Music Education Commons^™

Understanding The Effects Of Hormone Treatments On The Transgender Singer: A Pedagogical Study And Voice Studio Guide, Erin M. Hannon

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Transitioning from one gender to another can be an arduous and emotionally charged experience, accompanied by many physical and mental transformations. The journey of self-discovery and vocal explorations is both unique and deeply personal. Modifications that emerge in an individual's vocal characteristics have a profound influence on their capacity to communicate and express themselves.

Transgender vocal students and professional singers must navigate the delicate balance between their vocal and gender identities while considering the possible risks of Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy. Though these therapies may significantly alter one's appearance and overall well-being, they are also capable of causing notable declines …

Barriers And Pathways To Music Teacher Professional Agency, David Dockan

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Teacher agency has been a burgeoning topic of research in education and music education. In education research, professional agency has been associated with the influence of policy, teacher demographics, teacher beliefs, professional developments, and teaching environments. In music education, music teacher professional agency is a music teacher’s perception of their capacity to exert power, act, or cause change in their curriculum. Although many researchers and scholars assume that music teachers have agency in their classroom regarding their curriculum, the landscape is shifting due to recent policy changes in the United States, specifically concerning Divisive Concept Laws. Since recent Divisive Concept …

Ecuadorian Vocal Anthology In Four Rhythms, Wagner Mauricio Pástor Pazmiño Dr.

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Ecuador is a pluricultural and multilingual territory with four natural regions, several musical genres, and interpretations. Amazon, Galápagos, Mountain Range, and Coastal region. In the following dissertation, the author develops concepts of four traditional rhythms, their composers, and harmonic and phonetic characteristics from the mountain range region of his homeland, Ecuador.

The present document is a descriptive study of vocal Andean music and the application of the operatic style in classical vocal technique for performance practice.

The dissertation will support a lecture recital to fulfill the doctoral program's requirement in voice performance from the University of Kentucky.

Piano Wisdom From Two Great Masters: Heinrich Neuhaus And Walter Gieseking, Xiaohan Hu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores the pedagogical insights and piano techniques of Heinrich Neuhaus (1888-1964) and Walter Gieseking (1895-1956), two iconic figures in 20th-century piano performance and education. Through a detailed analysis of their writings and teaching methods, the research highlights their shared focus on the foundational principles of piano technique, as well as their unique contributions to interpretation and musical expression.

Neuhaus’s The Art of Piano Playing provides an in-depth discussion on the importance of artistic imagery, posture, sound production, and emotional depth in performance. Gieseking, along with his former teacher Karl Leimer, emphasizes ear training, mental visualization, and technical precision …

The Relationship Between Music Educators And Stress, Sarah Plain

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to gather information from currently practicing music educators in a range of specialties about the relationship between their working lives and personal lives. Does their working life affect them at a level where they cannot decompress? Do they have a healthy relationship with their career and manage their workload well? Information will be gathered about the conditions surrounding educators to gather context for why they have the work-life balance they have described. After measuring and reporting how music educators are balancing their careers against their personal lives, potential solutions will be described to help …

Increasing Student Success In The Large Ensemble Classroom, Elyce Enrique

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Music teachers face many challenges with high quality instruction in large ensemble classes. When there is only one ensemble for students in grades nine through twelve to participate in, their respective skill levels span across a large spectrum. However, the student must perform the part that the composer wrote for their instrument or voice type, regardless of their ability to do so. Students with disabilities and students with less experience are at a vast disadvantage. As a result, the teacher is left with the decision of choosing music that is too difficult for some students or too easy for others. …

Education Equity: Music Theory Information Literacy At A Hispanic-Serving Institution (Hsi), Charles Roush, Katrina Roush, Norma Denae Dibrell

School of Music Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring Band Students' Motivations Regarding Instrument Selection, Aaron S. Morley

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

When choosing a beginning band instrument, students are faced with a choice that may be influenced by a variety of factors. These factors also interest band directors, who want students to choose an instrument that will be a good fit for their strengths while also being engaging to them. To assist directors in guiding students through instrument selection it is helpful to know what factors could influence students when they are choosing an instrument. To identify the factors that students report as impactful, beginning band students in five northwest Missouri school districts were surveyed about the influence of selected factors. …

Development And Implementation Of A Practice And Assessment Tool For Middle School Orchestra, Linda Kathy Hughes

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a practice and assessment tool, Skill Ladders, as used by my 7^th grade orchestra students. This is a tool that I created to help students focus on specific skill acquisition and musical development during their practice time. Designed for the middle section of intermediate level playing skills and aligned with curricular goals, students were to utilize this tool to set goals, practice, self-assess, and demonstrate progress. Prior to utilizing Skill Ladders, students completed a survey of baseline attitudes toward individual practice. After the trial period of the …

The Perceived Effects Of Peer-Assisted Learning In A Collegiate Instrumental Pedagogy Classroom, Hannah Wagoner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is an approach that teachers can use in the classroom to increase students’ ownership of their learning. Besides increased autonomy, PAL can provide several other academic and social benefits, such as increased achievement and fostering a sense of community. This study aimed to examine the effects of PAL on college students’ performance on a secondary instrument. Five students in a collegiate instrumental pedagogy course experienced PAL activities in class while learning secondary instruments. After a statistical and content analysis of all the data, results showed that 1) all but one of the participants improved in their performance …

