The Negative
Music Attitude
Syndrome:
Finding a Cure
by James R. Austin
r mfeeling goodfrom my head to my shoes
.Knowwhere r m go~n' andI know what to do
I tidiedup my point ofview
I got a new attitude.
from the "Beverly Hills Cop" film soundtrack
Imagine a general music teacher
who, on the last day of the school year,
observes a group atelementary students
walking down the hallway- singing a
song they had learned in general music
class that very morning. These students
hadstarted out the year well-armed with
doubts about "this class where you have
to sing, and learn to read music, and
stuff." But like so many others who had
experienced this teacher's gift for
unraveling the mysteries behind dotted
. rhythms, solfege syllables, and ABA
form, they eventually "tidied up their
points of view" about music and the
role it can play in their lives. They left
this general music teacher's class with
the tools and the confidence to appreci-
ate the musical efforts of others and
make music of their own. Each student
came to possess, without question, a
new attitude about music.
Music attitudes occupy my thoughts
a lot these days, and to be honest, I'm
afraid the wonderful scenario described
above is more fiction than fact. Current
students and former students alike all
seem to have a clear opinion or story to
tell about time spent in general music
FALL 1991
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-"New Attitude," Patti LaBelle,
class. Although one undoubtedly hears
a smattering of fond recollections and
appreciative testimonials, regret and
remorse seem to be dominant themes.
How do others see and value general
music? "Through gray-colored glasses"
is the metaphor that comes to mind
Research on Music Attitudes
While attending the 1990 MENC
conference in Washington, D.C., I
picked up a copy of a research report
written by Brent Bowman (1990). This
report, a condensation of the author's
doctoral dissertation, presented the
results of a large-scale, descriptive study
of elementary students" attitudes toward
school music activities. According to
Bowman, "The development of positive
music attitudes is one of the most impor-
tant goals in music education. For ele-
mentary general music education to be
considered successful, students must
have and maintain positive attitudes
toward school music instruction" (Bow-
man 1990,2). Bowman's fmdings, how-
ever, paint a rather dismal picture-a
picture that has surfaced time and time
again in related studies of music atti-
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tudes, namely, that students' attitudes
toward music activities steadily decline
as theyprogress through school.
Researchers, of course, are taught to
maintain a certain degree of healthy
skepticism, and the doubting Thomases
among general music teachers might
argue that students' music attitudes are
no worse than their attitudes toward
other subject areas; that is, that apathy
and disinterest pervade the school cur-
riculum. I admit that, for a long period
of time, I too found solace in this logic,
but the more I read and listen, the more
I become convinced that the "bad atti-
tude" problem associated with general
musicis a seriousone.
-: complement or counter the general
There is no single, easy
solution to turning
aroundthe music
attitudes ofthe
American public.
Music Attitudes Compared to the Rest
Recently, I heard the presentation of
a paper titled "Children's Ability Per-
ceptions and Values During the Ele-
mentary School Years" (Wigfield,
Harold, Eccles, Aberbach, Freedman-
Doan, & Suk Yoon 1990). Similar to
Bowman's study, the purpose of this
research was to examinehow children's
attitudes evolve through the course of
elementary school (that is, in first, sec-
ond, and fourth grades). In addition, the
authors were interested in comparing
children's beliefs (self-concept, value,
interest) across several school subjects
or activityareas, including mathematics,
reading, computer activities, sports
activities, and music.
The.results indicated. that there were
significant declines in self-concept
scores in all areas except sports, but the
decline in music self-concept scores
was clearly the most dramatic. Chil-
dren's valueand interestscoresdeclined
in only two areas (reading and music),
but once again, the rate of decline was
most substantial in music. In essence,
by the time students were in fourth
grade, they (a) possessed lower self-
4 GENERAL MUSICTODAY
concepts in music than any other area,
(b) valued their experiences in music
class less than in any other area, and (c)
were less interested in music than any
other subject except reading. These
findings, along with the resultsobtained
in a related study by Haladyna and
Thomas (in Boswell 1991), suggestthat
musicattitudes changeindependently of
and decline more sharply than attitudes
in other subjectareas.
Music Attitudes and Adulthood
Perhaps the most disturbing realiza-
tion about music attitudes is that stu-
dents eventually carry them forth into
adulthood and into their new roles as
professional musicians, parents, class-
room teachers, and school policy mak-
ers. As adults' attitudes align, they
become very influential and can either
music teacher's impact on the next gen-
erationofstudents.
