Confidence in teaching improvisation according to the K-12 achievement standards: Surveys of vocal jazz workshop participants and undergraduates

The purposes of these studies were 1) to examine vocal jazz workshop participants' confidence in teaching improvisation according to the K-12 National Standards for Arts Education, and 2) to explore whether a six-week course in vocal jazz would significantly increase undergraduates' confidence. The sample for the first study included 213 participants at six improvisation workshops at state, national, and international conventions. On a five-point scale, subjects rated their confidence in teaching improvisation, their own improvisation ability, and their interest in learning more about improvisation. Subjects' confidence in teaching improvisation declined significantly from the elementary school standards to the high school standards, F (1.71, 326 08) = 128.62, p <. 001. Significant differences (p <. 001) were found between each pair of grade level means, K-4 (M = 3.53, indicating "moderate" confidence), 5-8 (M = 3.08, "slight" confidence) and 9-12 (M = 2.62, "almost no" to slight" confidence). Nonsignificant differences were found for the between-subjects effect of nationality (U.S. and Brazil) and for the interaction between grade level and nationality. Overall, subjects rated their own ability to improvise quite low, although their interest in learning more about teaching improvisation was the highest rated item. The most preferred ways to learn more were intensive summer workshops, videotapes, conference sessions, college courses, software and hooks, in that order. In the second study, 13 music education undergraduates participated in an intensive vocal jazz course that included research-based improvisation instruction. A significant increase in teaching confidence was found, t = -4.30(12), p <. 001. These studies suggest that there is a strong need for more courses in improvisation for music teachers.