Conducting is a complex art which involves, among other things, effective nonverbal communication. And, while this communication includes hand and arm gestures as well as eye contact and facial expression, it also encompasses nonverbal messages sent by the rest of a conductor's body such as their physical appearance. Perceptions drawn by what a person looks like and how well they fit the stereotypical role they are portraying oftentimes affects opinions of their job performance. Thus, the nonverbal messages sent by a conductor's physical appearance could affect ensemble member's opinions of them as a conductor. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between conductor body type and perceptions of conductor effectiveness and ensemble performance. Further, relationships between the conductor's visual appearance characteristics, which included eye contact, facial expression, and posture, and performance ratings, evaluator confidence in the conductor and performance ratings, and overall conductor effectiveness and performance ratings were explored. It was found that body type of the conductor as well as gender and college major of the evaluator did not effect the ratings of conductor and ensemble performances. However, performance ratings were affected when conductors were viewed in a certain order. There were moderate to moderately strong relationships between the performance ratings and conductor posture, conductor facial expression, evaluator's confidence in the conductor, overall conducting effectiveness. Eye contact, however, did not seem to impact the performance ratings to a great degree.

Music education in North America remains loyal to the ideals, materials, and methodologies of a bygone era despite widespread calls for pedagogical change. Popular music has a limited role in schools although culturally relevant programming is increasingly important in modern contexts. Guitar class has the unrealized potential to reach those many students who are eager for music opportunities but unable to work within traditional formats. Guitar is motivational, inclusive, and relevant to students, and therefore has an appropriate place in the pluralistic classrooms of the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, a model is l lacking to bridge the gap between guitar performance, and materials from popular guitar-based genres, with traditional values of formal music education. Guitar instruction is consistently portrayed in opposition to, or as an alternative to, success in the time0homored priorities of school music. The question remains, then, as to if popular guitar performance can be reconciled with an emphasis on theory, literacy, and fine musicianship. This narrative study details a public school teacher's attempt to synthesize an original electric guitar curriculum for his middle school classes, one responsive to both academic and cultural concerns. Suggestions for concrete steps towards an achievement-oriented popular guitar pedagogy are presented, amidst the argument that such developments are feasible, necessary, and overdue. / L'éducation musicale en Amérique du Nord reste fidele aux idéaux, au matériel et aux méthodes d'une époque révolue, malgré de nombreux appels pour un changement pédagogique. La musique populaire a un rôle limite den les écoles, bien que des programmes culturellement pertinents soient de plus et plus important dans des contextes modernes. Les cours de guitare ont le potentiel inexploité d'atteindre ces nombreux étudiants qui sont désireux d'apprendre la musique, mais incapables de travailler dans un format traditionnel. La guitare est motivante, inclusive et pertinente pour les élevés, et a donc une place appropriée dans les groupes diversifies du vingt et unième siècle. Malheureusement, il existe un fosse ester les objectifs traditionnels et la musique populaire a la guitare. L'enseignement de la guitare est habituellement perçu comme une opposition, ou comme une alternative a la réussite scolaire. La question demeure donc a savoir si la guitare populaire peut être conciliée a la théorie et a la musicalité. Cette étude décrit comment un professeur d'école publique tente de synthétiser un programme de guitare électrique original qui répond aux besoins académiques et culturels. Des suggestion portant sur des mesures concrète ayant pour objectif d'atteindre une pédagogie tournée ver la réussite du cour sont présentées comme possibles, nécessaires et attendues.

