Education Commons^™

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 …

Music, Our Human Superpower, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

Research about music pervades every discipline because music touches every area of life. Studies revealing the salutary effects of music can be found not only in music educator research, but in research in psychology, speech and hearing, child development, neuroscience, and increasingly, health and wellness, aging, rehabilitation and recovery. Since my focus is especially in the areas of language and literacy, I research the positive effects of music on reading, writing, and learning languages - and of this, there is no shortage. In this brief Academia article, I share what I’d like to call an “homage-with-references” to our great Superpower, …

Music As A Management Tool In Elementary Physical Education: A Qualitative Investigation, David C. Barney, Keven A. Prusak

Faculty Publications

Classroom management is an important aspect for a K-12 teacher in any content area. The same applies in physical education (PE). In PE there are large spaces, students are moving, and in many cases, equipment (basketballs, rackets, hula hoops, etc.) is involved. Thus, making PE a unique challenge in regard to classroom management for PE teachers. One tool an elementary PE teacher can use for classroom management is music. For this study, one school administrator, 19 elementary-aged students and one PE teacher were interviewed to better understand their perspectives of music as a management tool in elementary PE. Findings indicate …

Teaching Practices, Institutional Cultures, And Access To Music Learning, Jonah Garcia

Honors Scholar Theses

The mission of the National Association for Music Education is “to advance music education by promoting the understanding and making of music by all” (NAfME, n.d.-b). Despite these aspirations of equality, research suggests that both demographics and geography have a role in determining who is able to participate and who will choose to participate in school music (Elpus & Abril, 2019; Salvador and Allegood, 2014). This study examined the factors that influence school music participation and the representation of student populations in the music programs of two Connecticut secondary schools. Names of schools and participants have been changed to preserve …

The Effects Of Music On Student Step Counts And Time In Activity In College Basketball Activity Classes, David C. Barney, Keven A. Prusak, Lindsey Brewer

Faculty Publications

Music is a powerful influence in life. We hear music at work, in the car, at the mall, and in our homes. Music has also been found to have an affect during physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music on physical activity rates, via pedometers, of college-aged students in basketball class. For this study 106 college-aged students participated in this study. Two classes played basketball with no music playing during game play. Two other classes played basketball with music playing during game play. It was found that the two classes that played basketball …

Mucp 183-983: Applied Music Composition--A Course Benchmark Portfolio, Gregory Simon

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

MUCP 183-983, Applied Music Composition, is the core of the music composition course curriculum for students at all levels, from freshman to doctoral candidate. Like all applied lesson environments, it is a one-on-one, individualized study that principally involves the instructor giving students feedback on their musical works-in-progress. This time-honored paradigm for teaching composition has produced brilliant artists, but is rife with pitfalls and traps that can tarnish a student’s growth: composition pedagogues can coerce students into writing music like their teachers, or can prescribe a curriculum that makes composition accessible only to students who have already played classical music for …

Music And Words: Connecting The Love Of Music With Language, Eileen P. Kennedy, Raymond Torres- Santos

Publications and Research

Children from different cultures have a natural affinity for rhymes, rhythm and music. Imagine if students were able, from the beginning of their education and experiences with academic writing and literacy, to access their unconscious and original selves from which to create their writing. The study of music can help to access this aware, inventive side that can enhance anyone’s writing. As an early childhood writing teacher and a composition teacher, we draw on our experiences with young children with words and music. We examine the relationship between music and words in an effort to bring the primitive drive of …

Geog 140: Human Geography—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio—"Music And The Geography Of Place: Engaging The Geographical Imagination", Katherine Nashleanas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The present project uses cooperative learning strategies that requires students in large classes to collaborate in applying intellectually challenging articles on place, space, sacred spaces, tourist places, and commodification of place to the development of a video project linking music to place and landscape. As an extension of their group activity, students are teaching each other how to apply concepts from the assigned articles to their projects in creative ways while engaging in critical thinking and exercising their geographical imagination.

Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives Of Cooperative Learning To Create Music In Orff Schulwerk Classrooms, Nicole A. Chapman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The Framework for 21st Century Learning identifies four learning and innovation skills to prepare students for a changing world. The 4Cs identified are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015). With the adoption of this new teaching framework, it is important that music educators evaluate their own teaching methods to meet the needs of their students in a changing society. The purpose of this study was to examine how cooperative group learning is currently integrated in the Orff-Schulwerk certified teachers’ elementary music classroom as part of the creative music process. In this qualitative study, I …

The Trials Of A New Teacher, Diego A. Rocha

Student Publications

Tim, a new teacher, faces challenges as he works towards changing the environment in a high school music program.

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 …

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 …

Muop 356/856: Intermediate/Advanced Opera Techniques—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Jamie M. Reimer

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

I began the investigation of this course and subsequent course portfolio with the following objectives in mind:

1. To solidify and articulate the skills I intend students enrolled in this course to achieve by the end of the semester;
2. To think creatively about the presentation of course material to most effectively engage and empower students' success; and
3. To assess the effectiveness of the course activities in achieving course goals stated in the syllabus.

I am also excited to explore the options available for different methods of content delivery in this course, particularly the application of recorded performance for assessment. In the …

Serendipity And Persistence: A Journey Building A Rich Music-Making Culture In Public Schools, Constance Cook

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

I am a music teacher in the public schools. This synthesis project presents a Practitioner’s Portfolio to convey my efforts over the last decade and more in pursuit of a rich culture of music in public schools. Readers should see someone who persists when faced with personal, pedagogical, intellectual, and institutional challenges. Moreover, that persistence is conducive of the serendipity through which opportunities open up to be an agent of change. What is also evident to me as I assembled the Portfolio was that the Kodály model of artist, scholar, and pedagogue seems to have been the underpinning for much …

The Status Of Students With Special Needs In The Instrumental Musical Ensemble And The Effect Of Selected Educator And Institutional Variables On Rates Of Inclusion, Edward C. Hoffman Iii

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of students with special needs in the instrumental musical ensemble and to examine the effect of selected educator and institutional variables on rates of inclusion. An online survey was designed by the researcher and distributed electronically to 600 practicing K-12 instrumental music educators in the states of Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. While 13.6% of the total school-aged population nationwide received special education services, demographic data provided by respondents revealed that students with special needs accounted for 6.8% of all students participating in bands, orchestras, …