State governments have the purview to interpret federal special education policies as they see fit. Interpretations of these policies to music education rarely are addressed within state special education policy. The authors selected four states to analyze and compare state special education policies; Illinois, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia.…

The purpose of this survey study was to provide a demographic profile of PK-12 public school music teachers and details about the public school music teaching positions in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. An invitation to complete a questionnaire was emailed to all PK-12 public school music teachers in these three states whose email addresses could…

The purpose of this study was to examine the life and work of Frank William Westhoff (1863-1938), a leader in music education during the progressive era (circa 1890s-1950s). Research questions focused on his work as a music supervisor, teacher educator, pedagogue, and textbook author. I also explored Westhoff's contributions to the profession and…

Teacher shortage in all subjects, including music, has been an ongoing concern in the United States since the 1980s. The shortage is especially acute in urban and rural schools that serve economically disadvantaged students. This article examines (a) music teacher shortage in relation to P-12 public schools in general, (b) the demand for music…

Preparing to become a music teacher educator is a complex process and one component of this process should be learning to model, demonstrate, and teach assessment practices to preservice music educators. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to discover how, and to what extent, music teacher educators (MTEs) are educated about…

The purpose of this study was to examine music education majors' perceptions of lesson planning in the university curricula. Specifically, the author was interested in which classes the respondents were taught to construct and use lesson plans, their perceptions about the importance of lesson planning, and how prepared they felt to use lesson…

This study investigated collegiate voice instructors' approaches for teaching practice strategies to their students. Voice instructors (N = 46) from accredited institutions in three Midwestern states participated in a researcher-designed survey, which described (a) the types of practice strategies addressed in lessons, (b) the methods used for…

In 2012, a committee at a small Midwestern liberal arts college, Lake Forest College, embarked on a journey to create a music education teacher licensure major. Drawing from narrative inquiry, this article reports how the dean of faculty, education department chair, music department chair, and assistant professor of music/music education…

While improvisation in K-12 schools in the USA has gained some traction since the inception of the US National Standards in 1994, there is still a dearth of improvisation activities in schools because of the lack of music teacher preparation in improvisation. The purpose of this study was to determine if providing group free improvisation…

Keeping one's self inspired in the music classroom is all about connections. Sometimes educators need to look at what they're doing from a different perspective. Luckily, there's no shortage of ways to revitalize one's classroom approach, and to help the author explores a few, he made use of some connections of his own, turning to five educators…

This column presents an interview with Nathaniel Braddock, who created and teaches an ensemble devoted to Beck's "Song Reader" at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. "Song Reader" is a collection of 20 compositions published as sheet music for musicians to record and release, with over 17,000 versions…

Although the influence of the school music teacher in a student's decision to pursue an undergraduate music education degree is well documented, little is known about the contribution that state music education associations (MEAs) may make toward a student's decision to major in a music-related field. Data do suggest that students' opinions about…

In the fall of 2010 the faculty of Baker Demonstration School began a yearlong exploration of the question "How do we know what children know?" At that time, three teacher colleagues already had entered upon a collaborative project integrating music and drama with a unit of study in the second and third grades. They decided to carefully…

Poems are filled with musicality. Poetry and music are often described using similar terms: meter, cadence, phrase, form, and more. Poetry also has physical qualities recognized ever since the Greeks classified poetic meter in feet. In this article, the author presents a project that works well across the age spectrum: recording expressive poetry…

Faced with meager enrollment in band, orchestra, and choir programs, schools are using digital technology to excite students about creating music on today's terms. Carol Broos, who teaches music at Sunset Ridge School in Northfield, IL, is on a mission. She is determined to appeal to the estimated 80 percent of students who do not enroll in…