Elementary School Teacher Inspiration in Lifelong Musicianship

This study gathers the stories of musician teachers, asking how teacher avocations in music might impact the students in the classroom. This work begins by telling the music and teaching story of the author. Topics related to music are explored in the literature review, including music as an avocation, educational research surrounding music, and finally music as a possible sense of community. Six teachers are observed and interviewed, three of whom are music teachers, and all of whom are at minimum musicians by hobby. Three notable themes are found common to all teachers participating in the study. First, all participants play recordings or live music in their classrooms. Next, an influential adult motivated each teacher, as a child, to learn or maintain an instrument. Last, each participant was impacted by parental influence, some positively and some negatively. Meaning for the classroom teacher is drawn from these themes. Future research might include a longitudinal study of students who are exposed to music in school by music and non-music teachers