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Exploring the contributions of teacher authenticity in two high school band programs in Greater Los Angeles

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Exploring the contributions of teacher authenticity in two high school band programs in Greater Los Angeles

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EXPLORING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHER AUTHENTICITY IN TWO HIGH
SCHOOL BAND PROGRAMS IN GREATER LOS ANGELES

Kathleen Janert
A dissertation
submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

University of Southern California
August 2019

Advisory Committee:
Dr. Susan Helfter, Chair
Dr. Beatriz Ilari
Dr. Peter Webster

ii
ABSTRACT
An authentic individual demonstrates their values and beliefs through their actions in a
way that is apparent to others. Authenticity is often seen in others this way though also in
individuals in specific roles, such as teachers. Teacher authenticity has been shown to positively
impact student learning, and is believed to positively impact interpersonal relationships. The
purpose of this multiple case study is to interrogate the concept of authenticity in practice for two
selected high school band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school band
students. The main questions posed were: (1) how does teacher authenticity manifest in practice
and (2) contribute to teacher-student relationships. Observation, interview, student focus group,
student questionnaire, and field note data were collected over the course of four weeks and then
transcribed for analysis. Findings revealed that authenticity was demonstrated through actions to
have one be known and heard, specific teacher-student interactions, effective pedagogical
choices, and “teacher-in-the-trenches” moments. Different qualities of teacher-student
relationships appeared at the two schools where authenticity was present, however, a context was
created overall for working teacher-student relationships in both cases.

iii
DEDICATION

To those who inspired it, read it,
and glanced at its pages.
Herein is a piece of me.

iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the teacher and student participants in this study for their
time, effort, openness, and generosity. I learned more from them through this process than they
will ever know.
I offer endless thanks to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Susan Helfter, for the countless
hours toiling over this work providing invaluable insight and true enthusiasm for the topic itself.
In addition, I thank the other members of the dissertation committee, Dr. Webster and Dr. Ilari,
for their time and critical feedback for this document. All feedback combined truly contributed to
the rigor and thoroughness of this document, for which I am very proud.
My appreciation transcends words - Thank you.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. ii
DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. viii
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
Introduction and Background .......................................................................................... 1
Background of the Concept of Authenticity ..................................................................... 4
Authenticity in Teaching ................................................................................................. 7
Purpose Statement and Research Questions ..................................................................... 9
Theoretical Framework.................................................................................................. 11
Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................... 13
Assumptions and Limitations ........................................................................................ 13
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 16
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 16
Authenticity and Teaching ............................................................................................. 16
Teacher-Student Relationships ...................................................................................... 21
Connections Between Authenticity and Teacher-Student Relationships ......................... 32
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 35
Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 38
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 38
Design ........................................................................................................................... 38
Data Collection .................................................................................................. 39

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Participants and Context ................................................................................................ 45
Selection and Description of Participants ........................................................... 45
Context of Potter Central High School ............................................................... 47
Potter Central High School Participants ............................................................. 53
Context of The McDonald Academy .................................................................. 55
The McDonald Academy Participants ................................................................ 60
Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 62
Trustworthiness of Data ................................................................................................. 65
Human Subjects Protection ............................................................................................ 66
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 4 FINDINGS ............................................................................................................... 67
Review of Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 67
Research Question 1. ..................................................................................................... 68
Research Question 2. ..................................................................................................... 94
Teachers Through the Lens of the Leader Authenticity Framework ............................. 114
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 118
Chapter 5 DISCUSSION, RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS, AND CONCLUSIONS ................ 119
Discussion ................................................................................................................... 119
Research Question 1 ........................................................................................ 120
Research Question 2 ........................................................................................ 123
Suggestions for Future Research .................................................................................. 128
Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 130
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 133

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APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 141
Appendix A - Informed Consent for Non-Medical Research Form............................... 142
Appendix B - Youth Assent-Parental Permission for Non-Medical Research ............... 146
Appendix C - Interview Protocol ................................................................................. 150
Appendix D - USC Institutional Review Board Approval ............................................ 153
Appendix E - Data-Guiding Protocol ........................................................................... 155

viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 41
Table 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 53
Table 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 61
Table 4 ...................................................................................................................................... 71
Table 5 ...................................................................................................................................... 95

1

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
Introduction and Background

Growing up in a big city in Texas I found myself drawn to music at a young age. My aunt
and uncle at the time were both musicians, and my family network was highly supportive of my
inclination to join the band in the sixth grade. I chose the trumpet as my instrument, and my
mother quickly enrolled me in private lessons with a female trumpet teacher, hoping this would
motivate and help me find my place in the male-dominated trumpet world. I enjoyed lessons with
The 12-piece high school jazz band was guided through the Clarion Hotel by
a young bellhop leading them to Ballroom A where they would perform for
the conference attendees. Unlike most of the other members, this was the first
time Martha had ever performed with the jazz band, and she felt added
anxiety being the youngest in the band and knowing that she had a solo to
play in their performance – her first solo. The band set up quickly and
systematically on the stage as the audience members slowly trickled into the
hotel ballroom. As the audience members found their seats, they sat smiling
with anticipation around 6-foot round tables dressed in white linen awaiting
the musical performance. The students on stage, however, experienced the
increasing awkwardness that resulted from being in an unfamiliar place with
100 sets of adult strangers’ eyes on them. Now with nearly every table full, it
was time to play – the moment that Martha was somehow dreading and
looking forward to at the same time. The band director introduced the band
and counted off the first piece. When it came to the solo section, Martha,
scared but determined to shake off her nerves, closed her eyes and
improvised a trumpet solo.
Every member of the audience was on their feet applauding for the ensemble
after their 40-minute musical performance. The students beamed and, as the
applause died down, began turning their attention to packing up their
equipment. The band director approached Martha with light in his eyes, a
warm smile, and said, “Martha, you did amazing. You closed your eyes and
just played.” These words of consolation were the best thing anyone could
have said to her at that moment because Martha had felt like she did not
know what she was doing. He knew she had been nervous and found a way to
play through the tremendous anxiety she felt. His words made a world of
difference and were all she needed to feel appreciated and acknowledged.

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Julia, and when she moved cross-country to Maine, we began to search for another trumpet
teacher. Over the course of 8 months I took lessons with what was considered the best trumpet
teachers in the area, and yet I did not feel a connection with any of them. Then, we met Sparky.
A male trumpet teacher, Sparky was, well, like a sparkplug of energy who would jump quickly
from one activity to the next covering a wide variety of playing styles, techniques, and exercises.
For me, Sparky was a gift whose teaching style and energy was everything I needed at the time.
He listened to me and offered every ounce of support I could ever ask for, from helping me
navigate being the only female in the high school trumpet section to teaching me transcription
and ear training skills while learning how to play jazz. I credit Sparky with influencing and
inspiring me to formulate my thoughts and beliefs about good teaching. For instance, I believe
that every student constructs their understanding and learns within the context of their individual
experiences and background in life, just as I did with Sparky. This personalized construction of
learning leads me to believe that everyone has the capacity for learning and success and can
acquire musical skill because talent is not innate.
The time I spent with Sparky helped me realize just how important teachers are for a
student’s overall experience. Sparky provided me with a space where I could be inspired,
investigate, grow, and experiment through my trumpet playing, and he is not the only music
teacher in my memory to have offered this to me. The environment created by Sparky and
several other music teachers had a positive impact on me and influenced my career path because
I went on to become a performer and music teacher. I, myself, have been well prepared as a
music teacher, have taught for 15 years, and continue to study intensively the art of teaching.
However, I have struggled to pinpoint exactly what it is about these teachers that have them
positively impact students or create the kind of environment I remember having with Sparky.

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How did Martha’s teacher know just what to say to help her build confidence after her first jazz
solo? What exactly are these teachers doing that is so clearly good teaching? This study seeks to
look closer at this element of good teaching, an element that is, perhaps, difficult to describe or
put into words. Julia, Sparky, my high school band director, and Martha’s band teacher seemed
to know what to say and how to say it to have their words impact students.
Some scholars suggest that a person who is genuine with others and takes the student’s
learning and well-being into account is authentic or has authenticity (Henderson & Hoy, 1983;
Kreber, Klampfleitner, McCune, Bayne, & Knottenbelt, 2007; Peterson & Seligman, 2014).
Being genuine and concerned for the student’s learning and well-being resonates with my own
experiences and observations of teachers exhibiting this quality to which I am pointing.
Reflecting on my own music teachers, Martha’s teacher, and the many teachers with whom I
have worked in K-12 schools from diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic levels, authenticity
is a characteristic that I have seen in many good teachers. With my interest in studying this
phenomenon of authenticity in music teaching and learning, focusing on the high school band
class makes sense since it is a typical setting for students to learn music in high school, just as
Martha and I did.
This study examined the phenomenon of authenticity with two high school band teachers
and their students in public school settings in Los Angeles. The remainder of the chapter first
delves into the historical roots of the concept of authenticity and define authenticity as a social
construct and then looks closely at the impact of authenticity in teaching before stating the
purpose and research questions. A description of the theoretical framework, definition of terms,
and assumptions and limitations then follows.

4
Background of the Concept of Authenticity
Authenticity as a concept has a long history in which its definitions have changed, or
branched out, over time. Today there are definitions for different kinds of authenticity. To start,
two main historical accounts of authenticity exist that oppose one another. The first and most
common usage has authenticity as synonymous with “being true to oneself” (Trilling, 1972), and
is referred to as the essentialist tradition in authenticity. This definition is considered essential in
that this was the first understanding of authenticity in history, and therefore essential to know.
Most self-help books center around this concept, inciting talk about an “inner voice,” and a “real
you,” as every individual’s truth (Bialystok, 2017; Foucault, 1988). One would have to believe
that individuals are born with a moral compass able of knowing precisely who they are for this
definition of authenticity to hold weight.
The second historical account of authenticity was created by existentialist philosophers
like Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre who believed that people are born without a predetermined
identity, thus conflicting with the essentialists belief. These existentialist philosophers believed
that people were not born with a fixed or predetermined identity because this in itself would be
inauthentic (Nietzsche, 1974). In their view, authenticity is, “the unflinching acceptance of
freedom as the fundamental characteristic of human experience” (Bialystok, 2017, p. 5). Instead,
individuals possess the freedom to construct their own self through their life choices and may
become whomever they want to be (Bialystok, 2017; Sartre, 1945/2007). In truth, choosing
which of the two main accounts one believes is the root of authenticity may be built around our
deeply set beliefs constructed throughout our lifetime. First, however, it may be helpful to
uncover more clearly what authenticity is not.

5
Authenticity is not merely telling the truth or being sincere (Williams, 2002). Truth or
sincerity paired with accuracy is the only way one can be authentic. One could very sincerely tell
someone that money grows on trees, yet without accuracy, the statement, and person, loses value
(Bialystok, 2017). Some definitions of authenticity use the description of sincerity, and this term
misses the mark without accuracy. Another common misconception is that being true to oneself
is valuable, even if the kind of person one happens to be is wicked (Bialystok, 2014; Bialystok,
2017). An inherently immoral individual may be authentic without this lending anything positive
to interactions with others. Authenticity may be one primary character virtue (Peterson &
Seligman, 2004); however, it is not necessarily more important than other basic virtues
(Bialystok, 2017; Williams, 2002). Authenticity does not necessarily have to coincide with a
character of honor or compassion, and yet others may not want to view a person without honor or
compassion as authentic (Bialystok, 2014; Williams, 2002). The two historical accounts of
authenticity, and understanding what authenticity is not, help inform a basis for the concept. A
more recent view of authenticity, however, may prove useful for current research.
Current definitions and philosophy have shifted to describe the concept of authenticity as
a social construct (Bialystok, 2016). In social environments, such as teaching, authenticity is
often used to describe how the self interacts with, and contributes to, the other (Surrey, 1991).
How people think, act, speak, react, and express themselves has a direct impact on others.
Anytime someone observes another person there is an opportunity to look for authenticity. For
example, is it clear that the person being observed is aware of others as human beings? Does the
person take others into account when making decisions of consequence? Are the person’s
responses genuine and ethical? The observer that answers yes to these questions has witnessed an
individual who displays authenticity. One definition of authenticity found in literature most

6
clearly describes authenticity as a social construct, highlighting that one’s values and beliefs
should be made apparent to others through actions. Erhardt, Jensen, Zaffron, and Echeverria
(2018) explained that, “authenticity is being and acting consistent with who you hold yourself
out to be for others, and who you hold yourself to be for yourself” (p. 38). In this definition, the
key is being and acting consistently with one’s beliefs or values. This definition was adopted for
the purposes of this study.
Given this definition, we may not always be perfectly aware of who we are or how we are
being in each moment, however. Because of this limitation in perspective for an individual, it is
vital for others to have a voice in observing and assessing authenticity. When authenticity is
present, individuals are self-guided by their values and beliefs, and share these values and beliefs
with others so they can be seen or identified (Kreber et al., 2007). As Henderson and Hoy (1983)
said, “one cannot be authentic or inauthentic in a vacuum” (p. 65). Without interaction with
others, authenticity or inauthenticity cannot reliably be identified because the other is who would
assign these labels. When one observes another, authenticity or inauthenticity is assigned based
upon how their values, beliefs, and actions align (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b). In this study,
authenticity was studied by identifying the values and beliefs of an individual and then observing
their actions with others, as well as hearing the perspectives of others, and looking for alignment.
Considering authenticity as a social construct, this study examined authenticity within the
music classroom, a setting filled with social interactions. In the music classroom, the interactions
may be for pedagogical purposes or for music-making, itself. Koelsch (2013) identified seven
social functions involved in music making, which are contact, social cognition, co-pathy or the
social function of empathy, communication, coordination, cooperation, and social cohesion. In
music making experiences individuals encounter one another, which is a basic need for humans.

7
Social cognition is a given with music participation, such as music listening and performance.
Co-pathy is one of the constants of music interaction because music evokes feelings and emotion
in listeners, and the listeners recognize that others may be feeling as well. Music is a means of
communication in which nonverbal communication may help one express emotion more readily
(Hallam, Cross, Thaut, & Clayton, 2016; Koelsch, 2013). Performing music on an instrument or
voice involves coordination (Hallam et al., 2016, Koelsch, 2013) and individuals synchronize
their movements with other individuals through cooperation. This coordination and cooperation
influences the social cohesion of the group. Social cohesion within a musical ensemble is
fostered through group motivation, interpersonal attachments, confidence, and belonging
(Hallam et al., 2016; Koelsch, 2013).
Viewing authenticity as a social construct, and given the abundant social elements in
music making and learning, the music classroom makes a rich setting for authenticity to be seen
and studied.
Authenticity in Teaching
Interest in authenticity in teaching has recently gathered momentum among researchers
and educators resulting in some scholarship, including this helpful description by Cranton and
Carusetta (2004b):
When we bring our sense of self into our teaching, or in other words, work toward
becoming authentic, we can critically question that which is right for us from the
literature, develop our own personal style, and thereby communicate with students and
others genuinely. (p. 6)
Scholars agree about the value and importance of authenticity in teaching (Cranton & Carusetta,
2004b; Carusetta & Cranton, 2005; Kreber, 2010; Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013), though

8
definitions, explanations, or descriptions of authenticity in practice are limited. Without further
detail about authenticity in teaching, how can we understand the value of authenticity or
determine if someone is authentic in different contexts? As additional detail about authenticity in
practice continues to develop, it will benefit individuals and educators.
In early efforts to define authenticity in teaching, descriptive characteristics were used to
better define precisely what authenticity is and what it looks like. The most common descriptors
used for authenticity were genuineness (Kreber et al., 2007; Peterson & Seligman, 2004), self-
awareness (Kreber et al., 2007), and caring for others (Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013; Noddings,
2003; Rabin, 2013; Ramezandadeh, Reza Adel, & Zareian, 2016; Vannini, 2006). A very small
portion of research and scholarly work addressed the connection between good teaching and
authenticity. Some of this early research on authenticity in teaching was within the field of
positive psychology and, being in developing stages, was limited in influencing substantively
current qualitative or quantitative research efforts (Peterson & Seligman, 2014).
Authenticity has been related to good teaching, yielding two main contributions. The first
contribution was that authenticity contributed to good teaching through improved relationships
with learners (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b; Carusetta & Cranton, 2005), and the second
contribution was that authenticity helped the teachers care more about their students (Kreber,
2010; Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013). These studies each pointed to a connection between
authenticity and relationships with students.
A crucial element of teaching is the relationships between the teacher and student.
Authenticity in teaching has been found to have positive effects on student learning (Johnson &
LaBelle, 2017; Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013), though a key element of the outcomes are related
to teacher-student relationships. Positive teacher-student relationships are noted in literature to

9
contribute to the learning environment in many ways. Academic achievement and school
attendance were found to be associated with better teacher-student relationships (Quinn, 2017;
Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, Swanson, & Reiser, 2008), and Opdenakker, Maulana, and den Brok
(2012) found teacher-student relationships helped foster student academic motivation. This
research clearly showed that positive teacher-student relationships created a more productive
class environment, increased student motivation, and increased psychological engagement. The
contributions of positive teacher-student relationships were abundant in research, and yet, the
studies did not explain how to develop a positive teacher-student relationship. Perhaps
connections between authenticity and teacher-student relationships may provide a clue into
fostering positive teacher-student relationships.
The research to date that has pointed to a connection between teacher authenticity and
teacher-student relationships is limited, though promising (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b; Peterson
& Seligman, 2004; Rabin, 2013; Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006; Surrey, 1991). Surrey (1991)
expressed that relationships and authenticity are connected by the need of individuals to feel
connected to others and be seen and recognized for who they are. Successful relationships are
those where the individuals nurture their connection to one another (Surrey, 1991). Rabin found
in her qualitative study that authenticity contributed to teacher-student relationships through its
impact on caring for students (Rabin, 2013). It would be useful to examine specifically how
teacher authenticity looks in practice and contributes to teacher-student relationships in the
classroom.
Purpose Statement and Research Questions
To study teacher-student relationships and teacher authenticity, I chose to research high
school band environments for a few reasons. One common element among most high school

10
music classes is students engaging in music-making activities together that require extra time and
energy in and out of school. These activities can put students in contact with their music teachers
through several years of performances, rehearsals, competitions, wins and losses, games, and
other experiences. These numerous interactions make the high school band program a desirable
and rich setting to investigate how teacher authenticity might look, and how it contributes to the
relationships with students.
By looking at the difficult-to-explain aspects of human behavior encompassing
authenticity, this dissertation sought to explore teacher authenticity, as expressed through the
things teachers do and say in the learning environment of a band classroom. Current research
was reviewed to focus this inquiry and has led me to believe that the element of authenticity in a
teacher may contribute in critical ways to teacher-student relationships in the band classroom.
After choosing a definition of authenticity that highlights its social aspects, I have chosen a
theory that provides a rich theoretical lens for this study on authenticity in a band classroom, as
described below.
The purpose of this study was to interrogate what authenticity looks like in practice in
two high school band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school band
students. A multiple case study design was used to explore each case separately, and then both
cases collectively, to answer the following research questions:
• How does teacher authenticity manifest in practice in these two cases?
• How does teacher authenticity contribute to teacher-student relationships in these two
cases?
For each program, I conducted interviews and observations to examine authenticity from the
perspective of the teachers, students, and researcher observation. I focused on the teacher and on

11
teacher actions in the classroom, understanding of personal reflections, and how they applied
their beliefs in practice. The focus on students centered on how they perceived their teacher’s
actions and their effects on them as individuals.
Theoretical Framework
This study was framed by Henderson and Hoy’s (1983) concept of leader authenticity.
According to Henderson and Hoy (1983), leader authenticity is defined according to how
subordinates perceive their leader as genuinely being accountable for, and accepting
responsibility for, the actions, results and even mistakes of the organization. In a classroom
setting, a common social structure is for students to view their teacher as leader and view
themselves as subordinates in a position under the authority of their teacher. Leader authenticity
in a classroom setting is seen as the extent to which students view the teacher as being
responsible for the results, mistakes, the mood in the classroom, attending to student well-being,
establishing constructive conditions for learning, and other elements that create a learning
environment reflective of the teacher’s vision of music learning.
Henderson and Hoy’s (1983) definition of leader authenticity is comprised of three
components: salience of self over role, non-manipulation of subordinates, and accountability. To
establish the presence of authenticity in a classroom, the subordinates, or students, would look
for their leader, or teacher, to act in ways that are highly consistent with each component. In this
study, leader authenticity with the teachers was examined according to these three elements
described below.
Salience of self over role refers to the teacher’s capacity to behave in a genuine manner
and with autonomy, unconstrained by conventional role requirements. A teacher’s job
description consists of certain specifications required of them while they are in service. Someone

12
aligned with this component of the leader authenticity definition would not limit their choices to
these specifications and would go beyond to meet the needs of their students by making
decisions without influence from anyone else.
The second component of Henderson and Hoy’s leader authenticity framework (1983) is
the non-manipulation of subordinates. In the classroom setting, students are under the authority
of their teacher, who is accountable for their learning, safety, and well-being. Subordinates who
view their leader as consistent in expression and action, as well as one who treats them with
respect, describe non-manipulation of subordinates. This component also addresses relationships
in the classroom by putting a spotlight on how the teacher treats the students through their
actions.
A leader who accepts responsibility and can admit to mistakes demonstrates
accountability, the third component of the leader authenticity framework (Henderson & Hoy,
1983). Accountability also includes an element of reliability in that others may not view an
unreliable teacher as holding themselves accountable for their actions. A teacher can also set an
example by not blaming others for their errors or failures.
These three components of leader authenticity provide a framework useful to clarify
authenticity in practice in the music classrooms. In addition to the framework, Henderson and
Hoy (1983) created a questionnaire to measure leader authenticity. While not used in this study,
the questions contained within the measure were adapted and provided rigor as I created semi-
structured interview questions for the teacher and focus group interviews. This was extremely
helpful in providing focus and structure in data collection and then coding the interview and
observation transcripts as part of analysis. This was a crucial element in this study.

13
Definition of Terms
For this study, the following definitions were employed:
1. Teacher of Excellence: A teacher who possesses expertise in their subject while consistently
influencing positive student learning in the classroom. This phrase does not consider complex
elements of the teacher’s methods or personality, such as integrity, authenticity, or
communication skills, and only distinguishes teacher excellence based on measurable student
learning outcomes.
2. Practice: The often-repeated application or use of an idea, belief, or method (“Practice”,
2019). In the band classroom, practice refers to a teacher’s repeated or customary actions of
teaching or rehearsing.
3. Relationship: How two things are connected; a connection, an association (“Relationship”,
2018). Relationships are formed over time through many moments of contact, or mutual
moments of presence and engagement, between two people and can last months or years
(Korthagen, Attema-Noordewier, & Zwart, 2014).
Assumptions and Limitations
There are several assumptions and limitations acknowledged in this study concerning
setting, data collection, and analysis.
Assumptions
This study assumed that participants answered truthfully and to the best of their abilities
to semi-structured interview questions and that teachers taught as usual during classroom
observations. While students may have reacted or displayed behaviors not regularly seen in class
due to the presence of an observer or video camera, the teacher was assumed to continue
teaching as usual despite the situation.

14
The participating teachers in this study were chosen for their teaching excellence, as
determined through recommendations from peer music teachers. A primary assumption was, as
excellent teachers, that each knew how to manage their classrooms, teach their area of content
well, and have found ways to cope with challenges such as limitations with budget, lack of
administrative support, dichotomies in pay, and program marginalization. In basing selection on
recommendation, it was also assumed that recommendations of teachers were carefully
considered and their choices were well informed.
For the selected band classes, the student's voice was captured via discussion in focus
groups and individually through spoken answers to questions on a questionnaire. Students were
assumed to speak openly and truthfully in both settings. The use of focus groups served the
purpose of providing a collective voice or opinion for the student body of the participant’s band
program. An assumption of the focus group was that, when considered collectively, all answers
and opinions supplied a thorough picture of the teacher’s level of authenticity, as well as teacher-
student relationships from the perspective of the students.
Also, the research questions of the study assumed teacher authenticity would affect
relationships with students in some way. It was unknown at the outset whether this would be the
case, and yet the expectation was for an effect between teacher authenticity and teacher-student
relationships.
Limitations
The current study had limitations in the selection process of the teacher participants and
in those interviewed. Teacher authenticity was explored with two teachers in two high school
band programs and within the Greater Los Angeles area. The selection process for teacher
participants depended on the recommendation of several peer teachers within the area. This

15
process required the opinion of fellow teachers and, therefore, may contain bias in the
recommendation process. To explore authenticity of each teacher participant, interviews were
limited to the teacher and his/her students. Some may view this as a limitation since the voices of
other individuals at the school were not included, such as administrators or fellow teachers who
may know the participating teacher well.
This study sought to explore the phenomenon of authenticity and its connection with
teacher-student relationships. This study reported on how teacher values were seen in a
classroom setting and used the teacher’s own words to determine their values. Teacher
authenticity was confirmed based upon focus groups, and student questionnaires where questions
were derived from an adapted authenticity measure. No intact measures were used, nor a
quantitative approach to determine the level of participant authenticity. The method of case study
was used because the dynamic of authenticity and relationships are multi-faceted and considered
more adept in studying an existing phenomenon. Thus, measures reliable in ascribing the level of
authenticity were adapted for use within the case study method to add rigor to the inquiry.
To explore the connection between teacher authenticity and teacher-student relationships,
this study included only teachers considered exemplary by their peers. The study did not address
teachers who were performing poorly or underachieving, nor did it compare them with great
teachers.
Teachers of every ability level have their own style of teaching, methods, pedagogies,
and strategies they employ in the classroom. This study did not consider specific teaching
methodologies, classroom management techniques, curriculum or lesson planning, pedagogies,
or other strategies employed by educators. The intent was to look at the presence of authenticity
and its manifestations in practice.

