Examining Possible Influences of String Students’ Self-Efficacy and Musical Background Characteristics on Practice Behaviors

High school string students from one South-Central Texas district were studied. Purposes were: (1) to describe the musical backgrounds and self-efficacy beliefs of string students (N=101), (2) to measure the relationship between string playing self-efficacy and achievement (n=65), and (3) to describe the practice behaviors and strategies of high versus low self-efficacy string students (n=16). Descriptive questions included whether or not students took private lessons, started in public school, and how much students practiced. Sixty-five of the 101 chose to audition for their All-Region orchestra. A significant relationship between self-efficacy scores and performance rankings was found. The 8 higher self-efficacy students tended to use more cognitive practice strategies than the 8 lower self-efficacy students. If musical self-efficacy is related to musical achievement and more cognitive practice, music educators should have a better understanding of musical self-efficacy, how it can influence practice, and how aspects of students’ musical backgrounds may influence it.