Music Education Commons^™

The Birth Of Rime And The Passing Of The Torch, Bruce P. Gleason

Research & Issues in Music Education

No abstract provided.

Supply And Demand: Music Teacher Shortage In The United States, Philip M. Hash

Research & Issues in Music Education

Teacher shortage in all subjects, including music, has been an ongoing concern in the United States since the 1980s. The shortage is especially acute in urban and rural schools that serve economically disadvantaged students. This article examines (a) music teacher shortage in relation to P–12 public schools in general, (b) the demand for music teachers in specific states and regions, (c) the declining number of preservice candidates certified in music, and (d) potential strategies for alleviating music teacher shortages and providing equitable instruction for P–12 students. Solutions could involve heightened efforts to recruit music education majors, curricular revision in preservice …

Personal And Professional Characteristics Of Music Education Professors: Factors Associated With Expectations And Preferences Of Undergraduate Students, Tiger Robison

Research & Issues in Music Education

The purpose of this study was to examine music education undergraduate students’ expectations of and preferences for their music education faculty members’ personal and professional backgrounds and compare them to the actual backgrounds of current music teacher educators. Participants (N = 293) from 55 randomly-selected NASM-accredited institutions completed a researcher-created questionnaire. Participants expected and preferred their music education faculty members to have approximately nine years of PreK–12 teaching experience, which is approximately three times the amount posted in faculty searches and doctoral program entrance requirements. Participants most valued their music education professors’ experiences in assessment and classroom management and …

An Examination Of Student And Faculty Perceptions Regarding Music Education Transfer Student Preparedness And Experiences, Natalie Steele Royston, Philip D. Payne, Adrian D. Barnes, Kate Bertelli-Wilinski

Research & Issues in Music Education

Transfer students account for growing numbers in four-year music education programs. To better understand this increasing population of students, researchers employed parallel method design. One strand investigated music education faculty members’ (n = 83) perceptions of transfer student preparedness, procedures, and expectations to understand admissions processes (e.g., curricula, assessments) employed to evaluate incoming transfer students. The other strand examined music education transfer students’ (n = 12) academic, social, and personal preparedness to study music education in a comprehensive four-year music education program. The following research questions served as a guide for data collection and analysis: (a) What themes …

An Exploration Of The Use Of And The Attitudes Toward Technology Among Fourth And Fifth Grade Band And Orchestra Teachers, Students, And Their Parents, Danni Gilbert

Research & Issues in Music Education

The purpose of this study was to determine what technologies are used in fourth- and fifth-grade instrumental music and to examine factors that influence the attitudes of teachers, students, and their parents toward the use of those technologies. Two researcher-designed questionnaires, the Technology in Music Usage Questionnaire (TMUQ) and the Technology in Music Attitude Questionnaire (TMAQ), were administered to a sample of teachers, students, and parents associated with first-year elementary instrumental music in a large, American Midwest urban school district. Results indicated that while most teachers use technology in class (87.0%), it is generally only used up to a third …

Studio Expressive Arts Therapy: Towards A Classroom Method That Incorporates Art And Music, Michael Greenberg

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explored the ways in which expressive arts therapy (ExAT) could be incorporated into a small therapeutic high school’s visual arts program. Through the development and implementation of a method, intermodal exchange between visual art and music was integrated into both the school’s art program and its group counseling offerings. Informed by a literature review of studio art therapy (SAT) as related to ExAT, three different interventions were used to fit within the frameworks of the high school’s offerings. The first intervention focused on making music with a few students within art classes while the rest of the class …

Farah Nader-Oral History Interview, Youmna Amer

Audiovisual Projects

Interview with Farah Nader about Sayef Darwish's music.

Music Video Review: "O Superman" - Laurie Anderson, Jacob Thomas (Kiko) F. Yago

Backstage Pass

Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" music video is a commentary about the progression of technology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfpi2H8tOE

A Line In The Sand Album Review, Robert N. Moore

Backstage Pass

On July 3rd, 2020, American Arson released their first full-length album. A Line In The Sand has a tight and powerful sound while still feeling raw and untamed, thanks to the help of high production standards. The lyrics somehow find a balance between bold, catchy, and beautiful. Their message mainly revolves around the current American socio-political sphere, challenging their listeners to seek compassion and unity instead of giving into apathy and ignorance.

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Ishmael Album Review, Robert N. Moore

Backstage Pass

This is an extensive review of the metal album Ishmael, written, performed, mixed, mastered, and released all by Jared Smith. The album combines religion, intricate guitar riffs, and metal to create an avant-garde piece of art.

Producer Interview: Teak Underdue, Kris Jones

Backstage Pass

This interview is with three-time Grammy-nominated music producer Teak Underdue of Hallway Productions. He discusses his background and the path he has taken to become a well respected music creator and producer. The interviewee offers advice for aspiring producers on how to build their reputation and credits in the music industry.

