Citation: Heyning, L. (2011). "I can't sing!" The concept of teacher confidence in singing and the use within their classroom. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(13). Retrieved [date] from http://www.ijea.org/v12n13/.

When teachers become more confident and competent in relation to singing, then they are more likely to use singing and to use it successfully. Teachers are expected to gain such skills in pre-service teacher education, to enhance their capability in teaching music, so that singing can be utilised and supported in schools. Confidence is definitely something that contributes to our performance in all aspects of our life. However, when we are not confident in those skills, we do not perform as well as we should, generally resulting in avoidance of that skill or activity.

When it became apparent, at the end of an Australian University Teacher Education music education elective, that some primary teacher education students could not hold a tune by themselves, or felt confident to sing on their own, a strategy was developed to raise the solo singing standards and perception of confidence level of the next cohort of students. This paper reports on a pilot program aimed at improving the in-tune singing skills and confidence of a class of teacher education students with the aim of increasing the likelihood they will later include singing in their future music programs.

Visual Abstract