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Secondary student perspectives on musical and educational outcomes from participation in band festivals a

Peter Gouzouasis & Alan Henderson

b

a

Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, The University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, Canada b

Surrey School District No. 36, Surrey, BC, Canada

Version of record first published: 21 Aug 2012

To cite this article: Peter Gouzouasis & Alan Henderson (2012): Secondary student perspectives on musical and educational outcomes from participation in band festivals, Music Education Research, DOI:10.1080/14613808.2012.714361 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2012.714361

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Music Education Research 2012, 120, iFirst article

Secondary student perspectives on musical and educational outcomes from participation in band festivals

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Peter Gouzouasisa* and Alan Hendersonb a Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, The University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada; bSurrey School District No. 36, Surrey, BC, Canada

(Received 15 July 2011; final version received 13 July 2012) While it seems many music educators share an enthusiasm for music festivals, others do not. Discrepancies seem to be rooted in the perceived educational outcomes in terms of musical knowledge gained, motivation, competition, psychological impact and social considerations. Advocates believe competitive festivals provide a ‘superlative’ motivational factor and elevate performance quality beyond what could otherwise be achieved. Students and directors are motivated by ratings, by the outstanding performances of their peers and by the constructive criticism of expert adjudicators. As a result, students practice more, they work together with elevated enthusiasm and they are more likely to work on minute music details. Whereas most of the existing literature focuses on teacher perspectives, we examine the issues solely from a student perspective. We administered a survey composed of 55 five point, Likert scale items to 528 students of diverse multicultural backgrounds to examine the educational and musical benefits, and detriments, that evolve from participation in a band festival and events leading up to the festival as well as social benefits, or detriments, associated with band festival participation. Adding credence to existing research, there is very strong student support in favour of band festivals. We learned that student attitudes on how they perform are likely dependent on their personal beliefs, as well as feedback they receive from their directors, adjudicators and other members of the audience (i.e. students, parents). In accordance with previous research, students enjoy receiving adjudicator comments. Students value band for more than festival participation and recognise the rich, diverse learning experiences that festivals offer. Moreover, students consider band festivals as a positive educational experience, and overall, the social nature of band festivals has a positive impact on adolescents. Festivals are exceptionally motivating to students, as they appreciate the competitive aspects of music festivals in terms of competition as being a motivational factor when practicing and performing. Participation in music festivals has a positive emotional impact on students, in that they develop a sense of pride and accomplishment after a good performance. Keywords: band festivals; motivation; socioemotional learning; success

Introduction and related research Based on a review of articles published in research and professional journals, it seems some music educators share the same enthusiasm we possess for concert bands and music festivals, while others do not. Concert (wind) band is not merely a North American phenomenon. Hebert (2012) recently released a comprehensive, stunning *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] ISSN 1461-3808 print/ISSN 1469-9893 online # 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2012.714361 http://www.tandfonline.com

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account of wind bands in Japan. His ethnography is a multifaceted description of the world’s largest, national band competition  composed of approximately 700,000 student musicians in 14,000 bands (Hebert 2012, 4)  organised by the All-Japan Band Association. Concert bands are flourishing in Japan, North America, the UK, many areas of Australia and parts of Central and Eastern Europe.1 Numerous band associations (e.g. World Band Festival, European Brass Band Association) are organised in those countries to proliferate their music and promotional presence in both performance (i.e. competitive and non-competitive) and educational settings. Concert band is a music learning and performance opportunity that embraces a broad variety of repertoire  traditional concert band music, newly composed music for wind ensemble, movie soundtracks, pop music arrangements and transcriptions of classical repertoire. Based on research as well as professional articles (see the discussion later), concert band proponents believe that participation in these instrumental ensembles: (1) promotes healthy social skills and teamwork, (2) shared experiences and lasting memories of performances in front of large audiences, (3) enhances a sense of community and lifelong engagement with music (Kuntz 2011, 2728), (4) motivates students to succeed in school, (5) develops morals, selfdiscipline, leadership skills (Hebert 2005) and (6) nurtures a sense of pride in accomplishment on both individual and group levels. Discrepancies regarding the value of band festivals seem to be rooted in the perceived educational outcomes in terms of musical knowledge gained, motivation, competition, psychological impact and social considerations. Much of the discussion is directed at the competitive band festival where bands are ranked in order from best to worst, and not at rated band festivals, where bands are rated according to a rating scale (e.g. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, Superior). In rated festivals, all bands have the opportunity to receive a high rating (Regelski 1966), however, there seems to be very little published research concerning rated festivals and even less that offers insights on the students’ perspectives. Advocates believe competitive festivals provide a ‘superlative’ motivational factor (Meadows 1966) and elevate performance quality beyond what could otherwise be achieved (Gomes 1983). Amongst other factors, students and directors are motivated by ratings, by the outstanding performances of their peers (Bauer 1983; Hutchinson 1983) and by the constructive criticism of expert adjudicators (Bauer 1983; Regelski 1966). As a result, students practice more (Bauer 1983), they work together with elevated enthusiasm (Bendell 1983), and they are more likely to work on minute music details (Gomes 1983). Those in favour of competitive band festivals also believe that students benefit in terms of gains in musical knowledge and instrumental technique. Along that line of thought, Whitney (1966) believes that ‘. . . Excellent performance is by far the most direct avenue to understanding and appreciating music’ (66). Furthermore, advocates believe festival experiences help individual students feel a sense of purpose, which accelerates their personal development both culturally and socially (Regelski 1966; Temple 1973). ‘The team effort necessary to be successful at contests helps build esprit decorps and a feeling of family’ (Bauer 1983). Finally, band festivals (1) can weed out ineffective teachers, (2) help spur composers, arrangers and publishers to improve the quantity and quality of the available repertoire, (3) provide publicity for music programs, (4) improve instrumentation in bands and (5) ‘. . . help build and maintain music programs’ (Schouten 1983, 28).

