the gender itself that predicts students' self-appraisal of abilities. What is relevant to

developing self-efficacy, however, is how much students are encouraged to experiment

and explore in early musical studies (and arguably in all areas of learning) since

improvisation is about experimenting and exploring. As starting point, Milla stresses,

there are no differences in children's beliefs, who observes that she hasn't found many

students with low self-efficacy in their early musical studies. If improvisation is

implemented in the whole music learning process, from early on and as a natural part of

the studies, and if they have a good relationship to the teacher and to music and playing

students have no reason to doubt their improvisation skills. Why would they, she asks,

unless they've been told to?

If music students haven't come into contact with improvisation, and are suddenly

expected to produce their own material in later stages of their musical studies, then

that's when doubts about their improvisation skills can arise, Milla states. They then

have a vast knowledge of music and know what it should sound like but because they

lack the strategies and models to improvise they can become discouraged when their

playing doesn't live up to their expectations. Low self-efficacy in instrumental jazz

improvisation is mostly a problem with music students in higher education. For

instance, Milla explains, music education students who need to learn a vast arrange of

instruments and who try to play them all as equally well as the student who need to

master only one instrument, can become doubtful of their skills because there isn't

enough time to become equally proficient in them all. Another example she raises are

classically trained music students who are highly skilled but to whom improvisation is

foreign and not part of their self-image and therefore may have little belief in their skills

to improvise. Milla's use of words is remarkably close to those of Bandura. Taking to

his terminology, people who lack enactive mastery experiences of improvisation don't

perceive improvisation to be a part of their structured self-system. They cannot be sure

of their own abilities because they don't have any first-hand knowledge to support this.

Developing self-efficacy with advanced jazz students is not as important or as relevant,

for it seems that jazz majors do not seem to have any major self-belief problems. Once

people develop a mind-set about their efficacy in given situations, they act on their

established self-beliefs without further reappraising their capabilities. (Bandura, 1997,

p.18) Seen through this lense, advanced jazz students would in theory already have built

up a robust sense of self-efficacy and have no need of special approaches that are

43

strongly linked to increasing self-efficacy. This can be reflected in Senna's interview,

since some of the questions seemed irrelevant or unimportant to her. For instance when

being asked how to approach a student to decrease any possible stress that comes with

improvisation she answered, referring to her advanced jazz students:

"That's of course a peculiar question because it's unlikely that my student

would be someone who would resist and not want to improvise. Of course

if you teach in an institution where everybody has applied to and wanted to

get in, and then been accepted, then they don't presumbly resist but want to

learn everything that is offered."4 (Senna)

The fact that Senna doesn't seem to have experienced any advanced jazz students with

negative self-beliefs in jazz improvisation, is congruent with how self-efficacy usually

develops, since students would by then probably already have a substantial amount of

experience and built up a relatively stabilized view of their abilities. Although she does

recognize the importance of believing in your own capabilities and says that it would be

impossible to play jazz improvisation without believing in yourself. This is however

mostly an issue in early skill development, Milla states.

4.2.2 The Teacher's Role in Developing the Student's Self-Efficacy

Pedagogues have an especially important role in forming children's minds and beliefs

about what they are capable of doing. And people's beliefs in their efficacy will

influence the course of action they choose to pursue, how much effort they will muster,

how long they will persevere when faced with obstacles and the level of

accomplishments they realize. (Bandura, 1997, p.3) The level of self-efficacy has in

other words an important role in shaping the future of the child, and the teacher has a

role in shaping the level of self-efficacy in their students.

In jazz improvisation a certain experimental mindset is something that needs to be

developed in early skill development. How much do teachers encourage boys to

experiment and explore and how much do they encourage girls to nicely achieve, Milla

wonders? Teachers need to be aware of their own behavior and examine themselves

critically, for it can be difficult to recognize your own approaches that affect students'

self perceptions and thereby their future career choices.

44

"The reason why there are ultimately so little women [in instrumental

jazz], is because we all very easily approach boys and girls differently.

Even though I'd like to say that I don't do that, I kind of know that I'd

probably get caught for something like that."5 (Milla)

Upholding stereotypes isn't only injust towards girls but towards boys as well, Milla

points out. The private music lesson is an exceptionally sheltered and safe environment

for girls and boys to test limits and social norms under the protection of a grownup,

which she exemplifies by describing teenage boys who have come to her lessons

wanting to play sensitive ballads, and girls who want to play Nirvana. Teachers should

put their expectations aside what they think students may want to play and focus

listening to the individual and on developing an experimental attitude towards music.

"Jazz is essentially based on a brave and independent attitude, whereas in

classical music you can succeed much further by accomplishing well-

behavedly."6 (Milla)

Considering the teacher has such a vital role in the forming of students' self-efficacy it is

worthwhile to note that both Oskari and Milla find jazz education for early skill

development to be in its early stages in Finland.

"My understanding is that elementary [jazz] education is something that could

be more invested in. More emphasis has perhaps been given to the education

of advanced students. There could be put more thought into how to engage

children earlier into jazz if that's something one wants to encourage."7 (Milla)

"I'm strongly of the opinion that jazz pedagogy is still in it's early stages here

in Finland. Here we know how to teach jazz with the master-apprentice

method to advanced pop/jazz students. But then the elementary education...

From a pianist perspective we don't have elementary education material."8

(Oskari)

Even though Senna doesn't explicitly mention elementary jazz education she does

mention that teaching young children is one of the more challenging areas.

45

4.2.3 And All That Jazz. Jazz as Influence on Students' Self-Beliefs

The concept of jazz and what it means and entails is an ongoing discussion and is

anything but uncomplicated, as pictured in the earlier chapter. The language is complex

and takes years to master and for a beginner the vastness and endless possibilities can be

off-putting. Senna finds that her younger students who are mostly all pop/jazz-oriented

can feel intimidated if they don't have any parameters at all. "It might cause anxiety with

'well everything goes' "9 although her students aren't negative towards improvising. This

can be related to self-efficacy theory, which proposes that an important drive in people's

actions is their belief in their capabilities, and that one is not likely to pursue a task if

one doesn't believe one is capable of succeeding in it. (Bandura, 1997, p.2) A student's

dispiritedness is not dependent so much on her or his lack of will to try but rather on

how difficult she or he perceives the task to be, according to Senna.

"Maybe a sort of discouragment comes more from it being perceived as

difficult and frustrating, instead of not wanting to try."10 (Senna)

When Milla was still learning about improvisation in early adult years, her teacher once

gave her an improvisation assignment free from any kind of limitations. She remembers

how paralysed she became and even refused to play for the remaining time of the

lesson.

"I remember this always because I teach improvisation a lot. I've taught

piano teachers, music students in higher education and small children.

Improvisation can be terribly scary and difficult if there are no set

parameters, no instructions or directions or any kind of safety net, if you

have to play freely all by yourself."11 (Milla)

The term safety net is also used by Oskari who, with new students who have little or no

experience with jazz improvisation, lays down a sort of safety net, giving them simple

tools to start improvising so that students won't be put off by the abyss of information

that jazz holds. "You get a sort foundation from which you can start to improvise. Then

the problem that you have no idea what to play or where to begin from doesn't

appear."12 Too much freedom, they all conclude, is often discouraging, but then again

so is too much restriction. To begin improvising through the idiom of jazz is not the best

46

way to approach improvisation, says Milla, who speaks from personal experience. Jazz

was the first kind of improvisation style that Milla was confronted with with her

teachers and she believes that using more diatonic harmonies, for instance found in folk

music would have been an easier way to approach improvisation.

