Examination of Strategies Fine Arts High School Students Use during the Practice and Learning of Instrumental Music

Abstract

Like every field of learning, it is important to use various strategies in instrumental music to learn it easily and permanently and to attain the skills to learn independently. This requires determining the strategies used by students studying instrument education. The purpose of this study was to examine the strategies fine arts high school students use during the practice and learning of instrumental music. These strategies are the attention, rehearsal, elaboration, articulation-organization and comprehension monitoring strategies. Students’ levels of using practice and learning strategies were examined according to seven variables. The study group consisted of 139 students who were studying at Aksaray, Kayseri, Mersin and Niğde Fine Arts High Schools during the 2015-2016 academic year. The study data was collected using Personal Information Form and Scale for Strategies Used during the Practice and Learning of Instrumental Music. The results showed that students’ levels of elaboration strategies were higher than their levels of articulation-organization strategies. It was also determined that students’ levels of rehearsal and comprehension monitoring strategies were significantly higher than their levels of other strategies. Furthermore, it was found that students’ levels of using practice and learning strategies showed significant differences according to students’ experience, instrument practice duration, how they plan their instrument practice duration, from where they learned the strategy, their academic achievement level on the instrument and the factor motivating them to play instrument variables.