Music Education Commons^™

The Significance Of Sonic Branding To Strategically Stimulate Consumer Behavior: Content Analysis Of Four Interviews From Jeanna Isham’S “Sound In Marketing” Podcast, Ina Beilina

Student Theses and Dissertations

Purpose:
Sonic branding is not just about composing jingles like McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It.” Sonic branding is an industry that strategically designs a cohesive auditory component of a brand’s corporate identity. This paper examines the psychological impact of music and sound on consumer behavior reviewing studies from the past 40 years and investigates the significance of stimulating auditory perception by infusing sound in consumer experience in the modern 2020s.

Design/methodology/approach:
Qualitative content analysis of audio media was used to test two hypotheses. Four archival oral interview recordings from Jeanna Isham’s podcast “Sound in Marketing” featuring the sonic branding experts …

An Annotated Bibliography Of String Method Books And Theory Books For Pre-College String Students, With A Focus On Music Theory Concepts And Sequence Analysis, Rebecca Zou Hale

Master's Theses

The Hattiesburg Public School District (HPSD) Strings program, one of the largest public school string programs in the state of Mississippi, has been utilizing a method book series titled Essential Elements for Strings (EES) in their curriculum since the early 2000s. After almost two decades of use, the HPSD Strings staff has noticed that a majority of intermediate and advanced strings students struggle with fundamental music theory concepts. The current music theory deficiencies necessitate an improvement in the HPSD Strings curriculum's choice of instructional materials.

Referencing established music curricula and music theory textbooks, the instruction of fundamental music theory concepts …

Student Voice And Choice: Factors Influencing Student Participation In Secondary Arts Classes In An Urban Public School District, Alan D. Lambert Ed. D.

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this study was to capture the student voice regarding the value, importance, and relevance of visual and performing arts education in public schools. The host institution for the study was an urban school district in the southern central United States serving 75,000 students, with 55% students identified as Hispanic, and 52% of students experiencing poverty. Graduating seniors responded via questionnaires with forced choice and open-ended items regarding several topics, including what they do in their free time, how they perceive the value of arts classes at school, access to arts classes and the match of their interests …

Community Bands: Creating A More Accessible Community Band Experience Through The Use Of Multi-Level Repertoire, Cooper Neil

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This thesis hypothesizes that the use of multi-level repertoire in community bands will allow ensembles to more directly cater to their community member’s musical expectations while respecting the issue of time commitment for others. In this way, a community ensemble can become more accessible and, ideally, lead to a more diverse and representative group. Creating a volunteer community ensemble that accounts for musician’s available time, skill level, and desire for appropriate level of challenge is what this document seeks to address.

An Investigation Of The Violin Teaching Method Of Lin Yaoji From A Personal Perspective, Mo Zhou

Dissertations, 2020-current

As a Western musical instrument, the Violin has a history spanning more than three hundred years. Contemporary approaches to its performance and pedagogy have been developed and influenced by the Russian, the Franco-Belgian, and the German Violin Schools. It was not until the 1920s and '30s, that the violin entered the public realm of Chinese society.

From the 1980s until today, several generations of violinists have emerged as Violin Educators in China. Among them, Lin Yaoji was the most famous. This study will research and examine Lin Yaoji’s violin teaching method. Specifically, this document will consist of five chapters discussing …

Early Career Music Teachers And Trauma: A Mixed Methods Study, Tiffany N. Sitton

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Existing research rarely directly addresses individual trauma experiences of early career music teachers, despite copious research on adjacent areas such as stress and burnout. Early career music teachers have seldom had the opportunity to share stories of their trauma in the literature. Following an explanatory-sequential mixed method (Creswell, 2015), the researcher surveyed 250 music educators about their self-reported trauma experiences and then interviewed six of those participants to gain explanation of the survey data and to further illuminate their stories. Participants evaluated their own experiences using the definition of individual trauma from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration …

Shape-Note Music Traditions Of The Shenandoah Valley, Tyler Brinkerhoff

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Though over the years documents about shape-note music from Joseph Funk and Sons and the Ruebush-Kieffer companies have been spread throughout many archives, they are now being brought back together online in one digital archive. Interpreting the information contained in these documents and the ledger book of subscribers for The Southern Musical Advocate and Singer’s Friend magazine through graphs and maps makes the information contained in them easier to access for researchers. The collaboration between a physical museum site, a website, and a Omeka site allow for multiple ways to learn about the history of shape-note music in the Shenandoah …

Making Band Class Rock!: Incorporating Modern Band Into A Traditional Band Class, Melissa Harper

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the use of informal music and Modern Band practices in the contexts of secondary music ensemble classrooms. Primary data collection was comprised of semi-structured interviews with teachers who used informal music learning practices and/or Modern Band programs at the secondary level. Results indicated that the inclusion of informal learning practices and/or Modern Band within the traditional music ensemble promotes the development of music individualism among students. Students and teachers together create environments that promote creativity, composition, and peer collaboration. Popular music and/or socially and culturally relevant genres are incorporated.

