How can Educators Motivate and Support Upper-Elementary and Middle School Singers?

In many upper-elementary and middle school settings, music teachers have difficulty increasing or retaining enrollment numbers and keeping students engaged in classroom activities, particularly when they require singing. This paper provides a literature review of peer-reviewed studies that investigate both the factors that affect student motivation during these years as well as strategies that may increase student motivation to participate in singing. Due to the small number of studies focused solely on middle school students’ motivation to sing, applicable studies that investigate student motivation to engage in general music making have also been included. Researchers have found that physiological changes due to the onset of puberty, social pressures, student beliefs around talent, and student perceptions around the relevance and enjoyability of their school’s musical offerings are the main reasons students lose interest in singing. Providing individualized and targeted vocal support, fostering a supportive learning environment, giving students the opportunity to select repertoire, and increasing the amount of autonomous active tasks in class can help support and motivate students. Further research on the effects of vocal changes during adolescence for transgender, non-binary, and intersex singers and ways in which music teachers can support these students is needed.