This article is one of an occasional series examining what school music teachers do and why, and offering an inside look at a stimulating challenging, and rewarding career. Claudine Nash was born and educated in the District of Columbia. Part of a large and musically active family for whom the church was critical, she played bass in the D.C. Youth…

The possible relation between stuttering and the basal ganglia is discussed. Important clues to the pathophysiology of stuttering are given by conditions known to alleviate dysfluency, like the rhythm effect, chorus speech, and singing. Information regarding pharmacologic trials, lesion studies, brain imaging, genetics, and developmental changes…

With their arms resting at their sides and standing up tall and focused, students in Tom Shelton's eighth-grade honors women's choir watch Shelton's hands and sing the matching solfege pitches on his cue. As they go down the scale, sol, fa, mi, re, do, Shelton says, "Listen. Don't let mi go flat." The girls try again, this time more…

The author discusses techniques on how to establish rapport between the choir and young audiences. According to him, one of the choir's most important assets just might be something he calls access-ability. One of Webster's definitions of "access "is" permission, liberty, or ability to enter, approach, or communicate with." When it comes to…

The folk songs and ballads of early America describe life as experienced by the common people. They were sung within the family, by neighbors and at gatherings of larger communities. The stories told were carried in the memories of those who heard them. Once a strictly aural and oral tradition, the words came to be written down, and the surviving…

In this article, the author discusses the importance of music education in a child's development, and how music experiences affect the development of students' intellect. Music education has long been anecdotally linked to increased intellectual ability. Research suggests, though, that music education is far more than an entertaining diversion.…

Purpose: Research into respiratory behavior during singing and speech makes extensive use of standard respiratory and vented pneumotachograph facemasks. This study investigated whether the use of such facemasks would affect respiratory behavior in terms of lung volume (excursion, at initiation and at termination) or duration (of inspiration and of…

Marching band, madrigal choir, orchestra, jazz band, mixed chorus, and the annual musical are just a few of the activities that may be part of a high school's music program. Consequently, if the choir, band, and orchestra directors come together to develop goals that all ensembles can share, this cooperation can enhance the effectiveness of the…

Hampton Institute (University) was founded in 1868 to educate freed slaves following the Civil War. American Indians, former prisoners of the United States Federal Government during the Civil War, also arrived at Hampton Institute in 1878 to be educated and "civilized." Hampton Institute's first mission was as a normal school and a trade school.…

Every day, music teachers face the challenge of motivating less-confident student singers in general music classes. Teaching vocal improvisation can be a difficult task, because students are often self-conscious about their voices and too intimidated to sing in front of their peers. Technology can be an excellent motivational tool in the classroom…

Software that teaches users to sing in tune and in rhythm while providing real-time pitch tracking was used in a study of struggling middle school readers. The software, Carry-a-Tune (CAT) was originally developed to improve singing; however, since it involves a repeated reading format, we used it to determine its effect on comprehension and…

Singing is an important skill for the positive management of children's behaviors. Throughout the ages, caregivers have sung babies to sleep with lullabies and cradle songs. As a powerful tool to communicate care and understanding, singing to babies increases closeness between caregiver and children and nourishes an early love of singing. Singing…

Two studies examined the impact of songs on students' verbatim recall and understanding of central story information. In a naturalistic study, students who had frequently viewed an educational television song about the Preamble to the Constitution later (as young adults) recalled the words verbatim better than did those who had been infrequent…

This paper discusses aspects of the role of music in the preschool setting. The teaching and singing of folk songs are an avenue through which cultural literacy can be explored. A sensory approach to song learning that includes visual, kinesthetic, and aural stimuli increases children's vocabulary. Some theories suggest that musical intelligence…

The points of similarity between the language and music of a given language are discussed as a theoretical justification for the use of songs in language teaching. (Author/RM)