Abstract

Many young people embark on music lessons during childhood, but few pursue such instruction beyond a few years’ time, thus missing out on the life-long pleasure of making music for oneself. Problems with children’s self-regulation of learning, particularly the three-phase cycle of forethought, performance, and reflection proposed by Zimmerman (2000, 2006, 2008, 2011), may influence the abandonment of formal music lessons, as suggested by the research of McPherson and his colleagues (McPherson et al., 2012; McPherson & Renwick, 2011; McPherson, Nielsen, & Renwick, 2013; McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011). As part of a larger project examining self-regulation and music learning in the digital age, an observation tool for coding self-regulatory events in music lessons was developed.
The tool uses categories from Zimmerman’s self-regulatory cycle of learning to code verbal and nonverbal interactions and behaviours of teachers and students in videotaped music lessons. The iterative process of the tool’s development is presented and discussed, including an analysis of issues around using videotaped material. Results from a pilot test, in which researchers coded 12.9 hours of videotaped lessons from four music teachers in the Greater Toronto Area, are given. Patterns in self-regulated learning that emerged during the pilot test are explored, suggestions for triangulating the results with other project data are presented, and suggestions for further research are given.