Recollections of First Wanting to Become a Music Teacher and Projections for the Future: A Replication With Extension

This study replicates and extends the research of Madsen and Kelly, who explored undergraduate music education majors’ remembrances of first wanting to become music teachers and factors influencing their decisions to pursue music education as a career. The current study enabled a comparison of contemporary students’ ( N = 140) narrative remembrances to those collected and analyzed by Madsen and Kelly. In addition, a projective drawing task was included to explore participants’ idealizations of the kinds of teachers they hoped to become in the future. Results generally mirrored those of Madsen and Kelly with some exceptions. The critical role of exemplary music educators and mastery experiences predominated in the decision to pursue a music teaching career. In their projective drawings, participants tended to idealize their future selves as competent, welcoming, and motivating teachers. Ultimately, the decision to become a music teacher was based largely on emotions: feelings of joy, connectedness, and an ethic of care.