African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(1) - How do we learn music? Collecting feedback from Kastamonu University music students

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

The study examines how Kastamonu University music students learn music and whether they receive additional support in 2020. Two focus group interviews were conducted with six music graduate students and four undergraduate students to capture perceptions of learning. Findings indicate that study timing, disciplinary focus, graduate design, critical feedback, and standardization were lacking, yet teachers and program contributions boosted confidence. Unexpectedly, students often use limited available programming and hold misconceptions about school offerings and how to use them.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background on Kastamonu University music reading support

Related research and program development needs

Methodology

Focus group design and recruitment

Moderator roles and data capture

Participant characteristics and research questions

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(1), pp. 189-196, March 2021 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.91.21.018 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper How do we learn music? Collecting feedback from Kastamonu University music students Mustafa Kabataş Music Education Department, Faculty of Education, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu, Turkey. Accepted 26 February, 2021 | ABSTRACT
The study studied how students studying music at Kastamonu University learn about music and whether they receive additional help in 2020. The first study detailed in this article focused on identifying student perceptions and how they learned music, and aimed to come up with suggestions on how to better meet the needs of music students. To do this, we conducted two focus group interviews with music graduate (N = 6) and undergraduate (N = 4) students. Participants said that the timing of the study should better reflect their work and that the studies should be more disciplinary and better designed for graduate students. They also felt that they did not get enough critical feedback and there was a lack of standardization in the training and concert work. However, the participants also felt that the teachers were helpful, the programming contributed well to their work and the support increased their confidence. Two unexpected findings were that students generally access some form of programming offered by the school rather than take advantage of the diverse offerings, and students have misconceptions about the possibilities the school offers and how to use them . It is hoped that this study will help inform other student academic support services about focus group research for the purpose of collecting music program evaluation and student feedback.
Keywords: Music, music education, music student, feedback, learning. | | --- | | [E-mail: mustafa-kabatas@hotmail.com](E-mail: mustafa-kabatas@hotmail.com). | INTRODUCTION Since 2016, Kastamonu University has been providing academic music reading support to all undergraduate students through the School of Music. In 2020, students who completed the four-year undergraduate program became the first graduates of the school. In 2016-2020, Kastamonu University Music School provided employment for dozens of students. Over the past decade, there have been many areas of focus related to music school’s research. One of the areas studied is students' perceptions and expectations of academic communication support and the implications of these perceptions for music schools. For example, Moussu (2013) points out that with regard to writing, music students are often caught up in opposing educational frameworks: students perceive music support as a kind of "music market support" (p. 56), while music teachers are interested in academia. Music schools are developing strategies that will respond to expectations while preserving their educational framework (Moussu, 2013) . In addition, the research focused on the role of assessing the academic communication needs of music students for curriculum design (Huang, 2013) . Huang (2013) stated that questioning about student needs is a necessary action in program development, task design and material development processes. In fact, inquiry is a fundamental step towards reaching an empirically validated approach that will most effectively support students' skill development. Based on evidence-based, reflective programming, in the context of our own dynamic student population, we made a reflection on the importance of both students' expectations of music support and their perception of academic learning needs (Simpson and Waye, 2016) . While evaluating our options for this first research project, we selected students who studied music at Kastamonu University and graduated from music school. We felt that this data collection technique valued students'music because focus group methodology is an "ideal"approach to exploring individuals' needs, concerns, experiences a

FAQs

What does the study investigate about music learning at Kastamonu University?

The study investigates how music students at Kastamonu University learn music and whether they receive additional help in 2020.

How were the student views collected?

Two focus group interviews were conducted with six graduate and four undergraduate music students.

What concerns and strengths did participants report about the support program?

Participants reported insufficient critical feedback and limited standardization in training and concert work, but also noted that teachers were helpful, programming supported their work, and support increased confidence.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen