The teacher-student relationship in one-to-one singing lessons : a longitudinal investigation of personality and adult attachment.

This research investigates the longitudinal implications of the teacher-student
relationship in one-to-one singing lessons. The thesis consists of two parts: in the first
part the expectations and realities faced by singing students are evaluated; in the
second part, a longitudinal observation of teacher-student relationship is made and
complemented with personality and adult attachment psychological scales.
For part one, 64 students completed qualitative and quantitative questionnaires
before meeting their singing teachers and 40 students completed the study (six months
after meeting that same teacher) by returning questionnaires regarding the
relationship. A comparison of the students' expectations and experiences of studentteacher
interactions reveal high levels of satisfaction in regard to relationship and
overall singing experiences. Students' descriptions indicated that teachers are
generally seen as friends which consequently increases trust and confidence bringing
benefits for students' personal as well as musical development.
In the longitudinal study of part two, the participants were 11 singing teachers
and 54 students United Kingdom and 'Portugal. The study had three stages where
participants were video recorded during their one-to-one singing lesson. These
recordings were complemented with the psychological questionnaires NEO PI- R
(Costa & McCrae, 1992) and Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1990) to
evaluate personality and attachment respectively. The longitudinal observation
indicated that the relationships developed into becoming more personal and often
included elements from the personal lives of both teacher and student. The interaction
between teacher and student include a wide list of variables: personality combination,
the individual background, style of attachment and many other singing aspects,
suggesting that the relationship with the student could have major impact on other
aspects of singing.
This research has implications for practitioners concerned with matching and
improving student-teacher relationships, and for researchers interested in the
longitudinal factors in effective musical teaching and learning.