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Music Education Research 3 The conversation regarding the influences of competitive band festivals has also revealed dissenting opinions on the topic. For example, when the primary focus is on high rankings (Miller 1994; Regelski 1966), contest festivals can encourage dubious teaching techniques (Austin 1990; Regelski 1966). To increase the odds of their band’s success at a festival and to maintain their performance reputation, some teachers pay more attention to high achieving students at the expense of students who possess less ability. Students who are struggling become lost and become discouraged about their music education experience (Austin 1990). Additionally, some music teachers prepare their students all year for a competition festival and have their bands perform the same programme in competition each year to increase their chances of success (Regelski 1966; Schouten 1983; Thurmond 1978). Furthermore, it is deemed by some researchers that students of band directors who focus too much on one performance lose out on learning music appreciation, music history, music genres and music form (Baker 1966; Miller 1994; Regelski 1966). Reiterating the point, Baker (1966) believes those directors who prepare primarily for one contest are engaging in ‘educational thin-ice-manship’ (140). Yet another concern of music educators is the psychological impact that competitive band festivals may have on students and directors for bands who receive less than a top rating: The stature of the school band in the eyes of the community, the recognition of the group by respected music educators in the field, and the level of professional attainment reached by the director of the group all may be highly dependent upon the degree of success which the group has known in competition-festivals . . . (Temple 1973, 1).

With this kind of pressure and emphasis on competition, students and directors of bands who receive less than top ratings often interpret those results as being a huge failure, and those involved feel shame and disgrace (Regelski 1966; Thurmond 1978). Alarmingly, some music educators have left the field when unable to produce a visible, successful band programme (Goolsby 1983). A few other related concerns regarding the outcomes of competitive band festivals are as follow: (1) valuable and costly private instruction time is sometimes used for festival preparation, (2) directors select music for festivals from a prescribed list and therefore exclude a host of great literature, (3) costs related to participating in festivals, (4) issues with adjudication (e.g. biased judging) (Baker 1966; Chaney 1983), (5) festival organisation concerns (e.g. performance venue, equipment), (6) time and difficulty in organising festivals (e.g. directors, committee members (Baker 1966), (7) students should be educated to love music, for music itself, and not be educated to learn music for the purpose of chasing extra-musical awards and recognition, as well as sports contests (Gifford 1983; Regelski 1966; Thurmond 1978) and that (8) ‘It behooves music educators to invest less time in the pursuit of competitive success and more time in determining how to best encourage stable patterns of long-term motivation and achievement among all students’ (Austin 1990). There are additional studies with results of import to the present study. When considering competition from a band teacher’s perspective, Ramsey (1989) found that music directors value the attainment of personal goals over winning competitions. Howard (1994) finds that solo competitions and concert band competitions

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motivate students to improve as musicians and that ‘. . . attitudes about the importance of contest participation, ratings, and enjoyment differed significantly among the contest types, with concert band contest receiving the most positive responses’. Finally, in support of previous research (Burnsed and Sochinsky 1983; Rogers 1985), Werpy (1995) identifies band competition as one of 13 factors involved in student enrolment in band. Finally, from a more positive perspective, some educators believe competition can be beneficial when properly approached by directors (Gallops 2005; Parkes 1983). Teachers can emphasise internal competition (i.e. within a group, or within an individual) over competition with other groups and emphasise competition as a means to increase competence (Bianco 1970; Gallops 2005). Purpose and research questions The varied opinions of music teacher colleagues became of interest following a meeting of secondary school band teachers that took place in Surrey School District (Surrey, BC). At the meeting, the continuation of district band festivals came into question. The emotions of the highly experienced band teachers present at the meeting immediately rose to the surface, and a conversation commenced about the influence of the Band Revue, a non-competitive festival with competitive overtones, on their students. The shared opinions of the band teachers stemmed from a source of pride, and most seemed incredulous that a question of the value of the band festival was raised in the first place. Rather than take an unsupported argumentative stand, we decided to develop a research-based rationale and argument for the continuation of district band festivals. Given our familiarity with professional articles and somewhat limited nature of the research literature, we decided to investigate student perceptions of district band festivals. With that in mind, and in consideration of issues that concerned students and music educators in our district, the purpose of our study was to describe the learning outcomes of band festivals, following participation in a non-competitive band festival, from a secondary band student perspective. The specific research questions were as follow: (1) What musical benefits, or detriments, evolve out of participation in a band festival and events leading up to the festival? (2) Are there social benefits, or detriments, associated with band festival participation? (3) Do band festivals have a psychological impact on students? (4) Are there any other benefits, or detriments, to participation in a band festival? Sample Based on 2011 demographic information, the city of Surrey is a growing community of 483,690 people (see City of Surrey Community Demographic Profiles 2011). It is the second largest city in British Columbia (after Vancouver), and has 100 public elementary schools and 19 secondary schools, making it the largest public school district in British Columbia. Surrey consists of six communities  Cloverdale, Fleetwood, Guildford, Newton, South Surrey and Whalley.

