Attitudes of Students of Croatian Teacher Training Studies towards Music Courses and Self-evaluation of their Playing Skills

Abstract

This paper shows a research, which comprised of 152 students of teacher training studies from the Faculty of Educational in Osijek in the Republic of Croatia. The research was conducted during the academic year 2011/2012 and the main aim was to explore students' attitudes towards the musical courses and a self-evaluation of their own singing and playing skills. The majority of participants were females between twenty and twenty-four years of age. Survey results indicate that participants are generally indifferent towards the musical courses Music theory and Music. This matter should be credited with the fact that the courses, as such, are abstract to anyone who does not have a particular prior knowledge of music. Regarding the course playing, the participants showed more positive attitudes with respect to the courses Music theory and Music. We believe that the reason for it lies in the fact that the students who enrolled the mentioned course acquire the skills of playing i.e. a procedural knowledge of music, and experience the course itself as more useful for them. Self-evaluations of students' playing and singing skills show some insecurity when it comes to playing on their own, as well as their singing, and students show uncertainty regarding their own music teaching competence, respectively.