In this article, narratives of a salsa concert and a lesson with a Native American flute performer provide openings for exploring grooves and their application in the music classroom. The term "groove" is examined, along with some non-Western ideas about time as represented in the music of the West African Kpelle people. A sixth-grade…

In choral ensembles, a pursuit where females far outnumber males, concern exists that females are being devalued. Attitudes of female choral singers may be negatively affected by the gender imbalance that exists in mixed choirs and by the placement of the mixed choir as the most select ensemble in a program. The purpose of this research was to…

Thirty vocal improviser-educators from Australia (n = 15) and the United States (n = 15) were surveyed for musical background, influences and pedagogical views, and assessed for personality type using the "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" ("MBTI"). The purpose was to both combine and compare the two groups to identify overall…

This pilot study focuses on the use real-time visual feedback technology (VFT) in vocal training. The empirical research has two aims: to ascertain the effectiveness of the real-time visual feedback software "Sing & See" in the vocal training of pre-service music teachers and the teachers' perspective on their experience with…

As people age, they naturally experience sensory, perceptual, and cognitive changes. Many of these changes necessitate adaptations in designing programs for older adults. Choral singing is an activity that has many potential benefits for older adults, yet the rehearsal environment, presentation style, and content of material presented may need to…

This paper reports findings from the Ear-Playing Project in relation to the teaching strategies that 15 instrumental teachers adopted during one-to-one instrumental lessons whilst helping their students to copy music by ear from a recording. Overall, the teachers used a variety of strategies including singing and humming along with or without the…

Australia is a country of ongoing migration that embraces diversity, creative expression and cultural activity. Membership of community music groups by older people can enhance life quality, and may provide a space through which cultural and linguistic identity may be shared and celebrated. This qualitative phenomenological case study explores…

This paper compares two forms of sexual socialisation to which learners are exposed: the sexuality education components of the Life Orientation (LO) manuals and the lyrical content and videos of popular songs. We performed a textual analysis of the sexual subject positions made available in, first, the LO manuals used in Grade 10 classes and,…

This article presents, for the first time, descriptive research on the status of music education in Puerto Rican public elementary schools. General music education at elementary schools on the island has been part of the school offering for more than 50 years. As yet, music education at this level has not been recognized as an essential discipline…

This article arises from the authors' belief that there is a need to develop motivating ways for students across Australia to meaningfully encounter Australian indigenous music, the breadth and richness of which is beginning to be conveyed via a diverse range of mainstream media texts. Engaging with theoretical insights from the ethnomusicology of…

The manner in which a person views the universe originates from her/his culture. If someone should be asked of the predominant element found in every culture that has for centuries given people their perspective of the universe, certainly, the answer would be, Religion! The responsibility of generating and preserving the elements of one's…

This article discusses song prompts as a way to encourage children to sing during exploratory play. A song prompt for "I Had a Cat" is included for educators to try in their own classrooms or preschools. Educators are invited to share ideas they have used that encourage children to sing during free play.

This paper presents the use of the arts and aesthetic education in a graduate literacy course for in-service and pre-service teachers followed by a description of how one graduate student implemented her learned theory in the high school classroom in which she taught. The core theory of the paper follows the assumption that aesthetic education…

The relationship between speech perception and production has been debated for a long time. The Motor Theory of speech perception (Liberman et al., 1989) claims that perceiving speech is identifying the intended articulatory gestures rather than perceiving the sound patterns. It seems to suggest that speech production precedes speech perception,…

I taught music in three schools where 10-40% of the student population spoke another language at home. I ran an all-select choir for Kindergarten, Primary, Junior and Intermediate students once per week. I was interested in answering the following questions: What impact might weekly rehearsals of an all-select choir have on language learning? How…