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine influences on melodic error detection ability of adult amateur musicians; specifically, listening-condition, age, and years of experience. Following are the specific research questions of this study: 1) Are there differences in error detection with regard to listening condition? 2) What are the relationships between age and years of experience on error detection ability? 3) What are participants' perceptions of melodic error detection thought processes? </p><p> Participants (N=33) met with the investigator individually to complete a melodic error detection task. Each participant listened to three melodies and performed three melodies, noting any perceived melodic errors they may have heard. After providing each participant a 10-second time period to examine the melodic notation, the investigator asked each participant to identify any errors he/she may have perceived in each melody, while either a) listening to the melodies or b) playing the melodies. Participants responded by circling the errors on the error detection form provided by the investigator. Three of the melodies did not contain melodic errors; three melodies contained specific melodic errors (i.e. incorrect interval). </p><p> Results indicated a high overall success rate in error detection tasks under both listening and playing conditions, although participants tended to be significantly more successful under the playing condition than under the listening condition. Findings of correlations among age and experience suggest no significant influence of these variables on error detection ability. In general, participants' perception of the difficulty of error detection tasks were not accurate; they tended to perceive tasks as difficult even though they demonstrated high rates of success in locating and identifying melodic errors in both listening and playing conditions.</p>

<p> The aim of this study was explore and measure desired results that are fundamental and essential to standards-based accountability and comprehensive musicianship for students in K-8 general music classes. Using a clustered sample of state achievement standards aligned with the National Content Standards for Music Education (n = 16), an exploratory content analysis was conducted. Qualitative analysis was employed to identify desired results as fundamental, or basic, elemental, or underlying; qualitative analysis and measurement was employed to identify fundamental desired results as essential, or frequent among 50% or more of the sample. Sub-samples were also analyzed for equivalent-forms reliability. </p><p> The content analysis yielded 8809 desired results distributed among 2450 printed standards. In relation to each National Content Standard, the conceptual framework of this study, fundamental desired results were found to be essential at each grade level with the exception of grade K and National Content Standard Four as well as grade one and National Content Standard Nine. Within these findings, diverse and often disjunctive grade level application was also frequent. </p><p> The predominant findings include a clear emphasis on music performance and literacy with ancillary attention to creating music and all forms of responding to music. At and among all grade levels, the standards for singing, performing on instruments, improvising, and reading and notating music yielded the most desired results that were found to be essential. Also at all grade levels, there were no fundamental desired results found to be essential for understanding music in relation to history, which represents half of the intent of National Content Standard Nine. </p><p> Overall, this study revealed more disagreement than consensus as more than half of all fundamental desired results for each National Content Standard were not found to be essential. The fundamental desired results found to be essential for two-thirds of the Content Standards also represented less than one third of the desired results that were applicable. </p><p> The findings from this study align with far-reaching 21st century issues, including improving existing K-8 curricula and corresponding assessments, evaluating program quality, refining standards-based curricula in music teacher preparation programs, and developing future K-8 standards.</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors leading to student-teacher dyad dissolution in post-secondary music performance studios. Thirty students and 30 teachers were interviewed. Questionnaires containing closed-ended rating scales and open-ended questions were employed and responses were subjected to statistical and content analysis. Participants cited several factors leading to dyad dissolution including different expectations, different goals, poor communication, incompatibility, student attitude, student practice, teacher teaching abilities, and lesson satisfaction. Students and teachers differed regarding their perception of practice strategies and goals; teachers more often reported that goals were established and practice strategies were taught than did students. The most important factors leading to dyad dissolution appeared to be poor communication, expectation imbalance, and lack of personal cohesion. The majority of students' dissolution factors were attributed at the Interpersonal level, whereas the majority of teachers attribution dissolution to factors to the student (level of Other). / Le but de cette étude était d'investiguer les causes des bris de relations entre étudiants et professeurs dans les cours individuels d'instrument musical au niveau universitaire. Trente étudiants et trente professeurs ont participé à des entrevues individuelles constituées de questions structurées et non-structurées. Leurs réponses ont été soumises à des analyses statistiques et des analyses de contenu. Les participants ont mentionné plusieurs facteurs ayant contribué au bris de relation, incluant les attentes différentes, les buts différents, la mauvaise communication, l'incompatibilité, l'attitude de l'étudiant, la préparation de l'étudiant, l'habileté pédagogique du professeur, et la satisfaction des leçons. Les étudiants et les professeurs ne partageaient pas les mêmes points de vue en ce qui concerne les buts et les stratégies de la pratique personnelle. En fait, les professeurs ont signalé, plus souvent que les étudiants, que les buts étaient établis et accomplis, et que les stratégies de pratique personnelle étaient enseignées. Les facteurs les plus importants de dissolution semblent être la mauvaise communication, un déséquilibre des attentes, et un manque d'affinités personnelles. La majorité des étudiants ont attribué les causes au niveau de la relation, tandis que la majorité des professeurs ont attribué les causes de la dissolution aux élèves.