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Music Education Research 5 Although all schools were invited to participate, students from five of those six communities are represented in our study. The following ethnic composition comprised our sample: 244 Caucasian, 164 Asian, 51 South Asian and 67 ‘other’. About 16 of the students who self-identified as ‘other’ indicated they were of mixed race. While students who took part in our study reflect the multicultural flavour of Surrey, there seems to be a large number of Asian students who enroll in high school band in Surrey, and a disproportionately lower number of South Asian (e.g. India) and ‘other’ students. Over half of our participants were first generation children of immigrant families. With regard to the language of their ethnicity, while 56% of students in our sample reported their ‘mother tongue’ as English, 19% reported Punjabi. No other specific languages were identified as a mother tongue by more than 3% of the single responses, however, 43% of single responses indicated a language other than English as a mother tongue. The top 10 ‘other’ mother tongues included Chinese, Mandarin, Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, German, Vietnamese, Spanish and Urdu. Setting The Band Revue, an annual district concert band festival, took place on 25 and 26 November 2009 at the Center for Performing Arts. All concert bands with students in grades 912, from all district secondary schools, totalling 19, were invited to perform in the festival. Concert Bands from 12 of the 19 district schools participated in the festival, and some schools entered more than one band. The Band Revue had five different sessions with four or five different concert bands performing in each session. Each concert band had 15 minutes to perform two to three pieces of music in front of an audience that included family and friends, students and teachers from the other school bands performing in the same session and two adjudicators. Each session lasted approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes. Students spent the entire time in the theatre  performing, listening to other bands, listening to a guest performer and listening to adjudicator comments  with one 15-minute break in the middle of the session. Method All members of all school district concert bands performing in the Band Revue who received parental permission to participate in the study completed a questionnaire. A total of 526 students from 10 concert bands, from 6 schools completed and returned the survey. About 42 students chose not to participate in the study. The questionnaire was administered by each school’s band director and took students approximately 15 minutes to complete. The researchers developed the questions for the survey, and we had input from district band students, district directors, as well as from the consideration of questions from existing research studies (Killian 1994; Linn 1988; Stamer 2004). As recommended by Killian (1994), the questionnaire consisted of a combination of Likert scale questions and open-ended questions. There were 45 rating scale questions  arranged from agree strongly, agree, neutral/ maybe/perhaps, disagree and disagree strongly  concerning musical impact, motivation, competition, social impact, performance preparation, performance, band enrollment, adjudicator comments and listening to other bands. The two

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open-ended questions were as follow: (1) Do you have any additional positive comments to make about your band festival experiences (Band Revue or other festivals)? and (2) Do you have any additional negative comments to make about your band festival experiences (Band Revue or other festivals)? Upon collection of the surveys, we examined the survey data using descriptive research techniques to explore the band festival experience from a student perspective.