Industry Profile: Seven Seas Music Founder, Brooke Wentz, Elizabeth Shearrow

Backstage Pass

Brooke is the CEO of Seven Seas Music and an award-winning music producer and supervisor. For a decade, she has led The Rights Workshop, a leading music licensing and supervision firm with film credits including “Bully,” “Melancholia,” “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey,” and “Bill Cunningham: New York.” In 2014, Brooke married her singular knowledge and passion for world music with cutting-edge technology to found Seven Seas Music, a web-based platform where media professionals can listen to, build lists and license – with a single click – curated sounds from an astounding array of emerging and established artists in more …

Industry Profile: Tour Manager, Lisa Policaro, Elizabeth Shearrow

Backstage Pass

Lisa Policaro is a Tour Manager from Long Island, New York with over 20 years of experience in the music business. She has worked in all areas of the industry from Interning for Columbia Records to working her way up to being Tour Manager. In this interview, Lisa talks with Elizabeth Shearrow (‘23) about how she got her start in the industry, what qualities students need to have to become a Tour Manager, and how COVID-19 has impacted her career.

Letter From The Editor-In-Chief, Keith Hatschek

Backstage Pass

Outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Keith Hatschek, relates what accomplishments the editors of the journal have achieved, as well as previewing the content from this issue.

The Effect Of Vocal Exploration Exercises On Pitch-Matching Skills In First And Fourth Grade Students, Katie Hillestad

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of daily vocal exploration exercises on pitch matching skills of first and fourth grade students. Students were assessed on their ability to match pitch in echo patterns and short songs at the beginning and end of the study. The goal was to use vocal exploration to help students develop their head voice and potentially develop more accurate singing. The first grade experimental and control groups and fourth grade control group showed improvement in their echo patterns, but the fourth grade experimental group demonstrated a reduction in their echo abilities. Both …

Analyzing Non-Strophic Forms Through The Facets Model: The Early Compositional Style And Technique Of Trey Anastasio And Phish, William Mandelbaum

Honors Scholar Theses

While a surprising amount of research has been conducted on the American “jam band” Phish, most academic scholarship that exists regarding the band is concerned of the cultures, rituals, and communities that surround the band and the jam band scene. Of the band’s music that has been analyzed, most analyze the band’s improvisation, leaving little to no scholarship concerning the band’s hyper-complex, fugue-like compositions, especially those composed by Trey Anastasio in the band’s early years from 1983-1989, most of which became Phish’s most popular and most performed songs in concert. This thesis will analyze the early compositional style and technique …

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. …

Video Game Sound As Educational Space, Leonard Grasso

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Synergizing fields such as music theory, computing, musicology, cognition, and psychology, scholars and practitioners have approached game music from many directions. However, research on pedagogical usages of game music is still emerging. While many education scholars have researched game-based-learning (Bourgonjon et al, 2013; Simões, Redondo, & Vilas, 2013; Beavis, Muspratt, & Thompson, 2015; Hamari et al, 2016), music education authors have largely remained distant from ludomusicology (the study of music as it relates to play). I intend to bridge that gap by examining the intersections of game music and sound, player interaction, and learning. My research synthesizes the work of …

An Autoethnography Of A Punk Rocker Turned Music Teacher, Jonathan Kladder

Research & Issues in Music Education

The criteria used to admit prospective music teachers in colleges and universities across the United States has remained relatively unchanged since their inception. These criteria disenfranchise a population of potential music teachers who hold musical backgrounds outside the Western European art tradition. This autoethnography illuminates the challenges and barriers experienced by a self-taught musician who attended two traditional music programs in a midwestern region of the United States. Using Berry’s (1980) six dimensions of acculturation as the theoretical framework to interpret these data, the author exposes challenges associated with his journey in achieving music teacher certification. As a qualitative investigation, …

Study & Sing: A Music Class For Home Education Students, Joanna Luisi Reinhardt

Music Graduate Theses

The Study & Sing curriculum is designed (1) to provide homeschooling high school students with a music resource that is easy to access and incorporate within their homeschool environment; (2) to facilitate meaningful and effective music instruction by designing a music class for a qualified music teacher to use within cooperative homeschool groups; (3) to offer homeschooling families a comprehensive music class that closely follows the National Core Arts Standards for music education; and (4) to provide a music class for homeschool co-op students that offers a comprehensive design and fosters collaborative music experiences by integrating a performance component that …

Effects Of Musical Content On Student Practice Judgments, Decisions, And Improvement, Molly N. Batchelor

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe and compare the differences in practice behaviors among middle school band students who are presented with etudes of varying stylistic, technical, or expressive qualities. Existing literature has covered practice methodology extensively, but this study was intended to help understand how students vary strategies when presented with different musical challenges. Participants were individually observed in a pre-test, practice period, and post-test for each of two musical examples to examine the strategies used and improvement from pre-test to post-test. Results showed that participants who varied their strategy-use in lyrical and technical etudes increased performance …

Performer Wellness And Applied Stage Practices Curriculum: Preparing The Undergraduate Vocal Performance Major For An Opera Career, Gabriel J. Kirby

