Music Education Commons^™

Diversifying The Playing Field: Solo Performance Of African American Spirituals And Art Songs By Voice Students From All Racial Backgrounds, Emery Stephens, Caroline Helton

Music Faculty Research Publications

To further promote the performance of African American spirituals and art songs, this article offers a different perspective -- direct response from collegiate voice students, voice teachers, vocal coaches, and professional singers. In the spring of 2005, “The African American Art Song Survey” was developed and disseminated through the Internet to collect data from 220 voice teachers, coaches, and singers regarding their attitudes on performing African American classical vocal repertoire across racial backgrounds, receiving a response rate of 44% from 500 distributed surveys. Part I dealt with general demographic questions (gender, age, ethnic background, religious affiliation), and Part II addressed …

School Of Music Alum Honored For Service In Music Education, Hannah Dhue

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

Integrating Music Into Samoan Primary Schools: Teachers’ Perceptions And Potential Benefits, Jennifer Fortin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the knowledge-base of teachers’ beliefs and practices of music integration in Samoan primary schools, as well as the potential benefits it provides for young developing minds. Current Samoan teachers’ perceptions of the benefits of music are analyzed in light of data proving these benefits in Primary Education. Children gain only as much as teachers incorporate. Social benefits include a more positive learning environment, improved attention and attitude, as well as inspiration and motivation, along with academic benefits of increased verbal memory, abstract reasoning and reading development. Data was collected through a series of interviews, surveying, observation and …

The Same Person, Jeffrey C. Binner

Student Publications

How can we conceptualize curriculum and school knowledge to better address important questions of social change, contingency of knowledge, life in mediated worlds, and inequalities? This question was given to me by Dr. Brent Talbot for my final presentation in Music 149, Social Foundations of Music Education. The purpose of this assignment was to synthesize the knowledge of various philosophies and models of music education covered in this course while utilizing the course material given to us throughout the semester. After Dr. Talbot’s emphasis on creativity and having already written too many papers to count, I decided to write and …

Effects Of Physical Movement In Rhythm Instruction In Early Instrumentalist Development, Jessica Horne-Greene

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to investigate if including physical movement in instruction improves instrumental music student's rhythmic abilities. Within the rhythmic instruction, the research study specifically focused on student's rhythmic ability and note reading improvements. Participants in this study included instrumental music students in grades four, five, and six, in a middle-class school district (N=18). The control group was given four weeks of traditional rhythm instruction, with a traditional counting method. The experimental group was given rhythm instruction incorporating physical movement over a period of four weeks. Prior to the lessons, both the experimental and control groups were …

The Effect Of Choral Music Education On Literacy Achievement, Keith Alan Hearnsberger

Theses and Dissertations

American education was going through dramatic change in the beginning of the 21st century. The way children were educated was constantly evolving. Public schools, private schools, parochial schools, charter schools, and many other types of educational institutions were affected by various federal and state regulations since the 1960's. The students, teachers, and educational leaders in these institutions were consistently affected by regulations, increased academic demands, and an ever-changing educational landscape. The educational administrator and music educators were required to be innovative when seeking change in policy in regards to educational achievement while maintaining a commitment to choral music education. The …

New Mexico Musician Vol 61 No 1 (Fall 2013)

New Mexico Musician

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Middle/High School Band And Orchestra Festival Ratings, Phillip Hash

Faculty Publications - Music

The purpose of this study was to compare festival ratings among multiple instrumental ensemble types (bands and orchestras), grade levels (middle school and high school), and classifications (1-6). Data included individual and final ratings from 144 judges (108 concert- performance, 36 sight-reading) at 36 contest sites sponsored by the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA) in 2010. Research questions examined the distribution, reliability, and group differences of ratings by ensemble type (band vs. orchestra), age level (middle school vs. high school), and classification (1-6). The average final rating was 1.58 (SD = .66) and 91.5% (n = 901) of …

The Music Identity Project, Brent C. Talbot

Sunderman Conservatory of Music Faculty Publications

At MayDay Group Colloquium 24 in East Lansing, MI, Sandra Stauffer (2012) charged that: "If we want change, we need to start telling different stories . . . we work with beginning teachers, and we worry about teacher identities. We tell them a story...one that does not serve them well. A story that they will be prepared. Maybe we should tell stories of self-making, of re-making and replacing ourselves. Of preparation as a constantly evolving teacher story. Maybe then transformation can be the norm."

Sandy’s comments of transformation resonated strongly with the very project I was presenting at the same …

Redesigning A Performance Practice: Synergising Woodwind Improvisation With Bespoke Software Technology., Seán Mac Erlaine

Doctoral

This research examines how the designing of a new performance practice based on the incorporation of custom digital signal processing software impacts on solo improvised woodwind performance. Through the development of bespoke software, I investigate how these new technologies can be integrated into solo woodwind performance practice. This research presents a new improvised music practice as well as a suite of new software tools and performance techniques. Through a workshop and performance-­‐based research process, a suite of software processors are developed which respond, and are complementary, to a personalised style of improvised performance. This electronic augmentation of the woodwind instrument …

Side Show: The Musical Direction, Morgan D. Hurd

Music

No abstract provided.

