University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School November 2017 Music Ensemble Participation: Personality Traits and Music Experience Tracy A. Torrance University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Other Education Commons Scholar Commons Citation Torrance, Tracy A., "Music Ensemble Participation: Personality Traits and Music Experience" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7100 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Music Ensemble Participation: Personality Traits and Music Experience by Tracy A. Torrance A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music with a concentration in Music Education School of Music College of The Arts University of South Florida Major Professor: Jennifer A. Bugos, Ph.D. Darlene DeMarie, Ph.D. C. Victor Fung, Ph.D. William Hayden, D.A. David A. Williams, Ph.D. Date of Approval: November 15, 2017 Keywords: Music Psychology, Music Education, Big Five, Music Engagement Copyright © 2017, Tracy A. Torrance ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people I would like to thank who have travelled this doctoral path with me. First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents, Robert and Barbara Torrance, for their love, support, and belief in me. I would never have gotten this far in my academic career without them and the rest of my family. I will be forever grateful to my committee members, Dr. Jennifer Bugos, Dr. Darlene DeMarie, Dr. C. Victor Fung, Dr. William Hayden, and Dr. David Williams, for their guidance and never-ending patience. Thank you to Dr. James Bass for sharing his passion for choral music, setting high expectations, and inspiring me to meet those expectations. I would also like to thank Craig and Maria Elena D’Amico, who gave me a “home away from home” many a night so I would not have to make the hour-long commute home in the wee hours of the morning. To Yvonne Weir, Lois Pound, Dr. Jerry Sergent, Peggy Sergent, Lynn Leonard, and Cindy Bonnett whose continued encouragement kept me focused on the goal, thank you. I would also like to acknowledge the following people who were instrumental in the completion of this research: Jason Bombaugh, Dr. Chris Brown, Mary Ellis, Ron Ellis, Dr. Beth Gibbs, Dr. Jonathan Kladder, Joel Pagán, Giovanni Perez, Devin Plant, Dr. Doreen Rao, Dr. José Ruiz, Robert Schaer, Dr. Amanda Schlegel, Veva Scott, Dr. Greg Springer, and Dr. Sandra Vernon-Jackson. And finally, to my niece, Adia Torrance, who is a constant reminder of my love of music and why I became a teacher. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................v Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 Background ..........................................................................................................................1 Significance ..........................................................................................................................2 Study Problem ......................................................................................................................3 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................3 Delimitations ........................................................................................................................4 Limitations ...........................................................................................................................4 Definition of Terms ..............................................................................................................5 Chapter Two: Review of Literature ................................................................................................8 Theoretical Principles Underlying Personality ....................................................................8 Historical Overview of Personality Inventories ...................................................................9 Personality Stability ...........................................................................................................15 Personality, Cognitive Style, and Learning Styles .............................................................16 Personality Traits of Creative People ................................................................................17 Personality Traits of Musicians .........................................................................................21 Personality Type and Musical Instrument Choice .............................................................26 Gender and Musical Instrument Choice ............................................................................29 Chapter Three: Methodology .........................................................................................................32 Participants: Collegiate .....................................................................................................32 Participants: Community ..................................................................................................33 Procedures .........................................................................................................................34 Demographic Survey .........................................................................................................34 Personality Measurement Instrument ...............................................................................34 Analysis .............................................................................................................................35 Chapter Four: Results ....................................................................................................................37 Analysis of Descriptive Data .............................................................................................38 Participants by Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Age ..................................................38 Current Ensemble Participation .............................................................................39 Years of Education .................................................................................................39 RQ1 ................................................................................................................................40 RQ2 ................................................................................................................................47 i Summary of Results ...........................................................................................................56 Chapter Five: Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................................58 Study Summary ..................................................................................................................58 Discussion of Results .........................................................................................................58 Limitations .........................................................................................................................63 Recommendations ..............................................................................................................64 Implications for Music Education ......................................................................................65 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................68 References ................................................................................................................................70 Appendix A: IRB Consent Forms ..................................................................................................79 Appendix B: Collegiate Demographic Questions ..........................................................................81 Appendix C: Community Demographic Questions .......................................................................83 Appendix D: Big Five Personality Inventory ................................................................................84 Appendix E: IRB Letter of Consent ...............................................................................................86 Appendix F: Graphs of Personality Mean Scores by Current Ensemble Participation (Collegiate, Community, Other, No music ensemble participations) ....................................................................................................88 ii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Participants by Gender and Race/Ethnicity .................................................................39 Table 2: Participants by Age and Current