Development and Validation of the Self-Regulated Learning in Music Practice Self-Report Scale (SRL-MP-SRS)

To practise effectively, musicians must engage in self-regulated learning (SRL) through a cyclical process of planning, execution, and reflection. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new questionnaire that measures SRL in the context of music practice. We generated an item pool by adapting items from existing scales and revising them based on feedback from an expert panel. This pool was administered to 290 musicians, randomly split into Subsamples A and B. Exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) was carried out on Subsample A to create the final Self-Regulated Learning in Music Practice Self-Report Scale (SRL-MP-SRS), which consisted of 27 items distributed across five subscales. ESEM of the final model on Subsample B demonstrated a good fit. Internal consistency was acceptable for both the global scale and each of the subscales. The SRL-MP-SRS scores correlated positively with self-efficacy and deliberate practice, while professional musicians scored higher on the SRL-MP-SRS than students. The SRL-MP-SRS provides a valid and reliable way to measure musicians’ self-regulated practice that can be utilised with large samples, although further studies are needed to investigate its validity and limitations further.