"If we delve into very strict jazz styles or if we are after a certain style then

it's already so highly developed that I don't consider it to be the most

fruitful way to approach improvisation in the beginning because then it

sort of locks." 13 (Milla)

The jazz language is so complex and particular that it can restrict students if the

possibility to play 'incorrect' or 'wrong' hovers over them constantly, especially in the

beginning stages when the language is still quite foreign or new and mistakes would

inevitably come often. The fear of playing wrong and sound bad is also a point that

Senna makes. Nobody, she says, wants to sound bad. This can be seen in the light of the

self-efficacy theory. If people don't believe they are able to produce a desired result,

they have little incentive to act. Knowing you're going to 'fail' and play incorrect notes

and sound bad can discourage you from playing, depending on whether you have an

experimental mindset or are more focused on achieving and succeeding. Knowing

you're probably going to play the 'wrong' notes while being succes-oriented will

probably affect your keenness to try, compared to knowing you're going to play off

while having a more experimental learning attitude. Milla explains that you need to

play a lot of wrong notes in order to develop your playing, and constantly being afraid

of them will stand in the way of any progress. A teacher has a vital role in presenting

material in a way that doesn't discourage students, for instance by simplifying a certain

musical phenomenon, by restricting a vast area into smaller and more understandable

parts or, as Milla proposes, approaching improvisation through other genres than jazz.

4.2.4 Summary

This chapter comprises the teachers' experiences of students and what may affect their

beliefs in their capabilities to improvise.

47

Essential for playing jazz is an experimental mindset and a bold approach since jazz is

experimental by nature. This is particularly important in early music studies and for

teachers to realize in their role of shaping childrens' attitudes and learning behavior, so

as to not submit children to different approaches based on their gender but to encourage

all children equally to experiment and explore.

Furthermore, low self-efficacy in jazz improvisation is not so much an issue with young

beginning music students. Low self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is mostly

encountered in advanced music students who have little or no experience with

improvising and therefore lack the thought processes and tools, and to whom

improvisation is not part of the self-image.

Jazz itself, being a perceived complex music genre with a highly developed language,

can have an affect on students' self-efficacy, for instance when a student is faced with

too many rules and restrictions in the jazz vocabulary and is constantly aware of the

possibility to play 'wrong' and to sound bad. Students may also be discouraged when

they perceive that there are endless possibilities that aren't presented in a restricted

form. The teacher has an important role in influencing how the student perceives the

degree of difficulty.

4.3 What Kind of Approaches are Linked to Increasing Self-Efficacy

for Jazz Improvisation?

As presented in previous chapter an experimental mindset is essential when

improvising, and is something that is especially important to develop in early stages of

musical studies. Furthermore, if improvisation is embedded as a natural part of music

lessons from early on there is no need for the students to doubt their skills to improvise.

Developing this foundation, Milla posits, is one of the most important functions in

elementary jazz pedagogy.

"In my opinion the manner in which one relates to things in vocational

studies is developed in the early stages of one's studies. If the foundation- a

brave hold towards your own doing- and if you have a good relationship to

music then these kind of things [self-doubt] won't come up in later studies.

48

I think developing this foundation is one of the most important tasks of

elementary music education. It's probably also written somewhere in the

curriculum." 14 (Milla)

The next chapter is aimed at presenting how teachers can help in developing students'

self-beliefs in their improvisation abilities, in other words building the foundation in

early skill development. In the last chapter 4.4 I will focus on how to dislodge negative

self-beliefs in later stages of skill development, as presented by the interviewees. This

sharp distinction between early and later skill development is somewhat artificially

drawn to improve readability and ease understanding, even though there are some

approaches that are almost exclusively applicable to either later skill development or for

beginners.

4.3.1 Encourage to Play and Explore

When asked if everyone can learn to improvise Milla responded with a prompt "Yes".

If improvisation is a natural part of students' musical studies there is no reason for them

to doubt their skills, she assures. This can be given more weight by Bandura's theory on

how people develop a structured self-system through experiences. Students who have

always improvised have no reason to question their preexisting self-knowledge since

improvising would be part of their self-schemata. (Bandura, 1997, p.81-82) What's

important, Milla continues, is to give students space to explore and to encourage to play

a lot in order for it to become a natural part of their playing.

"If you think about the most important in teaching improvisation to children,

or in fact with very many, is that you give enough space to let the student

explore and to find their own voice and to just play. Encourage to play and

do. The more you play [laughs] the more natural it becomes. You have to do

it a lot and so that you have a good vibe and enjoy doing it."15 (Milla)

Also the manner of playing is of importance. Milla recommends having fun while

playing and playing around, ("leikkiä") when practising something difficult because "it

is the most natural way for humans to learn", although we find this a bit embarrassing,

49

she concludes. Also, playing in a continuous mode, getting into a flow, is suggested.

This brought me to think about a Swedish jazz player and educator Håkan Rydin, who

held a lecture on his method of teaching at the Sibelius Academy 4.10.2014. His focus

was on playing by ear and communicating with the student mainly through the means of

music, which he referred to as wordless teaching. During his demonstrations he would,

together with his student, play for a long period of time, slowly adding more musical

ideas for the student to pick up. "Try to keep the flow," he said,"for instance if you

practise rhythm you can't do so in seven seconds, let it flow, and don't focus on the

mistakes". (Quote from the researcher's personal notes) Usually students can pick up

things by themselves without the teacher having to verbalize it, Milla explains, giving

an example of how she can teach triplet feel:

"Very many find the basic idea of triplet feel without having to say

anything, without having to set up 'next we will get acquainted with triplet

feel'. We simply start to play, with a triplet feel drum accompaniment, and I

play some harmonic background, and the students can start trying to play a

melody on top. Then you can do call and response games and gradually by

doing the student approaches the truth, so that it naturally sets." 16 (Milla)

With a new student who has little previous knowledge of jazz, Senna stresses the

importance of making music together, to connect and to communicate as soon as

possible. Communication, Senna thinks, is one of the most important components in

jazz improvisation.

"The most important is that you play with somebody. Of course you can

improvise alone but in my opinion it's always best to play with somebody

else." 17 (Senna)

The manner in which she can start of with a new student depends on the student and

situation, but she can for instance try to find a common song from which to start, or

accompany on II-V-I while the student improvises with a few given notes. Another

exercise that she has tried recently is to let the student play freely, "anything", while she

accompanies and thereby provides structure and form. The methods vary and spring

from the individual needs of the student.

50

"I'd say that you need to use different approaches with every student,

because everybody has a different music and piano background. Of course

you can play the same songs, but they all have their own difficulties."18

(Senna)

4.3.2 Individual Approach and Versatile Teaching

Milla also states that your approach should depend on the situation and the student and

that you can't know beforehand what the best way is without meeting the student.

Finding the student's most natural way of approaching improvisation demands a lot of

awareness and observation from the teacher, who needs to possess a diverse ray of

pedagogical tools in order to meet every student's personal demands. Using the same

methods or approaches will only work on a few of the students, she claims.

"Okay, with this student we can begin directly with jazz standards, with

this student it's maybe better to improvise on a chromatic scale, and with

this student we'll do a poem on how she/he lost her/his front tooth and then

we'll make a song out of it."19 (Milla)

Oskari also emphasizes the importance of being able to teach from different angles,

because one student can understand something differently than another, and it is up to

the teacher to find a way that reaches out to the individual. Although he emphasizes the

importance of individualized teaching he does however state that he teaches women

differently than men, because of his experience of his female students being less self-

confident with improvising. But because he lists background, upbringing and previous

experience as the reasons, it is perhaps correct to deduce that he applies certain methods

to students who have low self-efficacy towards jazz improvisation due to these listed

factors. Milla is extremely opposed to making generalizations and applying approaches

based on gender, for even if there are gendered differences in later stages, which she

doesn't exactly agree there is, she contends that every student should be approached

individualized. Senna also doesn't use different approaches with men and women for

she hopes that nobody used different approaches on her either.