Objective: The current research indicates that those with autism have an excellent memory for pitch. Persons with autism have better pitch discrimination and memory for individual notes. The purpose of this study was extend this research in school aged children, comparing pitch discrimination and melodic memory of children with autism to that of typically developing children. / Method: Twenty-five children with autism between the ages of 8-12 and 25 typically developing children within the same age range participated in the study. Children completed pitch discrimination tasks in two differing contexts. In one context, children were asked to indicate whether two pitches were the same or different when the two pitches were either the same or one note of the pair had been altered so that it was 25, 35, or 45-cents sharp or flat. In the other context, children were asked to discriminate whether two melodies were the same or different when the leading tone of each melody was either the same or had been altered so that it was 25, 35, or 45-cents sharp or flat. In addition, children were also asked to recall melodies one week after they were paired with pictures during a familiarization task. All the tasks in the study were formatted on computer. / Results: Children with autism outperformed typically developing children in both pitch discrimination contexts. Children with autism were superior to typically developing children when remembering melodies one week after they had been paired with animal pictures. / Conclusion: Children with autism demonstrated better pitch discrimination and melodic memory than typically developing children. These abilities may be genetic, as the majority of the participants in the study had limited music training. Alternatively, these abilities could be reflective of a different developmental process in the auditory modality of children with autism whereby developmental differences in auditory perceptions may be adaptive in some musical contexts. / Objectif: Les recherches actuelles démontrent que les personnes autistiques discernent mieux la hauteur des sons et ont une meilleure mémoire des sons individuels. La présente étude vise à étendre la recherche aux enfants d'âge scolaire en comparant, chez les enfants autistiques par rapport aux enfants qui se développent normalement, le discernement de la hauteur des sons et la mémoire mélodique. / Méthodologie: Vingt-cinq enfants autistiques ainsi que 25 enfants ayant un développement normal, tous âgés de 8 à 12 ans, ont participé à l'étude. Placés dans deux contextes différents, les enfants ont effectué des tâches faisant appel à leur capacité de discerner la hauteur des sons. Dans le premier contexte, les enfants devaient indiquer si deux sons étaient semblables ou différents lorsque les deux sons étaient les mêmes ou lorsque l'un d'eux avait été modifié pour être plus aigu ou plus bas de 25, 35, ou 45-cents. Dans l'autre contexte, les enfants devaient dire si deux sons mélodies étaient les memes ou si elles étaient différentes lorsque chacune des melodies étaient la mêmes ou si elles étaient différentes lorsque la sensible de chacune des melodies étaient soit la même, soit qu'elle avait été modifiée pour être plus aigue ou plus basse de 25, 35, ou 45-cents. En outre, les enfants devaient aussi se remémorer des mélodies qui, la semaine précédente, avaient été associées à des images d'animaux au cours d'une tâche de familiarsation. Toutes les tâches accomplies par les enfants au cours de l'étude ont été effectuées sur ordinateur. / Résultats: Les enfants autistiques ont mieux réussis que les enfants ayant un développement normal et, cela, dans les deux contextes de discernment de la hauteur des sons. Ils ont aussi été supérieurs lorsqu'il a fallu se remémorer des melodies une semaine après qu'elles eurent été associés à des images d'animaux. / Conclusions: Les enfants autistiques ont démontré que leur jugement de la hauteur des sons et et leur mémoire mélodique étaient meilleurs que ceux des enfants ayant un développement normal. Ces habiletés pourraient être innées étant donné que la majorité des participants á l'étude avaient une formation musicale limitée. Par ailleurs, ces habiletés pourraient être le signe d'un processus développemental different des attributs auditifs des enfants autistiques, ces différences développementales des perceptions auditives pouvent comporter une capacité d'adaptation à certains contextes musicaux.

