Gamification as a Music Education Strategy to Guide Students Towards a State of Flow to Improve Quality of Independent Practice Time.

Abstract

Music educators have a limited amount of time with students necessitating the fostering of independent learning skills that lead to effective practice time outside the classroom. Poor independent learning skills can lead to a student practicing music in a chaotic, unfocused manner or not practicing at all which can cause the student to progress poorly as a musician and fail to meet their learning goals. Flow Theory provides the educator with a perspective for helping a student approach practice at home in a productive way. Csikszentmihalyi, notes that flow tends to be impeded when individuals lack goals, immediate feedback, and a chance to use their skills. We hypothesize that strategies like gamification aligned with the Flow Theory perspective can improve the quality of student independent practice times. This case study observed five students in a private music instruction environment in which the classroom was transformed into a music studio. Students were given the opportunity to choose songs of their choice and the instructor transposed and simplified the songs to their current skill level in accordance with their learning objectives. Daily rules and rewards were created to provide motivators and structure to the gamified classroom. At the end of a 4-month period we interviewed students and parents, identifying several themes that illustrate an improvement in practice quality and student engagement with music.