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4.3.3 Simplifying the Complex

In order for the student not to be overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of jazz or its

complex language a teacher needs to be able to simplify things in order for the student

to get to play as soon as possible. You need to select the information and feed it in small

amounts to the student, says Oskari. There is so much information nowadays that if

students were to try to study pop/jazz piano on the net without the aid of a teacher they

wouldn't know at which end to start. With a new student he lays down what he calls

safety nets in order for the student to feel more comfortable and to not become

overwhelmed. These safety nets convert the vast jazz language into an understandable

format and enable the beginner student to get to play with some simple tools.

"I begin by laying down so called safety nets. For example I might practise

rhythm so that we take two or three pitches, and then I tell you to play after

me. I've also composed etudes that consist of good phrases that I give to you

to learn, so that you get the foundation from which you can start to

improvise."20 (Oskari)

Sometimes you even need to fool students into thinking something is easier than it is.

Oskari explains:

"Sometimes I have to lie and say that the kind of theory doesn't exist when I

realize that I have a very difficult student who wants to know everything

theoretically. Sometimes I notice that I accidentally slip out things like that

just in order to get the student to dare to play- which is the goal. Then some

time later I'll tell that it was just the half-truth, that there do exist theoretical

explanations but that I had to restrict the subject so that you don't get scared

of how vast the subject is."21 (Oskari)

Oskari often simplifies theoretical aspects. For example, instead of teaching the Eb

dorian scale he tells his students to play a Db major scale. Or instead of teaching the

altered scale in every key in which all the non-essential tones have been altered, he tells

students to play the melodic minor scale a half-step up from the root "because every

pianist can play major and minor scales". He reveals that he is sometimes criticized for

52

teaching theory incorrectly but as long as he gets positive results of students playing and

improvising he isn't as interested in the theoretical point of view.

4.3.4 Enabling Experiences of Sounding Good

Since jazz is such a far developed language and the risk of playing the wrong notes or to

sound bad can be discouraging for some it is vital for the student to experience sounding

good, Senna says. By giving them some kind of rules with which they sound good, and

in some way masking that it was only an exercise. There will be an abundance of wrong

notes in the beginning of learning jazz improvisation, Oskari laughs, but he encourages

his students to play them loud when they come. Instead of being scared of them students

should focus on rhythmical phrasing and playing with a good touch, he says. All three

interviewees underline the importance of positive playing experiences and of sounding

good which seen in the context of self-efficacy theory is understandable. The most

influential source of information that affects self-efficacy is namely enactive mastery

experience, or in other words experiencing a successfully controlled performance.

(Bandura 1997, p.80-82) Students who have experienced and realized that they can in

fact sound good when they improvise have first-hand knowledge which affects their

self-appraisal of their abilities positively. Such experiences support the idea that they

can develop the skills if they put in the right amount of effort. Teachers have an

important role of enabling such experiences.

4.3.5 Building a Positive Attitude to Playing

You can teach the student how to practise, and to enjoy practising, Milla exclaims, then

perseverance and effort come automatically. Very often, she says, people feel that

practising should be tedious and painful because it is then given more credibility than if

it's considered to be fun. This makes no sense to her, because people learn the best and

fastest by playing (leikkimällä), even in adulthood. Difficult things can be approached

by improvising, fooling around with it, having fun with it. While practicing something

difficult in this way, a lot of minutes of playing (soittominuutteja) are made use of.

Milla explains that if practising is considered to be fun, with this kind of mindset, the

end result isn't what becomes important but rather the journey.

53

"Instead of practising being boring and tedious and its goal is that in three

years time I've learned to play this and that, but until that point I have to

endure immense amounts of boring practising- Instead the whole journey

can be fun in itself so that even though practising is tedious and slow and

whatnot, it can also be fun."22 (Milla)

Senna also brushes the concept of perceiving the learning process as a journey, and the

importance of stopping to realize the progress that's been made.

Is music making a journey and fun in itself or is playing and performing a task that

needs to be achieved? When asked if she has experiences with students who tend to

underachieve Milla questions the use of the word 'achieving' as it mirrors how you

relate to playing and performing.

"I avoid the word underachieving because it contains the idea of achieving.

It implies that playing music is primarily achieving which can be done well

or under or over. But if the word achieving has never been linked to playing

but that the foundation is built on playing in itself being a means to an end

then the situation is a bit different."23 (Milla)

Students whose performances are debilitated by their fear of underachieving is

something Oskari has experience of. He conjures up examples of nervous students who

come to the lessons and whose negative mood and stress levels interfere with their

playing. The way he tackles this problem is by agreeing with his students who suffer

from this problem that they can record their playing at home and bring the recording to

the lessons. If they can't perform the assigned task during the lesson they have the

possibility to play the recording as proof that they could play it at home. Bandura would

call this self-modeling, where students' successfully recorded performances are played

back and thereby strengthen their self-beliefs. This possibility, says Oskari, lowers the

students' anxiety and sets them more at ease. Oskari remembers from his own time as a

student that he himself felt like he underachieved during the lessons, and how the

teachers didn't take it into consideration, which resulted in his decision to pay attention

to it with his own students. This can be related to the fourth major way of affecting self-

efficacy. Often high arousal can have a negative impact on performance, which means

54

that people are more inclined to expect success when they aren't stressed. By reducing

stress levels, one can enhance efficacy beliefs. (Bandura, 1997, p.106-107)

Not perceiving a performance as achieving is however a challenge in institutions based

on grading systems. "Of course it becomes achieving if there's the possibility to get a

good or bad grade"24 Milla declares. Senna is positively set towards exams and

doesn't agree with the existing opinion that evaluations are bad and should be abolished.

An exam works as a kind of goal, a performance for which students practise a

repertoire, where they get to perform and receive feedback. Besides, she exclaims, as a

musician you also end up in nerve-racking performing situations and exams are a good

way to practise your nerves. And as Bandura (1997, p.108) states, all arousal isn't

debilitating. Moderate levels of arousal actually heighten attentiveness and makes it

easier to put skills to use. While Milla holds a critical stance against graded evaluation

Senna considers it to be developing, although she briefly questions the concept of

grading. The problem with grading, Milla assesses, is that there are always power

structures at play depending on who is in the jury and what values they hold. The jury

may or may not take into consideration a student's musical expression or content. This

can be particularly problematic within an institution that has a curriculum to uphold and

courses that need be completed within a restricted amount of time. However, there are

many ways to approach the curriculum and grading system, Milla says and points to the

folk music department in the Sibelius Academy that, in her opinion, manages to

maintain a constructive way to approach evaluation, even within the context of a

syllabus. Oskari likes they current evaluation system that is in use in his workplace,

where the student gets to comment first on how he or she felt it went, after which the

jury asks the student what their starting point was when they began their studies. This

opens up a conversational atmosphere, puts the student at ease, and creates a situation

that is not so authoritative. The jury then continues with giving positive feedback after

which it goes on to giving constructive feedback, all the while keeping in mind the

students' starting point and their development. Besides giving feedback, Oskari states,

the point of exams and evaluation is to acknowledge the student's developmental

journey. Compared to how the evaluation of exams was done earlier, Oskari says, where

the jury immediately after the performance gave feedback in a more negative way,

almost like having a list of faults read out of the student's playing, the current system is

more relaxed and more rewarding for students. Although he is satisfied with the current

system he does not oppose changes for he concludes that in ten years time there might

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be a different system in use. Framing of performance feedback can have an affect on

students' self-efficacy. Bandura (1997, p. 101-105) theoretizes that focusing on the

shortfall and not acknowledging the already achieved, taking the developed skills for

granted will affect the self-belief of one's skills in a negative way. This can be directly

related to Oskari's opinions of the purpose of evaluations and the way in which

feedback is given.

