Discusses how music enhances learning by facilitating brain growth and integration, evoking emotions, and addressing learners' needs. Suggests ways to use music to create a positive learning environment by reducing stress, increasing productivity, and regulating energy. Presents suggestions for incorporating music at elementary/secondary levels,…

Defines emotional intelligence. Considers why and how music can be a very useful educational medium for middle school children. Describes some musical activities used for emotional learning programs. (SR)

Music composition is a rewarding activity for students. Through composition, teachers not only address National Standard 4 (composing and arranging music within specified guidelines), but also cover other areas of the music curriculum such as singing, notation, improvisation, form, style, tempo, dynamics, music vocabulary, and assessment. During…

Few teachers, students, or parents would question the importance of practice when learning to sing or play an instrument. And, while most who are involved in music education would probably concur on certain aspects of what constitutes good music teaching and lessons, they would probably also agree that a problem may exist in what takes place in…

The purpose of this study was to examine sight-singing requirements at junior and senior high school large-group ratings-based choral festivals throughout the United States. Responses to the following questions were sought from each state: (1) Are there ratings-based large-group choral festivals? (2) Is sight-singing a requirement? (3) Are there…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of sight-singing instruction using specific pitch skills emphasizing scale degree and harmonic function. Fifteen pitch skills encompassing scalar, cadential, and chordal tasks were included in the study. Over a 12-week period, two randomly assigned groups of novice high school singers…

The article focuses on teaching commonalities in diverse musical genres. Teachers need to relate the musical activities performed in class to music that students experience in the world around them since they understand music in relation to history and culture. A key to selecting high-quality musical examples is to find music pieces that contain…

Presents an article on understanding and introducing music to sensory-sensitive children. Description of a child with Sensory Integrity Dysfunction; Problems experienced by sensory-sensitive students; Potential of sensory-sensitive children to excel in musical aptitude tests.

In this article, the authors relate how they decided to offer their fifth graders a one-day celebration in honor of Diwali, one of the most popular Hindu festivals in India, enjoyed by people of every religion. They combined learning about the tradition with Indian music and film, art-making, special foods, and dance performances. Their students…

Festival performance is no trivial endeavor. At one midwestern state festival alone, 10,938 events received a rating over a 3-year period (2001-2003). Such an extensive level of participation justifies sustained study. To learn more about variables that may underlie success at solo and small ensemble evaluative festivals, Bergee and Platt (2003)…

The aim of this study was to investigate maternal beliefs and uses of music with infants. One hundred mothers of infants aged between seven and nine months of age were recruited in Montral, Canada. Mothers were interviewed on musical background, musical preferences, beliefs and uses of music with their infants. The results suggested that, despite…

Since--and even before--the National Standards for Music Education were published, music educators have tried to balance the expectations associated with the traditional performance curriculum and contemporary models of music education. The Standards-based curriculum challenges directors to consider how student experiences and learning can be…

Trying to implement the National Standards for Music Education the author has led her to the important conclusion that improvisation is a valuable teaching tool. Rather than thinking about it as yet another thing to teach in the already too-short music lesson, she has started using improvisation activities to reinforce music learning. By doing…

In this article we provide a rationale for using alternative, aesthetic methods of qualitative representation (e.g., creative writing, art, music, performance, poetry) in qualitative family therapy research. We also provide illustrative examples of methods that bring findings to life, and involve the audience in reflecting on their meaning. One…

This qualitative study examined young children's music preferences through group conversations with children, interviews with parents, and non-participant observation of classroom settings in daycare and elementary classrooms. Data were analyzed inductively to generate themes, and revealed that (1) children expressed distinct preferences for an…