Masters Theses

Within higher education, the goal is to prepare students to enter the workforce with the knowledge and abilities to meet or exceed the chosen occupation’s requirements and expectations. To achieve these requisites, schools create curricula comprising key information for several fields and concentrations while abiding by the regulations enforced by both their school boards and accreditation organizations. Students can apply for a job knowing that their degree holds value. Many institutions continually revise degrees to curricula to inspire the next generation in the workforce. The purpose of this curriculum project is to advocate for expanded curriculum considerations that include acting …

A Proposed Curriculum For Prenatal, Postnatal, And Early Childhood Christian Music Education, Danielle Emily Dixon

Masters Theses

From the prenatal to postnatal/infancy stages, to early childhood and beyond, music plays an integral role in development. This research study aims to detail and describe the benefits of a prenatal, postnatal/infant, and early childhood Christian music education. Employing a mixed-methods and historical research approach, this study seeks to answer the question, in what ways, if any, could a prenatal, postnatal/infant, and early childhood Christian music education be beneficial for developing children and their mothers? By combining the benefits of an early childhood music education with Christian principles, the results of this study will have significance in not only the …

Sixth-Grade Sight-Singing For Low Vision Students: A Course To Enhance Confidence And Music Reading Ability, Jamie Lane Carpenter

Masters Theses

Students enter the private or public-school system with a wide variety of emotional, mental, and physical impairments that impact their confidence, self-esteem, and overall path to their future. One misunderstood and under-represented population of students are those who are not fully blind but fall under the category of low vision. Since the low vision spectrum is wide, students must advocate for themselves according to their unique visual condition. While some students may be nearsighted, others may experience color blindness, tunnel vision, a wide variety of partial blindness in one or both eyes, and more. If educators are not aware of …

Hello, Neighbor! A Curriculum For The Instruction Of Social And Emotional Learning In The Early Childhood Music Classroom Using The Pedagogical Strategies Of Fred Rogers, Julia Conceison

Masters Theses

Modern music educators are faced with many unique challenges while teaching in the early childhood and elementary classroom. With these challenges come the added stressors of students’ individual and collective experiences as they learn to process and regulate their behaviors and emotions through a variety of often unfamiliar social, political, and familial challenges. Currently, while many university teacher preparation programs focus on teaching content differentiation, curriculum creation, and content knowledge, they do not often focus on cultural relevance and responsiveness. One champion of cultural relevance and responsiveness in music education is composer, educator, minister, and children’s television host, Fred Rogers, …

The High School Choral Classroom As A Platform For Cross-Cultural Education: A Content Evaluation Of The 2020 Tnmea Satb All-State Repertoire., Michael Ian Colavita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there is a push toward culturally responsive music education in response to a rapidly changing student demographic. However, teaching music from unfamiliar traditions presents a unique set of challenges for the music educator. The 2020 Tennessee SATB All-State repertoire provides one example of music selected with the goal of teaching a wide array of cultural traditions. This thesis analyzes these seven pieces from a musical and pedagogical perspective to demonstrate this collection’s utility for culturally responsive music education. Evaluation of the pieces demonstrated that while most of these works come from distinct cultural traditions, few present …

What Have Mississippi Band Directors Found Successful When Teaching The Horn?: A Qualitative Survey, Madeleine Case

Honors Theses

This study surveyed band directors in the state of Mississippi, asking them what methods they use to teach the horn. The purpose of this research was to find some solid methods and concepts that participants found successful in their horn teaching, as well as open the discussion on what makes horn teaching unique to that of other instruments. Participants were selected for an online survey on two criteria: they had to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in Music or Music Education, and they had to have at least one year of teaching experience in Mississippi.

After participants were surveyed, …

The Music Making Family: A Music Class For All Ages, Jordan Lee Slater

Masters Theses

Whereas music both unlocks and fuels devotion as well as strengthens mental faculties, whereas teamwork and shared experiences deepen familial bonds, whereas the Bible is the root of all knowledge and wisdom, the need for The Music Making Family has arisen. Colossians 3:16 states, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” The purpose of this qualitative study is to provide teachers, whether in private school, public school, a religious entity, in a standalone studio, instructional material for …

Teaching Music To Special Needs Students Using Multiple Intelligence Theory, Megan Lawrimore Bolt

Masters Theses

Students who fall under the label of “special needs” or “exceptional learners” are often forgotten when it comes to music class. Unfortunately, in many schools they either do not attend music classes at all or they only attend with other students who are also considered special needs students. These students deserve the right to be in an inclusive music class with their peers who are not special needs students. Students of all abilities should receive the same opportunities to learn music together. One question that will be addressed is whether music teachers in South Carolina are making their classrooms inclusive …

Teaching Expression And Communication Through Music And Collaborative Arts, Goeun Kim

Masters Theses

Music and art are vehicles for creative expression that people have practiced throughout history to express and communicate their thoughts, emotions, feelings, and experiences. Art is the purest and most unique form of self-expression, but today’s perception of art is usually accessible for people who are naturally gifted or specialize in a particular art form. Children have the potential to understand, learn, and enjoy music if given a chance to explore creative expression. Especially during pre-adolescence or adolescence, many young children find it difficult to express themselves outwardly because they are concerned about peer relations and people’s expectations. While an …