4.4 Dislodging Negative Self-Beliefs

Bandura writes that there may be needed extra effort to dislodge any negative self-

beliefs with students that have low self-efficacy. (Bandura, 1997, p.82) Next will be

explained how the interviewed teachers approach students who have low self-efficacy.

4.4.1 Taking the Student's Self-doubts into Consideration

Low self-efficacy in jazz improvisation, it seems, is mainly a problem in later stages of

musical studies if improvisation hasn't been a part of one's early studies. As Milla

states, students may lack the tools and strategies to improvise, and because they have

have a vast knowledge of music and what is should sound like they are more critical to

their own playing when it doesn't live up to their expectations. This affects the students'

beliefs in their abilities to improvise and can create problems when later coming into

contact with improvisation. Milla talks of 'locks' that prevent students from throwing

themselves into improvisation, which teachers need to deal with in their lessons.

"They [locks] come a lot in vocational studies, and I think they're always

related to something that's gone amiss in earlier studies. Lessons almost

function as a sort of therapy, if there has come some kind of locks."25

(Milla)

Because Oskari has a lot of experience with students who have little practical

knowledge of jazz music and are easily discouraged when their playing sounds 'bad' he

uses a lot of time in the beginning to create a safe environment where students feel

56

comfortable, something he refers to as groundwork, or foundation ("pohjatyötä"). The

less the student beliefs in her or his skills the more time Oskari needs to dispense on the

groundwork before getting to the playing part. Both Milla and Oskari clearly consider

that teaching also contains taking care of the student's inner struggles, and that possible

'locks' and inhibitions are can be opened with the help of the teacher.

4.4.2 Creating Successful Experiences

If improvisation isn't a part of one's self-image, all failed attempts can be used as

confirmation that one is incapable of improvising. This can be related to self-efficacy

theory that states that information is usually treated in self-confirming ways. Teachers

can have a strong influence on students and their construction of positive self-beliefs, by

creating situations where students get to experience positive playing experiences. Failed

attempts will always be a part of playing, even amongst professionals, but in order to

handle them well and not let them affect one's self-efficacy negatively one needs to

have built up enough positive and succesful experiences and a sturdy belief in one's

abilities. When asked what the most important experiences are for students, all three

interviewees rapidly declared it to be experiences of succeeding. However, not all

successful experiences will have an affect on one's self-efficacy. A perceived easy task,

for example, won't bring any new information of one's efficacy whereas a perceived

challenging task will. (Bandura, 1997, p. 82) The teacher needs to balance exercises

between what the student is able to do but that still present a bit of a challenge.

Students can protect themselves from failed attempts by not putting much effort into a

task. They can then subscribe any failure to the lack of effort instead of questioning

their abilities. (Ibid., p.83-84) Were a student to put a lot of effort into a task and

consequently failing it might lead her to question her own abilities, so by holding back,

she can spare herself from such doubts. Milla explains this defense mechanism:

"It's pretty common, during lessons or at gigs, that you don't really play

("soittaa") but play around ("soittelee"), leaving your playing unfinished,

as if you don't really stand by what you are playing, whereby you're not

that naked with your playing. It's a kind of emotional security and is often

57

seen in the ends of phrases, at the end of songs, in improvisation or when

playing your own compositions."26 (Milla)

This again can be linked to what kind of foundation students have, Milla says. If they

have developed a brave and exploring mindset towards music making, they wouldn't

feel the urge to succeed and accomplish and taking measures to hide from failure.

4.4.3 Using Students' Strengths

If improvisation is untreaded area and the student encounters a wall when coming into

contact with it the teacher needs to find a gateway to open up any possible locks. In

order to do this, Milla proposes to find the student's strengths and to utilize them, so

that the student doesn't end up on completely new grounds in all aspects of music. If too

many musical components such as voicings, triplet feel, and phrasing- all of which are

new concepts to the student- are presented at once they may be too difficult for the

student to grasp. Utilizing the students strengths can take on many forms. For someone

an improvisation in the style of Chopin may prove to be helpful, for someone else folk

music can do the trick. The teacher needs to find the most natural way for every student

to approach improvisation, Milla says, whatever allows quick access to playing.

4.4.4 Peer learning

People assess their abilities in relationship to others and their accomplishments and

skills. Therefore modeling is an important influence when students judge their own

capabilities. Not all people will affect the self-efficacy of a student equally. People with

the same attributes are easier to compare oneself to and may affect one's self-appraisal

more than people whom one doesn't identify oneself with. For example, age and gender

belong to the attributes that carry much weight. This can be utilized through peer

learning, where students get motivated by each other’s development. Seeing a teacher

succeed is taken for granted, and might not have an affect on your self-appraisal. If a

fellow student on the other hand, whom you can compare yourself to more easily,

succeeds at a task it can have a bigger affect on your self-appraisal of skills.

"The teacher is somewhere in her own universe [laughs]. It's maybe not the

first thought you get that following week you can play everything the

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teacher plays. But with a friend, there comes the thought that I can do that

too"27 (Milla)

The benefits of peer learning on self-efficacy was also shown by Davison (2006) as it

was rated as having the most gains on students' self-efficacy.

4.4.5 Teaching Thinking Strategies

This is not to say that teachers don't make good models. The ways of influencing

students' self-efficacy are simply different. A teacher acknowledges the fact that she or

he is a role model and is responsible for the student, Milla says, while a fellow student

is not responsible. One vital aspect of teaching is teaching students to think for

themselves. Effective models teach others how to think by teaching effective skills and

strategies and how to apply them to different situations, this is called abstract modeling.

(Bandura, 1997, p. 93) Especially in improvisation based music such as jazz it is of

special importance to learn a set of strategies and models that can be applied to different

situations. This is something that Senna recognizes in her teaching, who hopes she can

convey tools to help students solve problems themselves, instead of saying "play like

like this". She wants her students to figure things out by themselves, and not give them

all the answers straight away and she does this by asking questions and leading them to

find the answer themselves. Although this is time-consuming and perhaps more

laborious than giving the ready answers she believes it is a more rewarding approach in

the end. Oskari has the same perspective on teaching students how to think:

"I remember my first jazz piano teacher-I won't mention any names- who

said 'Play like this' [shows a voicing on the table] 'and then you can play

like this', to which I replied 'Why?' [laughs], 'Why am I playing like this?'-

'Well, it sounds good'. Well if that is pedagogy..."28 (Oskari)

Oskari concludes on what approaches to use with self-doubting students that it is the

individual and the nature of the assignment that determine it. The methods are found in

pedagogy.

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5 Discussion & Summary

In 5.1 the most important findings of this study and its practical implications are

presented, amongst with recommendations on further research topics. In chapter 5.2 a

summarization is done of the whole study.

5.1 Discussion Previous studies (May 2003; McCormick & McPherson, 2003, 2006; Davison 2006;

Schmidt, 2005; Watson 2008; Wehr-Flowers 2006) suggest the significance of self-

efficacy in music performance. According to McCormick & McPherson (2006) gaining

an understanding of how self-efficacy is linked to music and performning is especially

important because of the high levels of self-regulation and mental discipline in the form

of extensive practising is needed from students in order to achieve success. The findings

of this study resonate with mentioned studies.

