Instrumental music teachers’ development of feedback across the lifespan: A qualitative study

Feedback is a powerful influence on learning and achievement in the instrumental music lesson, though this impact may render positive as well as negative implications to learning. The impact of feedback is thus foundational to the ways music teachers impart knowledge, skill, planning, reflection, and student motivation. This article provides an analysis of feedback- feed up-feed forward concepts through a musical instruction lens, and reviews evidence related to the impact of feedback given on student learning and achievement. A qualitative investigation of Australian instrumental music teachers working in secondary schools, this study analyses cohorts of novice, developing and expert level teachers, progressing through initial theory-practice constructs, towards development and expertise of personalised and experientially dynamic feedback episodes. Expert level teachers reflect on a wider palette of approaches, with wisdom, passion, and the capacity for accommodating diverse learners and differentiated strategies. Discursive analysis of constructivist and student-centred approaches that infuse with explicit instruction are used to offer implications to how feedback can be used to enhance enduring learning and teaching in instrumental music studios and classrooms. It provides insights into teacher growth, knowledge, and development of instrumental music teachers in the profession across the lifespan.