The objective of the study was to determine if repeated exposure to a virtual reality (VR) audience environment would desensitize musicians suffering from performance anxiety when subsequently performing in front of a live audience. Sixteen university music students participated in the study. They performed in pretest and posttest concerts with live audiences. Each was assigned either to the VR condition or to a control waiting-list group. VR participants played during five weekly VR sessions, and were measured on a state anxiety inventory (SAI), heart rate and cortisol levels. Performances were recorded and evaluated by two professional musicians blindly. Other measures included a performance anxiety inventory (PAI) and the SAI. Results indicated that VR sessions elicited anxiety, as measured by cortisol levels. Also, mean PAI scores for both groups were lower at the posttest concert than at the pretest concert. Results suggest that VR exposure was not successful in helping musicians with performance anxiety. / Cette recherche avait comme objectif de déterminer si des expositions répétées à un auditoire virtuel (réalité virtuelle) pouvait désensibiliser des musiciens souffrant d'anxiété de performance à jouer devant un auditoire réel. Seize étudiants en musique de niveau universitaire ont participé à la recherche. Ils ont participé à deux concerts devant des auditoires réels, à titre de prétest et de postest. Chaque participant fut assigné soit au groupe de contrôle ou au groupe exposé à l'auditoire virtuel. Les étudiants exposés à la réalité virtuelle ont joué une fois semaine pour un total de cinq sessions durant lesquelles les fréquences cardiaques et les taux de cortisol furent mesurés. Un questionnaire d'auto évaluation sur l'anxiété (State Anxiety inventory (SAI)) fut également administré. Les concerts furent enregistrés et évalués à l'aveugle par deux musiciens professionnels. Le questionnaire d'auto évaluation sur l'anxiété (SAI) et le questionnaire sur l'anxiété de performance (Performance Anxiety Inventory (PAI)) furent administrés. Les résultats ont démontré que les sessions de réalité virtuelle ont engendré de l'anxiété chez les participants, tel qu'indiqués par les taux de cortisol. Par ailleurs, les deux groupes ont eu des scores plus bas sur le questionnaire de l'anxiété de performance (PAI) lors du concert de contrôle (postest). Les résultats semblent suggérer que l'exposition à la réalité virtuelle n'a pas aidé les musiciens avec l'anxiété de performance.

<p> This study examines episodic memories of participation in music performance classes. Ten adults were asked to name a memorable experience from their secondary school music class. They were also asked about their enjoyment within the class, memory of the instructional material (music), and their current musical endeavors. Results showed all adults enjoyed their experience within their music performance class, but only one currently performs on their instrument. Very few participants remembered specific instructional material. All memorable experiences involved a strong emotion. Further research is needed to examine the classroom experience as a whole, beyond retention of instructional material.</p>

The goal of this research project was to develop and validate a new measure that establishes the extent to which highly stressful performance situations affect self-perceived levels of Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) in popular musicians. The Performance Anxiety Inventory for Musicians (PerfAIM), a self-report measure demonstrating appropriate psychometric properties, was developed. The specific objectives of this research project were to estimate the validity of the questionnaire and to assess its reliability. Content validity and face validity were established using focus groups and interviews with experts. A sample of 69 popular professional musicians and music students completed the inventory, with which we established the internal consistency, the test-retest reliability, the concurrent criterion-related validity and the construct validity (convergent and divergent). Among the sample, 66 participants completed the Performance Anxiety Inventory (PAI, Nagel, Himle, & Papsdorf, 1989), and 61 respondents, the revised Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (revised K-MPAI, Kenny, 2009a). A test-retest was done at a one-week interval using a sample of 21 musicians. The PerfAIM demonstrated an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.93), a very good reliability (ICC=0.89 with 95% CI), and a satisfactory concurrent