All three teachers had experiences with students who doubt their abilities to improvise

in the style of jazz. One of the most important findings in this study is that low self-

efficacy for improvisation is mostly found in later stages of students' musical studies if

improvisation has not been a part of their previous musical studies. At this point of their

music studies students may not see improvisation as a part of their self-image and they

may lack the tools and thinking strategies to improvise. They probably also have a good

conception of what jazz music should sound like, but not being able to produce this

result may act negatively on their self-appraisals of their abilities to improvise.

Furthermore low self-efficacy in advanced jazz students seems to be uncommon. At this

point of their studies students have most likely gained enough successful experiences in

jazz improvisation to build up a stabilized view of their own abilities, as self-efficacy

theory explains. With young students at the beginning of their musical development,

some doubts about their own skills could be noticed- mostly as a reaction to the

perceived complex language of jazz. However, if improvisation is a natural part of

students' musical studies from early on, they have no reason to doubt their skills. Since

Watson's (2008) study on students' self-efficacy was conducted with only music

education majors, he hypothesized that there may be different approaches linked with

self-efficacy needed in different stages of skill development, for instance with young

60

students at the beginning of their musical studies or advanced jazz students. The

findings of this study support his assumptions. This study found that is advanced jazz

students are not in very much need of approaches linked to self-efficacy, whereas it is

important to develop self-efficacy for jazz improvisation in early skill development.

Advanced nonjazz music students are the most prone to negative self-beliefs relating to

jazz improvisation, and approaches used that are linked to increasing self-beliefs are

especially important in this stage. This is however a very generalized view, and

shouldn't by any means be considered absolute, but is rather meant as guideline. As I

will explain later on, there is not one single approach that can correct all problems.

Davison (2006), May (2003), and Watson (2008) express the need to explore and

develop approaches linked to self-efficacy for jazz improvisation. Taking into

consideration the important role students' self-beliefs have on the tasks they seek out

and what actions they take, as thoeretized by Bandura, the role of self-efficacy in jazz

pedagogy should be of concern to jazz educators. This is of special concern in

elementary jazz education for young beginners and for advanced nonjazz music majors.

Both Milla and Oskari consider elementary jazz pedagogy to be in its early stages in

Finland and are of the opinion that it still is in need of developing. In developing

elementary jazz education, educators should consider the importance of taking students'

self-appraisals of ability. Two of the interview subjects actively acknowledge students'

self-doubts and let this insight change their approaches.

In developing elementary jazz pedagogy considerate of students' self-efficacy there are

some suggestions on how to do this. The most important function of elementary jazz

pedagogy is to build a good foundation, where the student develops a positive attitude

towards music making. One of the most essential qualities to develop is an experimental

mindset by encouraging the student to explore and experiment. Improvisation should be

incorporated into musical studies from early on for it to become a part of the student's

self-image. However, introducing improvisation in the style of jazz may not be the most

suitable approach because of its complex language and of the possibility to play 'wrong'

within this idiom, which can easily affect student's judgements of capability. Instead,

improvisation could be approached through the use of more diatonic harmonies, found

in for instance folk music, all the while taking the students' own interests into

consideration. Still on the matter of jazz being such a complex language that can be

discouraging, the teacher has an important role in simplifying musical concepts and to

61

feed information in small managable amounts to the student. The teachers used

descriptions such as masking that it's merely an exercise and fooling the student into

believing it's easier than it is. This perceived difficulty and its implications on self-

efficacy seems to set jazz apart from many other music genres, and is one main point

I'm making in why teachers need to be observant of this fact. Also, seemingly obvious

to state, improvisation should be played a lot. It is worth reflecting over the amount of

time in lessons used to verbalizing and explaining musical concepts instead of actually

playing. Most musical concepts can be understood through communicating wordlessly

and theoretizing can then if needed be used as a supplement and support when

explaining what was just played. Getting into a flow during the lesson invites the

student to enjoy playing, after which effort and perseverance- essential for building

skill- come automatically. On this matter one can wonder how much teachers actually

put weight on enjoying to play, as Milla pointed out that practising is often given more

credibility the more painful it is. Self-efficacy theory explains how mood states affect

how events are interpreted and remembered. Enjoying to play, should then not be

underestimated and be an intergral part of elementary jazz pedagogy that takes students'

self-afficacy judgments into consideration.

With advanced nonjazz music students with low self-efficacy for jazz improvisation

there may be a need of dislodging negative self-beliefs. Teachers maybe unconsciously

do this but an active acknowledgement of the problem may assist teachers in using more

efficient approaches. The approaches that surfaced in this study, give an insight into

how teachers can take students self-doubts into consideration. With advanced nonjazz

music students it is important to introduce improvisation by using the students own

strengths, whether they be classical or folk, for if jazz is a completely new language to

them and they're not able to make use of their prior musical knowledge they might start

doubting their skills. Seen from self-efficacy theory, people build up a stabilized self-

system through various experiences that affect how they interpret and retrieve

information and how they judge their capabilites. If improvisation is not part of

students' musical identity, teachers can, by using students' strengths and previous

knowledge, build a bridge from what students perceive themselves capable of doing to

the new territory of jazz. Furthermore, teachers need to construct the environment and

task difficulties to enable experiences of sounding good and to avoid experiences of

failure. As self-efficacy theory suggests: successful experiences are the most powerful

sources of efficacy information. Successful experiences in themselves might not affect

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students' self-efficacy though. Giving students too easy tasks without any challenges

won't give any new information on the students capabilities resulting in the self-efficacy

levels remaining the same. Giving too challenging tasks, on the other hand, that result in

failure will have negative consequences on students' self-efficacy. The teachers work

when enabling good experiences will be balancing between these two sides. Also,

seldom used but which can be a powerful tool is peer learning. In Davison's (2006)

study it was rated as having the most gains on students' self-efficacy. The area of peer

learning is still relatively unutilized even though it exudes potential. How it can be

taken into consideration in jazz pedagogy is a subject that would be an interesting area

for researchers to explore. Because of the nature of improvisation, not knowing what

will come next, another way of taking students' self-efficacy into consideration is by

providing students with useful strategies that can be applied to different situations. Self-

efficacy theory states that people avoid tasks if they aren't sure they can produce an

outcome worthwhile their efforts. Teaching students to think for themselves while

providing useful models and strategies teachers can positively affect self-judgment of

skills. Minimizing stress factors can also have a positive influence on students self-

efficacy. Stress in itself might not debilitate a performance, according to self-efficacy

theory. Small arousals may in fact increase alertness, but people expect to play worse

when they are stressed, and thereby they can conjure up the very feelings they were

afraid of in the first place. Minimizing stress factors can be taken into consideration for

example in graded evaluation, and is also to some extent done, but it may be interesting

to examine the effects of different evaluation systems, and examining evaluation itself.

Sprung from this study is the conversation that evaluation in itself may have an impact

on students' attitude towards making music. Is music making something that needs to be

achieved, or can it be a means in itself? What effects do evaluations have on how

students think about playing? Does the very concept of evaluation need to be

reexamined? These are some aspects that researchers may want to explore.

Watson (2008) examined two different instruction modalities, aural and notated, and its

effects on students' self-efficacy. Davison (2006) also tested various approaches and its

impact on self-efficacy. They both concluded that more research needs to be done to

determine what kind of approaches are efficient in raising students' self-appraisal of

their abilities. Although the findings of this study revealed approaches linked to

incresed self-efficacy, an important conclusion that can be deducted from this study is

that approaching students' self-efficacy should be viewed from a more holistic

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perspective instead of zoning in on a certain approach. This conclusion is also drawn by

McCormick & McPherson (2006, p.13) Increasing self-efficacy is a matter of

combining various approaches depending on the individual student's needs. Students

will benefit more if teachers can individualize their teaching and apply different

approaches to every student than if they use predetermined approaches. This in term

raises the issue of the education of teachers. Does their education prepare them for this

way of teaching? An example of further research would be examining whether teachers

experience that their education prepares them sufficiently for such undertakings.

