The importance of music education in American schools is well established, with 93% of Americans agreeing that music should be a part of a well-rounded education (Harris, 2005). Students preparing to teach in the elementary classroom (elementary education majors) in American colleges and universities typically take a music class (sometimes two) as…

General music teachers might be faced with formal performance expectations placed on them by administrators. While performance expectations are common in performance-based ensembles, meeting these expectations can be cumbersome and daunting to those who serve in the realm of general music. Informances--informative presentations of student learning…

This study presents an analysis of a video observation of three six-year-olds interacting in front of a synthesizer in a Swedish preschool and using a new music technology ("MIROR-Impro"). It investigates how a musical role-play unfolds as an intermediate activity when there is a malfunction with the set-up of the technology and how it…

This article explores the possibilities of the antifoundationalist thought of Cavell with a particular focus on his idea of "chance in aesthetic experience," as a framework through which to destabilize the prevailing discourse of education centering on freedom and control. I try to present the idea of chance in a particular way, which…

The contribution of music education to the holistic development of the young learner is uncontested. However, in South Africa, the vast majority of Reception Year (Grade R) teachers do not have the required competences to teach music in ways that optimally enhance the holistic growth of their learners, as this aspect has been largely neglected…

In this essay I explore problems of pedagogy related to Hans Krása's "Brundibár" by drawing heavily upon the thinking of two divergent theoretical perspectives regarding Holocaust testimony as advanced by Giorgio Agamben (2002) and Shoshana Felman (1992). I theorize that lodged within a space of difficult knowledge coalesced through…

The jazz ensemble represents an important performance opportunity in many school music programs. Due to the cultural history of jazz as an improvisatory art form, school jazz ensemble directors must address methods of teaching improvisation concepts to young students. Progress has been made in the field of prescribed improvisation activities and…

Since its publication in 1995, a significant literature has developed around David J. Elliott's praxial philosophy of music education, as explained in "Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education." This literature includes a range of commentaries in journals, books, edited books, and dissertations. Although Elliott has…

The article presents the results of a study carried out within the scope of a project entitled, "Arranged Bursa Folk Songs for Fourhands Piano Extended Piano Techniques and Teaching in Music Education Departments." It is number KUAP (E)-2014/28 of the Uludag University Scientific Research Projects Unit and was supported by the Bursa…

Problem Statement: The reasons that people listen to music have been investigated for many years. Research results over the past 50 years have showed that individual musical preference is influenced by multiple factors. Many studies have shown throughout that music has been used to induce emotional states, express, activate, control emotions,…

Recent literature suggests that traditional approaches in folk music education are not necessarily compatible with the pedagogical conventions of formal music education. Whilst several recent studies have tended to define these non-classical-music learning contexts as "informal", the practice of folk music that was recently introduced…

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a composition competition influenced four K-12 students' self-concepts as musicians. Research questions explored motivations for these four students to enter into a composition competition, influences of the competition on students' self-concepts as musicians (if at all), and effects…

What are the motivational differences between students who intend to continue their learning in instrumental and choral music programmes and those who intend to discontinue? Using an achievement-goal perspective, this study investigated motivation and learning intentions of Australian students who had engaged in these extra-curricular music…

Despite many music classrooms welcoming popular musics in striving towards an inclusive and democratic education, there has been relatively little research into teachers' decisions regarding which popular musics are included and which are excluded from classroom activities. This is of particular interest taking into account arguments that the…

The association between human speech, language and communication (SLC) and participation in music is manifest in music education and psychology literature in a number of ways. Research studies into young children's SLC are numerous and policy focus on this area of children's learning and development and their later literacy has been intense. By…