This paper offers an invitation to higher music education communities to think differently about the significance of the connections between music and play. We highlight the many texts that articulate these connections and draw together a speculative ontological claim that all musicking is an enactment of play. In other words, we ask how…

Music is deeply entangled with human activity and can play various roles in our lives, also in the lives of children. A large part of children's day-to-day life in Norway takes place within a school context. However, research on children's musical lives within a primary school context is scarce, and there is little knowledge of how pupils engage…

Empathy plays a fundamental role in the prosocial development of young people today as an essential skill for interacting with other human beings. Music, particularly in a small group set up, offers a fitting context for its development. This article presents a review of the different studies and investigations that examine the effects that the…

An increasing amount of research emphasises the influence of body movement on the perception of music. This study contributes to the research by investigating whether varied qualities of body movement, when aligned to music may affect the way children attribute meaning to that music. To address this question, 34 children (aged 9-10) were divided…

Curious as to why conducting gesture are both acknowledged and ignored by choral singers, this article investigates the enigmatic nature of the act of conducting. Education and research are biased toward gestural aspects of the choral conductor role. At the same time, research shows that gestural skills rank strikingly low compared with other…

This research studied prevalence, manifestation, and associated factors of Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) in school band directors. Band directors (N = 625) who were members of the National Association of Music Education (NAfME) completed the survey which included the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI) and demographic questions.…

This thesis is an historical account of the band program at Auburn University from 1991--2021. The Auburn University Band Program has experienced a long history of rich traditions and continued excellence, so much so that the school's fight song even contains the line "On to vict'ry, strike up the band." What started as a small ensemble…

Music, especially singing with others, is a highly emotive experience and has been a core of an early childhood education philosophy that has promoted a social image of the child, where children are portrayed as competent communicators, individuals with rights and members of a community. How children think and learn has been an on-going emphasis…

Works of art have value not only as entertainment and aesthetic expression -- they also externalize features of human cognition that would often otherwise remain hidden. A musical example from the 19th century is a striking case in point. In 1819, Austrian music publisher, editor, and composer Anton Diabelli invited fifty-one of Austria's most…

Many autistic children show musical interests and good musical skills including pitch and melodic memory. Autistic children may also perceive temporal regularities in music such as the primary beat underlying the rhythmic structure of music given some work showing preserved rhythm processing in the context of basic, nonverbal auditory stimuli. The…

Music education in the United States aims to be for every child, yet many students become less interested in school music as they mature. Although previous research reveals activities that upper-elementary students may prefer, much of this research may not represent 21st-century students, the instruments and activities that have enhanced curricula…

This exploratory study describes the design and implementation of a sound-based intervention in the initial training of specialist music teachers at a Spanish university. It aimed to create spaces geared towards more creative and contemporary approaches to musical learning in order to gauge the perceptions of trainee teachers regarding this kind…

The purpose of this study was to examine instrumental music lessons taught for schoolchildren over the radio by Joseph Maddy in the 1930s and early 1950s. Research questions addressed (a) conditions, circumstances, and details surrounding the lessons and (b) pedagogical principles, strategies, methods, and didactic materials utilized in these…

This study aims to investigate leadership in orchestra conducting and interrogate educational principles to improve conducting pedagogy. Effective leadership implies a set of interpersonal, communicational, and emotional skills combined with a high level of expertise, which may enable the leader to not only achieve excellent outcomes but also…

This article suggests pathways for supporting habits of creativity and the development of creative mindsets in performance-ensemble learning spaces. The Wallas model of creative thought is used to frame the concept of creative musical mindsets. The author reflects on the assumptions and principles outlined in the stages of this influential model…