criterion-related validity and convergent validity (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient). No significant difference was found between men and women's scores on the PerfAIM. In conclusion, the PerfAIM is an adequate measure for assessing self-perceived levels of MPA, enabling musicians to develop self-awareness of the causes, temporal occurrence, direction, and cognitive, somatic, affective and behavioral manifestations of MPA. / Ce projet de recherche visait à développer et à valider un nouveau questionnaire permettant d'évaluer dans quelle mesure les performances hautement stressantes affectent la perception du niveau d'anxiété de performance musicale (APM) des musiciens populaires. À cet effet, nous avons créé le «Performance Anxiety Inventory for Musicians » (PerfAIM), un questionnaire auto-administré démontrant des propriétés psychométriques satisfaisantes. Les objectifs spécifiques de ce projet consistaient à évaluer la validité et la fidélité du questionnaire. La validité de contenu et la validité apparente ont été établies avec des groupes focus et des entrevues auprès d'experts. Un échantillon de 69 musiciens populaires (professionnels et étudiants) ont complété le questionnaire, ce qui a permis d'établir la consistance interne, la fidélité test-retest, la validité de critère concomitante ainsi que la validité de construit (convergente et divergente). Parmi l'échantillon, 66 participants ont complété le « Performance Anxiety Inventory » (PAI, Nagel, Himle, & Papsdorf, 1989), et 61 répondants, le « Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory » révisé (revised K-MPAI, Kenny, 2009a). Le test-retest a été fait à une semaine d'intervalle auprès d'un échantillon de 21 musiciens. Le PerfAIM démontre une excellente consistance interne (alpha de Cronbach=0.93), une très bonne fidélité (CCI=0.89 avec un IC à 95%), et une validité de critère concomitante et de construit convergente satisfaisantes (calculées à l'aide d'une corrélation de Pearson). Aucune différence significative n'a été démontrée entre les résultats des hommes et des femmes dans le PerfAIM. En conclusion, le PerfAIM est un questionnaire approprié pour l'évaluation de la perception du niveau d'APM des musiciens, permettant à ces derniers de prendre conscience des causes, des occurrences temporelles, de la direction, et des manifestations (cognitives, somatiques, affectives et comportementales) de l'anxiété de performance.

This study examined the ways in which exceptional jazz musicians develop a unique voice within academia. The perceptions of unique musicians with respect to the current call for change in jazz education was also investigated. Ten subjects, considered 'exceptional jazz musicians' with a 'unique voice', participated in a semi-structured interview to gain insight into these issues. Results revealed a consistency in responses relating to the current status of jazz education and call for change, learning experiences in jazz, and the development of a unique voice. Results indicated that (a) the jazz discourse overstates the gravity of the call for change; (b) exceptional jazz musicians engage in additional learning experiences based on the jazz tradition; (c) a unique voice develops concurrently with learning about jazz music generally; (d) institutions provide a viable option for learning about jazz and developing an individual style if students supplement their formal education with self-directed learning. / Le but de cette étude est d'examiner comment les musiciens jazz exceptionnels peuvent démontrer leur voix unique au milieu académique. L'étude vise à recueillir les perceptions de dix musiciens jazz exceptionnels face aux réformes envisagées dans l'enseignement du jazz. Ces musiciens jazz exceptionnels, ayant chacun une voix unique, ont participé à une entrevue semi-structurée afin de mieux comprendre la situation. Les résultats ont révélé une uniformité dans les réponses concernant l'état actuel de l'enseignement du jazz, des réformes envisagées, de l'apprentissage du jazz et de l'évolution d'une voix unique. Les résultats ont démontré que (a) les discussions exagèrent l'importance des réformes; (b) les musiciens jazz exceptionnels perfectionnent volontairement leurs connaissances comme le veut la tradition jazz; (c) une voix unique se développe simultanément à l'étude de la musique de jazz; (d) les établissements d'enseignement procurent une option viable à l'étude du jazz et au développement d'un style individuel si les étudiants complémentent leur éducation officielle par un apprentissage indépendant.