Discusses the challenges in teaching students at the middle and junior high school level, focusing on adolescents' developmental needs. States that the literature on teaching adolescent singers focuses mostly on their vocal needs. Introduces this Music and Middle School Chorus issue of "Music Educators Journal" by summarizing five of its articles.…

Addresses the 1500-year-old belief that adolescents should not sing once their voice changes. Reviews the advances in changing-voice theory by Duncan McKenzie, Irwin Cooper, John Cooksey, Anthony Barresi, Lynn Gackle, and Ken Phillips that question this traditional belief in choral education and help adolescent boys and girls sing "through the…

Provides an examination of the Swiss-German music books in the Luther Whiting Mason-Osbourne McConathy Collection. Based on research undertaken to learn about music education in nineteenth century Switzerland and its influence on U.S. music education. (CMK)

Considers a collaboration model (Eastman-Rochester Partnership) between an urban school district music program and a nationally recognized collegiate-level school of music. Explains that the purpose of this coalition is to build a new model of urban music education while restoring a once outstanding inner-city music program. (CMK)

Discusses the benefits of commissioning a work for a choral group. Provides guidelines for music educators who commission a piece: (1) know your own needs; (2) find a composer who interests you; (3) help the composer select appropriate lyrics; (4) set a tentative schedule; (5) consider the costs. (CMK)

Evaluates the expressive performances of ensembles and individuals in order to address the relationship between individual and ensemble expressive performance achievement. Questions the validity of using ensemble expressiveness as an indicator of individual expressive achievement. Suggests that efforts to separate technical and expressive aspects…

Offers an integrated art lesson in which kindergarten students drew a picture in response to the "Three Blind Mice" using geometric shapes for the mice. Summarizes the technique used to create the mice and focuses on mixing colors to introduce tints and shading to the students. (CMK)

Explains that in order to achieve a balance between the goals of preparing music for performance and developing capable musicians during choral rehearsals, teachers should employ four rehearsal techniques: (1) the Whole/Part/Whole approach; (2) discovering relationships within compositions; (3) repetition with meaning; and (4) gesture-based…

Provides a strategy from the book "Strategies for Teaching High School Chorus." Students identify and compare three features of Japanese visual art and music: (1) the principle of understatement; (2) the attention to form and formalism; and (3) the emphasis on nature themes. Lists materials, procedures, and follow-up ideas. (CMK)

Addresses the importance of repertoire selection, stating that high quality music provides students with a foundation in the music classroom. Introduces this issue's special focus on the selection of repertoire. Offers information from broad guidelines to suggestions for specific music ensembles. (CMK)

This study is an investigation of the degree to which preschool children enrolled in Cantonese-immersion preschools in three areas of the United States differed from their monolingual counterparts in pitch-matching accuracy. In a 2003 study, the author found that in monolingual American English-speaking children, pitch-matching accuracy was most…

This article features energizing and surprising activities for children at group time. In the drawing activity, children are asked to give instructions on how to draw a picture using vocabulary and descriptive language. In the mailbox activity, children will be surprised to discover that they have mail at group time. Mailboxes can be used for…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between singing achievement and developmental tonal aptitude for students in kindergarten through third grade. In addition, we investigated whether singing achievement differs according to grade level or school setting. Subjects (N = 162) were randomly selected kindergarten, first-,…

This study investigated the role of concurrent musical parts in pitching ability in sight-singing, concentrating on the effects of melodic and harmonic coherence. Twenty-two experienced singers sang their part twice in each of four novel chorales. The chorales contained either original or altered melody and original (tonal) or altered (atonal)…

A sample of 10,153 churchgoing young people between the ages of 8 and 14 years completed the Scale of Attitude toward Church, together with a range of other indices. The data demonstrated that even among churchgoing young people: attitude toward church became less positive between the ages of 8 and 14; girls held a more positive attitude toward…