Perceived success and satisfaction with one's level of performance encourages efforts to challenge other band members for higher chairs within high school bands. Motivation of band members was tested by asking them if they had ever challenged and how frequently. Additionally, they were asked if they felt that they were correctly placed in their…

The manual describes the value and processes of music and dance improvisation with disabled students. The experiential nature of improvisation is said to allow the student to explore choices and alternatives. Teachers are given general guidelines, including to be prepared to try anything, to be positive and enthusiastic, and to give constructive…

Nine subjects, 5 of whom claimed absolute pitch (AP) ability were instructed to rapidly strike notes on the piano to match randomized tape-recorded piano notes. Stimulus set sizes were 64, 16, or 4 consecutive semitones, or 7 diatonic notes of a designated octave. A control task involved motor movements to notes announced in advance. Accuracy,…

Two early childhood educators report on their visit to a kindergarten in the People's Republic of China. (CS)

A BROCHURE HAS BEEN PREPARED TO GIVE TEACHERS OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN SOME INFORMATION ABOUT MANY INSTRUMENTS WHICH CAN BE USED IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS NOTED THAT EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN, IN COMMON WITH THEIR NORMAL CLASSMATES, HAVE A LOVE OF BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND INTRIGUING SOUNDS. MANY OF THEM HAVE SPECIFIC MUSICAL TALENTS, AND MOST OF THEM HAVE BEEN…

This paper illustrates how the sociolinguistic concept of code switching applies to the use of different styles of music. The two bases for the analogy are Labov's definition of code-switching as "moving from one consistent set of co-occurring rules to another," and the finding of sociolinguistics that code switching tends to be part of…

This guide outlines a music program for kindergarten through grade 6. The developers believe that a knowledge of music will lead to increased enjoyment and participation now and later in life. The bulk of the guide contains a program outline for each grade level. The program is comprised of three categories: objectives (the skill or concept that…

A concept approach to teaching music to young children is presented. Thirteen key concepts which should have meaning for the young child are presented (for example, "in music there is usually a steady recurring pulse called the beat"). For each concept, activities, points to remember in teaching, and lists of songs (with the books in which they…

"Making Music Your Own" is the eighth component of the Bridge-to-Reading series, a comprehensive year-long reading readiness curriculum for use with 2 1/2 -- 6-year old children. This book offers the teacher a wide variety of materials to help children enjoy music, discover music concepts, and integrate music with everyday experiences. Included…

The papers contained in the first section of this publication were prepared as background material for a Contemporary Music Project (CMP) Conference on College Music Curricula held in October 1970. The papers concern musical analysis and evaluative competence, compositional processes and writing skills, music history and literature, performance…

Discusses how music can be intergrated with regular lesson plans to teach German vocabulary, grammar, and history and to give insights into German culture. Also included are sources for basic background information, a list of recordings of the German music, and notes on selecting and presenting it in the language class. (SED)

Gives background information for a secondary unit on the blues. Such a unit should include singing blues songs and playing accompaniment, listening to records, and composing original works. Study of the blues is an important way to transmit insights about our cultural heritage. (CS)

Described is a "Composer in Residence" project in which a local choral songwriter participated in a semester-long music course for fourth and fifth graders. He visited the schools and composed an instrumental work which the students performed at a spring concert. (RM)