PERCEPTION OF PRE-INTERNSHIP STUDENT INSTRUCTORS AT THE PIANO COMMUNITY MUSIC PROGRAM IN UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT This case study unravels the perception of experience among individuals who have participated in a pre-internship piano training program offered within the undergraduate Bachelor of Music degree at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). This program, namely the Community Music Program (CMP) serves as a community outreach initiative and is offered free at no charge. In this program, participating instructors are required to provide weekly individual piano lessons to their respective absolute beginner students between ages five to seven. This course spans nine lessons while preparing the child to perform at a concert on the 10th week. In order to investigate the experiential perceptions of past CMP interns, 50 individuals were contacted through social media, email, telephone calls and direct contact to participate in an online survey questionnaire. A return rate of (n=23) was observed. Additionally, a focus group interview was conducted in which five participants were invited to the discussion. The results of this study indicated that the pre-internship training effectively prepared individuals for formal piano teaching roles before entering into actual workplaces by enhancing their lesson preparation skills, ability to transfer knowledge from classroom to workplace, utilization of effective communication skills, and creating a peer support community. Keywords: teaching, music, piano, experience, community work