The main aim of this review article is to understand and discuss the concept of improvisation as a professional skill for teacher educators. The literature review suggests that five academic traditions are especially relevant to examine: Rhetoric, music, theatre/drama, organizational theory and education. The dialogic, open-scripted, interactive…

Exploring emergent music learning and teaching models facilitated by global Web access can reveal alternative music education practices and delivery systems not seen in "traditional" conservatories and schools. One example of an alternative music learning model comes from the Online Academy of Irish Music (OAIM), a community music…

A music educator opens the classroom door one September morning, and there they are. Another group of new students. But this year, there's a different mix: a student from Cambodia, another from Mali, two students from Peru, five Mexicans, two Taiwanese, and an American Indian. Maybe it's happened gradually; maybe not. But this is what America…

Today's music teachers and teacher educators are just as likely to overlook, downplay, or ignore music's many social and political meanings, thereby implying to their students that its only "legitimate" meaning is to be found in "the quality of its making" rather than also in its relation to politics and other forms of experience. Even music…

The creative music strategy is a dynamic and flexible seven-step model for guiding general music students through the music concepts of improvisation and composition, followed by critical reflection. These are musical behaviors that cultivate the development of our students' deeper conceptual understandings and music independence by helping them…

Principles and practices of comprehensive musicianship have occupied a place in music education for many years. Many of these initiatives descended from educational reform efforts begun in the post-Sputnik era. In 1977, a group of music educators gathered on the campus of a small Midwestern college to explore new possibilities for comprehensive…

For decades, music teachers have shared the dread of writing formal lesson plans, yet most know that planning yields better instruction. Why does this disconnect continue? The common argument that music teachers make is that teaching music is fundamentally different from teaching other subjects. Lesson plans are written to pacify supervisors and…

Every school teacher has access to one of the greatest resources in existence; the simple, unfeigned enthusiasm of youngsters. The challenge is how to make constructive use of that enthusiasm. For music teachers, the situation is particularly tricky. Rhythms and melodies, their daily stock in trade, are inherently engaging to most young people,…

Sound Learning is a partnership among the Georgia State University (GSU) School of Music's Center for Educational Partnerships in Music (CEPM), the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, professional musicians in the Atlanta area, and schools in metropolitan Atlanta. It is a curriculum-based music education partnership designed to enrich children's music…

The purpose of this bulletin, one of a series designed to aid the social studies teacher, is to indicate ways in which folksongs can be used in the classroom as a vivid reflection of the history and culture of the common people. An explanation is given of the value of the use of folksongs in the social studies classroom, followed by sections on…

A pilot study was conducted to demonstrate the use of dance as a method for improving and extending curriculum content of world cultures in elementary schools. The secondary objectives emphasized nonverbal experience as a means of interpreting the patterns of cultural values in West and Central Africa. Most of the 41 presentations of the dance…

This report describes the creation of New Horizons, an ArtsConnection comprehensive model for talent identification and development in the arts. New Horizons focuses on how schools can identify and appreciate artistic talents, how teachers can help students use their artistic abilities to improve their school performance, and how economically…