THE IMPACT OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT ON PIANO LEARNING IN CULTURALLY DIVERSE COMMUNITIES

Abstract

This thesis compared and examined approaches to parental involvement in piano learning in various sociocultural contexts in Greater Sydney. The study also explored how piano teachers adapted their teaching styles to encourage intrinsic motivation while meeting their students’ and parents’ cultural expectations. Using a mixed methods multi-case study design, data collected for the study consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews with six piano teachers from Greater Sydney and quantitative Likert-style questionnaires completed by culturally diverse parents of these teachers’ students. Adopting a grounded theory approach to analyse and triangulate the data, common themes within the discussion involved overbearing parents, language barriers, and performance anxiety due to forced participation in piano examinations. Findings from this study implied the need for a more culturally diverse pool of piano teachers to accommodate for the increasingly diverse Greater Sydney population. Extending upon an emerging field of literature, this thesis endeavours to assist all instrumental teachers working in culturally diverse communities to develop more strategies to communicate effectively with parents from non-English speaking backgrounds, providing their students with culturally relevant and responsive piano instruction.