Study Of The Acquisition Of Development Of Melodic Notation In First- To Third-Grade Children, Kaylan Rose Wells

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive development in music of first- to third-grade children, with particular interest in the mean level of development for each age and the role that gender may play. Participants included 224 students (115 girls and 109 boys) from grades 1-3. Using a developed research protocol, a trained committee of music educators rated children’s drawings for cognitive development with respect to melodic line. The study found significant difference among grade levels with F= 6.9702, df= 2, 222, p = .0012 at the .01 level using a three-group ANOVA. However, there were no …

A Comparison Of The Perceptions Of Music Educators And School Administrators Regarding Trends In Secondary Curricular Offerings And Implications On Student Body Participation, Leigh Falconer

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand the perceptions of music educators and school administrators regarding current practices in curricular offerings as they pertain to music education. These included experienced and anticipated changes to the music curriculum, music education participation rates, barriers to music participation, and school and music course ethnic composition. From a regional perspective, music teachers and administrators were surveyed to determine if perceptions regarding any of the above items varied significantly between the groups. Total potential subjects were selected through random stratified sampling (in Washington) or all music educators (Oregon and Idaho) (n = 922). …

A Study Of How Selected Public School Junior-High Students Perceive The Effect Of Popular Music On Classroom Behavior, Christopher Mc Allister

Masters Theses

The objective of this study is to further the understanding of how junior-high students in the public schools perceive the effects of popular music on their behavior in the classroom. Two primary research questions serve as the foundation for this study. The first question investigates how themes disclosed in interviews of selected public school junior high students help to explain their personal perceptions of how popular music affects their behavior in the academic environment. The second question seeks to determine whether students that listen to a particular genre of popular music have different or similar perceptions of how music affects …

Preference Between Audio-Visual Recorded Performance And Audio-Only Recorded Performance, Eric Shane Ellis

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research explores whether subjects have a preference for an audio-only (AO) presentation or an audio-visual (AV) presentation of the same piece of music. The research was conducted in two parts as a pilot study and as a main study. In the pilot study, the adult subjects were directed to the website YouTube where they listened to an audio and an audio-visual recording. During each presentation, the subjects ranked segments at 30-second intervals on a Likert scale from strongly-dislike to strongly-like. Using x2, a statistically significant difference was found in the “Dislike” category with a x2 of 14.44 and the …

Teaching World Music In An Elementary Setting: Effective Teaching Strategies And Classroom Materials, Calyna Mc Allister

Masters Theses

The world we live in today is increasingly a global society. As such, the various cultures of the world come into contact with one another more often. Students today need to have experiences with different cultures in order to participate effectively in this globally minded world. An excellent way to expose children to these cultures is through the use of world music in the general music classroom. The need for world music from a music education standpoint has been addressed over the past few decades. However, little has been done to address the teaching methods associated with world music or …

Critical Thinking Explored Through Music Compositions Of Sixth Grade General Music Students, Tiffanie Michelle Manes

Student Theses and Dissertations

This quasi-experimental design investigates critical thinking through music compositions of sixth grade general music students. Through the use of the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X, scores were compared between the treatment (music composition) and control (regular music classroom curriculum) groups. Participants (N=193) were in eight in-tact classes. Each class was randomly assigned to four groups: (1) Experimental Group A (Pre/treatment/post); (2) Control Group B (pre/post); (3) Experimental Group C (treatment/post); (4) Control Group D (post). T-tests and ANOVAs were utilized to analyze results and to determine statistical significances. While treatment was determined statistically significant for one of the four …

A Preliminary Study Of The Articulatory And Acoustic Features Of Forward And Backward Tone Placement In Singing, Krista Wyllys

Masters Theses

A variety of terms exist for describing tone quality in singing, and voice scientists, voice therapists, teachers of singing, and students of singing use different terms to describe the same sound. One aspect of tone quality is tone placement. Teachers of singing often rely on imagery and imitation to elicit correct tone placement from students of singing. More concrete data about what produces forward and backward tone placement could supplement singing teachers’ current practice of using imagery and imitation to elicit a desirable tone quality. This study examined forward and backward tone placement to determine the articulatory gestures and acoustic …

Rockin School : An Audio, Visual, And Kinesthetic Approach To General Education Through Music, Tobias Gebb

Graduate Student Independent Studies

A research study that aims to show that the use of music with content embedded in the lyrics within regular classroom lessons can be an effective tool to improve student enthusiasm, engagement, memory, performance, and test scores.

The Marriage Of Figaro As Presented By Beaumarchais, Da Ponte, And Mozart: An Expression Of Shifting Class Structure, Kelly Cassady

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The social structure at the close of the 18th century was a picture of instability and change, as Europe watched the unfolding of the American Revolution, Napoleon redrew the map, and the Enlightenment swept across the face of the earth, bringing with it new political and social ideas relating to equality and the unfairness of the aristocratic class and government structure throughout Europe. This new awareness was expressed intellectually and passionately in the work of the artists, musicians, and writers of the time, as is demonstrated clearly in Pierre Augustin de Beaumarchais's radical play, "The Marriage of Figaro." The Enlightened …