Consider.the boy who detested going
to general music because all the class
ever didwas sing songs out of books-
hegrowsupto become a school board
member. Think of the girl who, in third
grade,was told to "mouth the words" in
the concert-c-sbe grows up to become a
classroom teacher. How about thosestu-
dents who spent their entire general
music careers memorizing musical
termsand completing worksheets? They
grow up to become parents. One can
easilysee how thesepoor experiences in
general music could spillover into the
next generation and, as the result of a
succession of these across-generation
influences, create an epidemic of nega-
tive music attitudes, or as I refer to it, a
"negative musicattitudesyndrome."
Early in this century,for example, an
adult recalled his experiences in general
musicclass and wrote:
The music hour was not infre-
quently seized upon by the regular
teachers to leave the room for a
social visit in some other room.
This left a roomful of "incorrigi-
bles" in charge of the music
teacher who had no authority to
discipline the unruly; therefore he
must resort to sweetmeats, flattery,
and tact to keep the pupils busy-
to preserve order and to prevent a
first-class pandemonium. (Birge
1928,109)
Now, barring the intervention of sev-
eral successful general music teachers
in subsequent eras, this individual's
words and the implicit attitudes they
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conveymost likely werepassedonto his
children as well as his children's chil-
dren-people who, in the current
decade,are in a position to decidemusic
education's fate.
In a recent issue of MENC Soundpost
(vol. 7 no. 2, Winter, 1991), the results
of a Gallup poll were presented. Adults
were asked which subjects they would
require for public high school students
who either did or did not plan to go onto
college. Lo and behold, regardless of
the career path, adults gave the least
amount of support to music as a
requiredarea of study.
As with most societal problems, there
is no single, easy solution to turning
aroundthe music attitudes of the Ameri-
can public. Recent strategies, like that of
the "America's CultureAt Risk" sympo-
sium, have focused on trying to reedu-
cate public leaders about the importance
of musicand the arts. Whiletheseefforts
are commendable, I believe they are
stopgap measures ar best, because they
are attacking the problem from the
wrong direction. Following the adage
that "preventive medicine is the best
cure," I see an effective treatment for the
negative music attitude syndrome stem-
ming from improvements in (a) the way
we teach general music and (b) the way
we involveelementary classroom teach-
ers in the musicinstruction process.
The NeglectedDomain
For years we have been told to teach
concepts and skills and let student atti-
tudes take care of themselves, the
assumption being that students who
learned enough about music eventually
would come to enjoy or appreciate
music. Paul Lehman, an MENC past
president, cautioned:
Overemphasis on affective
goals-aiming to get students to
"like" the arts-is self-defeating.
Affective goals are best achieved
as by-products of a rigorous,
sequential, high-quality pro-
gram.... If arts educators use the
finest examples from the world of
art in their teaching, and if they
teach them well, students will
probably like arts courses.... Any
program based on fun and games
is doing a disservice to the arts, as
well as to the student it serves.
(Lehman 1986, 17)
Lehman's comments, of course, are
rooted in the concepts-based curriculum
movement of the 1960s. This push for
"products" was itself a reaction against
an earlier movement-the activity era
of the 1930s and 1940s-where empha-
sis was placed on "process" and where,
unfortunately, as alluded to by Lehman,
"fun and games" became the norm.
Today, I wonder if the pendulum hasn't
once again swung too far away from the
center (Glenn 1991). Have general
music teachers become experts at teach-
ing for the mastery of certain concepts
and skills, only to take the joy, mean-
ingfulness, or significance out of music
experiences? Has our consideration of
affective outcomes become a case of
benign neglect?
Karl Gehrkens, in a presidential
address delivered at the 1923 Music
Supervisors National Conference meet-
ing, noted how music participation was
declining as students progressed
through their schooling. He proposed a
simple hierarchy of instructional out-
comes for music educators: "Love,
appreciation, and participation-these
three; and in my opinion, the greatest of
these is love," (in Heller 1987, 31).
How many students today truly love
music?
I would be the last person to advo-
cate a return to the activity era and its
emphasis on socialization over sub-
stance, but I do believe that general
music teachers must become more cog-
nizant of the attitudes that students are
developing and taking out of their class-
rooms, as well as of the relationship
between their instructional method or
approach and those same attitudes. As
Boswell (1991) notes, not enough
researchers have examined the influence
of classroom factors on students' music
attitudes. The few studies that do exist,
however, confirm the general music
teacher's importance in determining
how students' music attitudes develop.
