Preservice and Inservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Pacing

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice and inservice teachers’ perceptions of pacing in ensemble rehearsal settings. We used Silveira’s definition of pacing as our conceptual framework: “the continuous flow of instruction without unnecessary interruptions and/or unnecessary sounds and without presentation of irrelevant material.” Participants were 23 preservice and 25 inservice music teachers. They viewed four excerpts of ensemble rehearsals and moved a Continuous Response Digital Interface dial to indicate their perceptions of fast and slow pacing. Based on our findings, we largely confirmed Silveira’s definition regarding pacing but suggest amending the definition for music rehearsal contexts to include student engagement and teacher talk. We propose the following revised definition of pacing: “the continuous flow of instruction without unnecessary interruptions and/or unnecessary sounds, without excessive teacher talk, and with presentation of relevant material while maintaining student engagement.”