One last subject that is discussed in this chapter is the gender aspect in instrumental

jazz. Female participation in instrumental jazz improvisation is markedly lower than

male participation. All three teacher's thought the underlying problem to be in early

education and whether children are subject to different approaches based on gender. As

improvisation relies on an experimental mindset, music educators need to be especially

aware that they encourage both girls and boys equally to explore and experiment. One

interesting discussion that arised from this study was on the matter of gendered

approaches in later staged of skill development. Oskari maintained that he uses different

approaches for women because they often, in his opinion, have lower self-efficacy than

men. This view is confirmed with the findings of Watson (2008) and Wehr-Flowers

(2006) that indicate that females have lower self-efficacy than males for jazz

improvisation. Notable is that both Oskari and Watson are referring mainly to music

majors, not to children or adolescents, and Wehr-Flowers's survey was restricted to

adolescents and adults. Wehr-Flowers contemplates that small peer groups or all-female

groups could provide the comfort for women to explore improvisation. While Oskari

uses different approaches on men and women, Senna and Milla are against the use of

different approaches based on gender. There's a bit of a paradox to be seen in this

conflict. Can one treat a problem created by gendered approaches with the use of

gendered approaches?

5.2 Summary

The aim of this study was to examine the role of self-efficacy in instrumental jazz

improvisation to gain a better insight into how self-efficacy is developed in students and

in what way teachers have a role in shaping it. Furthermore I wished to understand what

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kind of approaches are linked to increasing self-efficacy for jazz improvisation. The

following research questions were asked:

1. What kind of experiences do the teachers have with students and their beliefs in

their improvisation skills? 2. What kind of approaches are linked to increasing self-efficacy for jazz

improvisation?

The theoretical framework consisted of literature on jazz improvisation and Bandura's

work on the self-efficacy theory. Three piano teachers were interviewed for this

purpose. The transcripts that arose from these interviews where then questioned based

on the literary material, analyzed and finally structured into a narrative form with three

points of focus. The first part was on teachers' experiences with students' self-beliefs

with focus on how self-efficacy is developed, what role teachers have in developing

self-efficacy and how jazz in itself can influence students' self-efficacy. The second part

focused on different approaches linked to increasing self-efficacy, and the third part was

on how to dislodge negative self-beliefs.

The primary findings of this study were the following:

• All teachers have had at least some experiences with students with low self-

efficacy for jazz improvisation.

• Low self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is mainly found in nonjazz music

majors. If improvisation has not been part of their previous musical studies they

may lack the tools and strategies to improvise and it may not be part of their

self-image.

• Low self-efficacy in advanced jazz students is not especially noticed. At this

stage of their studies students have most likely developed a relatively stabilized

view of their capabilities and have no need to question their abilities.

• Developing self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is especially important in early

skill development.

• Jazz pedagogy in Finland is mostly developed for advanced jazz students, while

elementary jazz pedagogy is still in its early stages. Taking students' self-

efficacy into consideration should be a part of elementary jazz education by

implementing approaches linked to increasing self-efficacy.

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• Jazz itself has an impact on students' self-efficacy. This stems from the differing

opinions on what jazz is and the sense of mystique that follows. Jazz therefore

sets itself apart from many other music genres and is why it is of special

importance to take students' self-efficacy into active consideration in elementary

jazz pedagogy.

• The following approaches linked to increasing self-efficacy for jazz

improvisation surfaced in this study:

• Improvisation should be a natural part of musical studies. However, due to

the far developed language of jazz it may be more efficient to approach

improvisation from a more general musical perspective, for instance by

using more diatonic harmonies, or using folk music elements,

depending on the student's interests.

• An experimental mindet is one of the most important qualitities needed for

improvisation. This is developed by encouraging the student to explore

and experiment and to view music making as a journey.

• Restricting the area into smaller parts; feeding information in managable

pieces to the students.

• Use lessons to play a lot together. Musical ideas can be learnt without

verbalizing, and getting into a most possible flow state of mind and

enjoying playing facilitates learning.

• Negative self-beliefs may need dislodging, which is especially relevant with

nonjazz music students who doubt their skills. Teachers' active acknowledgment

of this problem may assist in finding and utilizing more efficient approaches.

The following approaches linked to dislodging negative self-beliefs emerged

from this study:

• Utilizing students' previous musical knowledge and strengths.

• Enabling experiences of success.

• Using peer learning.

• Teaching students to learn how to think by teaching strategies that can be

applied to different situations.

• Taking mood states and stress factors into consideration.

• The source of low female participation in instrumental jazz improvisation lies in

early education. This disparity can be tackled by encouraging girls and boys

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equally to explore and experiment. Pedagogues should be aware of their own

behavior so as not to approach children differently based on their gender.

• Increasing perceived self-efficacy for jazz improvisation is a matter of

combining various approaches depending on the individual needs of the student.

No one single approach solving all efficacy-related problems exists.

67

References

Bandura, A. 1996. Multifaceted Impact of Self-Efficacy Beliefs on Academic Functioning: Child Development, 67(3), 1206-1222.

Bandura, A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: Freeman.

Bandura, A. 2006. Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales in Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents, 307-337.

Bell, J. 1999. Doing Your Research Project. Open University Press. Berliner, P. F. 1994. Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Chicago: The

University of Chicago Press. Davison, P. D. 2006. The Role of Self-efficacy and Modeling in Improvisation: The

Effects of Aural and Aural/Notated Modeling Conditions on Intermediate Instrumental Music Students' Improvisation Achievement. Doctoral dissertation, University of North Texas.

DeVeaux, S. 1991. Constructing the Jazz Tradition: Jazz Historiography. Black American Literature Forum, 25(3), Literature of Jazz Issue, 525-60.

Hsieh, H-F., & Shannon, S. E. 2005. Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1277-1288.

Kennedy, M., and Bourne, J. 2006. The Oxford Dictionary of Music. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

Kernfeld, B.D. 2002. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan.

Kvale, S.& Brinkmann, S. 2009 Den Kvalitativa Forskningsintervjun. 2nd edition. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Louth, J.P. 2012. An Approach to Improvisation Pedagogy in Post-secondary Jazz

Programmes Based on Negative Dialectics. Music Education, 14(1), 9-24. May, L. F. 2003. Factors and Abilities Influencing Achievement in Instrumental Jazz

Improvisation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(3), 245-258.

McCormick, J., & McPherson, G. 2006. Self-efficacy and music performance. Psycho-logy of Music, 34(3), 322-336.

McCormick, J., & McPherson, G. 2003. The Role of Self-efficacy in a Musical Perfor-mance Examination: An Exploratory Structural Equation Analysis. Psychology of Music, 31(1), 37-51.

McKeage, K. 2004. Gender and Participation in High School and College Instrumental Jazz Ensembles. Journal of Research in Music Education, 52(4), 343-356.

Partanen, M. 2007. Johdanto-pari jazzvuosikymmentä pikakelauksena in Rytmihäiriöitä – uuden Suomi-jazzin nousu, 9-14 Like.

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Prouty, K. 2004. Canons in Harmony, or Canons in Conflict: A Cultural Perspective on the Curriculum and Pedagogy of Jazz Improvisation. Research Issues in Music Education 2(1).

