How do we motivate students to practice and persist when facing challenges inherent in learning to play an instrument? In this article, I synthesize research findings into strategies to encourage students' mastery goal orientations and intrinsic motivation. Educators can use these strategies in the classroom or as inspiration to create innovative…

Reading music notation with fluency is a complex skill requiring well-founded instruction by the music teacher and diligent practice on the part of the learner. The task is complicated by the fact that there are multiple ways to notate a given rhythm. Beginning music students typically have their first encounter with enrhythmic notation when they…

Growth mindset, or the belief that talents and abilities are malleable and can grow, is known to hold immense benefits in the world of education. What benefits could it hold for our students' musical growth as well? This article explores the many benefits of instilling a growth mindset into our ensembles by examining research in educational…

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…

For many novice music teachers, creating and implementing effective music lessons can be a tedious process. Moreover, preparing a music lesson is quite different from lesson planning in other areas, creating a disconnect that music educators may feel when trying to make music lessons fit a classroom lesson-plan model. However, most music teachers…

Students are motivated when they have a constant system of rewards. They have a desire to please others and be recognized. It was with this idea in mind that the Smokey Road Middle School Band in Newman, Georgia, started using the "Power in the Progress System" in 2011. This system, created by H. Dwight Satterwhite, a professor of music…

Ensemble directors have a special interest in helping students learn to practice effectively. Practice is also an essential component of musical development. Music educators need to both teach effective practice strategies and guide students toward meaningful, thoughtful practice. Metacognition strategies are one way to accomplish this. Current…

In this article, the author connects art and music to help others understand and value the relationship of these two disciplines. When working on a painting, or with other visual media, it is important to apply artistic elements and incorporate carefully considered design principles. This also applies in music and is especially apparent when a…

Singers are sometimes plagued by an ongoing sense of anxiety that has the potential to negatively affect their work. This article addresses the issue of chronic anxiety as distinct from the more frequently considered topic of performance anxiety. Strategies are outlined to help teachers identify and address this problem in to order to help…

Teachers can easily encounter students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the instrumental lesson setting. Applicable to instrumental lesson settings in the public or private schools, private studios, or college studios, this article focuses on specific strategies ranging from the…

This article describes ways that music education can be made more culturally responsive, or congruent with the orientations of culturally diverse students. Music education in the United States has historically been based on Eurocentric frameworks that may no longer be applicable in an increasingly multicultural society. For the many teachers…

The digital or information age promotes a liberal, more empowering way of learning and interacting or as Bob Stein, founder of the Voyager Company and the Institute for the Future of the Book, says, "If the printing press empowered the individual, the digital world empowers collaboration." Cynthia Johnston Turner, director of wind…

Conductors play a significant role in creating a podium-centered atmosphere by encouraging ensemble members to become overly reliant on them. Due in part to well-developed egos, a lack of confidence in the ability of the ensemble members who actually make the music, or simple naivete, many conductors insist on placing themselves at the center of…

Brain research indicates that repetition is of vital importance in the learning process. Repetition is an especially useful tool in the area of music education. The success of repetition can be enhanced by accurate and timely feedback. From "simple repetition" to "repetition with the addition or subtraction of degrees of freedom," there are many…

The Aural Learning Project (ALP) was developed to incorporate jazz method components into the author's classical practice and her applied woodwind lesson curriculum. The primary objective was to place a more focused pedagogical emphasis on listening and hearing than is traditionally used in the classical applied curriculum. The components of the…