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Results About 526 students out of 568 completed the survey for a total response rate of 93%. The distribution of the study sample according to grade included 226 grade 9 students, 154 grade 10 students, 106 grade 11 students and 40 grade 12 students. Of those students who chose to participate in the study 288 were male and 238 were female. Accordingly, band festival participation in the school district appears to be relatively gender balanced. Data from each of the 45 Likert Scale questions are graphically displayed using bar graphs, and are grouped according to the research questions (i.e. band festival preparation, motivation, competition, performance attitude, adjudicator comments/feedback, listening to other bands, social, general). Responses to the two open ended questions [i.e. Do you have any additional positive comments to make about your band festival experiences (Band Revue or other festivals)? Do you have any additional negative comments to make about your band festival experiences (Band Revue or other festivals)] were entered into Microsoft Excel and the following themes were identified: (1) educational value, (2) motivation, (3) competition, (4) attitudes/feelings, (5) adjudicator comments, (6) listening to bands from other schools, (7) audience behaviour, (8) social experience, (9) guest performance, (10) other comments and (11) festival organisation. Interpretations of the results For the purpose of discussion, the data are amalgamated to consider the ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’ as a positive response (illustrated in black). The ‘neutral’ response, which includes ‘perhaps’ and ‘maybe’ responses, is illustrated in grey (see Figures 1 and 2). While the reader may also consider the ‘neutral’ response in a positive light, we are only basing our interpretations of the data on the strongest responses (NB: Reader’s may contact the authors for the full survey). Music education As a general statement, 69% of the students who participated in the study considered band festivals to be an important aspect of their music education, and there were many (30) anecdotal comments provided in support of the quantitative outcomes. For example, one student commented ‘I strongly believe that overall, band festival experiences are a major positive to musical education as a whole’, another student commented ‘I believe all bands would benefit from them’ and another student wrote, ‘band performances help me become a better band student’. It seems previous research has been unclear in determining the music-related lessons learned by students as a result of participating in a festival. Some believe

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Music Education Research 7

Figure 1. Survey items 1134.

performing in a competitive festival can lead to gains in musical knowledge (Howard 1994; Whitney 1966), while others conclude the opposite (Baker 1966; Miller 1994; Regelski 1966). In his study, Rogers (1985) determined directors believe marching

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Figure 2. Survey items 3555.

band contests are not particularly helpful for developing musical knowledge and musical skills (i.e. band directors reported a mean score of 3.82 on a seven point scale). It should be noted that the questions for the present study were framed to extract information about the musical lessons learned in preparation for a festival, as well as musical lessons learned at a festival itself.

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Music Education Research 9 In the current study 60% of the students recognised band festival preparation as being important in their development of instrumental technique, and an overwhelming number of respondents (i.e. 80%) indicated band festival preparation as being helpful when learning about musicality (i.e. dynamics, phrasing, blend, balance). Knowledge gained in instrumental technique and musicality could reasonably be considered knowledge gained in skills, in musical knowledge, or both, depending on personal interpretation. For example, when students learn how to finger notes, they may learn how to read notes, and possibly better interpret durations on the musical staff. Furthermore, students often learn about dynamics, tempo and phrasing markings (i.e. musicality), all of which, when performed with good tone, pitch, blend and balance, can contribute to an understanding of musical genres. In fact, 55% of the respondents determined band festival preparation as a means of learning to appreciate a variety of musical genres, while 83% of the sample agreed band festival preparation may/may not be influential on the same matter. As one student described, ‘I think the band review really helps bands because the reviews expose them to different types and different qualities of music’. On the other hand, only 23% of the students recognised band festival preparation as being valuable for learning about music history and music theory with an additional 30% believing that it may be valuable for learning. This relatively low number likely indicates different approaches amongst various band teachers. For example, some teachers may choose to emphasise the music history and music theory lessons early on in the learning process (i.e. some students may forget these lessons), or not include music history and music theory in their lessons at all. It seems other directors have explicitly included music history and music theory lessons in their festival preparation. From another perspective, some students may have difficulty in associating lessons learned about music theory and music history with festival preparation, even in cases where it is taking place. Motivation There is very strong evidence to support the notion that festivals are helpful in motivating students to learn their music repertoire and in achieving a productive classroom environment in the lessons leading up to a festival. When preparing for a band festival 77% of the students believed their class stays more on task, 69% of the students deemed they are able to concentrate better as a festival approaches and 55% of the students declared they practice more frequently when getting ready for a festival. One of the respondents explained how Band Revues are good because they give bands something for which to strive. In similar fashion to most festivals, students performed in front of teachers, students and adjudicators at the Band Revue. According to the Likert scale responses, 80% of the student musicians believed performing in front of other students motivated them to perform at their best, 80% were motivated by performing in front of adjudicators, 78% were motivated to perform their best by their teachers and finally, 91% of the students recognised they play their best when performing at band festivals. Adding weight to the already exceptionally strong argument, 27 comments were identified from the open-ended questions as being related to motivation. One student wrote, ‘I think our band performs its best at festivals’, and another reported ‘my band usually plays better in festivals than in rehearsal’.

