The purpose of the study was to profile class piano instructors at institutions in the United States in terms of their educational background and teaching experiences. An additional goal was to find out current instructional practice specifically in group teaching techniques and functional keyboard skills.
The study involved an online survey of 1471 group piano instructors whose names appeared in the College Music Society Directory (2000-2001). Six hundred names were selected by random sampling. The results reported in this study were based on 304 responses.
Results showed that a high proportion of class piano instructors did not use multidimensional modes of instruction or group dynamics. Students were not given enough opportunities to work within a small ensemble. Results indicated that instructors in different areas of specialization showed significant differences in their emphasis on sight reading and accompanying skills. Further, this study failed to reveal a significant difference between applied faculty and music education faculty in the degree of emphasis on repertoire study. A greater percentage of respondents emphasized repertoire in this study than did those in a similar study conducted 10 years ago. Only sight reading and harmonization were skills emphasized in class piano instruction and identified as skills that would be useful to students in the future.
Instructors who had taken specialized training felt that they were more competent in their teaching compared to those who had not taken such courses. Respondents with group training encouraged more use of small ensemble work and less use of the one-on-one approach within the class piano setting.