Examination of musical self-concept and well-being levels of music teacher candidates

The aim of this study is to examine the musical self-concept and well-being levels of music teacher candidates in terms of certain variables. These variables are: Gender, grade, type of high school graduated from, instrument practised, duration of experience and success level in the instrument, general academic success level in music courses, instrument practice habits and durations, participation in the school orchestr, school choir and concert etc., happiness level of getting music teaching as a profession, and the desire to get music teaching as a profession after graduation or the desire to leave the field and get a profession in another field. The sample group of the study is the students studying in the music education departments of Atatürk, Gazi Osman Paşa, Marmara, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman, Necmettin Erbakan and Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Universities in the 2021-2022 academic year. The data of the study were collected with "Personal Information Form", "Musical Self-Concept Scale" and "Perma Well-Being Scale". "Personal Information Form" was prepared by the researcher. "Musical Self-Concept Scale" was developed by Vispoel in 2003 and adapted into Turkish by Aydıner-Uygun and Kılınçer in 2020. "Perma Well-Being Scale" was developed by Butler and Kern (2016) and adapted into Turkish by Demirci et al. (2017). According to the results of the study regarding the musical self-concept levels of the students, it was found that female students had higher levels in the dancing dimension of musical self-concept, while male students had higher levels in the composing, listening to music and playing instruments dimensions. It was determined that students who practiced their instruments for longer periods of time per week also had higher levels in the listening to music and playing instruments dimensions, which are sub-dimensions of musical self-concept. In addition, students whose achievement levels in music courses were in the highest score range had higher levels in almost every dimension of the musical self-concept. It was concluded that the students who took part in the school orchestra and school choir also had high levels of musical self-concept. Students who were happy to choose the field of music teaching and wanted to pursue music teaching as a profession after graduation were also found to have high levels in the sub-dimensions of musical self-concept. According to the results of the study regarding well-being, it was found that male students had a higher level of feeling of being healthy than female students. It was determined that students who practiced their instruments for longer periods of time per week had higher levels in the meaning and success dimensions of well-being. It was determined that students with high achievement scores in instrument courses and music courses had higher levels in the positive emotions, attachment, meaning, success and happiness dimensions of well-being. It was concluded that students who took part in the school orchestra and school choir had high levels in almost every dimension of well-being. Students who were happy to choose the field of music teaching and wanted to pursue music teaching as a profession after graduation were also found to have high levels in the sub-dimensions of well-being.