16
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The purpose of this multiple case study was to interrogate what authenticity looked like
in practice in two high school band directors and its impact on the directors’ relationships with
their high school band students. Authenticity and teacher-student relationships are the two main
elements of this study, and so further understanding of both are needed to better interpret data
from the research and inform findings. To carry out this purpose, the following three topics were
reviewed as support for the research questions: (1) authenticity and teaching; (2) teacher-student
relationships, including qualities of successful teacher-student relationships, factors contributing
to successful teacher-student relationships, and interpersonal interactions; and (3) connections
between authenticity and teacher-student relationships.
Authenticity and Teaching
My first research question asked what teacher authenticity looked like in practice and was
investigated through the lens of the leader authenticity framework (Henderson & Hoy, 1983).
Investigating how teacher authenticity relates to improvements in teaching skill and
improvements in student learning was a good place to begin in seeing how the three elements of
the leader authenticity framework effect teachers and students.
Teacher authenticity has been linked to improvements in teaching skill as described in the
following studies. A qualitative study by Cranton and Carusetta (2004b) sought to explore how
university teachers understood authenticity in teaching by interviewing and observing them
closely over the course of 3 years, and to also see how authenticity manifested in their teaching
practice. The interviews, observations, and teacher focus groups helped inform via self-report
how the faculty members developed and transformed their perspectives in teaching, how they

17
understood authenticity in teaching, and how they saw it manifesting for themselves. The data
resulted in five categories of authenticity: self, other, relationship, context, and critical reflection
(Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b). The researchers defined authenticity in this study as, “being
genuine, showing consistency between values and actions, relating to others in such a way as to
encourage their authenticity, and living a critical life” (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b, p. 7). This
definition was useful for the current study in that it shares the view that authenticity requires
values and actions being consistent with one another, as well as relating to others. Categories of
the findings, such as relationship or other, also helped inform possible categories of coding for
this study.
Although Cranton and Carusetta (2004b) have conducted authenticity research in the
United States, they were not the only ones interested in the topic. In an Iranian qualitative study,
Ramezanzadeh et al. (2016) interviewed and observed 20 Iranian university teachers to construct
through self-report the teachers’ personal conceptions of authenticity in teaching. This study is
similar to Cranton and Carusetta’s (2004b) in that it sought to find out how faculty members
perceived authenticity in their teaching.
The study by Ramezanzadeh et al. (2016) differed in theory, however, by applying a
hermeneutic phenomenology approach to their study, meaning the phenomenon was explored
using written, verbal, and nonverbal communication. The 20 teacher participants were asked five
main questions: What does it means to you to be authentic or true to yourself in teaching? Would
you describe how you bring yourself in your teaching? Would you describe how being true to
yourself in your teaching influences your relationship with learners? Would you describe how
being true to yourself in your teaching influences your relationships with colleagues and
administrators? Would you give us an example of an authentic moment from your work

18
experience? (Ramezanzadeh et al., 2016, p. 6). The four organizing themes that emerged in
relation to authenticity were being one’s own self, pedagogical relationships, contestation, and
search for ultimate meaning (Ramezanzadeh et al., 2016). This study contributed another
example of how teachers describe their understanding of authenticity, especially considering this
study was done in another location other than the United States. In other words, this topic and
question about how teachers perceive authenticity in their own teaching has been important
enough for researchers in different countries to explore as well. The questions asked of teachers
also had them reflect on their teaching, which added an additional layer to the contribution in
illustrating what teacher reflections look like in general.
Kreber (2010) conducted a qualitative study looking for possible linkages between
teacher identities and the pedagogies they used with nine teachers. The researcher conducted
semi-structured interviews incorporating self-reporting and then re-interpreted the data through
the lens of authenticity. The teachers reported gains in authenticity since starting their careers, as
well as a change in self-perception. The main takeaway regarding how authenticity improved
teaching skill was when a teachers’ theory of teaching aligned with their values and educational
goals, they cared more about their students, did what was necessary in the interests of students,
and engaged students in dialogue around issues that mattered while supporting their students in
developing their authenticity (Kreber, 2010). The researcher further proposed that authenticity in
teaching may be crucial in impacting student learning outcomes. This study offers one example
of how authenticity benefitted teachers and their practice, and the main takeaways stated above
supply a kind of guideline for coding data by offering categories of codes or places to look. The
same information also provided insight into interpreting results for the current study.

19
Carusetta and Cranton (2005) conducted another qualitative narrative inquiry collecting
interviews and observations with eight faculty members to see if a change in teaching context
would affect teachers when going from a traditional university environment to a collaborative
one. While quotes from the interviews resulted in four themes overall, the study lacks detail in
what researchers watched for during observations. The faculty members all felt they had
experienced considerable growth and development in their teaching skill from their change in
teaching context, felt more true to themselves and their own values, connected more deeply with
their students, and found the discussions from the group conversations valuable for reflection on
their teaching (Cranton & Carusetta, 2005). This study, grounded in the researchers’ belief that
authenticity helps individuals bring their sense of self into the teaching context (Cranton &
Carusetta, 2005), provided a background for what authenticity offered to teachers and was
relevant to this study. The four themes that emerged from data analysis also informed coding in
the present study.
The most common elements reported in these four studies as ways teachers improved
their teaching were through improved relationships with learners, taking on a critically reflective
approach to practice, and becoming more true to themselves and their values (Carusetta &
Cranton, 2005; Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b; Kreber, 2010; Ramezanzadeh et al., 2016). In
addition, other elements reported in research included increased self-awareness, awareness of
others and context (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b), growth and development (Carusetta &
Cranton, 2005), challenging oneself and existing policies or procedures, and finding meaning in
their job beyond the written expectations (Ramezanzadeh et al., 2016).
Teacher authenticity has also been related to improvements in student learning, as related
by the following two studies. Kreber and Klampfleitner (2013) interviewed 55 teachers from

20
various fields and held 14 focus groups with 46 students to find out which of the 13 authentic
teacher actions that emerged from their literature review students believed helped them learn.
The two aspects most identified by students to impact their learning were being sincere, candid,
or honest, and care for the subject, students, and interest in engaging students with the subject
around ideas that matter. The authors noted that the students seemed to focus on features that
they could see or sense as opposed to other less tangible, or difficult to understand, concepts. It is
plausible that students felt they could not comment on knowing their teachers were authentic
when they could not concretely see or possibly understand the concept (Kreber & Klampfleitner,
2013). The aspects most identified by students in this study helped inform coding for the current
study, as well as the concept of being able to see authenticity manifesting in practice. This study
helped inform the method, including data collection and analysis, used in this study by offering
insight into the capacity for individuals to see authenticity through actions.
Johnson and LaBelle (2017) examined how students perceived their teacher’s verbal and
nonverbal messages as authentic or inauthentic. Surveys of 297 undergraduate students at a
private university were collected and then analyzed using a quantitative grounded theory
approach. Students reflected on the definition or concept of authenticity and inauthenticity before
answering two questions about college teachers they had in class. The emergent themes were
overwhelming with 160 student responses aligning and showed their ability to distinguish
between authentic behavior, characterized as approachable, passionate, attentive, and capable,
and inauthentic behavior, described as unapproachable, lack of passion, inattentive, incapable,
and disrespectful (Johnson & LaBelle, 2017). Students stated they preferred authentic teachers
who were approachable, passionate, attentive, capable, and had expertise in the subject area
because they were effective. “Perhaps, effective teaching occurs because teachers are delivering

21
an authentic experience to their students” (Johnson & LaBelle, 2017, p. 434). The definition of
authenticity used in this study was adapted from Kreber et al.’s (2007) study describing
authenticity as being genuine, and becoming more self-aware, among other things, and provides
some insight into how others define authenticity. The student descriptions of authenticity
contributed to a conceptual base for coding in the current study. Also, the basis provided by
Johnson and LaBelle (2017) in hearing student opinion of nonverbal behavior also informed the
method chosen.
Some of the data collected in the above-mentioned literature was collected through self-
report, which may have bias, and yet the data is useful because they help establish a definition
and perception of authenticity that aligns with teachers in different countries and from different
backgrounds. Interestingly, the teacher participants in several studies corroborated each other’s
answers in defining the aspects of authenticity in teaching. These studies helped influence coding
because they provided a background for understanding and identifying a valid definition of
authenticity for this study, as well as see the value in self-report and observer-report.
Teacher-Student Relationships
In this study, my second research question examined authenticity and teacher-student
relationships. To better understand how teacher authenticity contributes to teacher-student
relationships it is important to understand the complexities of teacher-student relationships. The
term “relationship” has many interpretations depending on the context. According to the Oxford
English Dictionary, a relationship is, “the state or fact of being related; the way in which two
things are connected; a connection, an association” (“Relationship”, 2018). Teacher-student
relationships, therefore, are the ways a student and teacher are connected or related, whether
positive or not.

22
Despite numerous studies stating the importance of positive teacher-student relationships,
few engage with how to define the term relationship and what it looks like in the world. The term
“teacher-student relationship” is used repeatedly with the expectation the reader knows exactly
what this is and how it behaves, manifests, and is displayed. Assumptions such as these are likely
to cause problems in understanding and result in confusion. This section will address select
meanings and uses of the term relationship, as well as teacher-student relationship, as they relate
to this study.
According to Korthagen et al. (2014), a relationship can be described as an interaction
that develops over time, lasting for months or years. Relationships form through moments of
good contact which were characterized by eye-contact, positive feedback, and empathy
(Korthagen et al., 2014). This study looks at a specific kind of relationship: teacher-student
relationships. The definition of teacher-student relationships is often described in positive or
negative terms. Engels et al. (2016) asserted warm, sensitive, and responsive interactions
characterize positive teacher-student relationships, while abundant teacher conflict and lack of
security characterize negative teacher-student relationships. Similarly, Roorda, Koomen, Spilt,
and Oort (2011) associated closeness and involvement with positive, affective teacher-student
relationships, and conflict with negative, affective teacher-student relationships.
Relationships develop over time, not in an instant (“Relationship”, 2018). They are the
result of a series of interactions whose qualities can define the relationship. This next section
examines literature on qualities of successful teacher-student relationships, defining and
deepening understanding of these attributes. Next, the factors that contribute to successful
relationships goes deeper into explaining why one should care about the nature of teacher-
student relationships in school. Finally, literature is included to better understand what is needed

23
to form a relationship with others it is helpful to examine the different kinds of interactions
possible within the classroom and how they contribute to the forming of relationships.
Qualities of Successful Teacher-Student Relationships
Although a wealth of literature exists describing relationships in positive or negative
terms (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Croninger & Lee, 2001; Gest, Welsh, & Domitrovich, 2005;
Rumberger, 1995; Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, Swanson, & Reiser, 2008; Wentzel & Wigfield,
1998), relationships are seldom so “black and white”. The studies described ahead have focused
on looking beyond positive and negative descriptors for the qualities of successful relationships
between teachers and their students, as well as student sense of belonging. This topic informs
how teacher authenticity contributes to teacher-student relationships by explaining what qualities
are present in successful relationships. This topic also led to a conceptual base used in coding
data for this study.
In a qualitative study exploring the layers of meaning with a framework of relationship
building between teachers and their students, 91 one-hour interviews, including focus groups and
individual interviews, were conducted with 27 teachers and 117 students in 10
th
through 12
th

grade (Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004). Students reported that the qualities which most contributed
to their learning were feeling known, cared for, and respected as emerging young adults, while
teachers felt their relationships with students were best when they had patience and related well
with adolescents. Furthermore, all believed their successful teacher-student relationships led
them to learn about themselves, learn the skills of relating to and caring about others, as well as
how to, “creatively infuse a personal dimension into the educational encounter” (Bernstein-
Yamashiro, 2004, p. 69). The connections made in this study between teacher-student
relationships and teaching were critical to first provide rationale for incorporating teacher-

24
student relationships into a study about teaching, and then to inform coding, observations, and
overall connections to authenticity.
Nasseri, Renganathan, Nasseri, and Balushi (2014) sought to find an innovative way to
facilitate learning in nursing education through a literature review on teacher-student
relationships in nursing. While this review of literature focused on nursing and not music, the
application is notable because it focuses on teacher-student relationships in a teaching context.
The emergent themes from research-based nursing articles from all over the world from 1997-
2008 were caring, support, trust, and respect. These themes described qualities of successful
relationships that influence student learning in the classroom, also described by the author as a
connected relationship (Nasseri et al., 2014). The themes found in this study also provided
crucial information for coding and making connections between teacher-student relationships
and belonging.
Factors Contributing to Successful Teacher-Student Relationships
Situational and contextual factors, such as the quality of social relationships in school,
can influence a student’s engagement, academic effort, and school successes or failures
(Goodenow, 1993). The extent to which a person feels accepted, respected, included, and
supported by others in a social environment describes one’s sense of belonging. The
Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) measure was developed and validated
among adolescents in suburban and urban schools by Goodenow (1993). The final version
contains 18 items and was found to have acceptable internal consistency reliability for an attitude
scale, as well as validity. Results from the study suggested that belonging contributes to school
motivation, effort, participation, and achievement (Goodenow, 1993). The descriptive terms used
for belonging by Goodenow (1993) were helpful because they related to teacher-student

25
relationships, as well as students’ feelings about their school environment and classroom
teachers. These connections between belonging and teacher-student relationships were notable
for this study in providing another area to look within the context of relationships, as well as
create a conceptual base for coding when it comes to relationships.
A school can be viewed as a community in which a wide range of relationships exist.
From this perspective, interpersonal relationships are of great importance and especially when
considering the effect of the relationships on a student’s sense of belonging. “A school may be
thought of as a relational community that offers opportunities for students to fulfill the need to
belong” (Chhuon & Wallace, 2014, p. 381). The 13 focus groups of students ranging from 14-20
years of age found that the idea of belonging for students meant moving beyond “just teach”
teacher relationships, where teachers lack job enthusiasm and care for students. A focus for this
study was on teacher care in relation to belonging and this link to the significance of teacher-
student relationships was especially relevant for students in high school when they are
questioning who they are and what they can be in the future. Students who were provided
instrumental support and received the benefit-of-the-doubt by teachers regularly had a higher
sense of belonging as well (Chhuon & Wallace, 2014). This study was especially helpful in
connecting teacher-student relationships with belonging, also providing a deeper context for
understanding teacher-student relationships in high school.
Care Ethics. One area uncovered repeatedly in relation to teacher-student relationships
was that of teachers caring for students. Connecting teacher-student relationships to mood,
feelings, or attitude was appropriate when considering the teacher as a type of guidance figure,
like a parent. Noddings (2003), one of the leading voices for care ethics, considered caring as
one of the most important elements in the classroom. Noddings (2003) described care as an ethic

26
and part of moral education where relationships are characterized as enduring, reciprocal, and
responsive. Within care ethics, a distinction was made between caring about and caring for
another individual. Caring for requires reciprocity and therefore requires the person caring to
understand the needs of the other in a way that impacts the individual. Care that is extended to
groups defines caring about because it is possible for a rule or policy to be instituted that would
be for the good of all and not necessarily impact every individual (Rabin & Smith, 2013). The
work by Noddings (2003) contributed to data analysis and interpretation of the findings in my
study by providing a basic background into care ethics, how caring may affect students, and how
caring is related to teaching.
When discussing how connection can lead to caring, Noddings (2003) came up with a
theoretical framework describing a feedback loop as crucial in caring teaching-learning
relationships because teachers act, see how students respond while allowing themselves to be
shaped by their responses, and this ultimately shapes the teacher’s next act of caring (Rodgers &
Raider-Roth, 2006). The caring teacher encourages and values involvement with their students,
therefore showing sensitivity and closeness in their interactions typical of positive teacher-
student relationships (Birch, 2015). Students encountering consistent conflict with teachers
would feel less secure in class and detach from the teacher. The description of caring teachers
and how they interact with students was useful for observations because the idea of the feedback
loop and effect of caring on students may be seen.
In a different teacher-learner setting, the literature review by Nasseri et al. (2014)
revealed considerable evidence that caring relationships were required in nursing education to
promote student learning, confidence, competence, and student trust. The creation of a caring
intellectual community was encouraged by Bernstein-Yamashiro (2004) with the intent of

27
discovering what students really need to learn in schools. An ethic of care was encouraged as a
framework for teachers to help teach them the importance of building relationships with students
(Rabin, 2013). Care ethics also includes a moral dimension since individuals project externally
their virtues and beliefs, increasing the importance of teachers carefully orienting their processes
of modeling, practice, dialogue, and confirmation (Rabin, 2013).
Interpersonal Interactions
No matter the classroom, individuals in a shared space interact with one another in
various ways. Studies about what constitutes a positive learning environment, maintaining
classroom discipline, and effective teaching practices have in common the element of interaction
between student and teacher. In the field of psychotherapy, it is believed that the quality of
interaction between the therapist and patient provides the biggest influence on successful therapy
(Lambert, 2013). In other words, the type of interaction and meaningful contact between people
makes all the difference in supporting personal progress. There is something about interactions
between people that can be supportive and nurturing.
Korthagen et al. (2014) thoughtfully distinguished the differences between the various
types of interaction in terms of presence and contact. In its simplest form, presence is a state of
being for an individual (Korthagen et al., 2014). Theoretical and qualitative studies have defined
presence as awareness of the self and the surroundings, and is experienced differently by both
teacher and learner in the classroom (Meijer, Korthagen, & Vasalos, 2009). “Presence from the
teacher’s point of view is the experience of bringing one’s whole self to full attention so as to
perceive what is happening in the moment” (Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006, p. 267). Presence for
a learner, in turn, may be experienced as recognition, feeling seen and understood, safety, or
discovery of one’s self (Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006). Presence can be exhibited at any time by

28
anyone, and yet presence is not a prerequisite of interaction, or relationships. The existence of
presence in both the teacher and learner would equal an enhanced, more meaningful, interaction
or relationship. Korthagen et al. (2014) combine presence with engagement as being necessary
for high functioning classrooms.
Contact is known as a momentary phenomenon, where good contact includes elements
like eye-contact, empathy, and positive feedback (Korthagen et al., 2014), and have an important
motivational function (Henry & Thorson, 2018). A precondition for good contact is that both
participants are present to one another and engaged in the situation. Preconditions exist to build
connections. Relationship is defined as a connection formed between two individuals over a
period through many moments of contact, and so contact must require more than sharing
physical space. Because relationships are predicated on many moments of good contact, not
every student will build a relationship with a teacher, and vice versa. Instead, the teacher who
makes the effort to be present and engaged with every student creates a worthwhile and full
experience through moments of contact (Noddings, 2003). Moments of contact have immediate
influence on engagement and motivation in emerging relationships between teachers and their
students (Henry & Thorson, 2018). Research into the notion of contact is still in its early stages
with most attempts of explanation and study being theoretical at best (Henry & Thorson, 2018;
Korthagen et al., 2014). The distinctions between presence and contact are critical for this study
in defining what is needed for a relationship to form, adding depth to the understanding of the
teacher-student relationship in teaching.
Communication. Communication is considered a reflex of performance by human
beings (Solomon & Vangelisti, 2010). It is a key element of teaching and learning given that
transmitting information from student to teacher and vice versa is such a fundamental component

29
in the classroom. This study focuses on the music classrooms in two high school band programs
and the classes will include verbal and nonverbal communication. These types of communication
found in a band rehearsal may play a part in the success of teacher-student relationships and will
inform the coding of observation data.
Verbal communication. When interacting with other individuals, people draw upon their
understanding of their association with the person to choose their behaviors, strategies of
communication, and interpretation. Over time the relationship is defined and understood based
on the meanings they acquire from the interaction. Verbal communication helps establish
relationships by escalating the personal bond between two people, and these relationships are
maintained using communication to sustain or reinforce its status (Solomon & Vangelisti, 2010).
Biesta and Miedema (2002) argued that education itself is a process of transmission
requiring communication methods, however, communication is not meant to only transport
information, but also to exchange meaning. The way that individuals learn about meanings is
through participation in an activity. Participation requires the whole person to be involved and
allows meaning to be transformed through the activity. In this way, the main task in education
should be concern for the whole person and this concern is tended to through participation that
transforms meaning through information (Biesta & Miedema, 2002).
Communication skills are learned over time. A competent communicator exhibits
empathy, affiliation and support, social relaxation, behavioral flexibility, and interaction
management skills helping him or her achieve personal goals in a way that satisfies the other
person in the conversation (Greene, 2009). In addition, competent communication is effective
and appropriate, where the use of lying or bullying would not be considered competent
communication. To learn how to communicate competently, individuals must be motivated and

30
have an existing schema of knowing how to act appropriately (Greene, 2009). Knowledge of
what competent communication looks like, as well as what is needed to learn this skill, is
essential in the classroom and possible for teachers to help students learn.
Nonverbal communication. The study of nonverbal communication is wide and has
resulted in a specific area of research regarding instructional contexts. Research shows that
nonverbal communication clearly has a major impact on teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom,
with immediacy, clarity, and socio-communicative style impacting success or failure the most
(McCroskey, Richmond, & McCroskey, 2006). According to McCroskey et al. (2006),
immediacy describes, “the degree of perceived physical or psychological closeness between
people” (p. 9), and has a strong impact on increasing students’ affinity for the teacher, affective
learning, student perceptions of their cognitive learning, and granting increased power to
teachers. Clarity was highly correlated with affective learning and teacher evaluation, and socio-
communicative style with assertiveness and responsiveness. Assertive and responsive teachers
have been shown through research to produce more positive student affect, affective learning,
cognitive learning, motivated students, and trust for their teacher (McCroskey et al., 2006).
Haithcox-Dennis (2009) argued that nonverbal communication can be used to foster
social health in secondary school students and wrote an article describing one such technique.
The idea is for students to use nonverbal communication activities to learn the ability to interact
well with people and the environment, fostering interpersonal relationships. In this article, the
author shares strategies, descriptions, and detailed steps on how to foster social health (Haithcox-
Dennis, 2009).
Bambaeeroo and Shokrpour (2017) conducted a literature review to determine how
nonverbal communication effects teaching success across findings from many studies. Among

31
literature on nonverbal communication in teaching, a positive correlation was found between
teacher’s communication skill and student success, nonverbal communication and student
motivation, and nonverbal communication and the efficacy of educational departments
(Bambaeeroo & Shokrpour, 2017). The authors suggested that increased verbal and nonverbal
communication in the classroom contributed to greater academic progress in students, thus
supporting the socio-communicative style of communication, or combination of verbal and
nonverbal communication (Bambaeeroo & Shokrpour, 2017).
Harris and Rosenthal (2005) conducted a series of bibliographic searches using several
databases looking at nonverbal behavior and nonverbal communication to conduct a meta-
analysis of the literature. Searches resulted in over 150 articles on these topics and meticulous
analysis provided results slightly different from other articles. Although the analysis suggested
that there was a strong relation between teacher nonverbal immediacy, or the degree of perceived
psychological closeness between two individuals, and positive student outcomes, the research
was not clear to what degree the positive outcomes translated to student achievement gains.
Another finding showed a positive connection between students’ evaluations of the teacher and
their learning, and perceptions of teachers’ nonverbal immediacy. Positive effects of positive
nonverbal teacher behavior on non-cognitive student outcomes were found in other studies as
well. In general, “teachers who engage in warm, active nonverbal behavior are evaluated more
positively by their students” (Harris & Rosenthal, 2005, p. 173), although it is not clear whether
this could predict greater amounts of student learning. While many researchers desire to claim
nonverbal communication impacts student learning significantly, the research conducted to date
is not substantial enough yet to confirm such claim.

32
Connections Between Authenticity and Teacher-Student Relationships
Although research linking authenticity and teacher-student relationships is relatively new,
many find this link overwhelmingly apparent when considering theory and psychology (Cranton
& Carusetta, 2004b; Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Rabin, 2013; Surrey, 1991). In a book by
Peterson and Seligman (2004), the authors described the first progress report of the Values in
Action Classification Project, which was based on a systematic measurement of universal human
strengths and weaknesses. The report defines character strengths and virtues, their classifications,
and issues of assessment and measurement. Within the character strength classification, the
category of integrity includes honesty and authenticity as virtues. Authenticity was stated as a
highly-adaptive self-function because it holds social benefits in that authentic individuals are
usually well liked and that this helps them create more adaptive cooperative relationships
(Peterson & Seligman, 2004). With authenticity classified as a virtue, the interest in this topic for
research is strengthened. This source also provided background into the definition of
authenticity, listed four measures used for authenticity in research, as well as more on the history
of authenticity as a concept.
A case study by Rabin (2013) applied the focus of care ethics in a teacher training
program. A one-year case study was conducted within a teacher preparation program where
observations, interviews, and surveys were collected as data to explore the phenomenon of care
in teacher education. Authenticity arose as a concept revisited repeatedly in the observations,
interviews, and surveys, and became a central idea in the findings. Rabin (2013) defined
authenticity as, “the importance of knowing and being one’s self in one’s role as a teacher who
cares” (p. 245). In general, the participants found that care was not possible without authenticity.
Authenticity was found to make a notable difference in the teachers’ conscious choices to care

33
for students, find meaningful connections to subject matter, and allow for students to have their
own opinions and experiences or be themselves (Rabin, 2013). Authenticity was found to be
pivotal in teacher-student relationships because of its impact on caring for students. This study
provided a first look at how authenticity contributes to relationships, helped establish the
definition of authenticity used for this study, and contributed to coding for the study by
informing possible codes.
Cranton and Carusetta’s (2004b) three-year research project sought to understand the
meaning of authentic teaching and how it manifests in practice. After defining authenticity as
being genuine, having consistent values and actions, relating to others, and living a critical life,
interview and observation transcripts were analyzed to find themes (Cranton & Carusetta,
2004b). The theme of relationship was the largest category and yielded a tentative hypothesis
that individuals aware of teacher-student relationships are more likely to exhibit care, concern,
and engagement for students. According to this hypothesis, such an individual is also more likely
to share aspects of self, be power conscious, and be intuitive of how the environment of teaching
influences teacher-student relationships (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b). These characteristics are
all possible through authenticity. Lastly, Cranton and Carusetta (2004b) found teachers engaging
in critical reflection of the self, other, and context more likely to be developing authenticity.
These teachers believed that their authenticity led to better relationships with students, offering
this study a glimpse into the possible connections between authenticity and relationships. The
study also contributed to the choice of authenticity definition for the present study because it
shares the similarity of consistent values and actions with the idea of authenticity as a social
construct.