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Furthermore, it appears that for many students, a band festival continues to have a motivational impact in lessons that follow a festival performance. As one student reflected, ‘we need to focus all year round and be motivated to do so’. As it were, over half of the students (55%) reported being more excited about going to band following a festival performance. Several of the students may have been sitting on the fence because their level of excitement could be dependent on the success of their band festival participation. When all is considered, and in support of the opinion of Meadows (1966), it seems that band festivals are in fact a ‘superlative’ motivator for many students in music education. Competition Although the Band Revue is considered to be a non-competitive festival, there are competitive elements. Many or even most musical directors that perform at the Band Revue would agree they want their bands to play their music to their highest capabilities when their students perform in front of other students, their peers and festival adjudicators. Furthermore, each band receives a rating, and the top bands are invited to a national music festival. The extent to which students feel competitive likely depends, at least in part, on how competitive their directors are. From the data collected, it can be determined the students believed: (1) the learning process is enhanced when a teacher stresses competition (57%), (2) music competition motivates them to practice (61%) (3) music competition brings out the best in them (56%), (4) competitive festivals are more enjoyable than non-competitive festivals (55%) and (5) bands should be ranked in order and the rankings should be published for everyone to see (51%). This data seem to support previous research, where students have expressed positive opinions towards festival competition (Austin 1988; Burnsed and Sochinsky 1983; Howard 1994; Killian 1994; Linn 1988; Ramsey 1989; Rogers 1985; Stamer 2004, 2006). It could be that student opinions may vary depending on their success at the festival. For example, those who received the greatest praise, the highest rating and invitations to Musicfest Canada, may enjoy competition more than those students who are not as successful. While competitive festivals and competition seems to be favoured over non-competitive festivals and a non-competitive environment by the sample as a whole, some assert competition to be very important, it seems competition is only one variable amongst many, when evaluating the effectiveness of band festivals in terms of festivals as an educational experience. It would be interesting to know the opinions, regarding competition, of those students who are in bands who received lower ratings than those students of the present sample. Student attitudes and feelings Student attitudes on how they perform are likely dependent on their personal beliefs, as well as feedback they receive from their directors, adjudicators and other members of the audience (i.e. students, parents). Not surprisingly, 89% of students surveyed feel good about themselves after a strong performance, and 82% of them feel good about themselves when their band performs better than the other bands. Adding weight to these statistics, 34 students made anecdotal comments that reflected

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Music Education Research 11 positive emotions from their performance experiences. Many were related to pride, a sense of accomplishment, or a good performance, one was about feeling a sense of respect and another felt performing boosts self-confidence. For the most part, students performing at the Band Revue would have felt good about their performances because only 3 of the 10 bands from the sample were not invited to Musicfest Canada, and each of those three bands received very good or excellent ratings. Therefore, student reflections on poor performances were likely hypothetical, or based on previous poor performance experiences. Nevertheless, 30% of the students concluded their self-esteem is damaged following a poor performance (37% maybe; total 67%), and 33% of the students feel bad when their band does not perform as well as the other bands (36% maybe; total 69%). Reflective of this statistic, one of the comments from the open-ended questions was ‘some bands may be jealous of the other bands’. This comment may be indicative of the feelings of other performance participants. There were 11 other comments made where students described how their band could have performed better. Four of these comments were directed at specific improvements needed; for example, ‘I believe our band could have played with better dynamics’. Other statements were more general like ‘we need to play better’, or ‘we failed’. It is possible there were some bruised egos behind these statements. While the statistics regarding those students who feel their self esteem has been damaged, or feel bad following a bad performance seem significant, the figures are relatively low when compared to the statistics where students feel good about themselves, after a successful performance. In terms of psychological impact, more students seem to benefit from festival participation than those who are harmed. However, the present datum does not reveal the level of psychological benefit or damage students who perform in a festival can incur. It would be interesting to investigate whether, or not, those students who have had poor performances at festivals are motivated to work harder to get better results at their next performance. Alfie Kohn (1986) would likely argue that students would become less motivated with repeated unsuccessful festival performances. It would also be interesting to know if some band directors chose not to involve their students in the present study, or chose not to participate in the festival at all, because they were concerned with their students’ self-esteem, as well as their egos. When it comes to feelings of nervousness: (1) 37% of the student respondents are nervous when performing at festivals; 8 of the 18 comments identified as being related to negative emotions, from the open-ended questions, reflected unwanted nervousness or stress; (2) 18% believe they perform better when they are nervous; one student said it helps to play under pressure; (3) 54% of the respondents believed festival concerts help them to learn to deal with nervousness and (4) 84% of the students believed the more they perform at festivals, the more comfortable they become in performing at them. These data seem to indicate band festival experiences are nerve-racking for some, but at the same time are catalyst for most students to develop self-confidence in their musical and performance abilities. With the help of educators, many students may even extrapolate from this lesson, i.e. the importance of gaining experience, to other dimensions of their lives.

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Other educational benefits In accordance with previous research (Linn 1988), students from the present study enjoyed receiving adjudicator comments. In fact, an overwhelming 88% of the respondents reported that positive comments from adjudicators give them a sense of accomplishment and 77% take adjudicator comments seriously. Furthermore, 15 students weighed in with statements about the impact adjudicator comments have on them. Most of those anecdotal comments were related to how they learn from adjudicator comments, or constructive criticism from the adjudicators, or how they value the opinions of other musicians (i.e. expert adjudicators). Only one of the students would like the adjudicators to be more critical. Evidently the student musician’s highly value adjudicator opinions, and the money spent on adjudicators by the organising committee, is worthwhile due to the positive feelings and musical lessons their opinions provide.

