An analysis of students’ self-efficacy and motivation in piano, based on different variables and the reasons for their failure

In this study, the self-efficacy and motivation of Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School piano students were examined based on different variables as well as the reasons for their failure. The data on their selfefficacy were obtained through self-efficacy scale of piano performance and the data on their motivation were obtained through motivation scale in piano education. ‘The Questionnaire of Reasons for Failure in Piano Education’ was carried out in order to obtain students’ perspective of their failure. The data were examined through t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, one way ANOVA and Pearson Correlation via SPSS 23.00. Students’ thoughts about their failure in piano performances were reported as frequency and percentage. This study reveals the fact that students’ motivation towards piano education (with its sub-dimensions; interest in and willingness to play piano and motivational factors in the piano learning process) and their self-efficacy (with its sub-dimensions; perception of technical level and perception of performance) tend to fall after 10 th grade when the class level advances from 10 th to 12 th . Moreover, achievement grade, motivation and self-efficacy are positively correlated. Although not statistically significant, there are some additional striking results. For instance, male students can overcome stage fright more easily than female students; male students consider themselves more proficient in terms of technical level than female students. Additionally, boarding students have more trouble in managing their stage fright compared to other students, and the students who have musicians in their families perceive their technical skills to be higher than students who do not. Since all possible students were included, this study aims to express the current situation in Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School. However, considering the effect sizes of those findings, this study should be replicated with a larger sample size to get statistically significant results.


INTRODUCTION
Fine arts high school was first established in 1989 in Istanbul under the name of Anatolian Fine Arts High School.The school offers vocational music training-education.Anatolian Fine Arts High School was founded to provide intense training in fine arts which requires its students to possess special talents.Its aim is to allow students to gain expertise on recognizing and rendering national and international pieces of art, to become productive and creative, to prepare for higher education and to generate an urge for research in the field of their specialisation (Ministry of National Education, 1999).
In recent years, the word 'Anatolian' was removed and Fine Arts High School (General Directorate of Secondary Education, 2016) was established.The school educates students in the field of music and painting in 68 cities and 78 counties.During the 2016 to 2017 academic year, piano lessons, which are major courses in the music department, were made compulsory for four years.
Culture training courses also became compulsory.Until the 2015/16 academic year, piano classes were administered on once a week in 9 th grade, and twice a week in 10 th , 11 th and 12 th grades (Board of Education and Discipline, 2015).During the 2016/17 academic year, with the new curriculum, 9 th , 10 th , 11 th , graders receive one hour piano lesson whereas in the 12 th grade, piano lessons are removed from the curriculum (Board of Education and Discipline, 2016).This current study took place during the 2015/16 academic year when the educational program indicated that piano education and training underpinned the music education program.Moreover, piano education incrementally included technical practices and etudes, the art works samples of National and international composers, samples of educational music, piano literature, learning and teaching techniques of school music education (General Directorate of Secondary Education, 2006).
The 2015/2016 curriculum contained technical practices and etudes which underpinned the piano education and also had great importance in students' technical development.Additionally, the curriculum helps students learn some musical structures and gain an introduction of a deep repertoire.In piano education, correct acquisition of technical skills allows students to show effective performance with their instruments.However, it is probable that having solely technical skills may not be enough for students to show high-level performances and some differences in students' piano performances may occur because of different factors.
Among the reasons that may create the differences between students' abilities are personal factors such as students' perception level, physical characteristics, predisposition towards piano, work discipline, the length of practice, desire for learning, having faith in their success and family status, the study environment, teacher factor, and various environmental factors.
A student's willingness to learn, namely motivation, is one of the most important factors of those mentioned above.Motivation can be defined as an impulse for an organism to reach the target and a process which starts leads and carries on spiritual and physical activities (Budak, 2000).According to Tufan (2000), motivation controls the students' behaviors during the learning process, keeps their behaviors alive and willing, and picks out the hidden energy in students (Yildirim Orhan, 2006).Cosar (2007) states that a person cannot achieve necessary or expected learning without sufficient amount of motivation, even if all the other conditions are obtained.It can be argued that unmotivated students are not in the right state for learning.Selcuk (1992) highlights that unless there is a reason to motivate students for learning; students do not take an interest in learning (Yildirim Orhan, 2006).In order to make students motivated, one should know the students' personality traits well (Modiri, 2012).In this sense, to motivate students for a better piano performance, both the piano instructors and the students should work harder (Orhan, 2006).
Another factor that affects learning is the "Self-Efficacy belief" which can be defined as the individual belief of a student to achieve a specific task.Bandura realized that a person's thoughts of sufficiency and self-actualization in a job underlies that person's expectations towards the result of that job and he defines self-efficacy as selfcompetence that a person has in order to arrange and actualize needed jobs for reaching the target (Ozmentes, 2014).Self-efficacy is a person's belief on how capable he is on a particular matter, namely very well, not very well or weak.Students who perceive their performances to be more adequate than it actually is tend to be more successful in their performances.For that reason, if a person's perceived self-efficacy is high, his performance actually reaches higher levels but if his self-efficacy is low, he performs under his level of capacity (Gun and Yildiz, 2014).As illustrated, it may not be wrong to conclude that self-efficacy belief is a significant factor in determining the quality of a student's instrument training process (Ozmentes, 2008).Briefly, as McCormick and McPherson's (2003) approach suggests, self-efficacy and motivation play an important role in the success of musical performance.Moreover, McCormick and McPherson emphasize the necessity of practice over a long period of time (Seker, 2011).
The existing literature on this subject is extensive and focuses particularly on determining the piano skills of Fine Arts High School students.Jelen (2013) reported in her study that 50% of the academics who lecture piano in Music Education in universities state that students who come from Anatolian Fine Arts High Schools have serious technical issues when they first begin piano courses.In the same study, Jelen (2013) mentions that 40% of academics agreed that students of fine arts high schools lack background knowledge when they start piano courses at music departments in universities.In the dissertation entitled 'Comparative study of piano skills of Music Education students who come from different high schools', Avci (2013) highlights that both fine arts high school students and other high school students have serious incompetencies in technical background knowledge.In another study, 55.8% of Fine Arts High School students partly agreed with the question asked to determine the extent of students' skills and knowledge in piano (Cicek, 2016).Uslu (2012) demonstrates that students' unqualified musical background and incorrect or false technical musical skills have negative impact on their motivation and attitude towards piano.
The studies mentioned above identified the thoughts of both students in graduate level courses and Fine Arts High School level students on the their state of technical and musical skills in piano performances.These studies prove that Fine Arts High School students have difficulties in technical and musical skills in piano performances.The interviews with the piano teachers at Bursa Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School are in accordance with the literature in that they indicate the confirmation of piano teachers that piano students show performance differences in oncoming stages.Furthermore, teachers report that students show unwillingness towards studying and practicing piano.
Throughout this current study, the state of motivation and self-efficacy, which are significant for musical achievement, are examined in terms of different variables with participant students at Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School.Moreover, the reasons why they fail in piano performances are reported in the study.