34
Psychologists have closely scrutinized the definition of interpersonal relationship as a
connection between two people. One crucial element of connection is mutual empathy, or the
ability for two people to experience reciprocal feelings of being and feeling seen by the other
(Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006; Surrey, 1991). Surrey (1991) is one of five authors who
contributed to a collection of papers reworking psychoanalytical thinking to focus on
perspectives in women’s lives. Mutual empathy encapsulates Surrey’s notion of “relationship
authenticity”, which is, “the need to be seen and recognized for who one is and the need to see
and understand the other with ongoing authenticity” (Surrey, 1991, p. 61). For Surrey (1991),
relationships and authenticity are interconnected through the need to feel connected to another
person through being seen and recognized for who one is. For relationships to grow and flourish,
individuals must nurture their connection with the other. Cultivation of mutual empathy, or an
individual’s capacity to know and respond to the feelings and thoughts of the other, is necessary
and intricately related to authenticity. One’s capacity to be seen and understood by the other is
directly influenced by one’s emotional genuineness and psychological depth (Surrey, 1991).
Surrey’s definition of relationship authenticity is crucial for this study by informing what to look
for in observations, as well as possible categories of codes. This article led to a conceptual base
for coding by showing the interconnectedness between authenticity and relationships.
The literature reviewed in this final section supports the study of teacher authenticity and
how it contributes to teacher-student relationships by uncovering relationships between the two
found in research. Moreover, the connections made by researchers helped inform coding of all
data and relate back to the leader authenticity framework (Henderson & Hoy, 1983) used as the
lens for this study.

35
Summary
This chapter delved into the topics of authenticity and teacher-student relationships, with
the intent of providing support for the research questions, framework, and informing the method
and data coding for the study. To evaluate authenticity in teaching, researchers have collected
data from students to discover whether teacher authenticity contributes to increased teaching
effectiveness. Students felt that teachers who were sincere or honest, and cared for the subject,
students, and were interested in engaging with them about ideas that matter, best helped them
learn (Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013).
Interpersonal relationships develop slowly through many moments of contact with
another person so that the connection can be reinforced over time (Korthagen et al., 2014).
Successful relationships are characterized by students’ feelings of being known, cared for,
respected, supported, and trusted (Nasseri et al., 2014; Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004).
Interpersonal relationships between teachers and students are of the utmost importance in schools
and contribute to feelings of belonging, defined by students as having teachers who care about
them and are enthusiastic about teaching (Chhuon & Wallace, 2014). Communication is
performed without conscious thought allowing people to develop relationships and define them
based on meanings acquired from the interactions. Verbal communication helps strengthen the
bond between two people thus establishing the interpersonal relationship (Solomon & Vangelisti,
2010), while research on nonverbal communication in instructional contexts finds immediacy,
clarity, and socio-communicative style as most impacting the effectiveness of teachers. More
specifically, socio-communicative style had the greatest impact on teacher effectiveness since it
combines verbal and nonverbal communication (McCroskey, Richmond, & McCroskey, 2006).

36
The few articles that explore the connections between authenticity and relationships
provide a wealth of information. Authenticity and care were found to be remarkably related with
authenticity making a notable difference on teachers’ choices to care for students, find
meaningful connections to subject matter, and allow students to be themselves (Rabin, 2013).
Teachers engaging in critical reflection were more likely to be developing authenticity, and
foster student authenticity (Cranton and Carusetta, 2004b). Finally, relationship authenticity is
described as the need to be seen and recognized for who one is for oneself and the other with
ongoing authenticity (Surrey, 1991). The research presented in this chapter provides a foundation
for the current study interrogating what authenticity looks like in practice in two high school
band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school students.
In crafting the research questions for this study, I encountered literature on authenticity
that spoke about the concept philosophically and addressed other definitions of the word rather
than demonstrating what it looks like in practice (Bialystok, 2014; Bialystok, 2017; Cranton &
Carusetta, 2004b; Kreber et al., 2007; Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Ramezandadeh et al., 2016;
Vannini, 2006). This guided the creation of the first research question and this literature cited
above was used to help better understand what I would be looking for to identify authenticity in
practice. Considering the literature reviewed in this chapter and how it relates to this study, there
is little research that focuses on the connections between teacher authenticity and teacher-student
relationships. The studies that have investigated authenticity and relationships have focused on
either authenticity or other factors, such as caring, and had a finding of relationships emerge.
Research is needed that directly explores how authenticity contributes to teacher-student
relationships. Of the studies which focused on authenticity in teaching, only two (Cranton &
Carusetta, 2004b, and Rabin, 2013) used qualitative or quantitative methodologies and

37
demonstrated some connection between authenticity and teacher-student relationships. This
study was designed to contribute qualitative evidence focusing on authenticity and teacher-
student relationships. Past research related to the concept of authenticity helped uncover the
theory of leader authenticity used to frame the study. The framework in combination with other
literature on authenticity and its social function helped shape the statement of purpose, research
questions, and method. Based on this literature, in the subsequent chapters I present an analysis
that takes into account what teacher authenticity looks like in practice and its contributions to
teacher-student relationships.

38
Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY
Overview
The purpose of this multiple case study was to interrogate what authenticity looks like in
practice in two high school band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school
band students. Each of the two cases in this study consisted of a band director and his or her
students, each located at different high schools and school districts in greater Los Angeles.
Observation and interview data were collected, analyzed, and applied to answer the research
questions. This chapter is organized in two sections: a first section where I describe the research
design and data collection procedures, followed by a second section with a description of the
research setting, participants, data analysis, triangulation, and human subjects’ protection. A
summary is included at the end of the chapter.
Design
The design selected and used for this study was the qualitative multiple case study. To
explore the phenomenon of teacher authenticity and its contributions to teacher-student
relationships, this study focused on the social interactions between teachers and students.
Creswell (2013) considered qualitative research best suited for exploration of human and/or
social issues, as these are like an intricate fabric that cannot be simply explained and require a,
“complex, holistic picture,” (p. 15) of the research problem. The case study is most appropriate
to investigate naturally occurring cases in depth without making quantification of data a priority
(Gomm, Hammersley, & Foster, 2000). A multiple case study method is one used to study
several cases with clear boundaries to develop an in-depth understanding of an issue or problem
based on extensive data collection involving multiple sources of information (Creswell, 2013;
Creswell, 2014). The intent in choosing a multiple case study method is either to highlight a

39
unique case, or understand a specific issue, problem, or concern where a case or cases would
help accomplish this goal (Creswell, 2013).
This multiple case study focused on teacher authenticity with two different teachers in
their respective high school band classes. This allowed a nuanced exploration of how
authenticity can look on the ground in a high school band classroom, which is a setting and age
when I, myself, first became curious about what makes a teacher great for students. To examine
the phenomenon of authenticity in the environment of high school, I grounded the study in
related literature and carefully constructed a methodology to answer the research questions.
Authenticity is a concept many have found troublesome to study because the definition of
authenticity, namely that the true inner self contains a myriad of emotions and beliefs that make
one unique, is, “nearly impossible to get off the ground” (Bialystok, 2014, p. 272; Peterson &
Seligman, 2004), while others have found ways to study the concept through carefully designed,
and mostly qualitative, methodologies (Carusetta & Cranton, 2005; Cranton & Carusetta, 2004b;
Johnson & LaBelle, 2017; Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013; Ramezanzedeh et al., 2016). Building
upon the work of these researchers, this study incorporated a phenomenological approach by
hearing what each teacher values through their own words and then comparing this with
feedback or experiences of the students and the teacher’s actions observed in the classroom. This
research design and method allowed me to clearly see what authenticity looked like in practice in
a band classroom, providing a valuable contribution to this area of research.
Data Collection
The aim of data collection was to develop an in-depth and clear understanding of the two
cases included in the study. To accomplish this, the primary data sets for this study were

40
collected through interviews of the music teachers, focus group interviews, questionnaires with
students in the band classes, and observations of music rehearsals.
The literature reviewed for this study helped inform the choices made for data collection
by providing a background of methods used to research authenticity, as well as the reliability of
the measures. I wanted to obtain a thorough understanding of how the music teachers viewed
their practices and beliefs in relation to teaching, as well as a clear understanding of their values
and motivations, and scheduled semi-structured interviews with each band teacher for this
reason. Similarly, I believed that it was important to hear how band students at each school
perceived their band teacher, as well as how they described interactions with their band teacher
and other teachers. Semi-structured focus groups were planned with students at each school and,
following each focus group, students were given the opportunity to answer questions
individually about their teacher in case some felt more comfortable providing information
without others present. Lastly, observation was one element used in many other studies that I felt
important to see in great detail the actions of the teachers and their effects on students, as well as
other interactions within the class. My goal was to develop a way to document every interaction
during rehearsal observations to better understand and possibly corroborate what teachers and
students said in interviews.
Data were collected over the course of 5 weeks at the two school sites of Potter Central
High School and The McDonald Academy (pseudonyms), and in total included four interviews
of music teachers, five focus group sessions with student participants in band, and observations
of 11 band rehearsals. Additionally, I photographed each classroom and collected artifacts to
better understand the learning environment at each site. See Table 1 for the observation and data
collection schedule for Potter Central and McDonald.

41
Table 1
Observation and Data Collection Schedule
Potter Central High School
Date Type Duration Data Source
May 1, 2018 Observation 1 59 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 2, 2018 Observation 2 80 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 9, 2018 Observation 3 84 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 11, 2018 Observation 4 92 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 15, 2018 Observation 5 89 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 18, 2018 Observation 6 96 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 22, 2018 Teacher interview 1 30 minutes Field notes, audiotape
May 23, 2018 Focus groups 1 and 2 45 and 41 minutes Field notes, audiotape
May 29, 2018 Teacher interview 2 30 minutes Field notes, audiotape

The McDonald Academy
Date Type Duration Data Source
May 8, 2018 Observation 1 68 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 14, 2018 Observation 2 40 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 17, 2018 Observation 3 42 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 17, 2018 Teacher interview 1 50 minutes Field notes, audiotape
May 21, 2018 Observation 4 36 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
May 21, 2018 Teacher interview 2 42 minutes Field notes, audiotape
May 24, 2018 Observation 5 85 minutes Field notes, audiotape, videotape
June 4, 2018 Focus group 1 30 minutes Field notes, audiotape
June 5, 2018 Focus groups 2 and 3 29 and 26 minutes Field notes, audiotape

Interviews and focus groups. The interview questions designed for both teachers and
the student focus groups were guided by the leader authenticity measure (Henderson & Hoy,
1983) and the Psychological Sense of School Membership measure (Goodenow, 1993).
Henderson and Hoy (1983) provided a definition for leader authenticity and constructed a
framework to describe elements of leader authenticity in detail. In addition, they created an
operational measure comprised a of set of questions with binary response options that, when
scored and analyzed, provided a measure for the presence of leader authenticity. A second source
that informed the development of interview questions for this study was a quantitative measure

42
on belonging developed by Goodenow (1993). This measure included several formal questions
with a scoring system that yielded a score representing students’ sense of belonging in the
classroom. For this study, specific questions from both measures were adapted and organized to
form the interview questions used for both teachers and the student focus groups. (Questions are
found in Appendix C.) These two measures were adapted to the semi-structured qualitative
interview questions used in this study. This was important to capture a wider range of responses
and descriptive data, beyond the yes or no responses to the original question by Goodenow
(1993) and Henderson and Hoy (1983). Additionally, the wording of the questions in the leader
authenticity measure was limited to the perspective or standpoint of the student and did not
incorporate the leader’s or teacher’s perspective, which was an important element in this study.
The intent of the teacher interviews was to learn, through their own words, the teachers’
values and beliefs regarding their band classroom and teaching. The first interview addressed
teacher authenticity by asking questions about the teacher’s practices used in the classroom and
thought processes in choosing those practices, as well as asking teachers to reflect on those
actions and methods. The second interview addressed teacher-student relationships by examining
the teacher’s beliefs and theories regarding learning, and how the teachers believed this to be
carried out in their practice. Answers from the teacher interviews established the teacher’s values
and beliefs, which were used in comparing the teacher’s actions to see how authenticity
manifested in practice.
The music teachers in this study were reflective individuals and each interview was
completed within 60 minutes. Two interviews were sufficient to capture the data for the study,
though I continued to ask minor questions before or after class for my own clarification or to
include any additional information they wanted to provide. I believe that spacing out the

43
interviews, keeping them brief, and allowing for small conversations outside of formal
interviews helped establish warm, collaborative, relationships with the teachers and for me to
collect the data needed for this study.
When I was a high school band student myself, I remember having very close
relationships with the other band students and feeling as though the band was a family. We stood
around in the hallway and talked about everything together, and often shared more than we
normally would because we were in a big group. For this reason, I chose to interview students in
focus groups instead of individually because in small groups students may be more comfortable
with sharing their thoughts and experiences. The group setting may increase their feeling of
camaraderie, and bring them closer together. The teachers allowed the focus groups to happen
during school hours within the band rehearsal time since each school had finished their spring
concert, and so I kept the interviews brief. All interview and focus group data were recorded on a
computer using the Audacity software and a back-up, hand-held, voice recorder.
While I valued the group setting for obtaining student feedback, I also wanted to provide
individual students the opportunity to answer questions privately about their band teacher. To do
this, I constructed a handout with five questions and invited every student focus group
participant the opportunity to answer these questions on their own. Students were given the
printed questions, a hand-held audio recording device, and then spent about 5 minutes recording
their answers to the questions immediately after their focus group. The intent was to ascertain
more thorough, genuine, answers to questions relating to their personal relationship with their
band teacher and its effect on them in general. Many students participated in answering some of
the questions privately and told more personal stories this way. (See Appendix C for focus group
and questionnaire questions.)

44
Observations. Class observations were used to provide on-the-ground examples of what
teacher authenticity looks like and to better understand the complexity of teacher-student
relationships in action during band rehearsals. The observations contributed to answering the
first research question of how authenticity manifests in practice because data analysis of the
observations detailed every teacher-student interaction and provided a window into what
authenticity looks like. During band rehearsals, interactions between the teacher and students
consist of what people say, do, and how people react, including verbal and nonverbal
communication. I wrote field notes during observations to capture my initial reactions
throughout each observation as a first step before analyzing data. I wanted to write down
everything I saw that was characterized as interesting or worth reviewing later, since my vantage
point allowed for a full view of the rehearsal that a video cannot capture completely. Capturing
these initial reactions was necessary to help guide data analysis later when I could see all classes
clearly through the lens of the teacher’s values. The detailed record of observations for data
analysis also helped establish how teacher authenticity contributed to teacher-student
relationships by cataloguing interactions and reactions of participants.
Years of experience playing in ensembles of various kinds have shown me that no two
rehearsals are the same, and therefore, recording the rehearsals helped by giving me the
opportunity to review numerous times the interactions in the classroom. I could see and hear
more than could be observed in the live class, allowing for more detail and accuracy in the data
collection. A Canon EOS 77D digital camera was placed on a tripod near the back of the band
rooms and run continuously from before the start to the end of rehearsals. An 8GB Yemenren
hand-held digital voice recorder was used to make audiotapes of all observations and interviews.

45
During rehearsals, the voice recorder was placed on the band teacher’s music stand as a means
for audio backup of the rehearsals.
Participants and Context
Selection and Description of Participants
A driving force of this study was to better understand certain factors and conditions that
contribute to high quality music learning experiences for students. One key element in the design
was choosing settings where music teachers were providing high-quality music-learning
opportunities for their students. For the purpose of this study, a combination of expert and
criterion sampling were used to identify the two participant teachers. Expert sampling involves
identifying and hearing from selected individuals who can provide an assessment of the topic or
subject based on their knowledge and experience (Frey, 2018). Prior to the study, over 60 band
teachers in the greater Los Angeles area were contacted through phone, email, and message, and
their personal opinions gathered for suggestions of teachers of excellence currently in secondary
schools. A database was formed from their answers and sorted based on the number of responses
for each band teacher. The result for recommended high school teachers yielded three names,
though one teacher had recently retired and, therefore, was not eligible to participate. In addition
to expert sampling, the teachers included in this study needed to meet specific criteria for
inclusion. Criterion sampling involves selecting cases that meet a predetermined standard of
importance (Patton, 2001). The criteria used in this study for selecting a music program included
the following: (1) the teacher must have been recommended by at least five other music teachers
as a teacher of excellence; (2) the teacher must have had at least 5 years teaching experience and
taught at their current school for a minimum of 2 years; (3) the program was at the high school

46
level; (4) the teacher must have taught band as a primary subject; (5) the music program site was
in the greater Los Angeles area.
The two most highly recommended teachers met the criteria for inclusion and, based on
this selection process, were invited and agreed to participate in the study. The two cases
examined for this study included the following two teacher participants and their band programs:
• Devin Pickering at Potter Central High School in Los Angeles Unified School District
• Hope Gardner at The McDonald Academy in Huntington Beach Union High School
District
Pseudonyms were used for all participants, students, and schools to protect their identities.
I feel it important to acknowledge, however, that the expert sampling process used to
identify participants in my study resulted in identifying two high school band teachers that I
already knew and with whom I had worked. This was purely a coincidence. Prior to this study, I
had lived in Los Angeles for nearly seven years and, given my positive experiences with each of
the teachers described in the next section, I was not surprised to find that many other music
teachers in the area recommended them as teachers of excellence.
During my first two years in Los Angeles, I was the associate band director at a high
school and came to know Hope Gardner. She worked at a school near mine and, at the time, was
considered a fantastic teacher by many other teachers. When I visited her classroom, I realized
how much the students truly adored her. As a colleague teaching in a school near me, she was
always kind and helpful as we discussed marching band and teaching, and how to reach certain
students that were struggling with learning skills, and we remained in communication for years
even after I moved on from teaching high school band. To me, Hope stood out as an extremely
dedicated and driven individual. These pre-existing views are important to acknowledge as I

47
collected and analyzed data about her and her band program during the study. Prior to this study,
I also knew the other music teacher, Devin Pickering, who taught at a school that partnered with
the community music program where I worked for several years. The first time I met Devin I
was taken aback by his intensity and honesty and I felt as though he could see right through me,
which was a little disconcerting at the time. Looking back, I realized that Devin was deeply
interested in learning about me as a person. What I perceived as intrusive was him making every
effort to focus on our conversation so he could know me better. Through visits to his school and
watching him teach prior to this study, I learned that many of his students felt the same way I did
in my first encounter. With time, I came to revere Devin individually and as a teacher much the
same way his students expressed during this study. My high regard for Devin and the process of
getting to know him are elements to acknowledge as this may have provided a more nuanced
understanding of his teaching style and interactions with students. It is also worth saying that,
prior to this study, I may have met inadvertently some of the students at Potter Central in my
previous observations and interactions at the school. I considered these as brief moments of
contact that would not influence the study.
These prior experiences and relationships I have had with these two teachers naturally
would have shaped my observations and my findings. Rather than a hindrance, I believe the prior
experiences and relationships allowed the teachers to share more openly and me to look more
deeply in discovering what authenticity looks like in practice and how teacher authenticity
contributes to teacher-student relationships.
Context of Potter Central High School
Community. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second largest in
the nation, enrolling more than 690,000 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The

48
district is made up of over 1300 schools, including 216 independent charter schools. As the
boundaries spread over 710 square miles of Los Angeles, the district crosses diverse
socioeconomic and demographic areas with the largest self-identified group being of Latino
descent, representing 74% of the total student enrollment (L.A. Unified Fingertip Facts, 2018).
Potter Central High School. Potter Central School is a K-12 school within LAUSD
enrolling roughly 1,900 students per year. 84% of the school population self-identified as Latino,
and 15% black. 75% of the students were eligible for the nationally subsidized program for free
lunches, and 10% were eligible for reduced fee lunches (California Department of Education,
2018). This study focused on students in high school at Potter Central School. The following
description of different contexts at Potter Central is taken from field notes of my first visit.
This public school is located in an area in South Los Angeles, an area of the city
with a low socio-economic level. The small elementary school campus, composed of two
buildings and a playground, sits catty-corner from the middle school and high school
campus. The secondary school campus is easy to spot by the old, large, stone façade with
a wide stairwell leading inside. Much of the secondary school campus was undergoing
construction and to the right of the stone entrance, a new multi-level building was being
constructed from steel beams. The sidewalk had scaffolding covering it to protect
students from falling debris, and orange cones blocked off areas of parking for
construction workers that would otherwise have been prime parking for residents of the
neighborhood or visitors of the school.
The area surrounding the school is entirely residential. As students walk to school,
they pass small, one-story homes with bars on the windows and whose wire-fences create
a barrier between individuals on the cracked sidewalks and the yellow, dying lawns of

49
grass. I parked on the street outside the school and paid close attention to the street
cleaning signs so as not to be given a parking ticket. Once inside the stone building, I
approached a lopsided portable table and the thick woman sitting behind it. She had me
sign my name in a book and gave me a visitor pass to wear on my shirt. I noticed that the
table was outside of the main office, which was to the left and very small containing two
tiny offices and a bathroom. The school auditorium entrance was located directly behind
where I had received my visitor pass. I began walking over to the band room, which
currently was being housed in a portable building while the new band room was being
built, and took in the surroundings on my walk there.
The inside of the school reflected the outside, in that the walls and structures
within it seemed very old. Posters with a message to stop bullying, and others advertising
various events, were put up haphazardly on the walls and I could see old masking tape in
places where other posters had been taken down in haste. I exited the main entrance
building and went outside under the dark covered walkway. The students must have been
finishing lunch because I had to be careful not to step on food scattered on the floor. A
distasteful smell lingered in the air as I dodged trash littered here and there, while
students stood in groups talking, eating, or possibly hiding. I made my way through the
outdoor, covered courtyard where students ate lunch at tables and walked through a
huddled mass of students wearing black hoodies, jeans, and grey shirts. Odd, because the
school did not have a dress code that I knew of and yet all the students seem to match. I
passed through a wire fence to where the middle school classroom buildings were and to
the right, the portables began. The painted brown portable on the end was the designated

50
classroom for band, and yet you would not know that without directions because the
room was unlabeled; anonymous. (Field notes, May 1, 2018)
The rehearsal space. The description of the rehearsal space was written in reference to
my field notes.
The portable trailer being used for the band room had two doors and so I tried to
open the first that I came to; locked. I walked over to the second just as a student was
leaving, and so I took hold of the door so it would not close or lock me out. Once inside, I
could see that this was a larger double unit and it was packed to the brim with all things
band related. To the left of the door was a large L-shaped desk littered with papers in
piles with no clean edges, two boxes to collect papers but seemed to have no immediate
purpose, an old desktop computer, a few pictures, and an old printer collecting dust
against the wall. Most of the floor of the portable was covered with instrument cases that
were strewn about or pushed toward one wall, a collection of random percussion
equipment, chair racks, music stand racks, and a full piano. There was a walkway of
about five feet or so in width that had been cleared so people could walk to the ensemble
setup to the far left of the room facing the white boards. About fifty posture-perfect
Wenger brand chairs were arranged in four rows of semi-circles with music stands to be
shared two to a stand. When facing the white boards, I could see an old tube TV atop a
rolling stand that was standing near the right corner close to the AC wall unit, and
another L-shaped desk was to the left. The desk seemed to be boxed in by more
instrument cases, chairs, and the end of the piano. The room was a packed mess where
individuals had to move around near one another and with zero privacy.

