A dissonant duet: Discussions of music making and music teaching

The literature in the field of music teacher education describes a tension between the music making and the music teaching in the professional lives of music educators. Yet how do music educators themselves think about their work? This study is an investigation of how six elementary general music teachers who are also performers speak about their music making and their music teaching. Data was collected in 4 hours of largely unstructured interviews with each respondent. Data analysis strategies included identifying emergent themes, constructing profiles, juxtaposing interview excerpts and categorizing characterizations of the tension between making music and teaching music. The main findings were that the participants characterized their music making and music teaching in three ways: as two distinct roles that they take on in their professional lives, as a single approach that they take to two activities, and as an experience of making music that they hope to recreate for their students. This study aims to inform the current rethinking of music teacher education programs on the part of institutions of higher education by contributing to a richer and more nuanced understanding of the lives and work of music teachers.