Prouty, K. 2005. The History of Jazz Education: A Critical Reassesment. Journal of

Historical Research in Music Education 26 (2), 79-100.

Prouty, K. 2012. Knowing Jazz: Community, Pedagogy, and Canon in the Information Age. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Schmidt, C. P. 2005. Relations Among Motivation, Performance Achievement, and Mu-sic Experience Variables in Secondary Instrumental Music Students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 53(2), 134-147.

Washington, S. 2003. All the Things You Could Be by Now: Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus and the Limits of Avant-Garde Jazz. Uptown Conversations, 27-49, Columbia University Press.

Watson, K.E., 2008. The Effect of Aural Versus Notated Instructional Materials on

Achievement and Self-Efficacy in Jazz. Journal of Research in Music Education, 58 (3), 240-259.

Wehr-Flowers, E. 2006. Differences Between Male and Female Students' Confidence, Anxiety, and Attitude toward Learning Jazz Improvisation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(4), 337-349.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Interview Questions

1) How and when did you come into contact with jazz? 2) What was it like to play jazz in Finland at that time? Did you face any obstacles or negative attitudes towards jazz? What were your personal influences? 3) How long have you taught piano? What level of students have you taught? 4) What is your opinion on jazz education in Finland? 5) Are there any challenges when teaching jazz in a curriculum-based institution? 5b) Would you teach differently in a non-institutional setting? 6) What is the most important in jazz improvisation? 7) Can anybody learn to improvise? 8) Do you encounter students who think they lack the ability to improvise/ are discouraged by jazz improvisation/ have a negative attitude towards learning jazz improvisation? 8b) How do you approach such students? 9) What kind of experiences are important for the student when learning jazz improvisation? 10) What meaning do role models have? Who can be a role model? Are there important attributes? 11) What is the significance of peer learning in jazz improvisation? 12) Do you discuss how a performance went with students? In what way? What kind of feedback do you give? 13) Do you take the student's interests into consideration? How? 14) How do you approach the student's practising habits? 15) Have you noticed any attitude changes with students during their development? 16) What kind of challenges or obstacles to students face when learning jazz? Beginner/ intermediate/ advanced students. 17) In what way is it different to get lessons from teachers than finding information on the Internet? 18) What makes students put in more effort/perseverance?

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19) What kinds of thinking are there in jazz? Can you teach this to students? 20) Have you met any chronic underachievers? How did you appraoch them? 21) Do you have any opinions on the format of evaluation? For instance feedback/environment? What works, what doesn't? 22) Are there people excluded from the jazz scene? 23) Is there something in jazz you can't teach?

Appendix 2: Original Finnish Quotes

1. "Mä oon opettanut mimmejä joilla ei ole mitään ongelma improvisoida ja sit mä oon opettanut jannuja jotka ei improvisoi millään. Sit olen myös opettanut mimmejä jotka ei halua improvisoida ja jannuja jotka improvisoi. Että kaikki on ollut edustettuina, niin mä en lähtis mitenkään sanomaan että tytöt tätä ja pojat tota." (Milla) 2. "Pojat on myös aikaisemmin tai tosi usein jo tutkineet rytmimusiikkia aikaisemmin kuin tytöt. Tytöt tulee tosi usein klassisista taustoista ja eivät tiedä rytmimusiikista yhtään mitään. Pojat on olleet jo jossain koulun bändeissä ja se ois varmaan eräs tutkimus kans' et paljonks tytöt pääsee kouluissa soittamaan oikeesti bändisoittimia ja siellä miten se impro ja tällainen, kun pojat uskaltaa jo koulussa kokeilla kaiken ja se lähtötaso on ehkä hieman eri tytöillä ja pojilla." (Oskari) 3. "Onhan se joku semmonen elämänkatsomus että miten siihen hyppää". (Senna) 4. "Tietysti tosi silleen erikoinen kysymys koska tuskin mun oppilaaksi tulee joku niinkun sitten vastustelisi niinkun että en kyllä, en halua improvisoida...Tietenkin et jos opettaa tällaisissa laitoksessa niin tänne on kaikki pyrkinyt ja halunnut hirveästi sisään ja päässyt niin sithän se tietenkin lähtökohtaisesti ei panna hanttiin vaan halutaan se kaikki oppia mitä tarjotaan." (Senna) 5. "Mut se että minkä takia niinkun naisilla lopulta on niin vähän, niin lopulta se että mehän niinkun kaikki hirvittävän helposti niinkun suhtaudutaan poikaoppilaisiin ja tyttöoppilaisiin vähän eri tavalla vaikka kuinka haluais- vaikka mäkin haluaisin sanoa että en, niin kyllä tavallaan tiedän että varmasti mut sais kiinni joistain tommosesta asiasta." (Milla) 6. "Lopulta kun jazz perustuu kuitenkin sit siihen niinkun rohkeaan itse tekemiseen, kun taas klassisessa musiikissa voi myös kiltisti tosi hyvin suorittamalla pärjätä paljon pidemmälle." (Milla) 7."Mun käsitys on se että alkeisopetukseen vois satsata enemmän että, et enemmän on ehkä panostettu niinkun pitkälle olevien kouluttamiseen ja vois miettiä enemmän että no [nauraa] mites niitä lapsia sitten ikään kuin saatais tuon lajin pariin aikaisemmin jos siihen halutaan kannustaa." (Milla)

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8."Mä oon vahvasti sitä mieltä et jazzpedagogiikka on vielä aika aluillaan täällä Suomessa. Täällä osataan mestari-kisälli metodilla opettaa jazzia niille jotka jo on itse tutkineet asiaa ja ovat aika pitkälle siinä rytmimusiikin ja jazzin opettelussa, mutta sit' semmonen alkeisopetus/ Jos mä pianon näkökulmasta mietin niin meil ei oo semmosta alkeis opetusmateriaalia olemassa täällä." (Oskari) 9. "Se saattaa ehkä just ahdistaa että no mitä vaan" (Senna) 10. "...ehkä semmonen lannistuneisuus tulee enemmänkin siitä et se tuntuu et tää on niin vaikeata, kuin että siitä et se ois niinkun et 'en mä halua kokeilla' vaan että silleen että semmonen turhautuneisuus." (Senna) 11. "Muistan tän aina kun mä opetan improvisointia paljon ja mä oon opettanut pianoopettajille ja ammattiopiskeluille ja pienille lapsille että improvisointi voi olla hirvittävän pelottava ja hankala jos siinä ei ole mitään parametrejä, mitään semmosia ohjeita, mitään suuntaa, mitään semmosta niinkun turvaverkosto joka on sulle annettu. Jos sitä pitäis lähteä soittamaan ihan itse vapaasti." (Milla) 12. "Sä saat tavallaan sitä pohjaa millä sä alat improvisoimaan, eli silloin ei tuu tätä ongelmaa että mä en tiedä yhtään mitä mä soittaisin tai mistä mä lähtisin". (Oskari)