Choral Students’ Perception Of Kinesthetic Pedagogy In The High School Choral Classroom, Molly Bolewski

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the incorporation of kinesthetic pedagogy in secondary choral rehearsals and its impact on student engagement and learning. Three experienced high school choral teachers and their students from Northern California participated in the study. Each teacher conducted four consecutive rehearsal sessions, recording themselves instructing on two pieces of music using teacher-modeled and student-imitated kinesthetic gestures. Students completed daily surveys assessing their enjoyment and engagement levels, and teachers provided a final reflection on their usual kinesthetic practices. Video footage of twelve rehearsals and teachers’ final reflections were analyzed to identify patterns in kinesthetic usage, revealing that these teachers’ kinesthetic …

Choir Teacher Agency And Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Kaitlyn Schramm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) (Paris, 2012) is an educational framework that nurtures and sustains students’ cultural competencies and identities. Scholars have recognized the need for practices that sustain and nurture cultural identities and ways of knowing music in the music classroom (Abril, 2009; Bond, 2014; Good Perkins, 2018; Salvador & Culp, 2022; Shaw, 2016). Culturally sustaining teachers reimagine curriculum entirely and place students' cultural assets at the center “as targets of learning to be sustained” (Lee, 2017, p. 262), explored, honored, extended, and critically problematized (Lee, 2017; Paris, 2012; Samy Alim et al., 2020). In choral classrooms, this often involves …

Equity In Harmony: Music Teacher Preparedness And Perceptions Of Multilingual Learners In The Midwest, Mckenzie Vick

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions music teachers in the Midwest have regarding working with multilingual students, how music education benefits their multilingual students, and how they perceive the struggles their multilingual students have regarding music education. The study was a qualitative study in which 5 teachers were interviewed on their perceptions. The study found that music teachers see many benefits of music education for multilingual students including: building a sense of belonging, helping with language learning, having a non-academic outlet, and providing additional socialization opportunities. It also found that teachers did not feel prepared to …

Concert Band Methods And Supplemental Ensemble Material For The High School Band, Carissa Blumka

Honors Program Theses

In a school band setting, most music educators will begin a rehearsal with a warm-up routine. When a unified group warm-up is desired, rather than allowing open time for students to warm up individually, a resource is needed. Many supplemental method books and materials have been published to provide exercises to organize this desired ensemble warm-up. After physically preparing students to play through a warm-up, many effective band directors choose to devote additional rehearsal time to the development of fundamental musical skills. Though much of the school band curriculum is taught through the repertoire selected for the ensemble to perform, …

Response To “Spontaneous Wellsprings Of Music” By Nicholas Mcnair, Michael Hamman

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

No abstract provided.

The Spontaneous Wellsprings Of Music, Nicholas Mcnair

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

Western Classical Music has traditionally been described in terms of fixed structures, carefully built up by the composer and presented to the performer in the form of a score. This has crystallised over the centuries into an ideological position which, in the last analysis, gives absolute authority to the composer over the performer, severely limiting the freedom of expression of the latter. In this article I seek to reverse this position by pointing to the essential spontaneity, represented by improvisation, that lies at the heart of all music-making, albeit fiercely opposed by the fundamentalism of an endless number of structural …

The Art Of Sustaining Orchestras Through Intentional Educational Experiences, Kimberly Souther

Dissertations, 2020-current

The purpose of this study is to identify the most current and successful advances in audience engagement that champion connection and result in sustainability through purposeful educational experiences.

The Symphony Orchestra currently serves an audience which represents a multiplicity of perspectives, background, and understanding. In an era of expanded canon and outreach to local communities, the orchestra must acknowledge that change is necessary if we are to truly create fulfilling experiences for our listeners. Unfortunately, many orchestras fail to connect their outreach to the concert hall, woefully categorizing their patrons into pre-determined subsets. What if all patrons were trusted with …

Comparative Curricular Study Of Undergraduate Music Education Programs At Ohio Public Institutions, Benjamin Jenkins

Honors Projects

Music Education programs must fulfill numerous requirements to receive approval from multiple accrediting bodies. At the national level institutions must meet the standards set forth by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). In Ohio, programs must also follow requirements from the Ohio Department of Higher Education. This study examines undergraduate music education degree requirements from twelve public institutions in Ohio. It discusses how each university fulfills NASM requirements and to gain insight into how they balance the requirements of multiple accrediting bodies.

Evaluating The Perceived Preparedness Of Pre-Service Music Educators To Teach Students With Disabilities, Emily Jarvis

Honors Projects

This study evaluated the perceived preparedness of pre-service music educators to teach students with disabilities based on their university’s curriculum. Ten participants responded to a survey that asked questions on their feelings of preparedness in classroom management, teaching students with disabilities, university education, and personal perspectives. Overall, participants indicated they felt comfortable with teaching students with disabilities, but felt unprepared to teach specific components of disability education based on their program studies alone. Suggestions to improve university programs are based on implementing Universal Design Learning (UDL) practices.

An Examination Of Non-Core Teacher Training In Special Education, Courtney Farber

Masters Projects

Research has shown that many non-core educators such as art, music, and physical education educators may lack the training needed to properly service students with special needs in their classrooms. The undergraduate programs researched were found to only require one course about special education. This lack of training leaves educators unprepared and always wondering how to best teach students with special needs in their classrooms. The lack of educator training also means that students with special needs are not able to participate to their full ability within these classes. This project looks at the training received by educators, the different …