51
The main sources of identity and pride were likely found lining the walls of the
portable. The directors and students had put effort into covering the off-white portable
walls with pictures, paintings, and motivational posters to help remind them of their
purpose. The rear of the room near the door through which I came had motivational
posters and banners reminding anyone what school they were at. Pictures near both desks
covered the walls like a scrapbook page documenting memorable events, awards, and fun
times of the band students and teachers. Near the white board there was a 3x4 foot
beautifully painted canvas in blues and greys of a young man playing trumpet. Above the
white boards were multiple posters of the principles of Potter Central, while writing on
the board reminded anyone in the program of upcoming events and deadlines. The
members of the program have tried to make the space warm and identifiable, where they
could feel comfortable despite the drab surroundings. (Field notes, May 1, 2018)
The music program. At Potter Central, there was no elementary school music program
so a student’s first opportunity to join the band program is in sixth grade as a middle school
student. Band students learned from the middle school band director during grades six to eight,
and in grade nine they entered band class with the high school band director, Devin Pickering.
There was no marching band at Potter Central, and so all high school band students participated
in concert band during the school year. The seventh period band class was the only high school
band class observed in this study and all participants came from this class that met Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Friday from 1:30-3:04pm. Due to scheduling issues, not all high school band
students are able to enroll in the seventh period high school band class. To remedy this issue, the
band teacher at Potter Central created an eighth period band class that meets immediately after
school three days a week where all high school band students unable to enroll in seventh period

52
band can participate, as well as a few select middle school students. The course offerings
available to high school band students were music history, music technology, jazz band, and high
school band class.
Data was collected during the month of May. At the time of this study, student
enrollment in the seventh period high school band was primarily freshmen, with some
sophomores and two seniors; roughly 30 students. The band was rehearsing three band pieces
because they were preparing to attend a festival where they would have their performance
judged. The three pieces included two grade 3 pieces, March of the Belgian Paratroopers and
Landmark Overture, and one grade 2.5 piece, Heaven’s Valley. During the first and second
observations, the band prepared for festival, and in the third observation they reflected on their
performance, scores, and the judge’s feedback. After the festival, the band continued to prepare
the three pieces with the idea they would perform these on the upcoming spring concert, which
occurred the evening of the sixth observation. The tradition at Potter Central was for the band to
perform a Duke Ellington medley on the spring concert, and so the band began rehearsing the
piece immediately after the festival performance was done. The seventh period high school band
class was already feeling the upcoming loss of one band student, Curtis, since he would graduate
soon and was a leader for the band upon whom many relied.
Aside from festival and the spring concert, the band program was also involved in the
upcoming graduation ceremony. Devin helped organize all the musical performances for
graduation, as well as recruit students to perform in the ensemble. A separate nonprofit music
organization that used Potter Central for their graduation was also coordinating with Devin for
their event the Sunday after the spring concert, and a well-known music recording studio had
invited some of the Potter Central composers to visit the studio and record some compositions of

53
their own the day after the spring concert. To say that it was a busy time of year for Devin and
the band program is an understatement.
Potter Central High School Participants
Devin Pickering, Teacher. Devin Pickering had taught music at Potter Central High
School for more than 24 years. After growing up in a southern state in the United States, Mr.
Pickering attended college out of state, where his experiences helped shape his perspective on
what it means to be a successful band director. Devin is an intense individual with piercing eyes,
a big personality, and a will that anything can be accomplished. Nearly every time I entered the
band room at Potter Central, Devin, this tall, lanky man of African American descent, would
greet me with such fervor and authority that I felt as though I was the most important person in
the room. Mr. Pickering often talks about his wife and daughter, though speaks energetically
about most topics, especially those related to community, music, and possibility.
Table 2
Descriptive Information of Focus Group Participants at Potter Central High School
Name Focus Group Year in School Number of Years with
Band Teacher
Instrument
Nina One Freshmen Two Tenor Sax
Jeremiah One Freshmen Four Alto Sax
Lillie One Freshmen Four Baritone Sax/Clarinet
Curtis One Senior Seven Flute/Piccolo/Trumpet
Martha Two Sophomore Four Trumpet
Cheryl Two Freshmen Four Tenor Sax
Amos Two Senior Four Bass/Percussion

Nina, Jeremiah, Lillie, Curtis, Martha, Cheryl, and Amos; Students. All students in
the seventh period band class were observed as part of the study. Additionally, all students were
invited to participate in focus group interviews. Eight chose to participate and completed youth
assent forms (Appendix B). See Table 2 for the descriptive information of student participants at

54
Potter Central High School. One student who completed a form was in eighth grade and
therefore removed from the study. Student participants were required to be enrolled in the
seventh period band class and have Devin Pickering as a band teacher for at least six months.
To recruit the student participants, I completed two observations before Devin invited me
to speak to the students about the study and invite them to participate. The students listened
intently and I could feel their eyes on me while I spoke. Several hands went up while I described
the study, and the questions they asked were thoughtful indeed. One student probed into how
exactly I was going to use the data collected to find the answer to my research questions, and
another asked how I decided on my topic. A clarinetist in the front row was curious to know if
the university helped me with my project as I worked on it, and if so, how. Devin stood in the
back row encouraging them to ask questions, which took about 10-12 minutes to field.
Two weeks later, the focus group interviews began and were held during the class period.
On May 23rd, I held the first and second focus group sessions. The student participants included
four freshmen, one sophomore, and two seniors (the only two seniors in the band class). Curtis
was the most verbose and forthcoming individual out of both focus groups, while Cheryl was the
shyest and did not become comfortable with answering questions until about halfway through the
focus group. Nina, Martha, Lillie, and Amos all provided thoughtful answers but occasionally
struggled to find the right words to express themselves. In general, the Potter Central students
were open with their answers and provided honest responses during both focus group sessions.
They listened to what others said, responded to them, laughed together, and did not limit their
answers. After each focus group session, students were invited to privately answer questions
from a questionnaire. Curtis, Lillie, Martha, and Amos each chose to answer two questions from
the optional questionnaire. Lillie sounded nervous and seemed to second guess herself while

55
answering the questions, but this did not limit her content. Martha and Amos each told vivid
stories about their teacher. Their inflection and tone of voice was warm and at times filled with
laughter as they recounted their teacher fondly. Curtis composed his answers with elaborate
detail. Each of his responses were thick with reflection and admiration for his director.
Context of The McDonald Academy
Community. The Huntington Beach Union High School District (HBUHSD) is a public-
school district overseeing only 11 sites for students in grades 9-12. The district enrolled about
16,100 students per year. 38% self-identified as White, 27.4% as Hispanic or Latino, and 26.3%
as Asian throughout the district. HBUHSD displays contrasting demographics from LAUSD
with a higher population of Caucasian students, and a higher median household income at
$72,364/year compared to LAUSD with $56,891/year (California Department of Education,
2018). Unlike LAUSD, the data listed above are more likely to be consistent from one school to
the next due to size of the district. The following descriptions of different contexts at McDonald
Academy come from field notes taken upon my initial visit.
McDonald Academy. I drove up to McDonald Academy one morning and if I had not
known I was approaching the beach from the map, I would have been able to tell from the
smell of the sea air and marine layer seen overhead. I saw the school sign from a half
mile away and turned into a very large school parking lot with freshly painted lines on the
black asphalt. It took me a minute to realize I had turned too soon and found myself in
the student parking lot, which was filled with cars. I continued driving down to the
opposite end of the school where I finally parked in a visitor parking spot and turned to
face the school. Three one-story buildings were sprawled out next to the student and
teacher parking lot in a style of construction that I had only seen in new school buildings.

56
Each building had a green metal roof and green tile trim along the clean, white rock
siding. Across the street from the school was a large park that was surrounded by
residential areas filled with middle to upper middle class one- and two-story manicured
homes. I walked up the steps, opened the gleaming glass door, and stepped into the
administration building.
Apart from the outside of the building visible from the parking lot, the rest of the
administration building had large glass windows that let light stream inside and allowed
anyone to see the center of campus and the wide, pristine courtyard lined with healthy
large trees. The administration building had green leather furniture in the alcove which
turned into an expansive open-floorplan with several white desks behind which office
staff sat. Along the walls were conference rooms labeled with cute names like the Dory
Room, with a picture of Dory the fish from the movie Finding Nemo. For two of the
focus groups I was allowed to use two of these conference rooms. I approached one of
the white desks and a friendly woman with blonde hair ushered me over to an iPad where
I signed in, alerted Hope Gardner of my arrival, and received a guest badge. The woman
then told me how to reach the band room. I turned to the left and walked down the
hallway passing offices for the vice principal, principal, two conference rooms, two water
fountains, and many plaques of previous students who received specific awards before
exiting the administration building and stepping into the courtyard.
Outside three students caught my eye playing guitar under a tree, and an adult
helping a high school student ride a tricycle on the sidewalk near the parking lot. In about
20 steps, I pulled open the door to a building where the visual and performing arts
(VAPA), and the special education connection (SEC) program was housed. So far, every

57
building and area of the school I had seen was spotless. The walls glistened with off-
white glossy paint that contrasted with the deep green lockers. Up to this point, I had not
seen a single piece of trash on the floor, paper signs on walls, graffiti, or anything else to
clutter or distract. I turned right and passed some practice rooms to the right before
arriving at the band director office that was labeled Band Office. (Field notes, May 8,
2018)
The rehearsal space. The description of the rehearsal space at McDonald Academy was
written in reference to my field notes.
The band office was large enough to fit two desks, each about five feet wide, and
a separate corner computer desk with a music technology setup (including an electronic
keyboard plugin). Hope’s desk was organized with several stacks of papers, music scores,
framed photos, and design catalogs that each had their own place. The entire perimeter of
wall space was covered in framed formal band panoramas from years past, and a framed
original of the school song signed by the composer. The office had two doors, one to the
hallway and another that entered the band rehearsal space.
Three of the Potter Central double portable buildings would have been needed to
fill the McDonald band room, and that would not include the office, band library, or
music technology lab. The band room had beige carpeting and the back wall was covered
in Wenger brand band lockers of varying sizes that stood about six feet high. Students of
the band used the lockers for their instrument storage, as well as for storage of
instruments that were not being used at present. Atop the lockers sat other various
percussion equipment where it was stored. The wall opposite the office door was being
used as a location to store all props from the marching band show, and was “roped” off

58
by fabric of some kind. The middle of the expansive band room was sunken. From the
office, there were two stairs and a sloped walkway that lead to the podium placed about
six feet in front of two white boards and a large cabinet. The podium station was where
Hope Gardner set up her music scores for rehearsal on a music stand, and on a larger
stand to the right of the podium sat an electronic keyboard that was hooked into the
cabinet speakers. Before rehearsals Hope would approach the cabinet to make sure the
system and speakers were on so that the keyboard could be used for tuning, playing
chords or sections of music for the students, or a metronome.
The white boards were neatly organized with Hope’s private contact information,
dates of upcoming events, notes from previous classes, repertoire for the spring concert,
and other useful information written in assorted colors. All the Wenger brand chairs and
music stands were stacked and racked against a wall near the cabinet, and so the entire
floor of the band room was clear until students entered for class. Each student would pick
up a chair and music stand and place it in their assigned location on the floor or on one of
the other two steps that served as risers and circled the room in a semi-circle from the
office to the marching band props. The room had an obvious purpose as a band room
because of the band lockers, acoustics, sound dampening panels on the walls, electrical
cabinet for music technology use, and built-in risers. (Field notes, May 8, 2018)
The music program. The McDonald Academy was one of several high schools within a
high school district. Students had a choice in which school to attend and so the band at
McDonald Academy consisted of students from different middle schools. At the time of this
study, the music program was fairly small and consisted of winds, percussion, and color guard
members who participated in marching band, jazz band, AP music theory, and concert wind

59
ensemble. During the fall semester, all wind and percussion students met together as a marching
band, and during the spring the same students became the concert wind ensemble. Not all winds
and percussion members were able to keep concert wind ensemble in their schedule during the
spring semester, and so Hope conducted after school rehearsals with the winds and percussion so
that the music could be rehearsed with the full instrumentation.
The concert wind ensemble class that met on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from
11-12pm or 10:30-12pm depending on the schedule was the only class that participated in this
study for observations and focus groups. There were about 25 students enrolled in the class
during the time of the study and most them were freshmen and sophomores. The band had been
rehearsing a wide range of repertoire for their upcoming spring concert, which took place the
Friday after the last observation. During the study, I observed the band class rehearse the
following pieces: a grade 2 piece, Yorkshire Ballad; several grade-3 pieces, Imaginarium,
Bourrée, Appalachian Carol Festival, and With Quiet Courage; and a grade 5 piece, Country
Gardens. The list on the board of pieces the band planned on performing for the spring concert
included a couple more pieces than I observed them rehearsing. The main two pieces that student
conductors would practice conducting were Country Gardens and Yorkshire Ballad.
Hope mentioned that the spring concert would include the band playing many pieces, as
well as student conductors conducting pieces. About two weeks before the spring concert the
jazz band had an end-of-year concert in the evening. The band members and their families were
invited to attend a band banquet one weekend where the McDonald band program could
celebrate their year and accomplishments. During the school day rehearsals would be held for
award ceremonies in preparation for the upcoming senior graduation. While many of the students
were not seniors, there were a handful of band students receiving awards and so this did affect

60
the rehearsals. Much of the activities for the band program at the end of the school year were
preparing the students and their families for the upcoming loss of Hope Gardner, who had taken
a new high school band director position that would allow her and her husband much less of a
commute to their respective work places. The parents and students seemed to accept and
understand the change, but also said they would miss Hope Gardner.
The McDonald Academy Participants
Hope Gardner, Teacher. Hope Gardner was completing her second year at this school
at the time of this study. She began her musical career as a vocalist, later joining drum corps as
an instrumentalist. Hope had taught high school band for more than 10 years and exuded passion
in rehearsals. On the first day of the study at McDonald I walked into the band office to see a
petite woman with black hair leaning over a desk and thoughtfully shifting around papers. I
greeted her, and when she looked up smiling I was pleased to be greeted by her playful, kind
eyes and vibrant energy. These qualities were characteristic of all my interactions with Hope, as
well as expressive use of language, conducting, and singing. Hope is of Hispanic descent and
grew up in a family fully supportive and encouraging of musical engagement. She loved to tell
her students about her son, as she is a proud working mother and wife.
Gabriel, Angie, Megan, Craig, Trenton, Derek, Emma, Deanna, Quinton, Johnny,
and Lori; Students. All students in the class participated in observations during the study and
were invited to participate in focus group interviews. To participate in the study, students were
required to be enrolled in the concert wind ensemble class and to have had Hope Gardner as a
band teacher for at least six months. In total, 13 students completed a youth assent form
(Appendix B) and participated in the focus groups. See Table 3 for the descriptive information of
student participants at The McDonald Academy.

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Table 3
Descriptive Information of Focus Group Participants at The McDonald Academy
Name Focus Group Year in School Number of Years with
Band Teacher
Instrument
Gabriel One Sophomore Two Clarinet
Angie One Sophomore Two Clarinet/Oboe
Megan One Freshmen One Clarinet/Marimba
Craig One Sophomore Two Alto Sax
Trenton Two Sophomore Two Trombone
Derek Two Freshmen One French Horn
Emma Two Freshmen One Tenor Sax
Deanna Three Sophomore Two Flute
Quinton Three Freshmen One Tenor Sax
Johnny Three Senior Two Trumpet
Lori Three Sophomore Two Trombone

I completed one observation before Ms. Gardner invited me to speak to the class about
the study and invite students to participate. My first impression of the students was that they
were very difficult to read, as they were very quiet. Near the end of introducing the study and
myself to the students, I asked if anyone had questions and only one student asked one question
inquiring about my favorite conductor. Four weeks later, the focus group interviews were held
during the class period. On June 4
th,
I held the first focus group session, and June 5
th
the second
and third focus group sessions. Three focus group sessions were necessary to accommodate all
student participants interested. The student participants included four freshmen, six sophomores,
and one senior. Megan, Trenton, Derek, Quinton, and Johnny responded with ease and were
most communicative by including detail into their answers. Lori, Emma, Angie, and Craig were
quieter and somewhat shy. The two individuals who seemed to spend the most time with their
band director were Gabriel and Johnny, who managed to paint a more vivid picture of their
relationships with her. After each focus group session, students were invited to privately answer
questions from a questionnaire. Craig, Gabriel, Derek, Trenton, Lori, Johnny, Micah, and

62
Deanna chose to answer one or more questions from the optional questionnaire. Craig and
Trenton’s answers reflected a concern for themselves above all else, while Gabriel and Johnny
spoke openly about their relationship with Hope. Micah and Derek’s answers were somewhat
circular, where they described liking and disliking one of their teacher’s actions. Lori answered
the questions quietly and honestly with brief, but powerful statements.
Data Analysis
Transcripts. The day after collecting data at each site I would review my notes to reflect
upon what had happened. I made notes and added questions that seemed relevant for the next
visit. I found this process of taking field notes and reflection to help ensure quality of
information received. Once data collection had concluded, I listened to all interviews and
questionnaire audiotapes. I used the computer program called Transcribe to transcribe the
audiotapes. Audio files were uploaded into Transcribe where I could decipher all words, and I
could slow the recordings to a speed feasible for typing the words at the rate they were spoken.
Sometimes I would pause the recordings to add a time stamp or other distinguishing information.
Through this process all interviews and questionnaires were transcribed in their raw version.
In the planning stages of this study, I created an observation protocol to be used when
watching the videos. The observation protocol incorporated a rubric and questions based on three
areas of the leader authenticity framework: salience of self over role, non-manipulation of
subordinates, and accountability (Henderson & Hoy, 1983). When I began to use the observation
protocol, however, I found that it did not function the way I had hoped. This tool was designed
under the original belief that I would see shades of authenticity in the data, when in fact I found
authenticity to either be present or not during fieldwork. Rather than a central tool for
observation data collection, the process of creating this tool had already helped train my eye to

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identify qualities of authenticity in action that are consistent with dimensions of Henderson and
Hoy’s (1983) leader authenticity framework. There was previously no rich description of aspects
of the leader authenticity framework, and this process provided a grounding in the elements of
the framework to apply them to the observations. I set the protocol aside and, grounded in the
knowledge and understanding that the creation of it had provided, I watched the videos and
further detailed in an Excel spreadsheet everything that occurred, from teacher-student reactions
to whether the performance improved or not. This process increased my learning and confidence
when coding the observation videos.
Interview coding and preliminary themes. Answers to the research questions were
found through analyzing the data from observations, interviews, focus group responses, and
questionnaires. Observation field notes, interview, and questionnaire transcripts were analyzed
using ATLAS.ti qualitative data software, as well as the theoretical framework of leader
authenticity (Henderson & Hoy, 1983). Data analysis included reading and memoing, identifying
themes within the data, and coding in the form of emergent themes based on the research
questions. Creswell (2014) describes qualitative data analysis as frequentative, where data is read
and analyzed several times to develop deeper meaning. As is typical in qualitative research
(Creswell, 2014), the data collected and analyzed for this study was messy and reviewed for
analysis many times. The sequence of events for analyzing data was anything but linear.
ATLAS.ti qualitative data software allows for individual words, phrases, or entire
sentences to be highlighted and codes assigned by the researcher. During each review of the
interview, focus group, and questionnaire transcripts I would slowly read through and highlight
keywords, important phrases, or interesting passages and then assign a variety of codes. Several
reviews were required to reach saturation, where no new codes were identified within the

64
documents, and then the code names were reviewed and grouped by similar topic. By grouping
codes into similar topics, the emergent themes were found because this process whittled the
codes down into fewer than five categories. The themes were not finalized at this stage, however,
because the observation videos offered more data to sift through.
Observation coding and preliminary themes. After reviewing coding for the interview
and questionnaire transcripts approximately four times, the emergent themes were set aside to
focus on the coding of the full observation videos. Each video was viewed twice. I used a new
sheet in an Excel spreadsheet for each video. The spreadsheet for each video included the
following column headings: school, observation, time, observed, thoughts, keywords, and type of
interaction. The observed section contained most of the detailed information of every interaction
or occurrence. Each row in the spreadsheet allowed for 1-5 minutes’ worth of notes. Keywords
were included to help searching afterward, as well as contribute to coding or theme immersion.
Tracking the type of interaction allowed for searching after the fact based on teacher-student,
student-student, teacher-group, or teacher-teacher interaction. Thoughts were added once each
video had been reviewed twice and allowed me to note any deeper thoughts about a segment.
The combination of the thoughts, type of interaction, and keywords helped break down the
observations videos into a variety of codes.
Interview and observation emergent themes. Once I had completed preliminary coding
for the observations, I created another Excel spreadsheet document to collect the observation
video codes from both sites. I began a cross-case analysis of similarities and the differences. The
interview and questionnaire emergent themes from Atlas.ti were looked at alongside the
observation video emergent themes and answers to research question 1 and 2 began to take
shape. Alignment was seen between the interview and questionnaire emergent themes, and the

65
observation video emergent themes. Analysis using data, “ranging from speech and actions to
participant’ embodied expressions, such as gestures and gaze,” (p. 300) is described by Conway
and Tobias (2014) as multimodal analysis, or a multimodal paradigm, which was used in this
study. The emergent themes and their examples for research questions one and two are found in
Chapter 4.
Trustworthiness of Data
Creswell (2013; 2014) explained that trustworthiness of data is necessary to enhance
accuracy of the study and increase the strength and validity of data collection methods.
Qualitative research benefits from methods of triangulation when at least two measures are used.
Some examples of measures capable of establishing trustworthiness of data are member
checking, external audit, clarifying researcher bias, debriefing, and rich, thick description of the
participants and setting under study (Creswell, 2014). Three measures established
trustworthiness of data through triangulation for this study: clarifying researcher bias, peer
debriefing, and rich, thick description of the participants and setting under study. Throughout this
document, efforts have been made to clarify the assumptions, biases, and the position of the
researcher through ongoing reflection and transparency (Creswell, 2014). One example of this is
the detailed account above of the researcher’s interactions prior to the study with both teacher
participants. A peer advisor acted as the peer “debriefer” throughout the research process by
asking the hard questions about the method, meanings, and interpretations to keep the researcher
honest (Creswell, 2013). Lastly, detailed description of the participants and setting under study
was employed earlier in this chapter to allow the reader to determine transferability of findings.

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Human Subjects Protection
The study protocol was approved by the University of Southern California University
Park Institutional Review Board (UPIRB). Written informed consent was obtained from all study
participants prior to data collection. IRB approval (Appendix D) was granted in April 2018.
Summary
This chapter presented the qualitative research design and methods used in the current
study. Data were collected through teacher interviews, focus groups with students, student
questionnaires, field notes, and observations that, collectively, provided perspective and insight
into authenticity and the relationships between the teachers and their students. The research
settings of Potter Central High School and The McDonald Academy were described in detail to
provide readers with context and demographic information for the community, school, rehearsal
space, band program, teacher, and students. The data analysis process was multimodal, messy,
and resulted in emergent themes for both research questions. Trustworthiness was established
through three methods of triangulation, and the study was approved by UPIRB for the protection
of human subjects.

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Chapter 4 FINDINGS
The purpose of this study was to interrogate what authenticity looks like in practice with
two high school band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school band
students. After briefly revisiting the processes and contexts of data analysis, findings for each of
the research questions are presented as a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon found in the
two cases. The findings in this chapter address teacher authenticity, then teacher-student
relationships and lastly, the findings in relationship to leader authenticity. The chapter concludes
with a summary of findings for the research questions.
Review of Data Analysis
The data for this qualitative research study consisted of transcriptions of field notes,
teacher interviews, student interviews, and video observations. The data for each case were
looked at individually and then collectively so that similarities and differences could be seen.
The cyclical process used for reviewing the data allowed for many reviews of the coding,
similarities, differences, and anomalies, and culminated with common ideas and emergent
themes surfacing (Creswell, 2013; 2014).
Themes from the interview transcripts were read alongside the notes and categories from
the observations at each school to identify areas of alignment. This alignment procedure
suggested that the observation and interview data supported one another. The two cases were
then compared, and similarities were found in research question 1 and 2 with more nuance and
differences reported for research question 2. The findings presented here are a result of this
qualitative analysis.

68
Research Question 1.
How does teacher authenticity manifest in practice in these two cases?
Authenticity can be understood as acting consistent with who you hold yourself out to be
in the world (Erhardt et al, 2018). In other words, it is having your words and actions match who
you say you are. Authenticity is not something we can easily claim for ourselves because what
others see in our actions is a more accurate view than what we think we did, when it comes to
authenticity. For this reason, authenticity is best assessed by someone else (Peterson & Seligman,
2004). As a first step in exploring how authenticity manifests in practice for each teacher in this
study, the teachers and their values must first be introduced so we can see how this aligns with
their actions in the classroom and with others, as well as how their students see them. While
multifaceted, the core of what each teacher values can be heard here.
Devin Pickering, Potter Central High School
…we are judged by certain types of statistics… and the statistics of this community, say
that we have a high rate of violence, we have a high homicide rate, there's a lot of
prostitution, there's a lot of drug use, there's a lot of drug abuse, there's a lot of domestic
violence happening in this community. Now there are situations where you might have a
school that has a good music program that will exist inside a community such as this. But
how does that music program make a difference in the statistics that speak to this
community? That's where we look to make a difference… That's why we look to involve
businesses and people that can help surround these kids so that they feel that what they do
isn't just about me and them but it's about a bigger picture. And so, I believe that the
community is the way to make a difference globally… You know, if we can't fix the

69
room, we can't fix the school, we can't fix the community, and we can't change the world
if we can't fix the room. (Interview, May 22, 2018)
From Devin’s words, we understand that he values the opportunity to impact the
community positively, and that he believes this process begins with his students believing that
they are part of something bigger than themselves. These notions were witnessed by his students
when Devin was always the first to volunteer and help students achieve a goal, even if help was
needed outside of school hours. Devin is clear and direct about his goals, and this aligned with
his students saying that he is direct and clear in his communication with them.
Hope Gardner, The McDonald Academy
[The band teacher’s] sense of the way we approach anything is the way we approach
everything, like that will be reflected in your band. And where are your eyes? What are
you looking at? The administrative building can't be the most important part and the
trophies can't be the most important and our colleagues’ opinions of us can't be the most
important part. The kids HAVE to be what matters the most… (Interview, May 17, 2018)
I like having the amount of time to spend with them that I do because I really get to know
them and establish a personal relationship- that's pretty special. And there's really no
other job on campus where that's available to a teacher. [Sighs.] So, yeah. I mean, I love
the music but if it wasn't for the personal relationships...if it wasn't for the qualities of the
job, I don't think I would have chosen it. (Interview, May 17, 2018)
Hope’s words tell us that she knows students take her cues clearly in that how she
addresses small things is really a reflection of her views and values. Hope is truly interested and
committed to connecting with students. The students saw these elements and commented on how
she truly cares and makes a noticeable effort to make a connection with every student, as is

70
presented later in this chapter. There is clear evidence that the teacher’s values were consistent
with the students’ views of her.
The two statements above from Hope and Devin, as well as observations, provided an
initial sense of what each teacher values in relation to teaching and their students. A more
thorough picture of teacher authenticity for the two cases is presented in detail at the end of this
chapter. The next step in seeing how authenticity manifested in practice was to compare the
stated values of each teacher with data from observations and the views of the students.
The teachers brought their sense of self and their beliefs and practices to their teaching in
different ways, thereby having authenticity be present. Analysis of the data examining
authenticity manifesting in practice resulted in four primary themes that were identified by
frequency and impact on students: actions to have one be heard and known, the crux of teacher-
student relationships, effective pedagogical choices, and teacher-in-the-trenches moments. See
Table 4 for the emerging themes and subthemes for research question 1. Each theme in this
section is supported by many different instances of how authenticity manifests in practice, on the
ground, and in action, including moments in the classroom, in interviews, and observations. All
four themes were present at both school sites with abundance and, therefore, are combined in the
examples below.