The purpose of the study
Bursa Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School students' ambitions towards piano playing have been determined to be a problem based on the viewpoints of the teachers who work in the same institution.Therefore, this study aims to report the actual situation and to investigate the reasons why students fail in piano performances based on the students' point of view.Within this context, in order to report the actual situation, students' self-efficacy and motivation level are examined in terms of different variables such as the student's gender, whether there is a musician in their family, whether they are board at the school, their skill level, and their achievement grade of piano course.
A questionnaire is carried out to find out the students' thoughts about the reasons for their failure in using piano.The answers to the questions below are saught accordingly.
1. Is the motivation and self-efficacy level of students significant in terms of gender, whether there is a musician in their family, whether they board, and their level?2. Is there a significant correlation between end of term achievement grade of piano course and a student's motivation and self-efficacy level? 3. What do the students perceive the reasons are for their failure in piano performances?

Significance of the study
This study carries a great deal of significance as it tries to reveal the problems that Bursa Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School teachers have observed and ascertain the students' thoughts about them.The data obtained are believed to have positive impact on the courses that piano teachers offer in this institution and as well as other institutions in different parts of Turkey.

METHODOLOGY Research model
In this study, a correlational research model was used.This model aimed to determine the extent and existence of the difference between model variables (Karasar, 2005).Within the scope of the current study, the relationship between the variables of gender, the existence of a musician in their family, their boarding status, level and achievement grade with the help of piano performance motivation scale and self-efficacy scale of piano performance were studied.Moreover, students reported the reasons for their failure.