Audience participation The format of the Band Revue required all students, from each band to sit in the audience while other bands from their session performed. Each session was approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes long. Within this time frame, students setup and performed for 25 minutes, they had a 15 minute break, and they spent the rest of the time listening to their peers, as well as a guest group, (i.e. approximately two and an half hours). It appears that for most, listening to other groups was an enjoyable and valuable educational experience. Of the students surveyed: (1) 64% enjoyed listening to the performances of bands from other schools, (2) 63% learned what to do, or what not to do, when they listened to bands from other schools, (3) 79% sometimes wanted to play the music the other bands played, (4) 58% learned about music by critically listening to and watching the other bands and (5) 62% liked to learn by watching and listening to students from other bands who played the same instrument. Survey respondents also made 36 anecdotal comments in support of listening to other bands. About 7 of those comments were related to learning from listening to other bands, 4 of the comments were about the enjoyment of comparing their own band with bands from other schools and 21 of the comments reflected their enjoyment of listening to the music being performed by their peers. One student said there should be more festivals ‘. . . because we want to hear lots of music’. Another said ‘its also inspiring to see so many other young musicians in our area’. The collected data seem to lend credence to existing research (Yahl 2009), as well as the opinion of those educators who believe listening to music has a high level of educational value. The other listening component of the festival involved listening to guest artists during a 30 minute performance; it was intended that the artists would provide examples of musical excellence. For the 2009 version of the Band Revue, the guest artists were from local Colleges. For four of the sessions, the performances included small ensembles (e.g. woodwind ensemble(s), brass ensemble(s), percussion ensemble) and for one of the sessions a college wind ensemble performed. Of those students who completed the survey, 74% enjoy listening to the professional quality guest performances at festivals, 69% are inspired to become better musicians and 73% believe being in band helps them appreciate professional performances. Although it

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Music Education Research 13 appears students learn from, are motivated by, and enjoy listening to their peers, this data seem to reflect an increased level of learning, motivation and enjoyment when listening to more experienced musicians. One aspect of our arts curriculum (Integrated Resource Package 2002) is related to learning how to respond to expressions of art and culture. Another indicator, besides the aforementioned data, that band festivals help accomplish this objective, not only within classes, or within schools, but also amongst peers from other schools, is: (1) 64% of the students believed the Band Revue is a good place to learn how to be a respectful audience member, (2) 71% were proud of how they behaved as an audience member at the festival and (3) 65% were proud of their band’s behaviour at the Band Revue. These numbers seem fairly supportive of Band Revues as being a good place to learn to be a good audience participant; however, there was a relatively large number of statements put forward in the open-ended responses as well, and 22 of those statements expressed concern about audience behaviour, citing talking and electronic devices as being distracting and disrespectful to those performing and listening. On the other hand, only two of the students made favourable comments about the audience behaviour. While it seems not all students were happy with their behaviour, or the behaviour of their peers, the festival does provide an opportunity for educators to take corrective measures. It would be interesting to compare the data amongst the five sessions. It was very evident the behaviour improved from day one to day two of the festival, possibly as a result of director instruction and committee organisation. Social experience There is evidence music programmes add to the social experience of a student’s education (Adderley et al. 2003; Yahl 2009). According to our results, at least a portion of the social experience derived from a music programme is due to band festival participation, with 78% of students agreeing that band festivals contribute to the social experience of a music programme. Furthermore, 69% of the students believed band festivals give them an opportunity to bond with other band members and 64% of the respondents recognised that band festival experiences help create a sense of family. Students also made 20 comments regarding the social experience of a band festival. About 15 of those comments reflected the bonding experience band festivals provide, sometimes amongst band-mates and sometimes amongst students from different schools. For example, one student wrote ‘I make friends with other school band members and I become closer with my band mates’. When compared to other festival experiences (e.g. Musicfest Canada, Envision Jazz Festival), students at the Band Revue had very little free time to interact with students from other schools, and this was reflected in five of the comments expressed in response to the open ended questions. One student considered ‘I think the schools that were there should have had a chance to talk to each-other’. Finally, for 39% of the students surveyed, band festivals are one of the reasons they join band. Although band festivals appear to have significant influence on enrollment, as in the case of the research of Burnsed and Sochinski (1983), the statistics of the present study are not overwhelming. The format of the Band Revue may have impacted this result due to the fact students had to sit in the audience for lengthy periods of time. In fact, students made 51 anecdotal comments expressing

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14 P. Gouzouasis and A. Henderson their displeasure with the length of the festival, the lack of breaks, the lack of an opportunity to eat and the sense of boredom. It would be interesting to know if those students who disagreed with the statement (i.e. ‘One of the reasons I join band is because of band festivals’) would consider dropping band from their course load due to festival participation. In light of the concerns expressed in the student responses, festival organisers may want to consider changing the festival format to include less time sitting in the audience, and or longer break time(s). With less time sitting and longer break times, students may enjoy the experience more and some of the behaviour issues may dissipate as well. Of course this may be difficult when the logistics of organising a district wide festival are considered. Although some students were critical of the organisation of the festival in terms of length and lack of break time, 23 of the students took the opportunity to express how much they enjoy festival experiences in the open ended response section of the survey. One student expressed ‘it was a wonderful experience’, and another said the festival was ‘well organized, good behavior, good bands’. Lastly, seven of the respondents asserted a desire for more festivals.