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Table 4
Research Question 1: Emerging Themes and Subthemes
Themes Subthemes
Actions to have one be known and heard Hearing and knowing students

Hearing and knowing teachers

The crux of teacher-student interactions Delivering honest feedback
Directives and dialogue for student success
Effective pedagogical choices

“Teacher-in-the-trenches” moments Classroom management reactions

Potter Central rehearsal 5: The circular train wreck
Expressing concert day stress

Actions to Have One be Heard and Known
Interactions between teachers and their students look many ways, and yet there was a
common underlying element in so many of the interactions. The following illustrations describe
how teachers learn about their students and share about themselves in a way that has the other
feel heard and known. Students cannot help but be impacted by the class environment
established by the teacher and learn quite a bit about their teacher in the process. However, even
more important is how the learning environment allows students to express and learn about
themselves through interactions with others. The actions that have people know each other are
one way authenticity manifests in practice.
Hearing and knowing students. Hope valued her student’s journey of discovering who
they are as people, which she demonstrated at McDonald through her ongoing support of
students. The experience of having a band teacher who is herself and encourages students to be
themselves at McDonald has contributed to feelings of acceptance for some. Johnny explained
what it was like to feel accepted by his band teacher:
…going [into] this year to be more open to her and to be more expressive and she
accepted me for that. I was really shocked when I started acting towards myself like my

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personal self. She just played along with it. That really like hit me… I don't have
relationships where I can truly, like, truly be myself like in my job or out on the track, on
the field, and just to be myself- to finally unmask who I really am... that's probably one of
the most greatest feelings I've ever had in the world. (Focus group, June 5, 2018)
Hearing a student express feelings such as these is high praise for many teachers and begs the
inquiry into what the band teacher is doing to have this result. The clearest answer discovered in
practice points to actions that have their students feel heard and known outside and inside of the
classroom.
While some teachers may limit interactions with students to inside the classroom, Devin
and Hope actively engaged in the personal lives of students out of school. They value getting to
know more about students’ lives than is possible inside the band room and learn who their
students, and their families, are, as well as what they choose to do. Hope explained the difference
she sees in one student inside and outside of school:
I have one student who, I mean, I never know who is going to show up that day and is he
reliable or is he not reliable today? And in this classroom, he does not wish to be a leader.
He doesn't wish to stand out and his ability would put him there very easily but he doesn't
want it. But as soon as we get him outside and it's time to load a truck, he is silent and
fast and just so good at that. So, it's… we have to recognize who he is and if that's the
relationship that I need to have with him, just that knowledge of the distinction, then
that's what I get. (Interview, May 21, 2018)
Hope provided the student with an opportunity to contribute to the band outside of school and
allowed him to shine and be accepted the way he is. In a similar way, Devin got considerable
value from the out-of-class interactions with his students and went out of his way to attend as

73
many christenings, confirmations, and Quinceañera’s as he could to show them he cares
(interview, May 22, 2018). For Devin, the experiences outside of school provided a deeper
understanding of the beliefs and experiences in his students’ personal lives.
Moments inside the band class contributed to students experiencing being known by
others. Hope and Devin peeked into their students’ lives by breaking up rehearsals with moments
of conversation that were not music related. During one rehearsal, Hope put down her baton and
asked students if their parents ever told them what their first word was. The students laughed at
some of the first words, like “Lellow”, “Baboo”, and “Melee”, and students pounced at the
opportunity to explain what melee meant when Hope expressed confusion (observation, May 17,
2018). These moments in the classroom that Hope created intentionally, helped her to know her
students, and for them to know each other.
Another mechanism used by the band teachers to further being known was encouraging
students to reflect upon their own playing by offering suggestions and thoughts. Devin often
asked at the end of rehearsals for students to reflect on their playing (observation, May 9, 2018).
Students got to share with classmates their own ideas of ways they could improve, as well as tips
for how they could stay interested in their music. Hope similarly asked for suggestions about
how students could improve their conducting or playing and was patient with them as they came
up with responses (observation, May 24, 2018). Encouraging students to have a voice by
prompting reflection and problem solving allowed teachers the opportunity to hear from their
students while modeling the importance of good listening skills.
Certain moments in rehearsal allowed students to be vulnerable, allowing areas where
they are less comfortable to be known, too. The band teachers recognized and honored this
student vulnerability. After Curtis’s first playing test at Potter Central where he was visibly

74
shaking from nerves, Devin told him, “You are a Ferrari,” and explained that Curtis had taken
one deep breath and played through the entire passage in one go, and how it was important for
anybody to go full heartedly into anything that they do. Curtis said this feedback inspired him,
“to continue to play music and um push [himself] out of [his] comfort zone (focus group, May
23, 2018).” Devin’s comment to Curtis made a positive impact by offering motivation and
support for the new musician, and helped build a connection between them.
Hearing and knowing teachers. Students paid attention to the demeanor of their band
teacher daily and this contributed to their opinions. Positive characteristics of their band teachers
mentioned by students at Potter Central and McDonald were: can talk about anything; genuine;
open; perceptive; understanding; reliable; trustworthy; easy to work with; easy going; and caring.
Amos said about Devin, “The way I feel about my band teacher can be summed up as ‘a lot of
love’, and within love there is always respect… He has always been understanding, respectful,
and he’s always been there to help (focus group, May 23, 2018)”.
At each school, the students’ faces and demeanor would light up whenever their teacher
played their instrument or sing. This reaction to a teacher playing can have such a positive
impact, as I have seen when I played for my students in my own band classes. I especially
remember this impact in the moments when my band teacher would belt out a phrase to show his
passion for the music and that he was trying to connect with us. Anytime Devin played his
trumpet for the class the students instantly became engaged. In one rehearsal, Devin played the
trumpet solo with the band and those playing the accompaniment improved dramatically
(observation, May 9, 2018). During another rehearsal, Hope was working on a section of music
to get individuals to match articulation. Hope turned to a student and sang his part on pitch using
the words, “Trenton can you bring that out even more- that’s awesome!” The student

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immediately sang back to her, “Yes, I can! (observation, May 17, 2018)” It became evident over
time that the students were getting to know their teacher musically, see their passion for music
making, and unapologetically be themselves through music.
Devin and Hope would share about their lives outside of class by telling stories to their
students. Devin said he speaks with his students about his relationship with his collegiate
conductor and his experiences in college (interview, May 22, 2018). Hope said she enjoys telling
her students about Master Chorale, her son, and travel experiences she had in drum corps, but
that her students listen so quietly she did not know if they enjoy hearing the stories (interview,
May 17, 2018). Hope’s students said that when their teacher shared it makes them feel less
uncomfortable, closer to her, and like their band is a family. “…She's like sharing something
personal about herself and we feel like we can share something personal about us if we need to,”
said Gabriel (focus group, June 4, 2018). Students learned about their teachers lives and gained
the opportunity to identify with them through these shared stories.
In showing students the importance of valuing feedback from visitors and their students,
teachers allowed themselves to be known in the classroom. After a visit from a clinician at
McDonald, Hope discussed the comments with students while continuously pointing out the
value of hearing different opinions (observation, May 8, 2018). Hope was teaching students what
is important to her about welcoming feedback and valuing everything as a contribution. When a
past student visited Potter Central one day, Devin welcomed and engaged with her feedback
during rehearsal (observation, May 9, 2018). Devin outwardly values the community and others
in his band program and demonstrated this by asking for feedback from a past student. Curtis, a
student in the band, further explained the impact of knowing Devin’s openness to student
feedback in saying, “I feel like it has led our relationship to get to the point where, um, I can be

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completely transparent with him, and come to him with any problems that I might be having, and
he will always be there to listen and offer his advice” (focus group, May 23, 2018). Curtis’s
words speak to a reciprocity when the students hear and know their teacher. The students, then,
are more comfortable expressing, speaking, and being known by their teacher.
Summary. Authenticity was demonstrated in the band classrooms at both sites through
actions to have one be heard and known. Effort was required for both teachers and students to
feel as though the other hears and knows them. Sharing stories about their lives and being
vulnerable through performance and communication contributed to students knowing their
teachers. Learning about their students, noticing when they were feeling vulnerable, and
modeling for students how to be themselves was helpful for teachers to know their students.
The Crux of Teacher-Student Interactions
Interactions between teachers and students are very common in music classrooms and the
interactions observed in this study were full of authenticity, and showed how authenticity
manifested in practice. While one-on-one interactions were most common, there are many ways
the teachers demonstrated authenticity in a group setting, too. The interactions can best be
captured in two subcategories due to their overwhelming presence and impact: delivering honest
feedback, and directives and dialogue.
Delivering honest feedback. The feedback that the two teachers provided was direct,
intentional, accurate, and persistent. As seen in this section, Devin and Hope frequently
displayed honesty with students when looking closely at what and how something was
communicated. I know from my own teaching and performing that this distinction is critical in
learning musical skills because students learn through a regular cycle of performing a musical
segment, followed by teacher feedback, and more musical performance as students strive to

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incorporate the feedback. Even as I, myself, performed in a major orchestra, honest and
constructive feedback was critical since the players knew instinctively when the conductor was
being genuine or quickly moving through a passage without addressing important details.
What teachers say to students in class directly impacts students’ ability to improve, and
their perception of one another. Devin said his experiences working with the Boys and Girls
Club in college taught him to value the impact of honesty on others (interview, May 22, 2018).
This value of honesty is seen in practice when Devin regularly told his students exactly what he
thought of their playing, even if it was that they sounded as if they have not played the piece in a
while knowing that they played it just the day before. Nina says, “Like most teachers will, of
course, sugar coat it and they'll just tell you things that will try to push you on but really won't”
(focus group, May 23, 2018). Devin’s students were perceptive and could clearly distinguish
between fake and honest feedback from teachers, and this impacted their motivation and view of
their teacher whose values aligned with his in-class behavior.
There is always a choice to be made in how to communicate with others. While the
teachers provided incredibly honest and direct feedback, it was often in the delivery that their
authenticity manifested. In the moment after a student behaved in a way that was inappropriate
or disrespectful the teacher made a choice in how to react. At the beginning of one band
rehearsal at Potter Central, Devin noticed a student sitting on a small equipment cart used for
transporting percussion instruments. Devin’s reaction was to calmly point out to the student that
the equipment is used to transport small things, not big things like humans, and then pointed out
that he (the student) is a big thing. As Devin smiled at the student, the student rose and
apologized with wide eyes and a downward gaze (observation, May 11, 2018). Devin could have
yelled at the student for being disrespectful of the expensive equipment, though he chose to

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respond in a way that aligned with his larger goal of cultivating respect and pride in his
classroom. Devin chose to teach the student why the behavior was inappropriate using a calm
manner, leaving the student better informed and full of respect for his band teacher and the
equipment. In my experience, Devin’s reaction to the student is not as common one might think
since emotions can run high when expensive equipment is involved and strong reactions can
ensue.
Delivering praise to students for playing well in class or at a performance was one way
the teachers showed honest appreciation. I remember many times when I have observed a teacher
deliver an insincere compliment to a student, and watched as students looked away or reacted in
a way that showed they knew it was not truly meant. Devin values hard work and recognition,
and so he wanted his students to work hard and to own their accomplishments whether large or
small. Speaking directly to approximately five drumline students during one rehearsal, he
stopped and commended them for the dramatic improvement in the rhythms they were playing.
The five female students had been working independently after school for months on a special
drum cadence and then performed it in a school assembly earlier that morning. The students were
very quiet while Devin spoke to them about their performance, taking in every single word. They
realized their accomplishment and beamed with pride while smiling and listening intently with
their eyes on their teacher (observation, May 1, 2018). This moment was not glossed over by the
band teacher because he valued the details of playing rhythms correctly and wanted to make sure
the students owned their accomplishment.
Praise for students may not happen often during every rehearsal, yet feedback does.
During most rehearsals, the teacher delivered quick and consistent feedback to different sections
of the band showing students the teacher was always listening to their playing. The teachers

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truthfully told students what he or she heard before offering constructive feedback to better their
playing. Below is one example of how quick, consistent feedback was delivered during a band
rehearsal at McDonald Academy over the course of five minutes.
They play the section at quarter note=160 and it is much messier. The students butcher
one measure… Hope stares at the score silently and thinks. She asks two instrument
groups to play a little louder in one measure. They repeat the section again and there is
slight improvement. She has them bop the section three times. She asks them to
coordinate the timing of their fingers and tongues. They repeat the section three times.
She says it is getting better. They repeat the section two more times. She says it is still
rough. They repeat the section three more times. She says it is better. They repeat the
section four times. She says the tuba player needs to push it forward. They repeat the
section two more times. She compliments the tuba player. They repeat the section two
times. She has the tuba play it slowly because he is playing wrong notes. The tuba very
slowly works through the notes, picks up his pencil and writes several notes in his
music… (Observation, May 14, 2018)
Hope’s ongoing focus on delivering honest feedback to students helped the group improve their
playing quickly by helping individuals and instrument groups understand the areas of
improvement, and is another way her authenticity manifested in practice.
While the previous examples describe a teacher coaching individual students in the
moment, some feedback aligned directly with Hope’s value of contributing to the bigger picture
of how students will interact in the world outside of band. Hope Gardner actively provided
feedback consistent with what she values and is committed to because this addresses her overall
goal for her students. Her student, Megan, explained that Hope never lies to them about how they

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did in performance. She said that Hope instead will tell them they did not do well and that it is an
opportunity to try harder next time and improve until then because they should always try their
best (focus group, June 5, 2018). For Hope, success must be a sliding scale, and particularly
when students and teachers are learning and developing new skills or trying new experiences.
I have a friend right now, and he’s a choral teacher but he’s a band director right now,
and he was telling me, “We went to festival and the kids were so bummed and we
couldn’t listen to the tapes and then I made them listen and they were so sad.” And I was
like, “DUDE! You taught them to listen to the judges. Who cares? Here’s the success.
The success is you got your butts on stage. The success is you stopped and started
together …” That’s the success, not what a bunch of people say about you. I dunno,
maybe I’m a failure denier. But it has to be a sliding scale. (Interview, May 17, 2018)
Hope’s goal was to have students learn how to be honest about their mistakes and improve, while
focusing on the successes along the way instead of the failures.
Directives and dialogue for student success. Devin and Hope both value their students
learning and one way this manifested was through creating procedures and practices to create an
environment supportive of student success. They used verbal and nonverbal directives to ensure
that the environment was conducive to students learning.
Many directives given by Hope and Devin were used to help student learning, whether
for a performance or setting up the room before rehearsal. On most days, Hope began rehearsal
with students warming up on their own. Once she had arranged her scores and made sure the
metronome was working, she would ask for students to finger through a passage in a piece
before playing. This provided them some time to put their music in place and focus in on what
they were about to play (observation, May 24, 2018). Similarly, Devin spent the beginning of the

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year instilling positive rehearsal habits in students, such as tuning as a section before rehearsal
starts, setting up the band room, and making announcements. During each of the rehearsals
observed in this study, the habits Devin had instilled in students were repeated at the beginning
of each class so when he entered the room the rehearsal could start (observation, May 2, 2018).
These habits were especially important this year because the classroom locations and schedule
were disrupted due to ongoing construction and starting on time every day was difficult. In spite
of the disruption, the students had developed a certain self-sufficiency that created structure and
workability for band classes.
The band teachers often worked with individuals closely and incorporated dialogue while
they honed the students’ conducting skills. During data collection, there were three instances of
student conductors being mentored at Potter Central and five instances at McDonald. As a
special note, I have viewed many high school band classrooms and have seldom witnessed band
teachers so committed to nurturing the conducting skills of students despite the many musical
rewards available for the students. That the teachers included student conducting can be seen as
a demonstration of their authenticity in practice, but equally of interest were the topics of
feedback each teacher chose to provide for their student conductors. Both Hope and Devin
worked with students often on conducting during rehearsals, and even had students conduct their
peers while standing on the podium and learning from their teacher how to give directives
themselves. Devin watched while one student conductor led the warmup during one rehearsal.
After the student gave the instruction to the band to darken their sound, Devin interjected by
asking the student how they would go about producing a darker sound on their instruments. The
student suggested the players could open their throat, use their diaphragm, and keep their heads
still while playing, and Devin nodded in agreement (observation, May 15, 2018). Devin was

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teaching the student conductor to be precise with his wording when asking students to make a
change in their performance.
Hope worked with student conductors regularly in rehearsals, teaching all her students
how to conduct various patterns, listen critically, and deliver constructive feedback. While
working with one student she asked him how he felt on the podium, and he replied that he was
nervous. Hope asked him if he felt exposed. When he answered yes, she explained that the
instrumentation was also exposed and contributed to his own feelings of exposure (observation,
May 8, 2018). Drawing the student conductor’s attention away from himself and onto the music
helped validate his feelings and connect him to something outside of himself in a way that
highlighted the group dynamic.
Summary. Authentic interactions between the teacher and students were best
characterized by delivering honest feedback, and delivering dialogue and directives for student
success. Students perceive honest feedback as any moment when the teacher was honest, even if
the feedback was not positive. Band teachers offered students support through dialogue and
directives to further student success and worked with them closely while they honed conducting
skills.
Effective Pedagogical Choices
A common procedure for any teacher is to diagnose what is happening in the classroom,
consider what to address first, and then choose which pedagogical methods to use. Authentic
teachers employ various tactics during rehearsals that are consistent with who they hold
themselves out to be in the world. Devin and Hope employed rigorous rehearsal methods, helped
students learn who they are, and reflected on their own actions during rehearsal. Through these
actions students saw that their learning mattered in the eyes of their band teachers. This section

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includes many examples of how authenticity was demonstrated first in a band rehearsal at the
classroom level, and then at the music program level.
In the classroom, Devin and Hope often applied effective, rigorous, rehearsal methods to
help improve the ensemble’s performance. Although rigorous rehearsal methods happened often
at both schools, one example from Potter Central occurred when the students were working on a
piece called March of the Belgian Paratroopers. The clarinet section had been having difficulty
playing the rhythm of the melody over several rehearsals and Devin had already tried to help
using a few different strategies.
He stops the clarinets and says they don't like that rhythm, and then sings what they
should play like. He sings the subdivision, asks them what he said, and the students all
sing the subdivision back to him. He asks them to keep going. The whole band is singing
the subdivision in a long section of music while Devin sings the melody over them. The
class is giggling, subdividing, and moving in their chairs while smiling. (Observation,
May 2, 2018)
Devin’s commitment to helping his students learn and improve their performance through use of
a very thorough method was present in this instance along with the element of fun so valued by
his students.
Just as a house cannot be built without a foundation, some lessons cannot be taught
without understanding certain concepts first. In one rehearsal, Hope could see a student losing
his sense of self because of nerves and used the ensemble to help him.
Hope calls up another student conductor and tells him to start at the top… The student
starts the piece and she stops him about halfway. The student finally relaxes after a few
seconds of not conducting and Hope says kindly and patiently, “There's Taylor!” She

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asks the group if Taylor isn't just the most comfortable person to be around. She points
out that his face gets super serious and kind of freaked out when he conducts. She says to
relax his face and be with the group as they play… She points out that a conductor
watches the ensemble and sees their habits- that their tuba player always brings his tuba
up as late as possible, that every time the first trumpet plays a specific part the third
trumpet player laughs- and to just have fun with it because they're having fun, too.
(Observation, May 24, 2018)
Hope deeply values her students’ confidence and emotional well-being and this was clear in her
pedagogical choices during rehearsal, as her authenticity manifested in practice.
Hope consistently kept her eyes on her students to see how they were acting and
behaving with others because she valued this aspect of their learning. There were many times
when Hope responded to how her students were feeling and addressed their needs. During one
rehearsal, Hope asked the band students if they wanted to take a lap outside before starting
rehearsal since she and the students seemed unfocused. They agreed enthusiastically and happily
joined her outside for a lap of the school (observation, May 17, 2018). During another rehearsal,
Hope could tell from the looks on her students’ faces that she had offered more feedback than
they could take in. After asking a student conductor to listen to individual players while
conducting, pay attention to changes in texture and instrumentation, and tell him watching
players’ fingers is not as helpful as listening, she apologized for talking too much (observation,
May 8, 2018). In this way, Hope tuned into the needs of her students.
The way a teacher chooses content for their programs - whether literature, performance
opportunities, or personnel for ensembles - also mirrors their values and beliefs. At Potter
Central, Devin made distinct pedagogical choices for the program overall that had direct effects

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on the students and teacher. One of Devin’s students explains how she views her band director
and how he makes decisions:
He very much does his own thing. Like from like other band directors that I've worked
with, that he's definitely his own thing, like his own entity… he's more like, "What do the
kids think about this?" rather than, "What does the book tell me to do?" (Focus group,
May 23, 2018)
The students at Potter Central were provided many musical opportunities not found at
other schools. Although the resources and funding are limited, Devin has managed to make
available to students a music technology lab and class where students can learn composition,
band classes during and after school for those who cannot fit band into their school schedules,
jazz band before and after school, and even a drumline, despite the lack of marching band. Devin
explains:
When I came to this school, music wasn't highly valued… this program didn't have a lot
of money. Funding was a big issue… at some point we didn't have a lot of opportunities
to perform. So, opportunities for quality performance opportunities… I mean, it just
didn't exist. So, what did that say to me? Create some quality performance opportunities.
(Interview, May 22, 2018)
The resources and funds were stretched tightly and used thoughtfully so every student benefitted
in the Potter Central band, one way authenticity is seen within the choices of the band director
for the program. In my experience, it is common for band directors to go above and beyond to
address the needs of the program and students as Devin does in this example, although it is less
common where funding is as limited as at Potter Central.

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Hope’s authenticity manifested in the pedagogical choices she made for the McDonald
program. McDonald Academy is a well-funded school and band program. While the funding
may not be a challenge, certain opportunities are difficult to execute with fewer than 30 students
in the high school band program. Before Hope, the band program offered students marching
band, concert band, music theory, and jazz band, but the level of involvement and expectation of
performance was very low. Hope immediately increased the intentions and expectations of
student involvement within the McDonald program upon her arrival. The roughly 30 students in
the high school band program suddenly participated in festivals for marching and concert band
where they would compete and go on road trips outside of the area, greatly increasing the
intensity of their rehearsals (interview, May 21, 2018). This provided valuable and rare
opportunities for the 30 students in Hope’s program since, in my experience, few band programs
of this size participate in as many activities as Hope managed this year. Hope described how her
beliefs shaped her actions for the program:
…that's part of my belief- that the activity of my job, and the intensity of my job, and the
creation of my job, can be shared with these students… fairness and justice [are]
different, you know, because it's just that they be taught how to move and play in a matter
that's uniform and contributes and it's a reward to them at the end that they're able to
achieve. So, fair maybe not, but um worth it. So, I wouldn't adjust that. (Interview, May
17, 2018)
Sharing with students the activity, intensity, and creation elements was how Hope chose the
elements that she included in the program.

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Hope’s intention for the program has influenced her students and their opinions of the
program itself. Band directors often make difficult choices and the students are not blind to them.
Micah’s comment below seems to reflect Hope’s belief about fairness and justice:
I feel like I would like to be Ms. Gardner in the sense that she is able to make like the
harder decisions and not really worry too much about who is going to feel... she doesn't
really take into account who is going to feel good about it, who is going to feel bad about
it. She just tries to make the right decisions for the band. (Focus group, June 5, 2018)
In the two years Hope was with the McDonald Academy band program the students experienced
dramatic pedagogical program changes in intent, expectation, and pride, and many drew
positively from the experience.
Summary. The choices teachers made concerning their programs were seen daily in a range of
ways, through what they teach in class to larger decisions for the program. Incorporating
rigorous rehearsal techniques, teaching students other musical skills, owning up to mistakes, and
being sensitive to the needs of students were all ways these two band teachers enhanced the
student experience inside the classroom. Students observed how their teachers made decisions
for the program, as well as how successful or unsuccessful they were. Viewing their teacher’s
success in difficult situations allowed students to observe perseverance through obstacles and in
alignment with what one values and believes.
“Teacher-in-the-Trenches” Moments
The previous themes and examples demonstrate manifestations of authenticity in positive
circumstances. These teachers experiment and teach with freedom. Their teaching is open and
engaged, and the students respond well in the classroom. However, this is not always how
teaching goes, and particularly with experimental and dynamic teaching styles. This last section

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reflects band teachers showing authenticity in moments when things are not going well or
rehearsal becomes distracted. These are, perhaps, the most memorable moments for teachers and
students. They were the most memorable moments for me as an observer because I was able to
witness two band teachers dealing with trying situations during rehearsal without losing any of
their integrity or deviating from their personal values. Devin and Hope handled situations in the
classroom in ways that align with their personal values and who they believe they are, even when
dealing with undesirable situations. The following three sections contain instances familiar to
many band directors: when nothing seems to be going well, whatever is said does not elicit the
desired result, or the students are unfocused and so the music sounds awful to begin with.
Classroom management reactions. There were moments when students were doing
things that they should not be doing, eliciting reprimand by their band teachers. At times, a
student’s off task behavior was so far outside what was acceptable that the teacher reacted
uncharacteristically and with varied degrees of emotion. Both Hope and Devin believed their
students should focus on the ensemble and less on their personal lives, and so moments when
their students became self-involved and distracted may upset the otherwise even-tempered band
directors. Despite the fluctuation in the teacher’s reactions to these situations, authenticity was
evident in these moments.
The patience of a band teacher does wear thin at times when a repeated, off-task behavior
persists. During one rehearsal, the trumpet section was not ready most of the time the teacher
was about to begin. Devin shared his frustration by raising his hands in the air and saying to the
band, “I’ll get four trumpet players one of these days! (observation, May 2, 2018)”. The words
were not trying to break the students down in any way but illustrate his commitment to the vision
of having players ready to play on time during rehearsal. Devin dealt with exactly what was

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happening in the moment, not having trumpet players ready to play, without insinuating anything
about the character of the individuals themselves. After rehearsal on a different day Devin had
the band stop playing so he could speak with a student he had not seen in rehearsal for three
days. The student was asked to meet him after class and Devin stressed how much the ensemble
needed him (observation, May 11, 2018). Even students with the best intentions make mistakes
that receive their teacher’s frustration.
At both school sites, off-task student behavior was most often met with a genuine
reaction by the teacher that reflects their history with the student, commitment to bettering
students, and maintaining a positive relationship with them. A trumpet player in the band at
Potter Central had the habit of texting or talking while Devin was giving instructions in band
rehearsal that had persisted all year. On one occasion, Devin raised his voice in utter disbelief
and frustration to the student, and even asked the student to take a picture of him making a stern
face and then send it to his mother to show her how upset the student’s texting made him
(observation, May 9, 2018). This creative way of dealing with the texting situation with this
student was noteworthy because Devin was looking for a way to jar the student into being more
productive in rehearsal by making the experience personal and perhaps embarrassing. The
importance of having all students engaged in the band class was evident in Devin’s action, also
bringing the student’s mother into the equation as a member of the band community. I have
personally never witnessed a teacher deal with a student’s off-task behavior in this way and
found it to be subtly effective without being hurtful. Similarly, at McDonald Academy the band
students were discussing the ethereal quality of the musical section in Imaginarium when Hope
realized the trumpet section was carrying on a very different conversation. She turned to them
and sternly said, “I know you guys are talking about the music happily. Right?” and the students

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stopped talking immediately (observation, May 8, 2018). Hope’s students hardly engage verbally
during class and so her frustration was evident when students were found holding their own
conversation during rehearsal because this was not what she had in mind. Even though each
teacher’s reaction may seem somewhat light, their intention was crystal clear and students
understood the point immediately ceasing their off-task behavior.
Both Devin and Hope valued humor in their teaching as a bonding and connecting
mechanism for students and teachers. This did not always go as planned, however. The examples
that follow illustrate what happened when the teacher reacted strongly to something in rehearsal,
followed by an internal moment of pause after student reaction ensues. Ultimately, the teachers
showed authenticity in their responses before moving on.
In Hope’s band classroom, the tone was usually serious and students very quiet. Hope
was working with student conductors one day in rehearsal. One student conductor walked to the
podium, and then returned to his seat to put his headphones away. Hope joked that he needed to
take his headphones off for this and the rest of the band began joking around with the student
telling him to, “get serious” (observation, May 8, 2018). Hope’s authenticity manifested in this
moment through a joke that spread to the entire class and paused the rehearsal. Focus was
regained after a couple minutes, though this disruptive outcome was not what Hope had
intended. At Potter Central, Devin intended to make a joke although it produced an unexpected
outcome.
Devin has the group play the section again with the student trumpet soloist. He continues
conducting close to the first row, conducting specific instruments and lines, yelling
feedback over the band, and didn't take the ritardando. Half the band doesn't watch and
the music falls apart. Devin says, “See! You didn't look up and you took me for granted.

