| This study examined how music teacher identity is constructed through practice and shaped by the discourses that surround teacher's work in classrooms. Researchers of music teacher identity have primarily focused on a sociological framework of identity construction and found conflicting identities of performer and teacher at play in undergraduate music education majors and practicing teachers. Borrowing from recent scholarship in teacher identity that adopts a poststructural framework for the construction of identity, this study investigated the construction of music teacher identity, specifically those of three practicing instrumental music teachers, to examine the discourses that shape their work. By investigating the construction of music teacher identity, this study documents the complexities involved in instrumental music teaching through the stories of three instrumental music teachers.;A multiple case study was used to examine the discourses that surround the participants' work, how they navigate multiple discourses, and the complex relationship that exists between teacher identity and teacher practice. Data collection involved in-depth interview, field notes from non-participant observation and participant journal entries. Data analysis uncovered emerging themes of identity construction through identification of dilemmas and successes in practice. In addition, narrative analysis revealed how participants constructed meaning and identity through relaying stories of experience.;As a result of this study, a complex image of the instrumental music teacher was created, one in which issues such as traditional and progressive pedagogies, class, race, sexuality, competition, and politics shape the work and identity construction of participants. Teachers negotiated a balance between instrumental pedagogy modeled after the conductor, and pedagogy influenced by student-centered, creative approaches to music learning. In addition, contextual issues related to their individual school settings, such as the class and race of their students, competition among music teachers, and the political structure of schools influenced how they developed as teachers. Where much of the previous research found that teachers experienced tension between musician and teacher identities, this study found that participants focused less on what it meant to be a musician and more on the complexity of teaching practice, exposing the dilemmas and tensions involved in shaping their teacher identity, rather than performer identity. |