Data collection tools
The Self-Efficacy Scale of Piano Performance (SESPP), developed by Gun and Yildiz (2014), was used to determine the level of selfefficacy of the piano performance of Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School students.This scale consists of 25 items with a Likert rating of 5, measures 3 sub-dimensions.8 items for Perception of Technical Level (PTL) subscale, 7 items for Perception of Stage Anxiety (PSA) subscale, and 10 items for Perception of Performance Level (PPL) subscale.The factor loadings of the items are calculated in the PTL sub-dimension between 0.53 and 0.70; in the PSA sub-dimension 0.54 to 0.76; in the PPL sub-dimension 0.55 and 0.80.The KMO sample consistency coefficient was 0.947 and the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was 0.948 (Gun and Yildiz, 2014).The data on the motivation levels of Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School students for piano education were obtained by Motivation Scale in Piano Education (MSPE) developed by Kurtuldu (2012).The scale consists of 24 items with a Likert rating of 5 and has 3 sub-dimensions; 8 for the sub-dimension of Interest in and Willingness to Play Piano (IWPP), 6 for the Efficacy Perception towards Playing Piano (EPTPP) sub-dimension, and 8 for the Motivational Factors in the Piano Learning Process (MFPLP) subdimension.The factor loadings of the items are in the range of 0.40 to 0.62 in the IWPP sub-dimension; 0.42 to 0.63 in the EPTPP subdimension; 0.43 to 0.56 in the MFPLP sub-dimension.Item total correlations were respectively 0.33 -0.59, 0.30 -0.69 and 0.38 -0.63.KMO sampling adequacy coefficient was found to be 0.87.For the whole scale, the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was 0.88 (Kurtuldu, 2012).
Questionnaire of Failure Reasons in Piano Education (QFRPE),  prepared by Kurtuldu (2011), was used in order to determine the opinions of Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School students about the success status of piano education in the research.The questionnaire consists of 25 items with a Likert rating of 5.

Data collection procedure and analysis
The students were given QFRPE to determine the reasons for failure, SESPP to determine their self-efficacy scores, and MSPE scales to determine motivation scores along with personal information form (class, gender, achievement grade, boarding status, and musician status in the family).
The data obtained from the volunteer students were analyzed by t-test, one-way analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis using SPSS 23.00 package program.

Comparison of MSPE and SESPP scores in terms of gender, musician status in the family and boarding status variables
Table 1 displays the results of t-test compare the MSPE and SESPP scores of the students with respect to the gender variable and the results of the Mann-Whitney U the students with respect to the musician status and the residence status are given.
As shown in Table 1, the significance of the students' scores from the scales of the variables such as gender, having a musician in the family, and being a boarding student are determined as p > 0.05.Although the differences in the scores are not statistically significant, it can be considered that when the effect sizes are considered, the scores whose Cohen's d values are high may be affected by the relevant variables, but the sample size is not sufficient to show this effect.For example, the effect size of the gender variable for PSA scores (d = -0.440)suggests that female students' score is 0.44 standard deviation lower than that of male students; in other words male students can manage their stage concerns better.Likewise, PTL scores were higher in males than females (d = -0.332)and higher in students who have musicians in their family than the ones who do not (d = 0.477).This indicates that, in terms of technical level, the men (according to the women) and the musicians in the family (according to the non-musicians) see themselves more as being efficient.When PSA scores are analyzed for boarding status, it can be considered that boarding students (according to non-boarding students) are having trouble managing stage fright (d = -0.326).

Comparing MSPE and SESPP scores in terms of class variable
The results of one-way ANOVA on the comparison of MSPE and SESPP scores of the students according to the class variable are given in Table 2.
In other words, the highest scores belong to 10th grade students and the lowest scores belong to 12th grade students.This suggests that motivation in piano education (with its sub-dimensions; interest in and willingness to play piano and motivational factors in the piano learning process) and their self-efficacy (with its sub-dimensions; perception of technical level and perception of performance) decrease after the 10th grade.