Conclusions Adding credence to existing research, there is very strong student support in favour of band festivals. Moreover, students consider band festivals as a positive educational experience. Students recognise band festival experiences, in preparation for band festivals and during a performance at a festival itself, as an avenue to make great strides in terms of gains in music knowledge, particularly in the areas of instrumental technique, especially musicality, as well as to a somewhat lesser degree the development of an appreciation for a variety of genres of music. Students learn valuable musical lessons when listening to the performances of bands from other schools, and even more so from guest performances of professional musicians. They recognise that listening to more experienced groups is both educational and inspirational. Furthermore, students were emphatic that the constructive criticism from festival adjudicators is enjoyable and very valuable to their music education. Based on those outcomes, it is advisable to expose students to live music, as well the opinions of expert adjudicators, whenever possible. In terms of gains in historical and theoretical knowledge, band festival participation has a relatively modest impact on students. Directors may want to think about incorporating more explicit history and theory lessons in classes leading up to a festival, and adjudicators may consider linking history and theory to what students have, or have not learned, from their comments. The social nature of band festivals has a positive impact on adolescents. Students bond with their classmates when performing, travelling and listening to the performances of others. Furthermore, for many, band festival participation enables and enhances a sense of family. That said, when participating at the Band Revue, students need more opportunities to communicate with students from other schools, a common social component of some music festivals.

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Music Education Research 15 Band festivals, in general, have a positive psychological impact on students. They benefit psychologically when in consideration of motivational, festival competition and emotional development. Band festivals are exceptionally motivating to students. Students are motivated to practice more, and are more focused, both in lessons leading up to a festival, and when performing for their peers, directors and adjudicators. Ultimately, students are motivated to come up with some of their best work. Students appreciate the competitive aspects of music festivals in terms of competition as being a motivational factor when practicing and performing. It seems that they prefer competitive festivals when compared to non-competitive festivals. Furthermore, participation in music festivals appears to have a positive emotional impact on students. Students develop a sense of pride and accomplishment after a good performance. They feel good about being involved in an event with so many other participants and as a result, get a sense of being a part of something ‘big’. Furthermore, students become more comfortable in performing situations with each passing festival experience. Collectively, the evidence suggests that directors should weigh the psychological benefits of participating in a band festival for their students over the potential psychological detriments as a result of participating in a festival, when considering entry into either a competitive or non-competitive festival. At the same time, this study does not gauge the level of psychological impact a band festival can have on students, either positively or negatively, and directors, adjudicators and students, should recognise negative emotions and attempt to moderate the impact a festival can have on those who are negatively affected. Band festivals provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn to respond to the performances of others, an important objective reported in British Columbia instructional guidelines (Integrated Resource Package 2002, 59103). Students appreciate and are inspired by the performances of their peers, and even more so by the performances of guest artists, and students feel that being in band helps them appreciate professional performances. Student opinions about audience participation could be deemed as an indicator of student appreciation for the music being performed. Students were relatively happy with the behaviour of those students in the audience; however, there appears to be some work to be done. Directors and festival facilitators should continue to teach and encourage exceptional theatre etiquette. Also, festival committees should consider reducing the time the students act as an audience and attempt to incorporate more, and, or longer breaks. That said, this would come at the expense of valuable listening time. Band festivals are not the primary reason students join band. This contradicts the research of Werpy (1995), who reported band festival participation as one of 13 variables in why students join band. That said, students value band for more than festival participation and recognise the rich, diverse learning experiences that festivals offer once they are involved in festival performances. Finally, if budget cutbacks lead to the end of band festivals and revues, students will lose out on what many current students believe to be an extremely valuable aspect of their music education.