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You're like a bad marriage! You took me for granted!” and all the students burst out
laughing and exclaiming. Devin tries to redirect them and it only kind of works.
(Observation, May 9, 2018)
Devin’s joke was meant to be funny but not to the point of student’s losing control and
practically rolling on the floor laughing. He let the laughter carry on for only a minute or two
before continuing rehearsal.
Potter Central rehearsal 5: The circular train wreck. Rehearsal 5 at Potter Central
was one of the least successful rehearsals I observed during the study. One of the great aspects of
the teaching profession is that teachers get to experiment with what works and what does not.
This section highlights Devin’s desire to try new things, a great way to help students and provide
more opportunities for them. This rehearsal can be described as having more off task student
behavior, low productivity, and higher teacher frustration than any other rehearsal in the study.
The rehearsal began with the idea of having 21, mostly freshmen and sophomore,
students arrange their chairs in a circle to rehearse. Shortly into the rehearsal, the students
seemed more interested in talking to one another when they found themselves with Devin’s back
to them, which was a natural result of this seating arrangement. Devin’s goal was to have the
students feel more exposed in their section, listen better to others, and be seen or heard as an
equal member of the band instead of part of a section. The result was instead more off-task
behavior from the students, and this contributed to Devin using classroom management
techniques more frequently, as well as get frustrated quickly. At a certain point, he stopped
correcting the talking and moved ahead with the rehearsal (observation, May 15, 2018).
Later in the rehearsal, one student said she would like to conduct on the concert. Devin
had the student stand up and conduct the piece from the beginning while standing in the middle

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of the circle. Within about eight measures the student had lost the tempo and was conducting in a
pattern so small that no one could see it. Devin gave her a few pointers, and when it was clear
there was no improvement, asked another student to work with her on her conducting. The
student conductor did not learn the skills necessary to be successful after help from Devin and
the other student. Every attempt to help the student conductor be successful failed, and so Devin
told the student that conducting a piece on the concert is probably not the best idea this time
around (observation, May 15, 2018). Devin demonstrated authenticity through his honesty,
sensitivity to the student, and commitment to his vision of building community by having other
students help one another.
Expressing concert day stress. Many music teachers have experienced a rehearsal
before a concert where everything goes wrong. One observation at Potter Central was on the day
of a concert and things did not go as intended. Devin spoke during the rehearsal about the
importance of bringing the community to their concerts, selling tickets, and inviting as many
people that they knew as possible so they could proudly share with them their music
(observation, May 18, 2018). Devin’s passion about showing the students they are part of
something bigger in this world was present, however, the rehearsal itself did not go as well as
hoped because the students were making many mistakes and seemed unfocused.
During the pre-concert rehearsal, the students played through music they had been
rehearsing for at least four weeks and their performance was fraught with errors. As I watched, I
could relate because I have had rehearsals very similar to this one when I was teaching middle
and high school band. The music simply was not happening because the students were not
demonstrating their best work, leaving Devin quite upset. The band director kept his hands on his
hips for about 15 minutes while teaching as he tried many different strategies and was unable to

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help them fix their playing. Devin’s emotion was visible when he was hearing the clarinets play
a melody individually to better figure out why the part sounded so weak. One clarinetist could
barely play the part and Devin responded by telling her to fake the part on the concert that night.
Later in the rehearsal the tenor saxophonists were repeatedly playing a rhythm incorrectly. The
players had always played the rhythm correctly until this pre-concert rehearsal, and nothing
Devin did seemed to help the tenor saxophonists fix their playing. Devin turned to the tenors and
said with disbelief, “Really, tenors?!” Devin made the choice to move on to something else after
telling the tenors who to listen to when they play (observation, May 18, 2018). He demonstrated
for students knowing when to move on and did so in a way that did not leave them visibly
diminished, despite his intensity. The students are no stranger to their band teacher’s intensity
but understand his motivation. Curtis explains:
…he's a really intense human being that wants everything done perfectly… You have
people who are very inconsistent on when they call you out on stuff and Mr. Pickering he
always calls you out on stuff and that's like when you know. "You know, I know you're
calling me out on this thing and I'm gonna fix it and we're gonna be okay." (Focus group,
May 23, 2018)
Summary. How teachers dealt with unpredictable situations in the classroom helped
highlight their flexibility and genuineness. Off-task student behaviors often elicited reactions
from teachers to help redirect student focus. Experimentation is necessary in teaching, and not
every strategy employed will be successful. Lastly, concert day rehearsals may differ in tone and
structure if the teacher is feeling especially stressed.

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Research Question 1 Summary
How does teacher authenticity manifest in practice in these two cases?
Research question 1 examined how teacher authenticity manifested in practice. Video
observation and interview transcripts were considered in developing emergent themes and their
examples from inside the classroom during band rehearsals. The core values of both band
teachers were illuminated in both the emergent themes and the examples. Each teacher employs
actions to have them and their students be heard and known and contributes to the environment
within the classroom. The teachers’ interest in character and honesty showed up in teacher-
student interactions through honest feedback and delivering directives for student success.
Effective pedagogical choices aided each teacher in conveying to students how to be better
individuals and strive for the something bigger in life, while impacting their programs through
calculated choices aligned with the band directors’ values. Finally, it is possible that teacher
authenticity is especially important in the unexpected moments. These teachers embraced their
struggles when nothing seemed to be going well in rehearsals or with their students, and rallied
with authenticity and compassion.
Research Question 2.
How does teacher authenticity contribute to teacher-student relationships in these two
cases?
Teaching is rooted in relationships, or connections between two individuals built over
time upon many moments of contact where more than merely personal space is shared
(Korthagen et al., 2014). This section uses the gathered data and analysis to look at how
authenticity in teachers contributed to teacher-student relationships in the two band programs
included in the study. The type of teacher-student relationships at each school were distinct from

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each other and paramount to understanding the findings for research question 2. The results are
presented here focusing on each case separately followed by the results from a cross-case
analysis resulting in a common theme for both. The information for each case begins with an
overview of the type of interactions characteristic at the school site in general, followed by ways
in which teacher authenticity contributed to teacher-student relationships. See Table 5 for the
emerging themes for research question 2 at each school site. Finally, the findings from the two
school sites were distilled into one overarching theme and discussed.
Table 5
Research Question 2: Emerging Themes
Potter Central High School The McDonald Academy
Relationship of trust Relationship of respect
Relationship of respect Relationship of support
Relationships in community

Potter Central
Relationships exist within a background or context of a site or situation. The teachers and
students engage with other teachers and students all day, and their relationships are colored by
the school environment and interactions with others. Potter Central High School is part of a K-12
school campus, with music classes in grade six through eight taught by Mr. Albert. As these
students continued with music classes in ninth- through twelfth-grade, they were taught by Mr.
Devin Pickering. For these students, a relationship with Mr. Pickering began before ever meeting
him since he was known by reputation, which for many was a little intimidating. The high school
students expressed a very high opinion of Mr. Pickering and appreciated his ability to converse
anywhere about anything, blunt honesty, humor, and motivational techniques. Some students
even called him dad (focus group, May 23, 2018). Devin held his students in very high regard

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and, seemingly, every thought he had focused on how his choices would empower his students.
Although Devin was not as direct in interviews about how he felt about his students, his regard
was seen in observations.
To provide some context for the teacher-student relationships in the band class, it is
useful to get a sense of students’ views of teacher-student relationships with other teachers.
Students said they felt very comfortable approaching most of their other teachers with questions
or problems. They mentioned trusting some teachers more than others with their personal issues,
but affirmed that they felt accepted and supported at their school in general. When the students
talked about relationships they valued with teachers, this was what they said:
…there's a mix here because there are very supportive and very understanding people like
my English teacher. [My English teacher is] so nice and like he's so laid back, and then
he just like analyzes everything and like he expresses his views and it's very like,
"Alright, you gotta think about what you do, what you say, what is love to you, what is
love?" and like all that stuff. And then he also brings awareness to like ads and how your
self-worth shouldn't be based on your clothes or an advertisement that they give to you,
and all that stuff and it's like, "Whoa." (Focus group, May 23, 2018)

I have the same English teacher. We did a lot of that the first semester where he would
make us analyze certain things. He's always ask us, "What is your opinion on this?" and
no answer was wrong. He would not be like, "Oh well I think you're wrong or I think this
is." He would be like, "Alright, that's interesting. I don't necessarily agree but that's
interesting and here's my point on that." So, like, teachers like that [are a] 10 out of 10. I
love them. (Focus group, May 23, 2018)

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Students also said they were confused when teachers asked for student opinions and then shut
down their ideas, resulting in broken trust and confusion:
So, there was this walk out and our English teacher said that she saw a lot of people
outside from her classes and she told her period 3 that she thought what students did was
wrong and stupid and I disagree. Like why couldn't she tell us to our face? You know?
And we had a topic on social injustices and like standing up for them and the walkout
was for gun control and she just like I guess you could say two faced? (Focus group, May
23, 2018)
They mentioned that some teachers were disrespectful, or taught with tough love, but that there
were also some great teachers who they valued (focus group, May 23, 2018). The students had
strong feelings about many of the teachers, which impacted their relationships with them. They
saw real strengths but also inconsistencies and things that they did not understand or agree with.
Next is a closer look at authenticity and teacher-student relationships with Devin Pickering, the
band teacher at Potter Central.
Relationship of trust. Nina at Potter Central shared:
One of the reasons why I feel like so many people trust him… is because in comparison
to other teachers he's more open and easier to talk to, to trust, because of how he is. [He]
won't beat around the bush and he will actually tell you straight in your face this is the
problem, this is the solution. (Focus group, May 23, 2018)
At Potter Central, relationships were built on trust as a foundational feature where the students
learned to trust their teacher because of his honesty and consistency. Teachers that behave in
ways that are predictably and reliably positive helped students to trust in their teacher. Devin

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consistently helped students, whether the topic was music or life, and showed his students that he
cared about them by offering support when they needed it. Students viewed their band teacher as
reliable because he was always there to help, and spoke the truth. Curtis said:
…if somebody opens up to him about a particular goal that they want to achieve he
always um does anything that he can to help and he checks in and keeps on making sure
that you're being consistent. Like for me, when it comes to composing he's like, “What
are you working on? Are you writing? Have you written anything this week?” and if I say
no, then he starts chewing my ear off saying, “You know, come on! You told me you
were going to do this!” and it motivates you to go and keep on pursuing that. (Focus
group, May 23, 2018)
Devin watched his students during the warmup time before rehearsal began to see how he could
help them improve their playing. When students were practicing a rhythm together during the
warmup and playing it incorrectly, Devin descended to help them (observation, May 2, 2018).
This kind of situation happened regularly, and often the rest of the class would react by quieting
themselves so that Devin could work with the group without having to yell over their playing.
Mr. Pickering built relationships of trust with students through his own honesty and
expression. This was clearly seen in the next two examples where Devin openly shared his
feelings on issues, as well as possible solutions. For most of the observations at Potter Central
one of the bass drum heads was in disrepair with a large hole in it the size of a basketball. During
rehearsal one day, Devin cut off the band from playing and told the percussionists the bass drum
would be fixed by the end of the week. He asked the student to play the bass drum once and said
it was the worst bass drum sound he had heard in a long time, and that he would get over it for
now. Devin then instructed the student to not muffle or dampen the drum in any way until the

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drum head was changed (observation, May 1, 2018). However, not every situation is easy to
handle. During another rehearsal, Devin vented to his students and the middle school band
director about a situation involving the administration. The counselors were trying to place the
middle school bands in the afternoon, at the same time the high school bands are scheduled
(observation, May 15, 2018). This scenario had repeated itself for three years causing Devin
severe frustration. With Devin openly sharing his feelings about program struggles with students,
they could identify with him as someone who reacts to stressors but can trust he will always find
a solution.
Relationships with trust were present in a rehearsal when students were asked to answer
honestly some difficult questions posed by their band director. In one rehearsal, the Potter
Central students’ performance sounded sluggish and Devin wanted to know how many heard the
sluggishness and if they could identify this in their own playing. Some students raised their
hands volunteering that they recognized their own sluggish playing. Devin asked them what they
can do to fix it and proceeded to hear suggestions from about four students individually
(observation, May 15, 2018). Students provided genuine answers when they trusted that their
teacher would not berate or make them wrong for making mistakes. This trust between Devin
and his students was so heartening to see since so often I have observed students at other schools
who were afraid to answer questions fearing the band teacher’s reaction.
A humorous lie may damage trust and relationships with students if repeated enough
times. In the following instance, humor was used in rehearsal where students did not enjoy the
joke. During a rehearsal, students had started at a rehearsal number about five times while
practicing a section of music. Devin joked that he was starting in a different spot, and then had
them begin at the same spot by using different instructions. Some students rolled their eyes,

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faked a laugh, or sighed (observation, May 2, 2018). In short, while their body language showed
that they did not like the joke, a sufficient trust between teacher and students allowed everyone
to withstand a bit of questionable behavior. This was a testament to the positive relationships in
this band class since I often have seen music teachers joke in this manner and the students did
not always take it well. I concluded that the trust between them must be sufficiently deep to
handle this incident.
Relationship of respect. Teacher authenticity contributed to relationships characterized
by respect that could be seen throughout the observations and focus groups. In each of the six
rehearsal observations, Devin Pickering would obtain student feedback between four and 11
times each rehearsal. The band teacher’s emphasis on hearing student voices in rehearsal was the
foremost way respect was promoted between the teacher and students. Student admiration for
Mr. Pickering was founded in students’ perception of genuine interest in their personal
development. Three days after the Potter Central band returned from performing at a festival the
students continued discussion about the experience. The student reflected on their preparation
and execution for the festival. Students pointed out that they had a plan to play with dark,
beautiful sounds and that did not happen, while another said they needed to work on their
playing technique (observation, May 1, 2018). The students value having their voices heard and
Devin was training them for the future beyond high school by having them reflect and develop as
a group. Encouragement to share perspective on performances and meeting goals contributed to
students’ engagement and commitment to the band program itself.
Mutual respect was observed in the first and every subsequent rehearsal, and provided
insight into the teacher-student relationships. Devin showed respect for his students every
rehearsal by waiting patiently for them to arrange their music and be ready to rehearse. He would

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wait quietly on the podium and watch them adjust their music quietly. Once they were finished,
he would raise his hands and begin the warmup (observation, May 1, 2018). Potter Central
students showed respect for their teacher by arranging Devin’s scores daily before rehearsal,
quieting themselves before the rehearsal starts, and even self-correcting during rehearsal when
they become too loud or disruptive (observation, May 1, 2018). In this way, Devin showed
students that he honors what they are doing in class and demands they respect themselves, each
other, and their engagement.
One episode during the final rehearsal observation was hard to watch because frustration
and tension in the room were so high. While I have experienced pre-concert rehearsals many
times as a teacher and player, the ones that do not go well are always filled with stress for
everyone in the room. During this pre-concert rehearsal, Devin was extremely aggravated with
how the students were playing and reacted severely when students made uncharacteristic
mistakes seldom made during other rehearsals. The students reacted by sitting more upright in
their seats, not speaking unless called on by Devin, moving less, and doing exactly as he had
asked (observation, May 18, 2018). The students trusted that their teacher would assist them as
best he could without being hurtful, and Devin trusted that the students were doing everything
they could to improve their playing, and yet the students’ performance was fraught with errors.
After this 15-minute episode, Devin’s demeanor softened and everyone in the rehearsal seemed
to relax (observation, May 18, 2018). Incidentally, the pre-concert rehearsal also had the fewest
incidence of obtaining student feedback with only four instances. Despite the heightened tension
and frustration in the room, the mutual respect built up to this point between the teacher and
students allowed even this episode to be productive. This is one example when students were not

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bringing their best to rehearsal and the band teacher was completely authentic in that his actions
and words were consistent with his goals for success and empowerment for his students.
Relationships in community. Devin Pickering believes every student that comes
through his band program can make a difference on the community and endeavors to have
students understand this potential. By encouraging the band students to focus on others instead of
themselves Mr. Pickering helped them find meaning and vocation in relationships with others.
Devin explained:
…serving this community and serving these kids it's important that I always have a vision
and an understanding for where it is we are trying to go and why we are trying to go
there, and what it is that the kids need to get on their way to getting there and not even
the kids but the parents as well. Um, and simply I think the more people you can involve
in the experiences I think the better it's going to be for everyone. Be it the spring concert,
the more faculty I can involve, the more parents that I can get involved, the more
businesses that we can involve; the deeper the experience, the more meaningful the
experience. (Interview, May 22, 2018)
The Potter Central students valued diversity in their community, school, and groups of
friends. Devin’s authenticity with this commitment to community has contributed to
relationships in that his students had an openness and saw the benefit in individual differences
and diversity. Amos mentioned how having a diverse set of friends is important because then you
can learn from others because they have a different skill set (focus group, May 23, 2018). Martha
said that Potter Central is not a cliché school with the typical groups of kids, such as jocks or
band geeks. She pointed out that the student body was very diverse and the students have a range
of friends within their own classes and own grade levels. “We don't really have the need to fit in

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with anyone because we know who our friends are and we know who we want to be with and
that's good enough for us,” said Martha (focus group, May 23, 2018). According to Martha, she
can easily be friends with anyone because she is comfortable enough to welcome others into her
life. This is, in part, a result of the encouragement and guidance that Devin offered his students
which was unique and special.
Mr. Pickering created a deeper and more meaningful relationship between his students
and a musician of color, Les Brown, who grew up in a similar neighborhood and went on to
become incredibly successful. The story of Les Brown was told and emphasized one week
during rehearsals at Potter Central to instill motivation in students. Students watched an
interview with Les Brown and then discussed the content with their band teacher during
rehearsals. The way Devin delivered the motivational content to students was largely why the
stories were so motivational for students, and Devin’s passion was one characteristic many of his
students admired.
Devin turns to the board and writes Les Brown. He says it's the 9th of May, there are a lot
of seniors uncomfortable for many reasons (graduation), and coming to the end of a
journey is scary because the next part is unpredictable… Devin asks someone to tell him
about Les Brown. A student says he was told he could not reach his dreams. Devin asks
why and why did Les believe them. A student says Les Brown said, “You can't let
someone else's opinion become your reality.” Another student says he went on the air and
was persistent to get on the air. Devin says he should never have made anything of
himself. A student says Les had a voice in his head that said he was going to get there one
day… A student says things changed for Les when he was in class at school. A student
shares a quote, and Devin writes it on the board. “Better to be prepared for an opportunity

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and not have one, than have an opportunity and not be prepared.” Devin asks if the Les
Brown lecture helped shake something up for them and motivate, because that's what he's
trying to do. (Observation, May 9, 2018)
Summary. At Potter Central, relationships were built with a foundation of trust, respect,
and include the community. Devin’s use of complete honesty and consistency in helping guide
students showed his interest in a relationship with them and allowed students to trust that their
teacher is reliable and truthful. Students saw their band teacher’s ongoing interest in their
personal development and respected his interest in their feedback during rehearsals. With mutual
respect overflowing between teacher and student, even periodic mishaps were taken in stride
without negatively affecting the relationships. Lastly, the notion of community that is inclusive
of any individual within the immediate neighborhood and not just band students is one that
transferred from teacher to student and positively affected students desire for diversity among
their friends.
McDonald
Relationships develop within a context and the relationships of students and teachers
looked different at McDonald Academy. Ms. Gardner described the students as “very quiet” and
“contained”, and said this description came up regularly when talking with other visual and
performing arts teachers (interview, May 17, 2018). Hope felt that this contained creative spirit
made it hard to help students express themselves, and this was visible in rehearsals when she
struggled to obtain student feedback. I definitely understood Hope’s feelings as I sat observing
rehearsals week after week with students who were quiet with blank, unreadable, faces. Along
these same lines, students mentioned feeling fairly disconnected and misunderstood by their
teachers at McDonald, and most said they would not approach teachers with personal problems

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because they did not believe they could help. The students talked about having difficulty
expressing who they are and the need to find the right group where they fit in so they can be
themselves (focus group, June 5, 2018). The sentiments expressed by the students regarding
impressions of and relationships with other teachers provides a context to better understand the
relationships with their music teacher.
Hope had made fundamental changes to improve the quality of the band program in her
two years at the school, following a long-term instrumental teacher who retired. The transition to
a new teacher was an adjustment for the students. Many said they like the new direction, care,
and support of their teacher and take pride in their band, while others expressed unease with the
higher-level work ethic employed in rehearsals. Hope’s student, Gabriel, said, “I spend a lot of
time like close to her like in the office like during lunch time with a few other people and we're
all really close to her and stuff. And like she'll tell us things. Like if there's somebody running
around outside, she'll like tell us what she openly thinks, like, ‘Oh, I don't think that person
should be doing that’” (focus group, June 4, 2018). Gabriel’s comment illustrates how openly the
students and teacher shared with one another and valued spending time together to learn more
about one another. With two years in this teaching position, Hope had fostered relationships with
students through this practice of sharing and learning about her students.
Relationship of respect. Teacher authenticity contributed to a deep respect in the
relationships of the teacher and students. A primary way respect was fostered at McDonald was
through consistent teacher efforts to hear student voices during rehearsals. The students viewed
Hope’s efforts to hear their opinions and constructive feedback with approval because they felt
their teacher is taking the time to get to know them daily. Derek said, “I have a lot of respect for
her…[because]…she is so willing to work with everyone” (focus group, June 5, 2018). Because

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of how quiet these students were in rehearsals I was not sure what to expect from their answers
in focus groups and discovered that their appreciation for Hope’s efforts to know them all
personally was genuine.
Relationships are formed by many moments of contact over time so that a connection can
form and strengthen (Korthagen et al., 2014), and one quality of successful relationships is
respect (Nasseri et al., 2014). Each rehearsal contained ways that the teacher and students
showed one another respect. Hope showed students respect daily by always beginning rehearsals
on time whether students were ready or not. She respected her students by beginning on time,
and students who happened to arrive late quietly set up their chair and music stand quickly so
they could play as soon as possible (observation, May 24, 2018). Hope created an environment
that contributed to what she was trying to teach her students. Students showed respect daily for
Hope by limiting their off-task behaviors and self-correcting regularly (observation, May 14,
2018). At McDonald, students’ off-task behavior throughout the five rehearsal observations was
rare and occurred fewer than three times within five rehearsals.
For Hope, consequences for students who broke rules involved giving something back to
the band program so that students could gain from the experience. This method helped
strengthen relationships by showing the teacher cares about the consequence not only for
themselves, but for the other students as well. Hope said, “…so many of the punishments
inflicted upon these kids, there's no reason behind them. And you know they're sitting staring at a
wall instead of being in class or they're at home watching TV… Like a real consequence,
something that benefits, rather than just distracts, I hope they learn something from that and not
only that there is a just consequence to their actions” (interview, May 21, 2018). By creating a

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thoughtful and reciprocal consequence for students the teacher acted with respect towards the
student.
Moments of teacher inauthenticity are inevitable and have the potential to influence
teacher-student relationships. In the following moment, Hope displayed authenticity in her desire
for students to perform well and teach them a concept, and then was inauthentic in her attempt at
being supportive and respectful of the student’s efforts.
Hope asks a couple of students to play 2-measures and after each one, asked Lori what
could be improved. Each time Lori says, “More crescendo”. Hope agrees enthusiastically
and then another student plays their part leading to 41. The student plays horribly,
rushing through the part with a pinched sound. Hope begins to speak about it in the same
way, then stops, stares at him with confusion and instead asks him to do it again probably
hoping he will play better. The student plays it just as poorly and Hope looks like she
doesn’t know what to do. She says, “Yeah,” and stands there in silence for a couple
seconds. Ignoring the bad playing, she instead asks Lori what he could use more of. Lori
laughs and says “crescendo”. The trumpet player plays again, sounding horribly, though
with a slight crescendo. (Observation, May 14, 2018)
While the segment only lasted about two minutes, the students looked confused as to why their
teacher was unsure of what feedback to provide. In this case, not addressing what was going on
with the student playing poorly could be considered a disrespectful response by the teacher. In
my experiences, these instances are usually unintentional by the teacher and have the potential to
create some uncomfortable feelings for the students. Despite the teacher inauthenticity and
student confusion, no relationship seemed to be strained from the segment and the rehearsal
quickly returned to its previous pace and focus. This was a moment where authenticity was

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absent and then returned in Hope, however, this could have negatively affected respect between
the teacher and student.
Relationship of support. Every teacher offers support to students at times, however,
Hope Gardner actively surveyed her students daily to create an environment of support. Hope
mentioned that, “the health of the entire community is affected by each one…” of her students
and so it was crucial she keep her eye on them (interview, May 21, 2018). This blanket of
support was also evident to her students and had a distinct impact on teacher-student
relationships.
I suppose it was probably marching season uh one practice during the middle of like the
band period. One of my family like passed away that day... and I was really, really sad.
Like I am known for a person to be like that unbreakable feelings, as to be that happy
jolly person, but that day I just wanted to close myself off and I just really had the urge of
like crying. And towards like the end [Gardner] approached me and she said, “You know,
your playing is not in your heart today. Why is that?” And to see a teacher or like a band
teacher just to recognize that a person is down or like isn't doing well today. That really
hit me. (Focus group, June 5, 2018)
Hope’s authenticity had a great impact on the relationships with students. When asked how she
felt about her band teacher, Lori said, “I regard her like a mother since I don’t really have a
mother figure to look up to, and a father figure in a sense she is very influential and someone I
could look up to as well” (focus group, June 5, 2018).
Showing support for individuals provided Hope and her students more personal and
intimate moments in the classroom to build upon their relationship. Hope would prepare the
piece for a student conductor before they came to the podium. In this way, she made sure the

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band was prepared and gave the student conductor a few minutes to mentally prepare before
conducting the band (observation, May 24, 2018). Once the student was up on the podium, Hope
always stopped the piece before it fell apart to make sure the learning experience was positive
(observation, May 8, 2018). Showing support for her students and their potential success helped
reinforce for students that their teacher cares and wants the best for them.
While working one-on-one with student conductors, Hope consistently modeled what it
looks like to be an authentic individual for students and offered them support in discovering what
it means for them to be authentic. When students were their authentic selves in the classroom,
Hope pointed this out to the class as something she was proud of and celebrated.
The student conductor gives an awkward start and the ensemble doesn't begin together.
She immediately stops conducting, throws her hands down and shrinks a little. Hope sees
this and immediately says, “No need to shrink! You're the one that's up there and that's
STRONG man! Stand up tall, and wait for them until they're ready.” The student
conductor does this and starts again, and this time the band starts together. (Observation,
May 24, 2018)
Later in the rehearsal, Hope was working with a student conductor who had expressed to her that
after conducting he felt stressed out and nervous. She smiled at the student and told him he did
not look that way at all, and then began asking him questions about what he heard happen to the
tempo so she could direct his focus to the music while on the podium (observation, May 24,
2018). These examples describe intimate moments between teacher and student when the teacher
was authentically showing support, caring for students, and helping them experience feeling
known, which are elements that contributed to successful relationships.

