Music Education Commons^™

Developing Student Agency In The Choral Classroom: A Case Study, Danielle E. Laird

LSU Master's Theses

This multiple-case study sought to describe how student agency is cultivated within two high school choir programs. Research questions were: (a) In what ways did participating teachers incorporate student agency? (b) How did their students describe their experience? (c) What opportunities/difficulties emerged when students assumed leadership and decision-making roles? (d) Why do participating teachers offer these to students? (e) How do opportunities for student agency serve student learning and program goals? Data collection included semi-structured teacher interviews in two stages, as well as a student questionnaire. Other data included choir handbooks, student leadership information, social media presence, and classroom signs. …

“A Lot Of Stories In My Mind”: Perspectives Of Children And Elders Living With Dementia On Intergenerational Collaboration In A Participatory Music Project, Cameron Dusman

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Trends of music engagement include a shift towards presentational music culture, as well as inequitable access to participatory music-making for some populations. Meanwhile, trends of societal engagement include ageism and age-segregation. Especially for people living with dementia, stigma often prevents equitable access to creative participatory arts. This convergent, mixed-methods case study design explored participation in an intergenerational, participatory creative arts project. Participants included children from an elementary school and senior adults with dementia in a memory care neighborhood. The purpose was to explore the meaning of participation and interaction in the project from participants’ perspectives. Participants collaborated in eight sessions …

Music Education In A Liquid Social World: The Nuances Of Teaching With Students Of Immigrant And Refugee Backgrounds, Gabriela Ocádiz Velázquez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This integrated-article dissertation explores the multiple ways in which music teachers, community facilitators, and students engage in music teaching and learning in social contexts prone to change due to human mobility. Drawing upon Bauman’s sociological understanding of modern societies as liquid and the larger implications of processes of human mobility in schools and communities, this research focuses on exploring music education as it happens within an increasingly diversifying Canadian society.

In the first article, a philosophical research study, I conceptualize the notion of coping with discomfort as a form of response possibly experienced by music teachers. Here, I draw from …

Music Deserts: How Social Inequality Affects Accessibility To Music Resources Important To Actively Participating In Music, Everardo Francisco Reyes

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Recent findings in the cognitive neuroscience of music suggest that active participation in music has benefits such as increasing reading comprehension, soothing babies, and helping increase synapses which are beneficial in differentiating music and speech from noise. However, these benefits are not accessible to all communities. Department of Education (2012) research reveals that elementary and secondary schools with a higher percentage of poverty have fewer music teachers, music courses, dedicated rooms for music, and proper music equipment. In this research I examine how social inequality in the US correlated with a lack of music instrument stores (MIS). These areas can …

The Equal Right To Sing: The American Zeitgeist And Its Implications For Music Education, Youngeun Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

According to music educators and proponents of arts education, music education in U.S. public schools seems to be in jeopardy. This thesis brings attention to several issues in current music education. It is a case study of music education in New York City public elementary schools. First, it shows that music education is not equally distributed to all students in the public-school system and is especially unequal among elementary schools. Next, it investigates possible causes for this inequality, from the current system’s limitations to more fundamental causes including the cultural perception of music among the U.S. public. The consequences of …

Examining Equity In Tenure Processes At Higher Education Music Programs: An Institutional Ethnography, Deborah Bradley, Deanna Yerichuk, Lori-Anne Dolloff, Kiera Galway, Kathy M. Robinson, Jody Stark, Elizabeth Gould

Music Faculty Publications

As part of a larger mixed-methods study, this article presents findings from research on processes of tenure in Canadian higher education music faculties. The Principle Investigator and three teams of two researchers analyzed the process of tenure at three Canadian institutions to gain insight into how tenure decisions are made in relation to gender and race/ethnicity. The researchers used institutional ethnography, developed by sociologist Dorothy Smith, to examine institutional documents that organize tenure, as well as how documents organize people’s actions, studied through interviews with key stakeholders, such as directors, tenure applicants, and union representatives. The findings from the three …

Kicking The Habitus:Power, Culture And Pedagogy In The Secondary School Music Curriculum, Ruth Wright

Ruth Wright Dr

Within a theoretical framework drawn from sociologists of education Bourdieu and Bernstein, this paper will examine some of the findings of an ethnographic case study conducted with a secondary school music teacher and one class of her pupils in Wales. This teacher attracted 25% of Year 10 (14-year-old) pupils to study music as an optional subject against a national background of 8% average. The study attempted to examine the lived experiences of the participants in music at home and school. Teacher and pupils had much to say about music teaching and learning in the classroom and beyond. Much of the …

Music For All:Pupils' Perceptions Of The Gcse Music Examination In One South Wales Secondary School, Ruth Wright

Ruth Wright Dr

This article originated from a research project examining pupils' perceptions of the GCSE Music examination (for pupils aged 15–16) in one large secondary school in the United Kingdom. The research explored the hypothesis that pupils considered it necessary to have additional instrumental or vocal tuition outside class music lessons in order to secure a high grade in the examination. The research also hypothesised that, despite the egalitarian philosophy underpinning the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination system, the music course was still viewed by pupils as being élitist. It was concluded that although there were some very positive comments …

Gender And Achievement In Music Education: The View From The Classroom, Ruth Wright

Ruth Wright Dr

This article originates from a research project investigating the effects of gender on achievement in music education in one secondary school. The study showed a correlation between gender and achievement in music with some surprising insights into possible causes of male under-achievement in education at Key Stages 3 (11–14 years) and 4 (14–16 years) generally. It is argued that because of national testing and school performance tables, the debate on male under-achievement in this country may have become so focused on core subjects that a very important link in the argument is being overlooked – a link provided by music …