Relationships among AG, MSPE and SESPP scores
Table 3 displays Pearson correlation analysis results of the students' AG, MSPE and SESPP (and their subscales) scores.
In Table 3, it is seen that relations between all scores are significant at p < 0.01 level.Achievement grade, motivation and self-efficacy scores were found to be positively related to each other.
Table 4 contains the opinions of students about the reasons for their failure in piano education.Approximately 32% of the students agree that their piano performance is unsuccessful due to careless studying, whereas 55% state that they do not know how to work.37% of students think that their piano performance is technically inadequate and 50% prefer to memorize instead of learning.
Although only 53% state that they can spend enough time to learn the piano, 57% think that they do not put in enough effort for success.The proportion of students who think that the intensity of the other lessons influences their piano training is 34%.63% of the students state that the reason for their failure is due to the fact that they spend too much time having fun or strolling around.66%  61% of students state that they do not get too anxious about the exam that it would affect their success badly.While 60% think that their ability to play piano is limited, 79% think they cannot do school or branch selection well.70% of the students state that the reason for failure is that everyone expects them to be very successful.84% of the students say that their family or friends do not support them enough, and 70% say they have personal problems they cannot share with anyone.66% of the students cannot indigenize the piano lessons adequately, 76% of the students think that the piano lessons are boring and that the preparatory etudes or exercises are insufficient.65% think that piano artworks are compelling.Students who think that the piano teacher has a strict attitude constitute 90% of the piano students and 85% think that the piano teacher cannot perform the lesson efficiently.The percentage of students who anticipate unexpected low grades constantly from piano lessons is 55%.

DISCUSSION
Even if the results of the study are not statistically significant (p = 0.051), they provide insight that male students are able to manage their stage fright easier than female students (Cohen's d = -0.440).Along the same line, it is striking that male students consider themselves more capable in terms of technical level (Cohen's d = -0.332),although there is no significant difference obtained.When patriarchal structure of the society is taken into consideration, this result is not surprising.For instance, in Turkish parliament only 14.7% of the deputies are females and there is only one female minister in polity.The statistical studies done in 2015 indicate that 1.8% of the male population who are 25 or above are illiterate whereas in female population the rate is 9.2%.The rate of 25 year-old or older males who are graduates of high school and their equivalents is 23.2% whereas for females it is 15%.Graduate degree rate among males is 16.2% and among females it is 11.7%.Labor force participation rate in male population is 71.3% but in female population the rate drops to 30.3%.35.5% of females are subjected to violence around the country (Turkish Statistical Institute, 2016).These rates illustrate the current place of women in Turkish society.It is not wrong to conclude that because of the traditional family structure, the restraints coming from their families cause girls not to behave freely in the society.This condition can explain the reason why male students have less stage fright and consider themselves more capable.
Apart from the gender variable, even if there is no significant difference, the results lead us to think that boarding students have more difficulty in managing stage fright compared to non-boarding students (Cohen's d = -0.326),and the perceptions in technical level of students who have musicians in their families are higher than the ones who do not have (Cohen's d = 0.477).Kaya et al. (2012) state that children who have good relationships with their families and needs fulfilled correctly develop higher problem-solving skills, have lower anxiety levels and higher academic achievement.Mersin and Oksuz (2014) suggest that the more support that children receive from their families, the lower their anxiety levels will be.That boarding students have higher levels of anxiety than others can be explained with Kaya et al. (2012) approach and this result is in consistence with Oksuz (2014).The students who have a musician in their family have innate predisposition and often have musical support from their families.These facts may support why those students have higher perception in technical level than the ones who do not have any musicians in their families.
When the literature has been reviewed on the state of gender variable on stage fright which is a sub-dimension of self-efficacy, a parallel result can be found in Baydag and Alpagut's (2016) study in which they have come to conclusion that the stage fright is higher among female students than males.Although Deniz (1998) was not able to find a significant difference between stage fright and gender and Egilmez (2015) could not detect any correlation between self-efficacy stage fright and sub-dimension of technical level perception gender, in both studies the average results of female students is higher.Ozmentes (2014) concludes that male students who receive vocational musical training have higher level of selfefficacy than female students.
Results determined in this study show that achievement grade and motivation are positively correlated with selfefficacy.In other words, when the motivation and selfefficacy of the students at Zeki Muren Fine arts high school rises, their success rises as well.This finding was anticipated beforehand.There are various studies which examine the relationship between self-efficacy and success.Studies suggest a positive correlation between academic success and self-efficacy (Lent et al., 1984;Bandura et al., 1996;Zimmerman and Kitsantas, 2005;Zajacova et al., 2005;Hevedanli andEkici, 2009, Vuong et al., 2010).As for the relationship between motivation and success, studies show a positive correlation (Busato et al., 2000;Kaufman et al., 2008;Cheng and Ickes, 2009) which is consistent with the findings of this current study.
When the effect of motivation and self-efficacy in piano performance in terms of level was analyzed, the findings substantiate that after 10th grade, students' motivation (including interest, desire and motivational factors with its sub-dimensions) and self-efficacy (technical level and performances with its sub-dimensions) drop.In Turkey, all the high school graduates, including the ones majoring in arts, have to do university entrance exams that have the same content for all the students.The prerequisite of musical talent exam is university entrance exam which consists of verbal and quantitative questions, so it takes great deal of time to get prepared.In the last two years of the high school education, students' motivation towards their instruments lowers as they invest less time in practicing their instrument because of their preparation for aforementioned examination.Students report the reasons for their failure as follows; one-third of the students stated that they were not able to succeed because of carelessness while they were studying.Half of the students said that they did not know how to study, they preferred to memorize instead of learning and did not make enough efforts to succeed as they could allocate enough time to work the piano.One third of the students said that the reason for not working was due to the intensity of the other lessons and that a large majority was due to the fact that they spent much time in entertainment or traveling.1/3 of the students think that their piano performances are technically inadequate, and more than half of the students think that the training they have received in the previous piano education process is not sufficient, that their ability in piano is limited, they do not adopt piano lessons adequately, they do not do school or branch selection well, and that the piano classes are boring and etudes as well as pre-activities are inadequate, and that art works are challenging.There are also some students who attributed their failure to their teachers.The percentage of students who think that the piano teacher has a strict attitude is 90%, the rate of students who think that the piano teacher is not able to perform the lesson efficiently is 85%, and more than half of the students stated that they get consistently low grades from most piano lessons.The vast majority of students have attributed the reasons for failure to everyone's expectation of success and not being adequately supported by family or friends.70% of the piano students had some personal problems they could not share with anyone.More than half of the students added that their performance failures were not because of anxiety.In a survey conducted with music teacher candidates using the same questionnaire (Kurtuldu, 2010), it was determined that there were both similarities and differences in the opinions of the students in their views on the reasons of failure in playing the piano.Aforementioned differences are probably due to the fact that the sample group is made up of university students.Our research results indicate that Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School students see how successful they are in playing piano and what the reasons of failure are.Almost all of the piano teachers were assigned to other schools by 'project school application', which was implemented by the Ministry of National Education in 2016, together with the teachers whose service years exceeded 8 years in Zeki Muren Fine Arts High Schools.It is believed that the opinions of the students about the causes of their failure in the piano performances will be insightful for the piano teachers who will be appointed as the manager of the Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School.