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Group support, while characterized by lower intensity interactions between teacher and
student, were equally important in promoting relationships in the music classroom. In rehearsals
Hope kept her eyes on her students by asking them to work on a section of music and then
walking around to monitor their progress. She shared her observations afterward to help show
she wanted to be part of their improvement process and cared about their success (observation,
May 14, 2018). Hope’s observations were helpful for many students and offered support for
student learning, also strengthening relationships through contact.
Students sometimes needed time, space, and patience to connect the dots when it came to
learning new concepts at The McDonald Academy. Hope would try to guide students through
finding the answer to a question when they were unsure of the answer in band class. This
practice showed students their teacher was interested in their learning and demonstrated patience
when they experienced challenge.
Measure 33- Hope asks them how long the pickup is and some students answer with low
voices before it goes quiet. She jokes with them that they look like they’re doing long
division. Students answer differently around the room and faces look confused. Hope
asks for those with 3 quarter notes to play, and then asks if those notes belong to the
downbeat, pointing out that this is the pickup. One student exclaims, “Oh!” (Observation,
May 8, 2018)
Patiently engaging with students helped her build stronger relationships, emboldening the
students to continue to engage in their own learning.
Summary. As stated in Chapter 2, respect and support are two elements of successful
relationships. Hope built respect with students by making every effort to hear their voices and
opinions, as well as creating consequences for students that would contribute to the rest of the

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band program. There was occasional tension in the relationships, too, when the students were not
engaging with Hope as she asked questions to promote their learning, or when students were off
task during rehearsal. At McDonald, it was undeniable that Hope’s support of students positively
affects them in band rehearsals through one-on-one and group interactions.
Cross-Case Considerations
Research question 2 asked how teacher authenticity contributed to teacher-student
relationships. Looking at the qualities of teacher-student relationships present in the band classes
helped to further identify the presence of authenticity. Overall, a context or foundation was
created for working teacher-student relationships by these two, authentic, band teachers.
There was a distinctive feeling for students within the environment created through
authenticity and effective teacher-student relationships. Students at both schools attempted to put
this feeling into words by describing their band class as a family where they feel at home.
Gabriel at McDonald pointed out, “In like band, we spend a lot of time with each other so…you
grow strong bonds. You become family. You get to know each other (focus group, June 4,
2018)”. Whereas Nina at Potter Central took a different approach by describing how her band
class made her feel. “It’s warm. It's basically if you need to say something you can say it. It's
never gonna be used against you because we're family, and like family would never betray each
other,” she described (focus group, May 23, 2018). This sense of community was present in
many band classes and I, too, felt this way about my high school band teacher and band in
general.
Building relationships takes time. Individuals may require several years to build a
positive working relationship. Curtis from Potter Central described this best:

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…once you start to actually be more acquainted with him and over the years you get to
feel a little bit more comfortable just being able to go up to him and literally tell him your
life story and not have to worry about him ever using it for any intention that's not good.
So, um I feel that it does take some time to get to that point when someone might feel
comfortable to tell him things which can be said for everyone else. (Focus group, May
23, 2018)
Although students at McDonald expressed struggling with the band teacher transition, the
students voiced reluctance to trust and form relationships with any of the teachers at their school.
Deanna felt that students and teachers were more judgmental outside of band class, and Lori
added that they were also less genuine. Trenton and Derek agreed that while their teachers would
probably listen to them, that they would not approach a teacher if they had a serious problem
because, “[we] just don’t believe they can help in most cases (focus group, May 23, 2018)”.
Hope experienced this reluctance in band class daily and described the students as having very
contained “creative spirits”, and the school in general as a, “not very creative place” (interview,
May 17, 2018). This was one example of the students contained creative spirits:
Hope starts them where they stopped and stops them within 4 measures. She asks how to
translate forte-pianos on staccato notes. No one answers. She asks the students where you
usually see forte pianos. Students answer, “On a long note.” She asks how you would
play a forte piano staccato note that's not held. A few students guess answers quietly. She
asks why this wasn't written differently. No one answers and she waits. She continues to
offer them hints and manages to get the conversation back a little but the students are
very quiet. She begins the section again. (Observation, May 14, 2018)

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Even by the end of Hope’s second year with the McDonald band the students had difficulty
speaking up in rehearsals, and suggested that teacher-student relationships may take several
years to form a strong bond of trust and respect even with the presence of teacher authenticity.
Summary. Closer examination of the findings from both school sites show that both
teachers created an environment where teacher authenticity was present and fostered working
teacher-student relationships. This context takes time to create, and in these cases, it took several
years. Regardless, the students at each school described feeling at home in their respective band
programs, completely accepted, and comfortable.
Research Question 2 Summary
How does teacher authenticity contribute to teacher-student relationships in these two cases?
Research question 2 explored how teacher authenticity contributed to teacher-student
relationships. Video observation and interview transcripts were the main sources for developing
themes and their supporting examples, and grouped by school to highlight their subtle
differences. At Potter Central, the students and teacher were very close with the students looking
up to their teacher with complete trust. Devin’s authenticity helped create an atmosphere of trust
built upon teacher consistency, dealing with the facts, and vulnerability; respect grounded in
student and teacher respect, and having student voices be heard; and valuing the community and
others. At McDonald, the students liked the amount of care and support provided by their band
teacher but struggled with expressing themselves in life. The band teacher’s authenticity helped
create an atmosphere of mutual respect, having student voices be heard, and support. While some
of the categories align, the ways in which each occur at both schools was different. All the above
categories contributed to creating a context for working teacher-student relationships, however,
creating this foundation takes time.

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Teachers Through the Lens of the Leader Authenticity Framework
The purpose of the following section is to present a thorough picture of how each teacher
demonstrated authenticity in their music classrooms. Using the leader authenticity framework
(Henderson & Hoy, 1993), the thoughts and feelings of band students from both schools were
analyzed with the three aspects of the framework in mind and are arranged below as such.
Salience of Self Over Role
Salience of self over role refers to teacher’s capacity to behave in a genuine manner and
with autonomy, unconstrained by conventional role requirements (Henderson & Hoy, 1983). As
mentioned earlier, both teachers shared about their lives with students, modeled music making,
and went above and beyond to make difficult decisions for the program while keeping the
students at the center of their decisions. These examples align because both teachers cared about
more than the requirements of their role as band director, and autonomously make decisions.
At Potter Central, students were quick to say that their teacher was not phony because he
gave advice on how they can improve. They believed that they would not see improvement if
their teacher was being disingenuous (focus group, May 23, 2018). Acting in a genuine manner
with others consistently allowed the students to see Devin’s dedication. How their teacher treated
rules offered insight to how their teacher created positive structures to accomplish goals. The
students see rules as instituted to better the program.
He's not a fan of rules. If anything, he truly is like most great composers in the sense that
um he knows all the rules but he chooses to um sometimes take matters into his own
hands and bend them in a way that works to his advantage…and honestly every single
time that he does that it's always for the better of the group and it leads to even more

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experiences for us because that's allowed us to be able to do stuff that most groups never
get the chance to. (Focus group, May 23, 2018)
Devin made himself available to talk about anything anytime. Students appreciated the variety in
their interactions because it allowed them more opportunity to cross-check his genuineness
(focus group, May 23, 2018). The student comments about their director aligned by explaining
how Devin acted in a genuine manner toward them, providing an example of Devin concerning
himself with more than the requirements of the band director role, and operating with
independence and freedom from authority.
At McDonald, students were very clear that their band director enforced firm rules but
also mentioned that she was lenient with them. Students were given a lot of freedom outside of
the few firm rules that are set, and for this they were appreciative. Anytime they would go off
track their band teacher was there to catch and redirect them, while also ensuring they were
having a positive experience. Hope also recognized when students were having a bad day and
went out of her way to be there for them by offering support, comfort, or laughter. Students saw
Hope as always trying to help them be better by improving (focus group, June 5, 2018). Seeing
their director in other teaching situations, and working with others, also helped the students know
their teacher as genuine.
I've heard things because I'm also marching in a drum corps. I'm playing mello. Like the
band directors there and the staff just know her and they all say good things about her.
So, and like I see that here too so whatever I see usually other people also see and it's
consistent. (Focus group, June 4, 2018)

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Non-Manipulation of Subordinates
Non-manipulation of subordinates refers to a teacher who treats their students with
respect and is consistent in their expressions and actions (Henderson & Hoy, 1983). As
mentioned earlier, both teachers proactively supported student engagement during rehearsals and
created opportunities for students to have their voices heard by others. These examples aligned
by showing that the band teachers treated their students as equals and with respect.
Potter Central students described Devin as open, easy to talk to, easy to trust, respectful,
insightful, and honest. Trust is easier to establish with people who were consistently honest.
Jeremiah said, “…you don't want like a bitter teacher that's always mad and forces you to do
stuff with strict rules (focus group, May 23, 2018)”. Devin’s personality helped create an
atmosphere in the band room that would either promote or hinder learning and respect. Potter
Central students paid close attention to their teacher’s expressions and actions in the band
classroom. Seeing that Devin’s beliefs aligned with his actions helped Curtis and Lillie better
understand and know their teacher. Student comments about their director aligned by illustrating
how their teacher showed respect, and highlighted Devin’s overall consistency (focus group,
May 23, 2018).
McDonald students believed their teacher always had their best interests at heart and was
never selfish because her decisions always benefit the students. Maria mentioned that Hope
always told them the truth about how they did and builds them up to want to do better (focus
group, June 5, 2018). Being open and telling students when they have done something wrong
demonstrated Hope’s honesty and respect for her students. Gabriel and Megan said their
teacher’s main goal was to help the students do the best they can and be proud of themselves,
and that they see this every day when Hope worked with them (focus group, June 4, 2018).

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Student comments about Hope aligned by emphasizing the many ways their teacher paid
attention to their feelings, was honest, and consistent in her words and actions.
Accountability
Accountability refers to a teacher who accepts responsibility and can admit to mistakes
(Henderson & Hoy, 1983). As mentioned earlier, both teachers worked with students to help
them learn musical skills, incorporated rigorous rehearsal methods often in their classes, and
openly admitted mistakes to students. The examples above aligned by illustrating teacher’s
owning up to mistakes and taking responsibility for the program and others. Student feedback
from focus group interviews revealed mixed responses from both schools with students stating
their teachers’ struggle with accepting failure, and have difficulty accepting their mistakes. These
responses do not fully align because the actions of the teachers in rehearsal do not match the
behaviors the students see in the classroom, which influences their opinion of their teacher’s
accountability.
Summary
Data from interviews, observations, and focus groups were considered when examining
whether each band teacher’s actions aligned with the leader authenticity framework. Both
teachers clearly aligned through their actions and students’ observations of their actions with two
aspects of the framework: salience of self over role and non-manipulation of subordinates. This
shows that both band teachers behaved in a genuine manner and were not constrained by the
requirements of their job, and treated students with respect while showing consistency in their
expressions and actions. The third aspect of the framework, accountability, aligned with the
teacher’s actions in the classroom but not the student’s responses. Whether each teacher accepted

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responsibility and admitted to their mistakes was minimally visible during observations, and yet
students saw their teachers struggle to accept failure and accept mistakes.
Summary
This chapter described the ways authenticity was found to manifest in practice, and how
teacher authenticity contributed to relationships, at Potter Central and McDonald Academy.
Major themes were discussed showing several ways the teachers at both sites were authentic in
the classroom and how this affected their students. Teacher authenticity was found to contribute
to teacher-student relationships by fostering trust, respect, and support, and creating an overall
context where working teacher-student relationships could take place within an environment of
authenticity. Finally, student voices in the two cases were analyzed and considered alongside the
three aspects of the leader authenticity framework to better illustrate in what ways the band
teachers are authentic in their classrooms.

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Chapter 5 DISCUSSION, RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS, AND CONCLUSIONS
Discussion
In the cases examined in this study, students spent a lot of time with their band teachers
in rehearsal and had ample opportunity to assess their teacher’s authenticity or inauthenticity.
Researcher observations solely for this study totaled 771 minutes of high-quality teacher-student
interactions during the five or six rehearsals at both schools over the course of five weeks. Given
that this is only a sampling of the total time the students spent with their teachers, the student
voice in each band program was equally important to understanding teacher authenticity and its
contributions to teacher-student relationships.
This multiple case study explored what authenticity looks like in practice in two high
school band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school band students.
Related literature reviewed for this study showed that authenticity was the factor that most
impacted teacher-student relationships through caring, support, trust, respect, mutual empathy,
and contributed to their students feeling known (Nasseri et al., 2014; Bernstein-Yamashiro,
2004; Surrey, 1991). As an initial overview that will be unpacked later in this chapter, this study
found that one way students estimated their teacher’s trustworthiness, care, interest, and
reliability was through ongoing experiences with an authentic band teacher. These findings align
with research by illustrating how the presence of teacher authenticity in the band classroom
contributed to individual’s growth through teacher-student interactions.
This chapter provides a reflection on the findings for the two research questions and how
they align with related research. Sections on suggestions for future research, conclusions and
implications for music teaching and learning complete this chapter.

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Research Question 1
How does teacher authenticity manifest in practice in these two cases?
Throughout this study, authenticity was determined by comparing an understanding of
the band teacher’s expressed values and beliefs with their actions in the classroom. This was
accomplished through observation of band rehearsals and through perceptions and observations
of their students. Through this process, a clear picture of authentic teachers emerged, as well as
vast similarities between the ways their authenticity manifested in practice. For this study, the
teacher participants were nominated by their peers and selected because they met the criteria of
being teachers of excellence. I was not surprised when these two teachers were known by their
peers for their teaching excellence since, coincidentally, I knew their work very well before
beginning this study. I had seen elements suggesting authenticity in their teaching in previous
interactions and found high levels of authenticity in the interactions and observations in this
study.
Both band directors shared what they valued, stories about their lives, and were
vulnerable through individual performance and communication. This allowed their students to
know them as musicians, teachers, and as people. Similarly, the band teachers actively modeled
for students how to be themselves, noticed vulnerability in students, and made efforts to learn
about the lives of their students outside of school. Mutual empathy is another way of describing
the ability for two people to experience reciprocal feelings of being and feeling seen by one
another (Surrey, 1991). The mutual empathy seen in the music teachers in both cases was
supported by literature to be intricately related to authenticity, as well as necessary to nurture the
connection in relationships (Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006; Surrey, 1991). This finding was one
that was surprising because it had never occurred to me the role that empathy, or mutual

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empathy, may play in authenticity or relationships. Furthermore, nurturing mutual empathy was
one way both band teachers went beyond what was expected of their role and exhibited
genuineness aligned with the leader authenticity framework (Henderson & Hoy, 1983).
Certain teacher-student interactions were overwhelmingly influential to students in this
study by showing students how clearly the values of their teacher matched the teacher’s actions.
Providing honest and direct feedback was an example of this. The students valued honesty from
their teacher always, even when the feedback was not exactly what they had hoped to hear. They
came to rely on this honesty from their teacher and believed that this led to increased trust.
Honesty, or genuineness, is one aspect of the leader authenticity framework describing a teacher
who is not restricting their choices to those that fall only within the specifications of the job
(Henderson & Hoy, 1983). Honest feedback was mentioned by students more than any other
element in the study. This was noteworthy, suggesting that the students wanted and valued
honest feedback, though it is a less common feature in other learning interactions. This finding
was corroborated by literature indicating that one way which authentic teachers positively impact
students is by being sincere or honest (Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013).
Observations also showed the effectiveness of teacher dialogue and directives when
teachers sought to improve other student musical skills, such as conducting. How the teacher
directed the student, including their tone, intention, and angle of instruction, made all the
difference for how successful a situation could turn out in the band classroom.
The choices each band teacher made directly influenced their students and band
programs. Authenticity was seen in both directors during class rehearsals when they chose to use
rigorous rehearsal techniques, teach students’ musical skills, owned up to their mistakes, and
were sensitive to the needs of their students. These rehearsal choices and actions of both teachers

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were validated by Kreber’s (2010) finding that when a teacher’s theory of teaching aligns with
their values and educational goals, they do what is necessary in the interests of students while
supporting their students in developing their authenticity. Ongoing illustrations of how each band
teacher’s values align with their actions and expressions were also consistent with the leader
authenticity framework describing a teacher unencumbered by the requirements of their job
(Henderson & Hoy, 1983).
Choices that impact the entire band program were visible to students and altered how
they viewed their teacher. These students appreciated that their teachers made difficult decisions
for the band program and thought it remarkable how they always seemed to conquer obstacles
that seemed to get in the way of great opportunities.
Authenticity was seen in nearly all moments, even those that were unexpected and
difficult to watch. In these two cases, the band teachers had days that were a struggle for
different reasons. I had expected to see more moments in observations when teachers were
inauthentic, especially in times when students were not doing what they were told or acting out.
Instead, I was surprised to find that the teachers were authentic even during these moments. The
teacher’s authenticity helped them deal with unpredictable situations with flexibility and
genuineness during off-task student behavior, when nothing seemed to be going well, and when
students were not focused during rehearsals. Each teacher continued to act in ways that were in
line with their values despite challenging classroom situations.
The authenticity definition used in this study was, “authenticity is being and acting
consistent with who you hold yourself out to be for others, and who you hold yourself to be for
yourself” (Erhardt et al., 2018, p. 38). As established in Chapter 1, authenticity is often viewed as
a social construct (Bialystock, 2016) as it is in this study. The leader authenticity measure was

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designed to have the subordinate, or students in this case, weigh in on the authenticity of their
teacher (Henderson & Hoy, 1983). Otherwise, many might claim through self-assessment that
they were indeed acting and being consistent with their values when, in fact, they may not be
able to truly tell (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Since the social component is an integral part of
authenticity, I suggest making it part of the definition. I would like to offer the following
definition of authenticity based on my work. Authenticity is being and acting consistent with
who we hold ourselves to be for others, and for ourselves (Erhardt et al., 2018), and can only be
claimed through assessment from the other or others present in the interaction.
In these two cases teacher authenticity manifested in practice in four major ways that
illustrated methods of communication, rehearsals ranging from challenging to successful, overall
program choices made based on each teacher’s values, and interest in having every individual
know each other well. This covers a lot of ground in the common band rehearsal. One
overarching finding for how authenticity manifested in practice is that authenticity truly impacts
teacher-student relationships. While this will be addressed in detail for research question 2,
authenticity sets the groundwork for relationships to flourish. Relationships are a manifestation
of authenticity, or authenticity leads to relationships. Research question 2 will look closer at the
qualities of the relationships fostered through authenticity.
Research Question 2
How does teacher authenticity contribute to teacher-student relationships in these two cases?
The findings for how teacher authenticity contributed to teacher-student relationships
were grouped by school to highlight the subtle differences seen in their themes and supporting
examples. Aspects of teacher authenticity seen through manifestations in practice contributed in
a variety of ways to teacher-student relationships in the music classrooms. At Potter Central,

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students felt they could trust in their teacher to be consistently reliable and truthful. The band
director also felt strongly about including community and wanted his students to mirror this
commitment, which embraces the students and school, as well as those surrounding it. The value
of community has influenced the students’ lives and self-proclaimed need for diversity amongst
their friends.
At Potter Central and McDonald Academy, respect between the teacher and students was
built when the band director strived to hear student voices and opinions regularly during
rehearsals. The students could see how much their teacher cared about their personal
development and felt that the respect between them was mutual. Respect was one component of
the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) as important in one’s ability to feel they
belong (Goodenow, 1993). The contributions of respect were felt in both band programs where
students voiced feeling as though they belonged.
Perhaps the most overwhelming finding at McDonald Academy was the magnitude and
frequency of support offered to students by their band teacher. This finding was consistent with
literature on teacher-student relationships, and particularly that of Goodenow (1993) and Nasseri
et al. (2014). These researchers found that social support was necessary for one to feel as though
they belong in a school social environment (Goodenow, 1993), and that trust, respect, and
support impacted teacher-student relationships in a positive way (Nasseri et al., 2014). In this
study, students shared how amazing the experience was for them to be accepted and supported
by their teacher during band rehearsals. For many, the experience of having a teacher’s support
and encouragement to be themselves was rare. While many studies found that support was a key
factor, others had different interpretations. Wilkins (2014) noted the qualities of understanding
and sensitivity, while many others agreed that care was a major factor in successful teacher-

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student relationships (Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004; Noblit, Rogers, & McCadden, 1995;
Noddings, 2003). Care was present in this study to a lesser degree than support as identified by
the student voice, and will be discussed later in the chapter.
When considering the subtle differences between both schools in how teacher
authenticity contributed to teacher-student relationships, perhaps the main theme was that both
band teachers created a context where teacher authenticity was present and fostered working
teacher-student relationships. The teachers in this study were both authentic and effective in their
band programs. The combination of authenticity and effectiveness in an individual created a very
special environment for students and the teacher where students could be successful, learn about
the subject matter, and each other. Students described the band context their teachers created as
warm, where they felt at home, accepted, and comfortable. The student’s description of their
band environment aligned with students in a different study who reported that their authentic
teachers impacted their learning by being sincere or honest, and caring for the subject, students,
and were interested in engaging students in ideas that mattered (Kreber & Klampfleitner, 2013).
The context teachers created was also critical for their own experience. The teachers’
authenticity allowed them to be comfortable with whatever was happening in the moment
because they were always actively striving to be better. The environment they created allowed
for their own continued discovery and learning. Their ongoing commitment to their own
authenticity and learning influenced their leadership of the band programs in a big way. These
findings were confirmed by research where teachers reported authenticity bettering their teaching
through increased self-awareness, awareness of others and context, finding meaning in their job,
and becoming more true to themselves and their values (Carusetta & Cranton, 2005; Cranton &
Carusetta, 2004b; Ramezanzadeh et al., 2016).