13. "Jos mennään hirveän tiukkoihin jazztyylilajeihin tai haetaan jotain tyylinmukaista niin se on niin pitkälle viety että mä en koe sitä kauhean hedelmällisenä tapana lähestyä improvisointia ens' alkuun koska sit se niinkun lukitsee." (Milla) 14. "Mun mielestä se pohja siihen et miten asioihin suhtautuu ammattiopinnoissa niin se luodaan siinä perusopinnon vaiheessa, ja jos se pohja on semmonen että on rohkea ote omaan tekemiseen ja hyvä suhde musiikkiin niin ammattiopinnoissa ei tuu vastaan näitä asioita niin paljon. Se on must perusopetuksen tärkein tehtävä, varmaan lukeekin jossain opetussuunnitelmassa, semmonen oman ja hyvän itsenäisen musiikkisuhteen kehittäminen on se mikä siinä on tavoitteena..." (Milla) 15. "Jos ajattelee sitä tärkeintä improvisoinnin opettamisessa pienten oppilaiden kanssa, tai itse asiassa aika monien kanssa, se mikä on ainakin hirveän tärkeätä on se että antaa tilaa sille oppilaalle kokeilla ja löytää sen oman äänensä ja vaan soittaa. Rohkaista soittamaan ja tekemään, että mitä enemmän sitä [nauraa] soittaa niin sitä luontevammaksi se tulee. Sitä pitää tehdä paljon niin että on hyvä [nauraa] meininki ja hyvä fiilis tehdä sitä." (Milla)

16. "Aika moni löytää sen kolmimuunteisuuden perusajatuksen ilman et siitä tarttis sanoo yhtään mitään, ilman et se ois tarvinnut niinkun pohjustaa sille 'seuraavaksi tutustumme kolmimuunteis(uuteen)'. Me lähdetään soittamaan, siinä on rummut jotka soittaa kolmimuunteista komppia ja mä soitan jotain harmonia taustaa ja se saa ruveta kokeilee melodia sinne päälle. Sitten niinkun pikkuhiljaa siinä voi tehdä tämmösiä niinkun kysymys vastaus tai kaikuleikkejä et mä soitan fraasin ja oppilas soittaa jonkun fraasin. Pikkuhiljaa tekemällä saa sen ensiksi mahdollisimman lähelle totuutta, niin että se luontevasti istahtaa." (Milla) 17. "Eli se on siinä tärkeintä että soittaa jonkun kanssa. Toki voi improvisoida yksikseensä mutta mun mielestä se on aina parasta kun sitä tekee jonkun kanssa." (Senna)

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18. "...Kaikille oppilaille jollain tavalla sanoisin että eri approachi pitää olla kuitenkin just kun kaikki on niin eri taustasia sekä siltä muusikkotaustaltaan että pianistitaustalta, ja tottakai voi samoja biisejähän soittaa mut sitten niissä on vähän eri ongelmat." (Senna) 19. "Okei että nyt tän oppilaan kanssa voikin lähteä suoraan tekemään jazzstandardeja ja tän kanssa on ehkä parempi improvisoida kromaattisella asteikolla ja tän kanssa me tehdäänkin runo hänen siitä miten sanoivan lähti etuhammas ja sitten tehdään siitä laulu." (Milla) 20. "Mä lähden siitä näkökulmasta että mä asetan sinne ensiks tommoset ns turvaverkot alle. Esimerkiksi saatan tehdä niin että ensiks treenataan rytmiikkaa niin että otetaan pari kolme säveltä, sit mä käsken toistamaan perässä. Eli mä opetan ensiks rytmiikkaa niinkuin ihan suora/ tällaisia fraaseja ja tällaisia rytmiikkoita käytetään ja otetaan ne muutamat sävelet. Sen jälkeen mä oon säveltänyt etydejä joissa on hyviä fraaseja, mä annan niitä opeteltavaksi, että tässä on kaikki kerätty yhteen sooloon kaikki hyvät fraasit, eli sä saat tavallaan sitä pohjaa millä sä alat improvisoimaan." (Oskari)

21. "Kylhän mä välillä joudun valehtelemaan jollekin oppilaalle et semmosta teoriaa ei oikeesti ole olemassa kun mä huomaan et mul on hyvin hankala oppilas joka teoreettisesti haluaa tietää kaiken. Välillä mä huomaan et mä päästän sellaisia sammakoita suusta jotta ne vaan pääsee siihen päämäärään et se uskaltaa tehdä ja se uskaltaa soittaa. Sit' joskus myöhemmin mä kerron et toi on sit vaan puolitotuus, et on olemassa tällaisia ja tällaisiakin juttuja mut mun oli pakko rajata se aihe näin pieneksi jotta sä et pelästy siitä et se on näin iso se aihe." (Oskari)

22. "...Eikä niin että se harjoittelu on jotain tosi tylsää ja pitkäveteistä ja sen päämäärää on tässä, se päämäärään on silleen tässä niinkun kolmen vuoden kuluttua mä oon kokonaan oppinut soittamaan näitä ja näitä asiat mutta siihen asti mun pitää kestää ihan hirvittävästi tylsää harjoittelua jotta mä saan sitten sen päämäärän- vaan se että se koko matka on itsessään kiva ja[nauraa] se tekee sen harjoittelukin vaikka se on pitkäjänteistä ja hidasta ja muuta, niin sekin voi olla kivaa." (Milla)

23. "Siihen liittyy paljon sitä miten alusta asti on rakennettu suhdetta siihen omaan tekemiseen ja alisuorittaminen on siitä/ sen takia mä sitä vierastan sanana et se pitää sisällään sen suorittamisen. Sen pitää sisällään että musiikin soittaminen on lähtökohtaisesti suorittamista ja sitä voi tehdä hyvin tai yli tai ali. Mut et jos siihen ei ole koskaan liittynytkään sitä suorittamisen sanan vaan jotain semmosta niinkun tekemistä jossa antaa itsessään jotain, et jos se pohja on luotu sille enemmän kuin sille et 'mä meen nyt suorittamaan tämän tietyn asian koska se kuuluu mun opintoihin' niin sit se tilanne on must vähän eri." (Milla) 24. "Totta kai sit tulee suorittamista jos on mahdollisuus saada parempi tai huonompi numero" (Milla) 25. "Niitä tulee paljonkin ammatti opintovaiheessa vastaan ja ne must aina liittyy siihen et siinä on aikaisemmin ollut joku asia joka on mennyt ehkä vähän pieleen, tai jos on tullut joku vääränlainen lukko, et se on ihan kuin että se toimis semmosena terapiana et siinä purkaa sitä mitä on aikaisemmin mennyt vähän vinksalle." (Milla)

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26. "Se on must aika yleistä, et tunnilla tai keikoilla ettei varsinaisesti niinkun soittaa, vaan soittelee. Jättää sen vähän kesken niin että ei ikään kuin itsekään ihan seiso sen takana jolloin ei ole niin alasti sen oman soittamisen kanssa. Elikkä ei ota sitä ikään kuin itekään ihan tosissaan et 'kunhan täs nyt vähän kokeilin', mutta ei silleen et 'nyt mä teen oikeasti parhaani ja katotaan mitä tästä tulee'. Se on semmonen henkinen turva. Et ei aseta itseään täysin alttiiksi ja se on mun mielestä semmonen joka näkyy kaikessa/ Se näkyy fraasien lopetuksissa, se näkyy kappaleiden lopetuksissa, improssa tai omien biisien soittamisessa. " (Milla)

27. "Opettaja on jossain omassa universumissa [nauraa] että se ei oo ehkä ensimmäinen ajatus että kaiken mitä opettaja pystyy niin pystyis ite tekemään seuraavalla viikolla perässä. Mut et kaverin kautta se tulee niinkun eri tavalla sit semmonen 'kyllä minäkin'." (Milla)

28. "Mä muistan ensimmäinen, en mainitse nimeä, mutta ensimmäinen jazz pianoopettaja et 'soita näin' [näyttää hajoitus sormilla] ja 'sit sä voit soittaa näin', ja mä sanoin et 'miks?' [nauraa] 'Miks mä soitan näin?' -'No kun se kuulostaa hyvälle'. -'Ahaa'. Et jos toi on pedagogiikkaa..." (Oskari)