Metallica's All Within My Hands is a workforce education initiative that provides direct support to community colleges to enhance their career and technical education programs. In 2019, AWMH--alongside initiative sponsor the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)--provided 10 schools with $100,000 each for tuition help, safety gear and…

Shifting school schedules, small class sizes, and unpredictable instrumentation resulting from the global pandemic necessitated a creative approach to teaching ensemble music classes this year. In response to that challenge, I constructed a curriculum for developing independent musicianship through chamber music. Part independence,…

Practice is a major element in cultivating musical skill. Some psychologists have proposed that deliberate practice, a specific framework for structuring practice activities, creates the kind of practice necessary to increase skill and develop expertise. While psychologists have been observing behavior, neurologists have studied how the brain…

Developing musicianship is a vital component of success as a music teacher. Improving music teachers' level of musicianship does not necessarily equate with improving their level of performance ability. Music teachers can improve and refine their musicianship without becoming world-class performers. In this article, the author presents strategies…

Informal learning practices, based on Lucy Green's research into how popular musicians learn, offer students in the music classroom the opportunity to explore collaborative, aural-based learning that is guided, rather than directed, by the teacher. Over a period of five years, informal learning projects were included in the music curricula of two…

Instrumental performance that approximates real-world models is one way in which a general music curriculum can encourage high levels of engagement and potential for lifelong musical activity. Although guitars, keyboards, and various folk instruments are useful for this purpose, orchestral instruments can also provide significant solo and ensemble…

Over the last forty years, popular music in America has consistently shown great variety, originality, and evolution. While American music has clearly flourished and evolved over the last several decades, it is difficult to say the same for American music education. Although there are important reasons to preserve long-standing traditions of…

In this article, the author argues that in many ways, developing instrumental practice techniques is an experiment with a sample of one. Musicians must learn which methods work best for them as individuals. This starts in the earliest stages of learning a musical instrument. Teachers offer suggestions: students discover how others are practicing,…

Many orchestra teachers have experienced feelings of panic when they first read the National Standards and realize that the coalition standard is for performance ensembles as well as general music classes. Teachers who are responsible for starting beginners or who teach intermediate players may wonder about the feasibility of teaching composition…

Musicality is a loosely used term with many meanings. It can be applied to a small child who chants a nursery rhyme, or to a harmonica player who plays by ear, or to a conductor like Toscanini. Some educators and philosophers believe that musicality is manifested in the technical achievements of musicians. Others believe that technique is…

Describes a music major program that was created at a high school to help students prepare for a future career in music, provide documentation of their four years of study in music for the college application process, and continue to study music after high school. (CMK)