Whether this influence is a product of
the teacher's stable personality traits,
content knowledge, or instructional
delivery has yet to be determined,
The Classroom Teacher as Any
While improvements in general
music teaching (accompanied by admin-
istrative support, realistic teaching
loads, adequate instructional time, and
so forth) will help to alleviate some of
the symptoms of the negative music
attitude syndrome, there will probably
be no lasting effect until elementary
classroom teachers become more
actively involved in the music teaching
enterprise. By active involvement, I
FALL 1991
mean (a) more often than not assisting
the music specialist with instruction
during the scheduled general music time
and (b) leading music activities or
incorporating music into the teaching of
other subject matter outside the sched-
uled general music time. Music special-
ists may be best qualified and equipped
to develop music curricula and provide
critical instruction, but the classroom
teacher is in the best position to influ-
ence students' music attitudes on a daily
and individual basis.
In truth, there may not be much hope
for changing the participation patterns
of classroom teachers already in the
field; the association of "music time"
with "preparation time" or "recupera-
tion time" seems relatively entrenched.
Rather, I propose that we focus our best
efforts toward (a) improving future
classroom teachers' attitudes within col-
lege music fundamentals' and methods
classes and (b) linking these attitudes to
future teaching behaviors by. encourag-
big more .elementary education majors
to spend time in the music classroom as
part of their student teaching experi-
ence.
How many students today
truly love music?
This past year, I taught my first
music fundamentals course for future
classroom teachers and was astounded
by the number of students who, quite
openly, expressed their lack of confi-
dence in performing basic music tasks
(such as clapping eighth notes against a
steady beat, singing three-note melodic
fragments based on sol-la-mi, or finding
specific pi tches on the piano), or
declared themselves completely devoid
of any musicality. In particular, I
remember an older male student who
had put off taking the course as long as
possible. For the first five weeks of the
piano lab, he attempted to play a C-
major scale with his right hand-a skill
that was not beyond him conceptually
or kinesthetically. After all, this same
individual was quite fluent in typing
term papers, playing video games, and
taking car engines apart. But as soon as
he sat down at the piano and placed his
fingers above the keyboard, his hands
would begin to shake uncontrollably,
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and any hope for accuracy would disap-
pear. Thankfully, by the end of the
semester, he gained some confidence in
his piano skills and was able to play
some simple songs using both hands.
Perhaps more important, though, was
his change in attitude. He was consider-
ing taking piano lessons from a neigh-
borhood teacher and had started to
introduce some songs to young children
as part of his Sunday-school teaching
routine.
I can only hope that this person's
change in attitude will be real and last-
ing, that he will seek out some contact
with the music specialist during student
teaching, and that he will become an
advocate for school music programs
when working as a classroom teacher. I
also hope that one day, perhaps, he will
hear the sound of his students singing in
the hallways-a song he had helped the
music specialist teach them an hour
before. Imagine how others would see
us then.
REFERENCES
Birge,E. [1928] 1966. History of public
schoolmusic in the United Stases. New and
augmented edition. Washington, "DC: Music
Educators National Conference.
Boswell, J. 1991. Comparisons of anitudinal
assessments in middle and junior high
school general music. Bulletin of the Coun-
cil for Research in Music Education, no.
lOS.
Bowman, B. 1990. A descriptive study of
intermediate elementary students' attitudes
toward school music activities. Paper pre-
sented at the National Biennial In-Service
Conference of the Music Educators
National Conference, 28 March-l April,
Washington,DC.
Glenn, K. 1991. Product and process in music
education. Music Educaiors Journal Tl, no.
S (January): 4, 6.
Heller, G. 1987. Celebrate the sesquicenten-
nial! Music Educators Journal 74, no. 1
(September): 28-31.
Lehman, P. 1986. Who cares about quality in
education? Reston, VA: Music Educators
National Conference.
MENC. 1991. Gallup poll again favors math,
English over music. MENC Soundpost 7,
no. 2 (Winter): 3.
Wigfiel~ A., R. Harold, 1. Eccles, A. Aber-
bach, C. Freedman-Doan, and K. Suk Yoon,
1990. Children's ability perceptions and
values during the elementary school years.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Educational Research Associa-
tion, Boston.
James R. Austin is Assistant Professor of
Music Education at Ball State University in
Muncie, Indiana.
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