Commitment and Practice: Key Ingredients for Achievement During the Early Stages of Learning a Musical Instrument*

Children 's expectancy and value beliefs have been found to be powerful predictors of achievement in academic subjects. This study investigated one component of expectancy-value motivations as evidenced in children 's perceptions of how long they thought they would learn their instrument immediately before they began instruction. The purpose was to examine whether this aspect of the children 's initial motivation coupled with their subsequent desire to practice might relate to their achievement nine months later. Subjects were 133 children from school years 3 and 4 (ages 7 to 9) who were learning an instrument in eight different school instrumental programs. Results from interviews show that the children were able to differentiate between their interest in learning a musical instrument, the importance to them of being good at music, whether they thought their learning would be useful to their short and long-term goals, and also the cost of their participation, in terms of the effort needed to continue improving. The children's commitment to learning their instrument and the amount of practice they undertook was useful in predicting their achievement after nine months of learning. Results have implications for studying the complex motivational issues that impact on the initial stages of learning a musical instrument.