What Is A Folk Song? An Exploration Through Collection, Gregory S. Conway

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Over decades of work, scholars have created varying definitions of folk songs. While many have developed clear definitions (Karpeles, 1973; Lornell, 1993; Seeger, 1948; Texas Folklore Society, n.d.), others have concluded that no true definition exists (Brumfield, 1998; Nettl 2011). This lack of clarity in what a folk song is invites an exploration into how we define this genre. The purpose of this multiple case study was two-fold. First, I collected songs sung by families within a rural school community and examined them by using interview data to identify the characteristics of folk music in this context. Second, I shared …

The Decline Of Middle School Music Programs In Major U.S. Inner-City Schools, Kuronde Washington

Masters Theses

This study examines the correlation of music programs in inner-city schools to affluent schools. This thesis will view the impact of socioeconomic status, living environment, retention of teachers, high-accountability testing, and how these factors affect the reduction of secondary music programs in inner-city schools. This research is intended to aid music teachers as well as administrative supporters improve the quality of music education in inner-city schools.

Creating Better Musicians Through Musicality: A Guide To Building An Instructional Unit, Shelby Leo

Theses

This project provides an in depth focus on how to strengthen an ensemble's approach to musicality through lesson plans, assessments, and activities. The primary focus group of this project is high school aged performance based classes including band and choir. The aim of the project is to provide a music educator with a detailed curriculum to teach musicality that is adjustable to any size ensemble and any score. Furthermore, this project is not a study but instead an explanation to the approach of developing the curriculum unit. The project consists of a four unit curriculum with two to three lessons …

Representation Of Women & Bbia Composers In The Teaching Music Through Performance In Band Series, Alicia M. Turnquist

Honors Thesis

One problem seen in music education curriculum today is the underrepresentation of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian (BBIA), and female composers in the band ensemble repertoire. Throughout history, these composers have been excluded in the curriculum causing an overrepresentation of white non-Hispanic male composers. Some music education organizations are beginning to address this issue but, few, if any, have addressed the problem in the band classroom setting. This project examined the repertoires selected in the first ten volumes of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series to examine how representative the composers included in the series were to the K-12 …

Remedial Rhythm Reading: A Semester-Long Project In Sixth Grade Band, Hannah Fisher

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted student outcomes in all disciplines, but especially in the performing arts. As I began clinical teaching, I found my sixth-grade band students, particularly the students not involved in choir (my “small band”), lacked the music literacy and fluency expected for second-year band students. I designed a one semester rhythm-reading unit to address this issue. The overall objective for the unit follows:

“Students will be able to read, write, perform, and compose rhythms containing whole notes, half notes, dotted-half notes, dotted-quarter notes, quarter notes, paired eighth notes, single eighth notes, paired sixteenth notes, and corresponding rests …

Transgender And Nonbinary Attitudes Toward The Choral Music Education Major Experience, Bailee Green

Honors Theses

Transgender and nonbinary individuals face unique challenges in the choral community because of their gender identity. The foundation of the choral ensemble and its methods are rooted in the gender binary, making it hard for gender-expansive singers to feel a sense of belonging.

The purpose of this thesis project was to gauge the experiences and opinions of transgender and nonbinary choral music education majors who participate in at least one choral ensemble. Data was obtained through a voluntary survey that asked participants how their gender affected aspects of their experience as a choral music education major. Survey results led to …

Two Marching Band Directors’ Insights About Their Bands’ Musical Achievement And Satisfaction In The American Deep South: A Qualitative Analysis, John Klee

Honors Theses

High School marching band is an intricate facet of music education that operates in several varieties across the United States. Depending on the style as well as many external and internal factors of a marching band, marching bands can have goals and definitions of musical achievement that can vary drastically. This qualitative study aims to assist those in the world of marching music education to better understand these distinct types of marching bands on a deeper level. The study gathered detailed perspectives of two directors in juxtaposed marching programs to a view of what drives these bands and directors to …

Parent Perceptions Of Elementary General Music Instruction, Hali Shepard

Music Education Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore parent perceptions of elementary general music instruction. This was a qualitative, multiple case study (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009) in which the perceptions of elementary general music were gathered from a parent from each of the three geographical areas (rural, urban, and suburban) within Western New York. This study sought to determine how parents perceive elementary general music, as well as what types of perceptions of elementary general music exist in all geographical areas (i.e., rural, urban, and suburban districts).

An Analysis Of In-Service Choral Music Educators’ Methods Of Classroom Management, Brooke Ann Ward

Music Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discuss topics of classroom management as it relates to the experience and training of pre-service music educators. Topics reviewed in the discussion include issues of mentorship, pre-service teacher training, experiential learning, student teaching experiences, conducting knowledge, and confidence in pre-service music educators. This research project was granted an IRB exemption by the Old Dominion University College of Arts and Letters.

The participants in the research survey were choral music educators who had accumulated one through 40 years of teaching experience. The participants were graduates of a music education degree program, or a music …

Creative Practice For Classical String Players With Live Looping, Caleb Yang

Student Theses

In recent years, string pedagogy discussions have highlighted the greater need for creative practice as classical string players. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, string methods have shifted towards a limited scope of improvisatory techniques, parallelling the decline of improvisation in Western classical music performance practices. This thesis explores live looping as a practice tool to facilitate learning concepts and help string players develop musicianship skills including improvisation, participate in non-classical genres, and explore their creative voices. Examining the results of string educators that incorporate live looping into their own teaching reveals the tool’s effectiveness in bridging curricula …

How Rhythm Affects Prosody, Mckenzie Ward

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Music interventions and how they benefit reading fluency have been researched, but there is more to be done in discovering the benefits of rhythm and prosody. This quantitative research study looked at how rhythm-based interventions affect student prosody in a second-grade classroom. Data were gathered from a music experience survey, a prosody pre-assessment, and a prosody post-assessment. The music intervention in this study involved three rhythm-based interventions called “DeeDee games.” This research analyzed and compared the growth between the prosody pre-and post-assessments and the results between students with musical backgrounds and students without musical backgrounds. This study found insufficient evidence …

Candace Mcmurray Senior Jazz Voice Recital, Candace Mcmurray

Honors Theses

This senior jazz voice recital is aimed to convey the artistry that has blossomed from studying jazz music as a vocalist. The repertoire included in this recital spans music written as early as 1923 and as late as 2017 encompassing a wide variety of jazz styles to reflect all the different jazz eras as well as how other genres in those times have influenced those compositions. The recital includes ten songs with a variety of instrumentation that are aligned with the jazz idiom. Some songs include a typical jazz combo of voice, piano, guitar, bass, and drums while others also …

Use Of Rhythm Video Games As A Tool For Rhythmic Listening In Elementary School Music Students, Jennifer Webber

LSU Master's Theses

This posttest-only control group study sought to examine how rhythm video games, through the use of the rhythm game Rhythm Heaven, affect the rhythmic skills of elementary music students, in order to determine if rhythm video games are acceptable supplementary materials for aiding beginning music students in learning rhythm. Research questions were 1) Are participants who receive the rhythm game treatment able to reproduce rhythms more accurately than participants who do not do not receive the treatment? 2) Can participants who play a rhythm game more accurately imitate longer rhythms than those who do not play a rhythm game? 3) …

A Performance Practice Guide For :Only.Just.Almost.Never For Solo Vibraphone By Jay Alan Yim, Dustin Ray Haigler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Currently, there exists little scholarship on Dr. Jay Alan Yim’s percussion music, and none exists for :only.just.almost.never for solo vibraphone. Establishing a performance practice guide will allow future percussionists a glimpse into the compositional process of Yim and allow them to expand their repertoire to include this challenging music. The purpose of this project is to create a comprehensive performance practice guide for :only.just.almost.never for solo vibraphone by Jay Alan Yim.

Resources Required

This project relies mainly on the score of :only.just.almost.never for solo vibraphone. I have also conducted multiple interviews with Yim regarding his compositional process, sketches, and …

Teachers' And Students' Perceptions Of Goal Orientation Theory In Secondary Instrumental Music Classrooms: A Case Study, Carlye Mcgregor

LSU Master's Theses

Goal orientation theory (Ames, 1992; Blumenfeld, 1992) is a cognitive theory that identifies how goals affect motivation in students. The benefits of mastery goal orientation — aspects of instruction which support the connection between effort and achievement — on student motivation and participation have been well-documented. Researchers (Ames & Archer, 1988; Patrick, et al., 2001) found students can pick up on goal cues and identify traits of each theory apparent in their classroom. Teachers communicate their values through goal structures, and student motivation can be improved by consistent goal structures, or negatively affected by misaligned goal structures (Ames & Archer, …

A Synthesis Of Contemporary Music Composition Pedagogy Practices For The Undergraduate And Graduate Level Sequences, And An Exploration Of Time, Sound, And Space: An Aleatoric Event Score In Collaboration With The Lsu Museum Of Art, Jeremi Wayne Edwards

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two parts. The first part consists of a synthesis of contemporary music composition pedagogy practices for the undergraduate and graduate level sequences. A conversation of the study of music composition pedagogy is used to investigate current pedagogical practices in music composition and present those findings as a resource guide for new and future teachers. The second part presents an Exploration of Time, Sound, and Space, an Aleatoric Event Score Collaboration with the LSU Museum of Art. This event score is a product of the development of this dissertation commenced with a straightforward question; can we experience/consume …

A Course To Prepare Undergraduate Music Education Students For Teaching Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amanda Lynn Whitmer

Masters Theses

In the field of music education, Autism Spectrum Disorder has become an area of importance requiring more thought and intentionality from teachers than normal lesson planning expectations. Because music educator programs only offer courses that cover the whole spectrum of special needs and do not focus on autism specifically, music educators are finding themselves unprepared to create music lessons that can accommodate learners with such a unique spectrum of learning abilities. Many college curriculums offer special needs courses that focus on all aspects of special education that can be found in music education but very rarely for autism as a …

Social Music Interactions And Vocal Music Improvisations In A Serve And Return Music Community, Kathleen Kaye Arrasmith

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined how kindergarten students and a music teacher engaged in social music interactions and displayed music characteristics during harmonic improvisation activities. The purpose of this study was (a) to describe social music interactions between kindergarten students and a music teacher and (b) to categorize and to describe kindergarten students’ and a music teacher’s vocal music improvisations during harmonic improvisation activities. The guiding research questions were (a) RQ1: How did kindergarten students and a music teacher engage in social music interactions during harmonic improvisation activities?, (b) RQ2a: What music characteristics did kindergarten students and a music teacher …

Embodied Cognition In The Music Theory And Aural Skills Classrooms, Leslie Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Applying concepts of embodied cognition positively impacts pedagogy in the theory and aural skills classrooms. This thesis defines a holistic view of the student and identifies how classroom instruction from that perspective can benefit student learning as well as overall well-being. The opening chapters provide a brief scientific background and connect concepts of embodied cognition with specific music theory and aural skills examples from an interview. A select survey of the music theory pedagogy literature also illustrates principles of embodied cognition. Based on this background, the final chapter presents new sample lesson plans and discusses how to adapt to student …

Music Is The Intervention: The Intersections Of Music As A Therapeutic Activity In At-Risk Youth, Gladys H. Gonzalez Landaverde

Senior Honors Theses

Across the United States, public schools face many discrepancies in the quality and caliber of education that a student can expect to receive. While schools try to address the vast needs of students, many children and adolescents are unfortunately faced with choosing between prioritizing their education and the circumstances faced outside of the school day. The discrepancies in schooling range from the quality in the commonly accepted core curriculum like English and mathematics to the opportunities offered outside of traditional academia like music. Unfortunately, at-risk students are unlikely to have access to music education in the same ease as their …

Anys D’Aprenentatge: Solfeig, Teoria, Harmonia I Contrapunt (¿I Si Tot Hagués Estat Un Malson Racista?), Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Quan en els anys setanta jo començava a aprendre música, se solia donar molta importància al solfeig. Era un sistema antinatural i possiblement antipedagògic perquè la lectura cantada de notes solia precedir l’experiència de la música. És a dir, en certa manera és com si els infants abans de parlar, aprenguessin a llegir.

Concept Album, Apryl Berney

Assignment Prompts

Context: I designed several assignments to accompany the March 1st symposium “Listen Differently: Black Feminism, Music, and Popular Culture.” My first assignment is a Concept Album – it allows students to be creative yet also analyze and interpret the musical catalogs and existing work of women of color in popular music. My hope with this assignment is that by studying the music of women of color, students will better understand Dr. Tricia Rose’s analysis in her book Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop.