Music Pedagogy Commons^™

Hidden Meanings In Elementary Instrumental Music Method Books: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, Mara Hope Thompson

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Textbooks serve as the primary resource utilized to deliver curriculum in a variety of subject areas and educational contexts. However, much previous research has found that texts often convey concealed meanings in the form of hidden and null curricula. This Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) explored the musical discourses and cultural contexts of musical examples in two elementary instrumental music textbook series to investigate whose values, cultures, perspectives, and knowledge are conveyed by the texts and whose are excluded or misrepresented. Framed by the social theory of Postcolonialism, the research revealed binary ideologies of exoticism embedded in many aspects of …

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

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

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 …

Surviving Pandemic Practicum: Early Career Music Teachers' Perceived Self-Efficacy Following The Covid-19 Pandemic, Aubree Pacifico Windish

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This qualitative study examines early career music teachers’ perceived self-efficacy following teacher practicum during a global pandemic. I conducted focus group conversations with undergraduate music education alum (N=16) from Southeastern State University (SSU) at the end of 2023. Participants described the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their music teacher practicum and overall experiential learning at SSU. The focus group questions, and subsequent deductive coding of their answers, aligned with the four roles of Bandura’s (1977) Self-Efficacy Theory. Participants reported low perceived self-efficacy in their first year of in-service teaching, with variations based on the stages of the COVID-19 pandemic …

An Analysis Of Traditional Pedagogical Practices With Innovative Strategies For Beginning Band Students With A Focus On Assessment, Higher-Order Thinking Skills And Differentiation, Cole Woods

Music Theses

Instrumental education is a field rich in tradition, with a strong foundation of methodology being codified in method books used by band directors around the country. Equally rich is the vibrant research community found within music education, and innovative techniques for teaching band are being presented yearly in both journals and conventions. These new strategies and additions to curriculum supported by recent research could potentially deepen the learning taking place in the instrumental music classroom. Nowhere is this more visible than in the wealth of new research, curricula, and literature that has been published regarding beginner instrumental music instruction in …

Gender Associations Of American Band Instruments: Exploring And Comparing The Perceptions Of Three Age Groups, Kevin R. Merkel

Music Theses

This collection of three related studies explored the current gender-related perceptions of American band instruments. The first study investigated adults’ perceptions, as they were asked to rank instrument preferences for their hypothetical son and daughter. The second study examined the perceptions of seventh- and eighth-grade band students by allowing them to rate band instruments based on their gender perceptions. The third study investigated the perceptions and experiences of university band students related to gender norms and instruments utilizing a survey and interview process. The results provided evidence that instrument gender perceptions and stereotypes can change, and they suggest that intentional …

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 …

Singing In Dark Times: Improvisational Singing With Children Amidst Ecological Crisis, Stephanie Schuurman-Olson

Occasional Paper Series

Through this research-creation project -- which is represented by a process-driven ten-minute video -- the author asks what ways of knowing emerge when children and adults, more-than-human, and inhuman engage in improvised singing together in an urban park? This project recognizes our current "dark times" within ecological collapse and operates from a space that hopes to build relationality with sonic ecologies through listening-and-singing experiences, while centering the voices of children and other singers within the ecologies we sing in-and-with.

Moments Of Meeting: 'Intersubjective Encounters' And ‘Emancipatory’ Experiences Of Individuals With (Intellectual) Disabilities In Inclusive Musical Contexts, Caroline Blumer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to explore an intersubjective framework to better understand the relational aspects of two inclusive musical programs in London, ON. I focused on mutual recognition moments, called moments of meeting (MoM), researching how they are formed and manifested while music is shared, created, or experienced within these two environments. Approaching such programs as potentially intersubjective spaces, this study investigated the impact of MoM and intersubjective experiences on the participation of individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) in music making as well as on their perceptions of themselves as subjects. Equally significant, this study looked at emerging …

Reevaluating Student Engagement: Exploring And Applying Alternative Assignments In Higher Education Undergraduate Applied Saxophone, Anthony S. Cincotta Ii

Dissertations, 2020-current

Undergraduate applied saxophone study revolves around the conservatory model. This inflexible model, often referred to as a master-apprentice relationship, can create an instructor-centric power dynamic which does not address the needs of the modern student. A classroom where the power lies so heavily with the instructor can stifle student engagement and can create a sense of disenfranchisement. In this setting, students have limited input on their assignment selections. While curricula have evolved with regards to being more culturally diverse, relevant, and inclusive, the approach that educators use to deliver the material has remained largely unchanged. There is limited research on …

A Multiple Case Study Of Adolescent Piano Students: Examining Motivation Through The Lens Of Interest Development, Carla Lucia Salas Ruiz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

One way of understanding motivation is through the factors that influence it. These factors analyzed as psychological constructs give rise to the notion of motivation variables such as interest. Interest is a powerful variable that affects student motivation to learn (Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Hulleman et al., 2017; O’Keefe et al. 2017; Renninger & Hidi, 2016; Tin, 2013). In 2006, Hidi and Renninger proposed the “Four-Phase Interest Development Model” for the characterization of interest in learning. According to this model, learners can move from a situational level of interest development to a well-developed individual interest, in a sequential manner. This …

A Survey Of K-12 Music Teachers’ Classroom Management Experiences In Music Teacher Preparation Programs, Jennifer Potter Gee

Visions of Research in Music Education

The purpose of this follow-up study was to explore classroom management sources and content in music teacher preparation programs. K-12 music educators, who self-identified as members of various professional music education organizations, were the participants in this study. Similar to the initial iteration of the survey with elementary general music educators, recurrent sources of classroom management reported by participants included mentoring from a licensed teacher and supervised fieldwork. Teaching procedures and pacing instructions were common examples of classroom management content included in a music teacher education program, which differed slightly from those identified by elementary general music teachers. Mentoring from …

Therapeutic Presence In Music Therapy Education: An Arts-Based Phenomenological Inquiry, Elizabeth Jane Eggerding

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Little music therapy research has been published on therapeutic presence (TP). This study explored the inclusion of TP in music therapy education. Participants were eight credentialed music therapists who identified as music therapy educators and/or clinical supervisors. They attended one of two focus groups and were asked to submit a 1-minute excerpt of themselves improvising a reflection of their focus group’s discussion. Focus group data revealed four themes: (1) Defining TP; (2) Education and Supervision Responsibilities; (3) TP is Taught Through Experiential Learning; and (4) Learning TP is a Developmental Process. Participants defined TP as simultaneously incorporating both states of …

Gesture And The Auditory Impact On The Perception Of Sound: A Performance Guide For Understanding Gestural Function On Percussion Pedagogy And Performance, Emily Lane Durocher

Theses and Dissertations--Music

I will address the concept of physical gestures and discuss how they are applicable to the way percussionists visually and audibly perceive music. Through my research, I will focus on performance and pedagogy, seeking new possibilities for introducing percussionists at all ability levels to different articulations. Percussionists have traditionally been led to believe that they do not have the versatility over the initial musical attack and sustain that wind and string players do. This document has been developed to provide a more in-depth approach to how physical and musical gestures can function to create a more versatile and musical percussionist. …

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Sings Which Story?: Narrative Production And Race In The Curriculum Of Film Musicals, Joanna Batt, Michael Joseph

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Film musicals serve as a tool to infuse historical and cultural content into social studies curricula towards greater student engagement—for example, Lin Manuel-Miranda's Hamilton has become a celebrated classroom piece due to its ability to blend history with hip-hop and pop culture. Yet beyond language and content scans, teachers rarely examine or utilize musicals for how their narratives (mis)represent racial communities. This critical film analysis of three film musicals, using the theoretical framework of history production, reveals themes of historical morality, romantic relationship and race, and implicit/explicit racial messaging. Although troubling in their overall contribution to racial projects, film musicals …

Medieval Methods: Guido D’Arezzo’S Innovative Approaches To Music Education, Lydia C. Kee

Musical Offerings

Music education has been influenced by many people throughout history, but arguably none of them have done so as much as the monk, Guido D’Arezzo. His teaching methods have been embraced and developed by music educators throughout the centuries. For example, it is recorded that Guido was the first to use the five-line staff as we use it today. This was especially groundbreaking in a world of rote memorization. Today it is used globally in music education. The roots of solfege are also found in Guido’s writings; his syllables have been adapted by Zoltan Kodály. Not only that, but John …

What's Holding Them Back? The Different Voices Of The Adolescent Treble Singer, Genevieve Michels

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent treble singers in choir programs are often overlooked due to their higher numbers compared to non-treble voices. While physically present, treble voiced students at the high school of study, consistently demonstrated lower volume and lighter tone production compared to their non-treble voiced counterparts. This mixed methods research was based on the question: what causes the treble singer to hold back their volume/tone during a choral rehearsal? Literature revealed four areas to consider: singing confidence, voice change, self-confidence, and social influences, which became the basis for a quantitative survey given to sixty-three students across age and grades. Students who "agreed” …

Toybox: A New Approach For Auxiliary Percussion Instruments At The Beginning Level, Spencer Craig Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Currently, there exist little materials to introduce elementary students to auxiliary percussion instruments. There is a need for the creation of more instructional material for this age group that provides pedagogy descriptions for the instruments as well as playing examples. The purpose of this project is to create a method book that provides pedagogy examples for auxiliary percussion instruments while also providing playing examples to use.

Defining The Hourglass Framework Of Technical And Musical Concepts In Music Technology Education With Two Case Studies In Course Development, Timothy Hsu

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

As the field of music technology connects music with a vast array of technical fields, a mature music technology program ideally challenges and develops students that incorporate musical contexts of technical ideas and the technical concepts of musical ideas. The educational challenge of music technology programs lies in the balancing of technical and musical material in the curriculum. In structuring this balance, this paper proposes an hourglass framework, where music technology sits at the neck of two sides, where one side is built on the tradition of Western and non-Western music history, theory, and repertoire, and the other side is …

Belonging And Banding Together: Perspectives And Insights Of Newly Recruited Ell Musicians, Edward Luckey, Edward Luckey, Edward Luckey

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to bring forward the lived experiences of English Language Learner (ELL) musicians who were new to the band program as of the Spring of 2021. This study was born out of previous coursework and reflection where it became apparent that more must be done to provide access to our band program for students who are in our ELL program. Therefore, the research question that guides this study is “What are the lived experiences of ELL band students?” The methodology is primarily a pursuit of the stories and lived experiences of the ELLs via a …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

Mural: An Online Space For Co-Creating Meaning And Understanding, Kimberly James

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Building an online community around learning has been challenging throughout the academic and artistic disruptions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. In order to promote remote interaction and educe student contributions, I utilized MURAL, a virtual, collaborative whiteboard, several times during AY2020-2021 to co-create meaning and understanding of common pedagogic topics that are applied in my studio. This practice allowed all participants to contribute ideas, make revisions, and enjoy new “aha” moments in real-time with far less pressure and concern for feeling “called out” or being “wrong.”

These activities benefitted the students and the overall wellness of the student participants …

Impact Of A Puppet On Music Performance Anxiety In Elementary Students, Jessica Nohner

Graduate Research Showcase

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is a common problem among musicians and has been shown to impact young children. There are many factors that may contribute to student feelings of MPA including perfectionism. Music educators are in a unique position and have a responsibility to assist students with MPA. While some strategies have been used to help individuals cope with feelings of MPA, music educators do not have researched strategies available to them which are easily implemented in general music classrooms. In music therapy and psychology, puppets have been used in work with children. In this study I research the use …

Assessment Literacy Of Middle School Music Educators, William Gordon Daines

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a school district in the Southwestern region of the United States, middle school music educators did not participate in district-wide initiatives to improve teacher assessment literacy, which encompasses the assessment knowledge and practices of teachers in support of student learning. The educators varied widely in their grading and assessment knowledge and practices. The purpose of this qualitative explanatory case study was to explore the middle school music educators’ perspectives of their assessment knowledge and practices in the classroom and how they used assessments to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills in music. Xu and Brown’s teacher assessment literacy in practice …

Youth Musicians’ Executive Functioning And Its Impact On Emotional And Behavioral Health, Michael A. Tate

Dissertations and Theses

A growing body of neuroscience literature shows that music promotes brain development, as learning a music instrument involves multiple brain regions and neurocognitive systems. In partnership with a non-profit organization with a mission to strengthen New York City communities through music education programs, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of music training on children’s executive functioning (EF), as well as emotional and behavioral outcomes. We hypothesized that (i) children’s EF would develop more rapidly with exposure to the program; (ii) the intensity of practice would be associated with rate of growth of children’s EF, emotion regulation and behavior; (iii) …

Empowering Silenced Voices: Implementing Critical Pedagogy To Move Toward Decolonizing Music Education, Alexis Adams

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Throughout this thesis, I will delineate the historical and current issue of Eurocentrism and racism being perpetuated in K-12 music education and music teacher education programs. I will argue that music teacher education programs need to be decolonized and radically transformed so that music classrooms and curricula are anti-racist and counterhegemonic. Through utilizing theoretical frameworks, a historical review, and a literature review, I will further contextualize this problem. Lastly, I will propose a two-pronged intervention to address this over-arching issue: an undergraduate course entitled Critical Pedagogy in Music Education and a radically transformative professional development series for current music educators.

The Hybrid Teacher: Expanding The Vocal Pedagogy Regime, Mary Joy Nelson

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The world of professional vocal training is becoming more and more eclectic and demanding in the United States. Academic music programs, and subsequently, vocal and vocal pedagogy programs are still predominantly classical in 2022, due to the American university system’s historical roots. In the 21st century, the commercial music industry is at an all-time high. However, in contemporary academia, vocal and vocal pedagogy degree programs remain primarily classical. In recent years, voice professionals have been discussing the implications of academic programs updating their programs and pedagogy in order to include professional CCM and hybrid training. Classical, CCM and hybrid singers …

Breaking The Cycle: Incorporating A Pedagogy Of Expression In Secondary Ensembles, Autumn Mortenson

Senior Honors Theses

Western music education is caught in a cycle of constant concert preparation. Even though teaching expression is an important standard of music education, it is not often the focus of secondary ensembles. This thesis explores the rationale for teaching secondary instrumental students to think expressively, the benefits of teaching expressive performance, and the methods to successfully incorporate this pedagogy. This project aims to show that the creation of expressive opportunity and responsibility during regular rehearsals would allow the students to further develop these skills without detracting from the quality of public performances. The conclusion of this project will provide ensemble …