16 P. Gouzouasis and A. Henderson

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Suggestions for further research Contrary to research that promotes informal music learning in somewhat informal school and out of school settings, as well as books and papers that argue the benefits of informal music learning and popular music (see Evelein 2006; Gouzouasis and Bakan 2011; Green 2006, 2008; Hannan 2006; Seifried 2006; Va¨ keva¨ 2006; Westerlund 2006), we take a stance in favour of all forms of music learning, around the world. There are times (e.g. before, during and after school), places (e.g. school music rooms, gymnasiums and auditoriums; community centres) and settings (e.g. heterogeneous and homogeneous instrumental groupings) where both formal and informal learning and teaching serve distinct functions and purposes in music education. Moreover, there are many reasons why teachers may choose to teach music informally and formally, in structured and unstructured settings, and we need to examine this on a number of levels, especially in terms of (1) music and non-music learning outcomes and (2) learning possibilities that occur when we apply creative tactics, strategies, graphics organisers, visual journals and other approaches across the music curriculum (Gouzouasis 2011). Band teachers are not necessarily mono-dimensional pedagogues, and in British Columbia many are involved in teaching and leading  informally and formally  rock bands, traditional band and choral ensembles, vocal jazz ensembles, jazz band, R&B bands (Prendergast et al. 2009), world music classes, drumming classes, guitar classes, computer music composition classes, jam sessions (Southworth 2008) and recording engineering classes. Moreover, many teachers are actively involved in music making in a variety of amateur and professional contexts, which provides them with broader, practical understandings of music making. Students recognise and appreciate their teachers’ expertise on many levels (Prendergast et al. 2009, 307). Given the increased use of the Internet in a variety of music learning contexts (Gouzouasis and Bakan 2011; Waldron 2011), our profession should keep a keen eye on digital resources that are available to students in home, library and school settings. Our profession currently possesses a broad instructional palette, and to depreciate or ignore the value of any form of music teaching and learning is both foolhardy and close-minded and could lead to the demise of the profession (Gouzouasis 2010; Heuser 2011). On that note, Hebert (2005, 275283) observed that cooperative learning and other alternative strategies are core to instrumental learning in wind band contexts in Japan. Pre-service and existing teachers need professional development to incorporate contemporary learning strategies, with and without digital technologies (Gouzouasis and Bakan 2011) at all levels and manners (e.g. for composition, practice, assessment, performance) of music learning. Through our study, we have revealed research avenues and questions that need to be expanded on a number of levels. For example, it would be of great benefit to replicate this study in Japan and the USA where competitive festivals at the secondary school level are more common, and to conduct cross-cultural comparisons on the learning outcomes we have found2 (NB: please contact the authors for a copy of the complete survey). On the surface, it seems that responses could be very different from what we have discovered in a non-competitive setting, however, our students reported a strong appreciation for competition even though they performed non-competitively. It also seems to make sense to learn more about the broader music interests of band students. Anecdotally, we know that many students who

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Music Education Research 17 enjoy band also participate in other forms of music making both in and out of school, formally and informally (Choi 2009). It is not unusual for an adolescent to participate in a school organised guitar class or R&B band as well as concert band and jazz band. Moreover, jamming culture is alive and well both in and out of school, and has been for at least the past 50 years (Southworth 2008). As music teachers, we all know students who are obsessed with music making in as many contexts as are available to them, in and out of school (Kuntz 2011). Given the backgrounds of many music learners and teachers (i.e. as lifelong music learners), ethnographic (Ellis 2003) and autoethnographic research (Bartleet and Ellis 2009; Gouzouasis 2008) in this area could be very enlightening and provide broad, nuanced contributions to the literature. Music making in school is one of a broad variety of curriculum choices that adolescents now have at the secondary school level. This is evident in North America (Gouzouasis, Henrey, and Belliveau 2008) and Japan (see Hebert 2005). We need to learn more about what draws students to making music and choosing music instead of other curriculum options. With that knowledge in mind, we can create curricula in instrumental and vocal settings that attract a broader segment of the school population, both formally and informally, during, before and after school. The more we can learn from students about their passions for music learning, particularly in instrumental ensembles, the better we can develop curricula, instructional approaches and learning settings to best address their music learning and socioemotional needs. All these ideas require the most creative, musical individuals to join and continue teaching in our profession. Finally, that the band students who participated in our study are of diverse cultural backgrounds and they are representative of the multicultural mosaic that comprises the Lower Mainland of British Columbia provides a unique opportunity to generalise our findings to diverse ethnic populations in many countries with immigrant populations. We may also generalise that concert band is important to adolescents from many walks of life and this is an exciting aspect of our findings. As we have said in the past and need to be reminded at every opportunity, music matters to young people in profound and existential ways (Prendergast et al. 2009), and concert band is an important part of what matters to youth. Notes 1. Hebert’s dissertation (2005) and book (2012) provide the most comprehensive information about concert (wind) band participation in any particular country. While Internet searches revealed thousands of band competitions and festivals around the world, as well as information on concert band organisations, precise numbers of students who participate in school programs in countries around the world were not readily available. 2. It would be of great interest to instrumental music educators to see our research replicated in related, orchestral music contexts, e.g. El Sistema (Venezuela) and SiNEM (Costa Rica).

Notes on contributors Peter Gouzouasis is an Associate Professor of Music Education, and a member of the A/r/ tography Research Group at UBC. More about Peter can be found at http://edcp.educ.ubc.ca/ faculty/peter-gouzouasis

18 P. Gouzouasis and A. Henderson Alan Henderson is a Music Specialist in the Surrey School District 36 in Surrey, British Columbia.

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