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This study looked closely at two band teachers who were both authentic and effective,
and yet this is not characteristic of all band teachers, nor is this generalizable. It is very possible
for individuals to be authentic without being effective, or effective without being authentic.
While either of these qualities would be positive in the band classroom, it is possible that one
quality alone would not be enough to have the teacher create the kind of special context
described above. Some believe that authenticity is a metaphysical and ethical question and that
its philosophical definition of “being true to oneself” renders the concept much less influential on
teaching than it may seem (Bialystok, 2016). Using the philosophical definition of “being true to
oneself” may be a slippery slope when applied to a teacher because the teacher could be
excellent and inauthentic, or inept and authentic. However, the definition and method used to
examine authenticity in this study incorporated more than a self-report of authenticity which
allowed for a thorough picture of teacher authenticity.
A relationship between teacher and student described as successful also connotes strength
of relationship, and strong teacher-student relationships are capable of withstanding stress. When
teacher-student relationships are strong in a band classroom, the potential for the teacher and
student to tolerate moments of inauthenticity or extreme reactions is great granting that these
stressful moments are rare. This is because the connection and understanding between teachers
and students with strong relationships have flourished within the context of working teacher-
student relationships created by the teacher.
Significant stressors may be more common to certain communities than others. In urban
schools with potentially high levels of crime and drugs, there are many stressors effecting the
community. In this study, authenticity played a big role for the band students who lived in that
setting. They were certain that their relationships with their band teacher was strong, and that

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they knew their teacher very well as a person. These beliefs of theirs contributed greatly to their
reactions whenever their teacher became upset or reacted in an extreme way to something that
happened during rehearsal, allowing them to handle the situations in stride and without incident.
The infrequent stressful moments in the band rehearsals did not seem to negatively affect the
teacher-student relationships because of their mutual understanding and connection. Bernstein-
Yamashiro’s (2004) finding that students feeling known, cared for, and respected as young adults
effected their learning about themselves, important skills of relating to and caring about others,
and creatively infusing a personal dimension into the educational encounter corroborated the
current study.
How much these teachers cared for their students at both schools was startling and can be
characterized as a second key finding. Although literature pointed to care as a quality of
successful teacher-student relationships (Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004; Nasseri et al., 2014;
Noddings, 2003), I was not expecting care to emerge as clearly as it did at both school sites.
Noddings (2003) described care as enduring, reciprocal, and responsive, and teacher actions at
Potter Central and McDonald closely corresponded. Both teachers expressed care through their
speech and actions every rehearsal throughout the study. The teachers reacted swiftly to students
needs in the moment through feedback or dialogue meant to support students in learning, self-
discovery, music performance, and/or off-task behaviors. The abundance of care seen at these
sites was consistent with caring as a main quality of successful teacher-student relationships
(Nasseri et al., 2014; Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004), and necessary for working with others in
general (Noblit, Rogers, & McCadden, 1995).
The band teachers in these two cases were frequently observed caring for students, as
well as acting with authenticity. Looked at under scrutiny, these two concepts are alike. Care, for

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many, is considered a moral principle where the individual chooses to value involvement with
their students and shows sensitivity and closeness in their interactions (Birch, 2015).
Authenticity is similar in that one’s values and beliefs are upheld in their actions, like a personal
moral principle that one lives by. Considering how interwoven the concepts of care and
authenticity are, it should come as no surprise that both impact relationships. This finding was
confirmed in Rabin’s (2013) study where authenticity came up repeatedly in a study on care
ethics in teacher training programs because it was found to make a big difference in how teachers
made choices regarding care for students, allowing students to have their own opinions, and be
themselves. These connections are worth further study and can be found as a suggestion of future
research below.
Suggestions for Future Research
The discussion above supports an argument for further inquiry into teacher authenticity
and teacher-student relationships. The following are suggestions for future research that
emerged. The method of this study filled a gap in research connecting authenticity and teacher-
student relationships in the band classroom. This relatively new area of study would benefit from
further research at other high schools and middle schools across the country and in various
communities, as well as branching out into a quantitative methodology using measures for
authenticity and belonging. Additional research on this topic could take many forms, including
these three possibilities: 1) conduct a qualitative study with the same method used in the current
study in two middle schools to test the viability of using the leader authenticity framework
(Henderson & Hoy, 1983) with younger individuals; 2) conduct a quantitative study within a
single school district measuring authenticity of the high school band teachers using the leader
authenticity measure (Henderson & Hoy, 1983) to determine student’s perception of their band

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teacher’s authenticity; 3) use the results from the above mentioned quantitative study to inform
which high schools to target specifically for future qualitative studies investigating the
phenomenon of teacher authenticity through the lens of a theory, such as mutual empathy
(Surrey, 1991), the leader authenticity framework (Henderson & Hoy, 1983), or care ethics
(Noddings, 2003).
Most students at one school stated that they did not have close relationships with
teachers, and that they would not seek teacher support if they had a problem. Their responses led
to a general suggestion that although they felt they belonged in their band program, they did not
feel a strong sense of belonging at their school. Meanwhile, students at the other school felt quite
the opposite. One question comes to mind: could the quality of teacher-student relationships
influence how likely a student would seek teacher support, as well as feelings of school
belonging? This would be an interesting line of research and could be investigated in several
ways: 1) conduct a qualitative study interviewing students in focus groups at two high schools
from the general population asking questions adapted from the PSSM (Goodenow, 1993) or a
similar measure for belonging; 2) conduct a quantitative study using the PSSM (Goodenow,
1993) questions exactly as is with high school students either randomly selected from the general
population or randomly selected from a specific class or club, such as band, to further
understanding of how students feel about their school and teachers.
As described in the discussion section, the concept of care and authenticity are
interconnected and both impact teacher-student relationships. With these three inexplicably
related, a question comes to mind. What is the connection between care ethics, authenticity, and
teacher-student relationships? A few ideas on answering this question are: 1) conduct a
qualitative study looking at the connection between authenticity and teacher-student relationships

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through the lens of care ethics; 2) conduct a qualitative study examining the relationship between
care ethics and authenticity within the music classroom through case study or ethnography
method.
Conclusions
This study illuminated the vast importance of having one’s actions and beliefs align, as
well as letting students know what their band teachers believe and value. Teachers should
constantly keep this goal in mind and employ self-reflection, as well as discussion with their
students, to know how successful this endeavor is for them. The opinions of others are needed to
uncover the authenticity of our actions, and self-reflection is helpful in assessing our personal
values and beliefs. Teachers may learn and grow in respect to authenticity by incorporating self-
reflection into their daily practice, as well as conversing with their students about their feelings
regarding the band program.
Themes in the findings point to specific actions music teachers could take that may
impact their relationships with students. Trust and respect grow out of highlighting honest
feedback and making efforts for the students and their teacher to be heard and known in the
classroom, and are also influenced by having a band teacher who strives for authenticity daily.
This information can help guide and encourage music teachers to use more of these practices to
strengthen their learning environment and teacher-student relationships.
Investigating the connection between teacher authenticity and teacher-student
relationships is relatively new. Studies such as this one are valuable to help band teachers at any
level understand the impact and function of authenticity in the band room. Also, certain
manifestations of authenticity are specific to the band rehearsal and should be considered in
much greater depth in teacher education programs, professional development, or clinics.

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Music teachers who embrace authenticity daily could create deeper belonging in the
classroom and an environment for better relationships, which have the potential to strengthen the
community. Coincidentally, these are goals many teachers have for their students and is a
worthwhile endeavor. In this way, authenticity may have an impact on future teacher education
programs. After all, “…we can’t change the world if we can’t fix the room” (interview, May 29,
2018).
Epilogue
My research into the contributions of authenticity has brought this topic closer to my
heart as a matter of importance than I previously thought possible, especially as a music
educator. I have always believed that what we say and do around others has a direct impact on
their learning and experience, and connecting the social aspects of authenticity and music to
relationships convinced me of its importance in any classroom. I believed previously that
authenticity existed along a continuum or spectrum and, thanks to the framework used in this
study, I now see it more as present or absent. Speaking with the teachers and students, and
observing their rehearsals, was vastly enjoyable for me because the contrast between the
appearances of the school sites were bridged in many ways by their similar interactions and
assertions. The people and locations were very different, and yet the experiences and feelings
about their band programs and teacher so similar. I feel profoundly honored to have had the
moments I did with these band programs and individuals because of how much they taught me,
not just for their contributions to this research. The findings of this study tell me that there is still
a long way to go in understanding how teacher authenticity looks on the ground in a music
classroom and how it impacts others, and yet I find this exciting. The potential for this area of
study is enormous in helping current and future teachers better their teaching and create more

132
possibility for their students. Because it is so new, I look forward to seeing future studies in this
area expand the literature on the topic of teacher authenticity in music. I see this dissertation as a
solid first step in attempting to address a question that has puzzled me for many years, and hope
that this study has helped others in seeing a new way to explore teacher authenticity in practice.

133
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APPENDICES

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Appendix A
Informed Consent for Non-Medical Research Form

University of Southern California
Thornton School of Music
839 W 34
th
St. Los Angeles, CA 90007

INFORMED CONSENT FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

Exploring the Contributions of Teacher Authenticity in Two High School Band Programs
in Greater Los Angeles

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by principal investigator Kathleen
Janert, in pursuance of a doctorate of musical arts degree, and faculty advisor Susan Helfter at the
University of Southern California. You have been selected because you are a high school band
director within Greater Los Angeles, have taught at your school site at least 3 years, have at least
5 years of teaching experience, and were recommended as a teacher of excellence by at least 5
other music educators. Your participation is voluntary. You should read the information below,
and ask questions about anything you do not understand, before deciding whether to participate.
Please take as much time as you need to read the consent form. You may also decide to discuss
participation with your family or friends. If you decide to participate, you will be asked to sign this
form. You will be given a copy of this form.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to interrogate the level of authenticity in two high school band
directors, what it looks like in practice, and its impact on their relationships with high school band
students.

STUDY PROCEDURES
Teacher participant:
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to be observed 6-8 times while
rehearsing band classes and complete a minimum of four semi-structured interviews with the
principal investigator over the course of 3-4 weeks. You will be photographed and audio/video-
recorded, and this is necessary to participate in this study. The first interview will address teacher
authenticity by asking questions about actions and methods used in the classroom, and the
second interview will address teacher-student relationships by asking questions about teacher
epistemology and paradigm, beliefs regarding learning, and how this is believed to be carried out
in their teaching. The third and fourth interviews will build upon and clarify answers from the
previous two interviews. Additional interviews will be conducted depending upon necessity,
availability, and time. Each interview will last between 60-90 minutes. Observations will occur
twice a week for 3-4 weeks.
Student participants:
Student participants will contribute to the study through focus group interviews where they will
answer questions about teacher authenticity, teacher-student relationships, and their personal

143
relationships with their band director and its effect on them in general. There will be two
sessions of focus groups followed by a questionnaire. Students will be audio-recorded and this is
necessary to participate in the study. Each focus group will last between 45-60 minutes. Students
will be given 5-10 minutes to complete the questionnaire after the second focus group session.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no anticipated risks.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
The study will explore the ways in which authenticity is present in a classroom and can contribute
to positive relationships, which will in turn impact student’s learning. The findings should offer
insights to teacher training programs and the importance of authenticity as a character strength, as
well as understanding what authenticity looks like in the classroom. This information may also be
useful to in-service teachers looking for further understanding into teacher-student relationships.
It is possible participants in the study will learn more about the nature of their relationships, value
of authenticity in their relationships, and experience self-growth through the process of reflection
and sharing with others.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be paid for participating in this research study.

CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. However, if we
are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information about you. The members
of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection
Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to protect
the rights and welfare of research subjects.

The data will be stored in a locked office on a secure computer with restricted access to authorized
study personnel (i.e., Kathleen and Susan), individual ID plus password protection, and network
restrictions. The computer has security software installed and is regularly updated. Restrictions
will be put in place on copying study related materials, and audio/video recordings will be
transcribed and then destroyed. The remaining data will be maintained indefinitely. Also, study
personnel will sign statements agreeing to protect security and confidentiality of study information.
No data from this study will be released to a third party for any reason. Teacher participants will
have the opportunity to review and edit their transcriptions of audio-recordings upon completion
of data collection. During data collection, only first names will be used on audio-recordings. Study
personnel, and transcribers, will change all names to pseudonyms upon transcription to protect the
personal identities of teachers and students. Complete pseudonyms of the teacher’s and student’s
first and last name, as well as school site, will be used in the final research document. During data
collection, all research will be conducted in a private setting and in person. Data will be captured
only by authorized personnel and reviewed in private.

PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and

144
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies
because of your participation in this research study.

ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
Your alternative is not to participate.

INVESTIGATOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact the Principal
Investigator. Daytime phone number: 210-478-9560. Email: janert@usc.edu. School address: 839
W 34
th
St. Los Angeles, CA 90007.

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu

SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT

I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I have
been given a copy of this form.

AUDIO/VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHS

□ I agree to be audio/video-recorded /photographed

□ I do not want to be audio/video-recorded /photographed

Name of Participant

Signature of Participant Date

SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR

I have explained the research to the participant and answered all of his/her questions. I believe
that he/she understands the information described in this document and freely consents to
participate.

145

Name of Person Obtaining Consent

Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date

146
Appendix B
Youth Assent-Parental Permission for Non-Medical Research
University of Southern California
Thornton School of Music
839 W 34
th
St. Los Angeles, CA 90007

YOUTH ASSENT-PARENTAL PERMISSION FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH
This form will also serve as the “Youth Assent” and “Consent/Permission form for the
Youth to Participate in Research.” In this case, “You” refers to “your child.”

Exploring the Contributions of Teacher Authenticity in Two High School Band Programs
in Greater Los Angeles

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by principal investigator Kathleen
Janert, in pursuance of a doctorate of musical arts degree, and faculty advisor Susan Helfter at
the University of Southern California. Your participation is voluntary. You should read the
information below, and ask questions about anything you do not understand before deciding
whether to participate.

Please take as much time as you need to read the consent form. Your child will also be asked
his/her permission. Your child can decline to participate, even if you agree to allow
participation. You and/or your child may also decide to discuss it with your family or friends. If
you and/or your child decide to participate, you will both be asked to sign this form. You will be
given a copy of this form.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to interrogate the level of authenticity in two high school band
directors, what it looks like in practice, and its impact on their relationships with high school band
students.

STUDY PROCEDURES
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to:

• Participate in focus group interviews. 4-6 students in the band program will
participate in focus group interviews. There are two sessions of focus groups possible
for participation.
o The first student focus group interview will help establish the level of teacher
authenticity in the band teacher. You will be asked questions about your
perceptions of your band teacher.
o The second student focus group interview will provide deeper understanding
of teacher-student relationships. You will be asked questions about your
understanding of relationships, your feelings about school and relationships
with others.

147
o During focus group interviews you don’t have to answer any questions you
don’t want to.
o Each focus group will last between 45-60 minutes and be scheduled either
during the school day or immediately after school.
• Complete a questionnaire on a hand-held recorder after the second focus group
session. Choose two questions out of five to answer regarding your personal
relationship with your band teacher and its effect on them in general.
o Students will be given 5-10 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
• Be audio-recorded. This is necessary to participate in the study.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no potential risks to your participation; however, you may feel uncomfortable answering
some of the questions. You do not have to answer any question you don’t want to.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
It is hoped that you may learn more about the nature of your relationships, value of authenticity in
your relationships, and experience self-growth through the process of reflection and sharing with
others.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be paid for participating in this research study. There will be refreshments provided
during the focus group sessions.

CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. However, if we
are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information about you. The members
of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection
Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to protect
the rights and welfare of research subjects.

The data will be stored in a locked office on a secure computer with restricted access to authorized
study personnel (i.e., Kathleen and Susan), individual ID plus password protection, and network
restrictions. The computer has security software installed and regularly updated. Restrictions will
be put in place on copying study related materials, and audio/video recordings will be transcribed
and then destroyed. The remaining data will be maintained indefinitely. Also, study personnel will
sign statements agreeing to protect security and confidentiality of study information. No data from
this study will be released to a third party for any reason. Student participants will have the
opportunity to review and edit the transcriptions of audio-recordings upon completion of data
collection; parents cannot access their child’s responses. During data collection, only first names
will be used on audio-recordings. Study personnel, and transcribers, will change all first names to
pseudonyms upon transcription to protect the personal identities of students. During data
collection, all research will be conducted in a private setting and in person. Data will be captured
only by authorized personnel and reviewed in private.

PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL

148
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies
because of your participation in this research study.

ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
Your alternative is not to participate.

INVESTIGATOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact the Principal
Investigator. Daytime phone number: 210-478-9560. Email: janert@usc.edu. School address: 839
W 34
th
St. Los Angeles, CA 90007.

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu

SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT (If the participant is 14 years or older)

I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I have
been given a copy of this form.

Name of Participant

Signature of Participant Date

SIGNATURE OF PARENT(S)/LEGALLY AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE

I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to allow my child participate in this
study. I have been given a copy of this form.

AUDIO/VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHS
Please note that audio-recording is necessary for participation in this study.

□ I agree to be audio-recorded

□ I do not want to be audio-recorded

149

Name of Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (1)

Signature of Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (1) Date

SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR

I have explained the research to the participant and his/her parent(s)/Legally Authorized
Representative, and answered all of their questions. I believe that the parent(s) understand the
information described in this document and freely consents to participate.

Name of Person Obtaining Consent

Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date

150
Appendix C
Interview Protocol
Teacher Interview #1: Teacher Authenticity
Questions
• What is it about teaching high school band that has you continue? What has you stay?
a. When you were choosing this school, what qualities or characteristics of the community impacted your
decision?
b. How have these characteristics of the school impacted the way you teach and your choice to stay at this
school?
Salience of Self over Role
• Do you ever share stories with your students about your life?
o What kind of stories do you share?
o Why do you share them?
• What about rules? How strict are you about rules with your students? * [H&H, 1983]
o Why?
• Do you ever feel like you’re not being yourself with your students? * [H&H, 1983]
o When might you feel like this?
o Can you give an example?
• [Extra] Do you allow your students to see the “real you”?
o How do you do this?
Non-manipulation of Subordinates
• How close are you to your students? Do you feel like you “get” them?
o In what way?
• Is it important to you to be honest in your communication with students? [H&H, 1983]
o Why or why not?
o What are the exceptions?
• Do you feel as though your beliefs and actions are consistent with one another? [H&H, 1983]
• [Extra] Do you ever control or influence your students unfairly? * [H&H, 1983]
Accountability
• How important is reliability to you? Do you believe you are reliable?
• Students often break rules. Do your students learn from their mistakes?
o In what way?
o What about you? Do you accept and learn from your mistakes? [H&H, 1983]
• Do you ever have a hard time dealing with failure? * [H&H, 1983]
• [Extra] Whenever you’ve given a large task to a student, do you stand behind them in support? [H&H, 1983]
o Can you give an example of this?
• This will be our last question. Is there anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t talked about yet?
• Thank you for participating.

Teacher Interview #2: Belonging/Relationships
Questions
• How would you describe the word “relationship”?
o What is needed for people to have a relationship, as opposed to an acquaintance?
• Name the person at school with whom you have the closest relationship.
o Why do you feel this way?
Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM)
• Do people at school notice when you’re good at something? [Goodenow, 1993]
o What have they noticed?
o How did you know they noticed you?
• Do you ever feel like you don’t belong at this school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
o Why or why not?
• Is there at least one other adult at this school you can talk to if you have a problem? [Goodenow, 1993]

151
o Who is that person?
o Why?
• Do you think the students respect you? [Goodenow, 1993]
o Why or why not?
• Do you ever wish you were at a different school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
o Why or why not?
• Is it hard to be accepted at this school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
o Why or why not?
• [Extra] Do you feel like you can really be yourself at school? [Goodenow, 1993]
• [Extra] Do you think you’re very different from the other teachers at this school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
• [Extra] Do other teachers at school take your opinions seriously? [Goodenow, 1993]
• This will be the final question. Is there anything you’d like to add that we haven’t talked about yet?
• Thank you for participating.

Focus Group Interview #1: Authenticity
Questions
• Please state your first name, instrument, year in school, and number of years spent in band with your band
teacher.
• What made you interested in joining the focus group?
Salience of Self over Role
• Does your band teacher ever share with you anything outside about their life outside of school?
o What kinds of stories have they shared?
o How did that story make you feel?
• Is your band teacher obsessed with rules? * [H&H, 1983]
o Why do you say that?
• Is your band teacher a phony? * [H&H, 1983]
o Why do you say that?
• [Extra] Is your band teacher authentic? [H&H, 1983]
• [Extra] Do you view your band teacher as a person first, and a teacher second? [H&H, 1983]
Non-manipulation of Subordinates
• Do you feel like your band teacher “sees” you? Like that they really know who you are?
o What makes you feel that way?
• Do you feel your band teacher is honest with you (in face-to face interactions)? [H&H, 1983]
o What does he/she do that makes you believe that?
o Can you give me an example?
• Are your band teacher’s beliefs and actions consistent with each other? [H&H, 1983]
o In what way?
• [Extra] Is your band teacher ever manipulative with you? * [H&H, 1983]
Accountability
• Talk about reliability. Is your band teacher reliable? What makes you think so?
• Do you think your band teacher accepts and learns from their mistakes? [H&H, 1983]
o Why do you say that?
• Are students ever afraid if they confide in your band teacher that the information may be used against them
later? * [H&H, 1983]
o Why or why not?
• [Extra] Does your band teacher have a hard time dealing with failure? * [H&H, 1983]
• This will be our last question. Is there anything you’d like to share that we haven’t talked about yet?
• Thank all for participating.

Focus Group Interview #2: Belonging/Relationships
Questions
• What made you want to return to the focus group, or join the focus group?
• How would you describe the word “relationship”?
o What is needed for people to have a relationship, as opposed to an acquaintance?

152
• What teacher do you feel like you have the best relationship with at this school?
o Why?
Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM)
• Do people at school notice when you’re good at something? [Goodenow, 1993]
o What have they noticed?
o How did you know they noticed you?
• Do you ever feel like you don’t belong at this school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
o Why or why not?
• Is there at least one teacher or other adult at this school you can talk to if you have a problem? [Goodenow,
1993]
o Who is that person?
o Why?
• Do you think the teachers respect you? [Goodenow, 1993]
• Do you ever wish you were at a different school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
• Is it hard to be accepted at this school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
• [Extra] Do you feel like you can really be yourself at school? [Goodenow, 1993]
• [Extra] Do you think you’re very different from the other students at this school? * [Goodenow, 1993]
• [Extra] Do other students at school take your opinions seriously? [Goodenow, 1993]
• This will be the final question. Is there anything you’d like to add that we haven’t talked about yet?
• Thank you for participating.

Focus Group Questionnaire
Instructions: First, state your first name. Second, choose 2 questions from below and answer them verbally within
the next 5 minutes while recording on the hand-held recorder.

1. Describe the most memorable experience you’ve had with your band teacher and why it is so memorable.
2. Describe how you truly feel about your band teacher regarding your relationship. What is great? What
could be better?
3. What has your relationship with your band teacher taught you about life that you didn’t know previous?
4. In what ways do you want to be like, or not be like, your band teacher?
5. What have you learned by reflecting on your band teacher and relationships in these focus groups?

153
Appendix D
USC Institutional Review Board Approval

154

155
Appendix E
Data-Guiding Protocol
Leadership Authenticity
Salience of Self over Role
[LAS 3] X [LAS 2] X [LAS 1] X
Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
Acts in a genuine manner
toward others consistently
Sometimes acts in a genuine
manner towards others
Actions are confined to the
obligations of the role

Goes beyond what is
expected of the role
consistently

Sometimes goes beyond what
is expected of the role

Never expands effort
beyond the immediate role

Deals directly with the needs
of the situation consistently

Deals directly with the needs
of the situation occasionally
Does not consistently deal
with the needs of the
situation

Regularly seeks out new
responsibilities and acts on
new opportunities

Occasionally takes on new
responsibilities

Rarely takes on new
responsibilities

Regularly generates new and
progressive ideas
Sometimes generates new
and progressive ideas
Rarely generates new and
progressive ideas

Non-manipulation of Subordinates
[LAM 3] X [LAM 2] X [LAM 1] X
Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
Treats subordinates with
respect consistently
Sometimes treats
subordinates with respect
Manipulates others as if
they were objects

Expressions and actions are
consistent
At times the individuals'
expressions and actions are
consistent

Is disrespectful to
subordinates

Cooperates with subordinates
regularly

Sometimes cooperates with
subordinates
Behavior towards
subordinates is inconsistent
in action and expression

Accountability
[LAA 3] X [LAA 2] X [LAA 1] X
Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
Always accepts personal and
organizational responsibility
Sometimes accepts personal
and organizational
responsibility

Rarely accepts
responsibility

Always admits mistakes

Sometimes admits mistakes
Rarely admits to one’s
mistakes

Abstract (if available)

Abstract An authentic individual demonstrates their values and beliefs through their actions in a way that is apparent to others. Authenticity is often seen in others this way though also in individuals in specific roles, such as teachers. Teacher authenticity has been shown to positively impact student learning, and is believed to positively impact interpersonal relationships. The purpose of this multiple case study is to interrogate the concept of authenticity in practice for two selected high school band directors and its impact on their relationships with high school band students. The main questions posed were: (1) how does teacher authenticity manifest in practice and (2) contribute to teacher-student relationships. Observation, interview, student focus group, student questionnaire, and field note data were collected over the course of four weeks and then transcribed for analysis. Findings revealed that authenticity was demonstrated through actions to have one be known and heard, specific teacher-student interactions, effective pedagogical choices, and “teacher-in-the-trenches” moments. Different qualities of teacher-student relationships appeared at the two schools where authenticity was present, however, a context was created overall for working teacher-student relationships in both cases.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Janert, Kathleen (author)

Core Title Exploring the contributions of teacher authenticity in two high school band programs in Greater Los Angeles

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Musical Arts

Degree Program Music Education

Publication Date 07/24/2019

Defense Date 07/22/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag authenticity,band,Music Education,OAI-PMH Harvest,Relationships

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Ilari, Beatriz (committee chair), Helfter, Susan (committee member), Webster, Peter (committee member)

Creator Email janert.kathleen@gmail.com,kjanert@csudh.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-188450

Unique identifier UC11660658

Identifier etd-JanertKath-7585.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-188450 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-JanertKath-7585.pdf

Dmrecord 188450

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Janert, Kathleen

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA