Contributions to Music Education Vol. 47 - Student-Centered Teaching and the Large Ensemble: Educators’ Perceptions and Concerns

Oct 15, 2026

Explores how Midwestern middle and high school music educators perceive student-centered teaching approaches within large ensemble rehearsals. Case analysis highlights mixed feelings about strategies that are less teacher-centered, even when constructivist principles are valued. Shifting focus from director to students is viewed as difficult to apply consistently due to concert expectations, scheduling constraints, ensemble size, and funding or staffing shortages. Teachers also differ on whether these pressures make performance and pedagogy competing goals.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Calls for student-centered pedagogy in music education

Disentangling constructivism(s)

Student-centered pedagogy and constructivist foundations

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 47 (2022), pp. 61-80. Paul louth Youngstown State University Student-Centered Teaching and the Large Ensemble: Educators’ Perceptions and Concerns The purpose of this study was to explore several Midwestern middle and high school music educators’ perceptions of student-centered teaching approaches, including their perceived suitability for regular use in their ensembles, and the factors thought to influence that suitability . Each case was analyzed individually but only the emergent themes from acrosscase analysis are presented here . The resulting data indicate that participants expressed somewhat mixed feelings about large ensemble rehearsal strategies that are less teachercentered . Although constructivist ideas undergirding student-centered approaches were construed positively when acknowledged, strategies that shift the focus from director to students were considered impractical to apply consistently to ensemble settings owing toa variety of factors . These include concert expectations, scheduling, and size of ensemble combined with funding/staffing shortages . Teachers were divided on whether these factors caused them to perceive performance and pedagogy as competing goals . Keywords: music education, student-centered, constructivism, rehearsal techniques, ensemble teaching Introduction Calls for more student-centered pedagogy in music education are plentiful (Allsup & Benedict, 2008; Scott, 2011; Wiggins, 2007, 2015), and apparently so are the challenges of incorporating it into the predominant model of secondary music instruction in the U.S., the large ensemble. One reason for this is that‘direct’ or ‘transmission’ teaching is “ingrained within the music education profession”(Scott, 2011, p. 193). Thus, the challenge to any alternative approach is the assumption that to carry on a valuable tradition, such as ensemble teaching, one must necessarily teach that tradition in a traditional way (Allsup & Benedict, 2008, p. 158). Shively (2015) asks,“Can we remake the ensemble experience so it Contributions to Music Education reflects constructivist principles?”(p. 133) . He answers with a resounding “yes” in theory, but to what extent do ensemble-based music teachers consider such teaching desirable or practical in their everyday work? Despite pervasive discourse advocating student-centered teaching in educational research (Howe & Berv, 2000) and pre-service music teacher education (Webster, 2011; Wiggins, 2014), the concept is of little use if met with resistance or unable to be applied in the field because of personal beliefs, tensions among stakeholders, or systemic constraints. Complicating the issue is conflicting or confusing information available to teachers. Golding (2017) argues that constructivism has become a hegemonic buzzword in teacher education, leading those who support student-centered approaches to use straw man tactics that caricaturize traditional transmission teaching, thus creating a false dichotomy between teaching models that necessarily overlap. This suggests that music teachers may feel the need to ‘choose sides’when developing attitudes toward traditional, transmissionstyle teaching. There are even indications that no common understanding of the terms “student-centered teaching” or “constructivism” may exist among music educators (McPhail, 2016), the latter term describing the cluster of learning theories underpinning the former. It is important, therefore, to understand how studentcentered teaching is construed and approached by ensemble teachers in the field (Cleaver & Ballantyne, 2014) . The three main research questions guiding this study, then, were: 1) How do school ensemble directors perceive student-centered instruction?, 2) To what extent is it considered appropriate?, and 3) What factors affect its perceived suitability? The Foundations of Student-Centered Pedagogy: Disentangling Constructivism(s) Student-centered pedagogy

FAQs

What was the study’s main purpose?

To explore Midwestern middle and high school music educators’ perceptions of student-centered teaching approaches, including how suitable they are for use in ensembles and what influences that suitability.

Why do educators find student-centered strategies difficult to implement in large ensembles?

They consider shifting focus from director to students impractical to apply consistently due to concert expectations, scheduling issues, ensemble size, and funding or staffing shortages.

How do constructivist ideas relate to student-centered approaches in the findings?

Constructivist ideas were construed positively when acknowledged, but teachers’ overall perceptions remain mixed regarding less teacher-centered rehearsal strategies.

Oct 15, 2026

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