PRE-SERVICE MUSIC TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD THE ACCOMPANIMENT COURSE AND SUGGESTIONS TO OVERCOME THEIR DIFFICULTIES IN THE COURSE

The present study aims to take the opinions of students enrolled in the Fine Arts Education Department of Music Education Division at Education Faculties about accompaniment course and to identify subjects they have difficulty with in this course and the reasons behind their difficulties and to offer solutions to overcome their difficulties. A questionnaire, which consists of eight open-ended questions, was administered to 43 pre-service music teachers enrolledin this course in their 3rd and 4th years. Written responses to the questionnaire were analyzedusing qualitative research techniques. The results of the study provide information about thestudents, the indispensable importance of the accompaniment course for their future career,the strong need for this course throughout undergraduate education, and its benefits for otherfield courses. The subjects they had difficulty with in the accompaniment course highlightedthe importance of planning course content so that the courses taught until this course andparticularly piano and harmony courses are designed to form a basis for the accompanimentcourse and it was concluded that more room should be allowed for studies that can help improvethe skills to play together in harmony. In addition, the results also underlined that the numberof reference books on educational music accompanied school songs should be increased. Basedon these results, it is recommended that researchers and instructors attach importance to thestudents’ opinions about the accompaniment course, to be sensitive toward the subjects inwhich they have difficulty and suggestions for solution, and to carry out studies to overcomethese difficulties.