The Inner-City Marching Band Program and Texas UIL Marching

Band Competition

Urban Students’ Perceptions and Motivations for Participation

Mr. Darryl D. Williams Introduction to Research

December 10, 2013 Qualitative Research Proposal

Purpose of Research

Understanding the thoughts of urban band students about participation in UIL Marching Band Competition

1. What are the perceptions of the inner-city band members about their participation in the UIL Marching Competition?

2. What are the views of the band director versus the students about marching competition?

3. What are the band student’s motivations for competing in the marching band competition?

• What are the perceptions of the inner-city band members about their participation in the UIL Marching Competition?

• What are the views of the band director versus the students

about marching competition?

• What are the band student’s motivations for competing in the marching band competition?

Research Questions

Literature Review

• Burnsed, V. &. (1983). Surveys reveal how students, parents, directors, and administrators feel about competitions. Music Educators journal, 70(2), 25-27.

• Costa-Giomi, E. (2008). Characteristics of Elementary Music Programs in Urban Schools: What Money Can Buy. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 19-28.

• Hash, P. (2012). An Analysis of the Ratings and Interrater Reliability of High School Band Contests. Journal of Research in Music Education 2012, 81-100.

• Rickels, D. (2012). Nonperformance variables as predictors of marching band contests results. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 53-72.

• Schmidt, C. (2005). Relations among Motivation, Performance achievement, and Music Experience Variables in Secondary Instrumental Music Students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 134-147.

Literature ReviewHash, 2012

• Positive extant research reveals students positively benefit from preparatory activities and group dynamics of a marching band

• Bands earning high ratings experience a sense of achievement

• Cynicism can result from bands receiving negative ratings

Literature Review• Low ratings can result in retention issues, low band member

morale, and negative attitudes about competition

• Retention and low participation rates are not all attributed to the band receiving low ratings- socioeconomic status is a variable.

Costa-Giomi, 2008

Rickels, 2012 • Band directors cannot predict nor control nonperformance

variables • Nonperformance variables such as; - Funding levels- Pedagogical decisions- Program size

Literature Review

Schmidt, 2005• A student’s motivation relies more on their perception of

their talent and achievement versus a viewpoint of luck and task difficulty

• Attribution Theory- observe your behavior or experiences, figure out what caused it, and then shape future behavior accordingly

• Research revealed students remained enrolled in music results in higher self-esteem and greater musical success

Literature Review

• The students sampled in this research shared “their own success was best defined by mastery and cooperative orientations while they placed less emphasis on competitive and ego orientations (Schmidt, 2005).

• Band director motivations were; strengthening value upon enhancement of public relations for their school, student discipline, responsibility, and pride (Schmidt, 2005).

Literature Review

• Observations

• Writing Field Notes (throughout entire research period)

• Conducting interviews

• Video-recordings

• Reviewing judge’s adjudication forms

Methods

Interview questions:• What is your attitude as it pertains to your participation in the

UIL Marching Band Competition?• What are your personal goals related to preparation for UIL

Marching Band Competition?• What are your motivations for competing in UIL Marching

Competition? • What are individual thoughts about participating in marching

competition? Why?

Methods

Upon completion of coding and classifying all collected data, the band student information will be processed and recorded in a table format and identified as Table 1;

Methods and Results

Group #1 Group #2 Student #1 Student #2 Student #3 Student #4 Student #5

1. Statements about attitudes pertaining to participation

2. Statements about band member goals related to preparation

3. Statements about student motivations

4. Statements about individual thoughts about participating in any marching competition

5. Statements about receiving ratings at UIL Marching Competition

6. Statements of thoughts about ratings of other marching bands

7. Perceptions of the judging process at UIL Marching Band Competition

The band director’s recorded data will be shown in Table 2. The table will provide responses and results from video-recorded data;

Methods and Results

Band Directors’ Responses

   Video-recorded written

data (observer-participant viewpoint)

 

1. Statements about attitudes pertaining to

participation         

 2. Statements about

director goals related to preparation

         

 3.Statements about director motivations

         

 4.Statements about

individual thoughts about participating in any

marching competition

         

5.Statements about receiving ratings at UIL Marching Competition

         

 6.Statements of thoughts

about ratings of other marching bands

         

 7.Perceptions of the

judging process         

Results

• Findings of the video-recorded band rehearsals and their correlation to band member statements.

• Findings of participant-observer-researcher pertaining to preparation for

UIL Marching Competition.

• Findings through comparison of judge’s adjudication forms from the previous year’s participation in UIL Marching Band Competition.

Conclusion

• The collected data is intended to reveal perceptions, attitudes, and motivations for participation in the Texas UIL Marching Competition, but long term implications gathered from this research can result in discovering additional methods to improve the urban school music program.