Changes in self-reported motivation and attitudes of secondary students following music compositional activities

Motivation is an important condition in music composition. However, studies on motivation changes towards music composition are rare. This paper reports an investigation on motivation changes of secondary students after they have been guided to compose. A total of 810 students from four secondary schools of Hong Kong responded to a set of pre- and post-activity questionnaire before and after completing a compositional activity. Open-ended questions were used in the post-activity questionnaire to seek students' perception changes. A series of repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the mean scores before and after the compositional activities in order to measure the different levels of student perception towards music composition. Gender and the identity of instrumentalist were examined whether they were significant factors affecting the motivational changes. Results suggest that these two factors significantly affected the motivational changes. While male students and non-instrumentalists had significantly lower levels of motivation than females and instrumentalists before composing, both groups had increased their motivation significantly after composing. Qualitative data reveal that intrinsic value and attainment value of composing were raised by the composing experience. Based on the findings, this study provides further implications for teaching music compositions in class. 動機是音樂創作的重要條件，但有關音樂創作的動機研究卻頗為有限。本研究調查香港中學生從事音樂創作後之動機轉變；研究員邀請來自四間中學的810位學生回應一份創作前和創作後的問卷調查，並比較他們在創作前後對音樂創作的動機差異；另外，學生性別和修習樂器亦為此研究的重點。結果顯示，男生和非樂器修習者的音樂創作動機在創作前顯著較女生和樂器修習者為低；然而當他們完成音樂創作活動後，男生和非樂器修習者的音樂創作動機顯著提升，而女生和樂器修習者則大致維持不變。另外，質化數據顯示，透過實際參與創作，學生對音樂創作活動的內在價值和成就價值得以提升。最後，本文亦提出一些有關音樂創作教學的具體建議。 Copyright © 2007 藝術教育研究期刊顧問委員會 & Ainosco Press.