An examination of the attitudes of freshman and junior students towards piano lessons at the department of music education, faculty of education

This study is aimed at the measurement of the attitudes of freshman and junior students towards piano lessons at the Department of Music Education, Faculty of Education and determination of the relationship of such attitudes with gender, class attended, high school graduated, adequate piano practicing facilities at the school, owning a piano oneself and one's perceived piano achievement.The study population is the freshman and junior students at the Departments of Music Education, Faculties of Education in Turkey. No sampling has been made as this study covers all freshman and junior students in all faculties.Data related to this study have been collected through the Piano Lesson Attitude Scale developed by Assoc. Prof. Enver TUFAN and Asst. Prof. Bahar GÜDEK, Ph.D. Below is a summary of the findings obtained from the study:1. It has been found that the attitudes of students towards piano lessons at the Departments of Music Education tended to manifest itself as indecision.2. Attitudes of male and female students covered by the study toward piano lessons have been studied, with the results showing that the attitudes of female students were positive whereas male students had undecided attitudes.3. It has been found that the attitudes of students towards piano lessons showed no variation based on the high schools they have graduated. However, we may also conclude that the average attitude scores of junior students who have graduated from Regular High Schools and Fine Arts High Schools had a negative and undecided attitude structure within the scope of ?satisfaction? sub-dimension.4. Student attitudes have been compared by their years of study, with the finding that freshman students had a positive attitude whereas junior students exhibited an undecided attitude structure.5. Total attitude scores of students who had adequate piano practicing facilities at school and those who did not have such facilities tended to be indecision, however it can be said that students who replied that they had adequate piano practicing facilities at the school had more positive attitudes compared to students who replied that they did not have such facilities.6. It has been concluded hat students with pianos in their homes had more positive attitudes. Besides, we can say that the overall attitude scores relating to the ?satisfaction? sub-dimension of the scale and attitude scores by years of study reflected an undecided attitude structure.7. It has been seen that the attitude score ratings of students as per their perceived piano lesson achievements was in parallel to the ?excellent?, ?good?, ?average?, ?poor? ?very poor? sequence. It has also been observed that the attitude scores of students whose achievement standings were ?poor? and ?very poor? reflected an undecided attitude structure.