Investigates qualitative differences in prekindergarten children's visual representations of sound. Reports finding differences in representations among three developmental groups. The more advanced groups associated visual materials with sound and borrowed from other domains to create analogies for sound. Discusses connections to previous…

Studies qualitative changes in preschool children's invented notations following extensive musical instruction. Reports that the invented notations of 50% of the children changed after music instruction, showing a progression from scribbles to enactive to melodic. Notes that no results about why notations changed can be drawn from this descriptive…

Reviews literature on effects of music on the brain in childhood development. Areas include: (1) early synaptic growth; (2) nature versus nurture; (3) background music; (4) musical practice; (5) music learning and cognitive skills; (6) transfer of music learning; (7) musical instrument practice; (8) children and music; and (9) transfer effects.…

Discusses the importance of music for brain development, pleasure, retention and motivation, and problem solving and critical thinking. Describes methods for including music in education that are related to music acquisition. Suggests classroom music activities and notes the importance of making instruments available, displaying written music, and…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate aspects of vibrato performance among high school and university string players. The main questions were to determine whether students consistently initiate vibrato in an upward or downward direction and whether players vibrate continuously when performing slurs. Forty high school and university…

The purpose of this study was to determine how judgments of solo performances recorded at an international piano competition might be affected by excerpt duration (20 versus 60 seconds) and tempo (slow versus fast). Musicians rated performances on six test items. Results indicated that piano majors rated slow excerpts higher than they rated fast…

How do musicians performing together coordinate their actions to achieve a unified performance? We observed a singer (the first author) and pianist/conductor (the third author) as they prepared for two performances of Ricercar 1 from Stravinsky's Cantata, one for voice and piano and one for voice and ensemble. This article reports a content…

David Brackett's notion of musical codes, discussed in his book "Interpreting popular music" (2000), offers tertiary music students an opportunity to think about interpretation and performing, about what is conveyed through performing, and connections with extra-musical factors. This article discusses comments made by a class of tertiary…

This study examined the effects of vocal hygiene and behavior modification instruction on self-reported behaviors of music teachers. Subjects (N = 76) reported daily behaviors for eight weeks: water consumption, warm-up, talking over music/noise, vocal rest, nonverbal commands, and vocal problems. Subjects were in experimental group 1 or 2, or the…

The purpose of this study was to examine music style and conductor race on perceptions of ensemble and conductor performance. Results found that conductor race and music style significantly affected ratings of ensemble and conductor performance. Evaluators rated a white conductor group higher than a black conductor group conducting the same…

This article reports on parents' perceptions of the way music CDs and DVDs were used with children under the age of five in the home environment. This was part of a study that explored the musical practices of parents with children at home. A survey was sent to parents in three preschools, asking about parental music background, young children's…

Writing from the perspective of anti-racist theory, the author is hopeful that the newfound interest in social justice may make lasting differences in the ways music education is conceived and practiced; and yet she is understandably wary, pointing to the numerous and serious misunderstandings often associated with altruistic but naive approaches…

School music has a comparatively low take-up rate as a qualification among English secondary school pupils. Existing research on the issue has proffered possible reasons for this phenomenon but has generally been piecemeal and undertheorised. This paper sets out a fresh theoretical perspective capable of providing a basis for systematic empirical…

This paper explores definitions of creativity, theories and models of creativity, and the classic stages of creativity. Creativity is best defined in terms of an interactive process. The creative process in adults often results in creative and useful products, and such creativity is judged in terms of their quantity and quality of patents,…

Band, orchestra, and choir festival evaluations are a regular part of many secondary school music programs, and most such festivals engage adjudicators who rate each group's performance. Because music ensemble performance is complex and multi-dimensional, it does not lend itself readily to precise measurement; generally, musical performances are…