RECOMMENDATIONS
This study set out to evaluate motivation, self-efficacy and failure reasons of the students in Bursa Zeki Muren Fine Arts High School in terms of different variables superficially.However, further studies regarding the effect of gender, presence of a musician in their family, and boarding status on motivation and self-efficacy would be worthwhile with greater number of sample around Turkey.The similarities and differences between other studies mentioned in discussion part make a related metaanalysis study obligatory as it will make noteworthy contributions to current literature.
MSPE = Motivation scale in piano education.IWPP = Interest in and willingness to play piano.EPTPP = Efficacy perception towards playing piano.MFPLP = Motivational factors in the piano learning process.SESPP = Self-efficacy scale of piano performance.PTL = Perception of technical level.PSA = Perception of stage anxiety.PPL = Perception of performance level.
MSPE = Motivation scale in piano education.IWPP = Interest in and willingness to play piano.EPTPP = Efficacy perception towards playing piano.MFPLP = Motivational factors in the piano learning process.SESPP = The Self-efficacy scale of piano performance.PTL = Perception of technical level.PSA = Perception of stage anxiety.PPL = perception of performance level.

Table 1 .
T-Test and Mann-Whitney U test results to differentiate MSPE, SESPP and sub-dimension points according to gender, family musician status and boarding status variables.

Table 2 .
Variance analysis results to determine MSPE, SESPP and their subscale scores according to class variable.

Table 3 .
Pearson correlation analysis for AG, MSPE and SESPP scores.

Table 4 .
The frequencies and percentages of the questions answered in Questionnaire of Failure Reasons in Piano Education