The purpose of this study was to discover relationships in student perceptions of what it means to be a "good musician" across grade level, with regard to gender, and according to different school music affiliations among an intact school culture. The specific problems were to determine (1) what percentage of students choose to participate in school music, (2) if there is a trend in self-reported good musicianship across grade levels, (3) if there is a relationship between gender and music self-efficacy, and (4) which factors defining "good musician" are indicated most frequently across different grade levels. Subjects (N = 1,219) were students grades 4 through 12 at a moderate-size, suburban school district in the midwestern United States. Subjects were administered an online researcher-devised survey protocol inquiring about areas of musicianship. Results indicate that a majority (56%) of students chose not to participate in school music, that student self-perceptions of being a good musician decreased in relationship to grade level, that girls indicated being a good musician significantly more than boys (p less than 0.0001), and that the category "Performs/practices an instrument" was the most cited response for each grade level. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)