“I Feel Good When I Sing It Right”: Singing Agency in Children

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain insight into learner perceptions of their singing agency (their belief in their capacity to sing aloud) in their elementary school music class. Guiding research questions focused on children's ideas about learning experiences that might foster or hinder singing agency. Data included field notes from classroom observations, video recordings of class sessions, semistructured interviews with 93 individual learners and the music teacher, and written responses from 175 children ages 8–11. Data analysis revealed four emergent themes: Participants ages 8–11 linked perceptions of singing agency with both (a) vocal skill and (b) musical understanding. At around age 9, (c) pervasive characteristics of perfectionism emerged, relating to perceived mistakes or quality of performance, hindering singing agency, and (d) participatory, authentically meaningful singing experiences enhance singing agency, despite psychological phenomena developmentally occurring at age 9. Implications for music education practice and further research are discussed.