Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: D. Pawluch. Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-228).

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the online instruction versus the effects of traditional face-to-face instruction assisted with online learning system. Specifically, the learning process is investigated. The observation groups of this study are two class students. One class is online class and the other class studies in a traditional class assisted with online learning system. The variables of personalities are also taken into discussion to explore whether the personalities of learners moderate the learning process and the learning effects. Moreover, whether the learning processes between two different instruction methods affect learning effects are explored. Based on the data analysis, the findings of this study are summarized as follows: 1. The learning achievements of online instruction learners are significantly better than those of learners who studied in a traditional class assisted with online learning system. However, the differences of learning satisfactions from learns are not significant. 2. Learners in the online instruction post more articles than those who study in traditional instruction assisted with online learning system. But the other subjects in the learning process between the two instruction methods don¡¦t have significant differences. 3. Gender and the cognitive style separately affect the average numbers of post words and ineffective learning characteristics. 4. The learning process affects significantly the achievements of learners in both instruction methods, but the learning process doesn¡¦t always affect the learning satisfactions of learners.

American musical theater songs are popular with the general public, and many college and university voice students are familiar with them. Some voice teachers also use musical theater repertoire to varying degrees in voice instruction. Such familiarity and interest lend significance to this study of the songs in a teaching context. There is therefore a need for the establishment of repertoire-selection guidelines and pedagogical analysis of selected musical theater songs so that additional teachers will become well informed.Following the introduction in Chapter One, the results of a survey sent to one hundred members of the National Association of Teachers of Singing are presented. The survey posed questions concerning the current use of musical theater songs. Among other things, the results revealed strong interest in the analysis and application of this literature in the voice studio. Guidelines for repertoire selection (also used by the author in selecting songs that address specific aspects of singing) are introduced in Chapter Three, along with a description of analytical procedures. Chapters Four through Eight include summaries of the analyses and suggested applications in the voice studio:Developing the ability to sing longer phrases"You'll Never Walk Alone" (Rodgers)"Where Is Love?" (Bart)"After the Ball" (Harris)• Developing the ability to sing wide intervals in a legato fashion "Lost in the Stars" (Weill)"Warm All Over" (Loesser)"Green Finch and Linnet Bird" (Sondheim)•Developing the ability to articulate words rapidly "My Darling, My Darling" (Loesser) "Seventy-Six Trombones" (Willson) "Soliloquy" (Rodgers)•Developing the ability to move smoothly between registers "Someone to Watch Over Me" (Gershwin) "Where or When" (Rodgers) "O1' Man River" (Kern)•Managing a large range and mature quality "Maria" (Bernstein)"Memory" (Lloyd Webber) "One More Kiss" (Sondheim)Conclusions in Chapter Nine include: (1) teachers should judge musical theater songs by the same criteria as other songs; (2) musical theater literature offers useful material for students who are striving to develop certain aspects of singing; (3) analyses of selected songs demonstrate their suitability for pedagogical use; and (4) there is a need for additional critical analysis of musical theater literature. / School of Music

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-98).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-98). Also available in print.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this collaborative inquiry (CI) dissertation study was to examine pedagogical strategies designed to open Western classical music to improvisation. Piano teacher-participants formed a collaborative inquiry cohort as co-researchers to design and implement pedagogical strategies for use with their piano students, ages 8 to 10. Improvisation appears to occupy a limited role in practices commonly associated with Western classical music. Since the body of evidence found in Western music history and performance practice reveals traditions that encompassed improvisation, this study was designed to challenge existing pedagogical models associated with Western classical music through experimentation and improvisation. The prior attitudes and practices of the three participants were assessed through introductory interviews, as well as the collection of videos of teaching practices and preliminary survey data. Three two-hour in-person sessions of the cohort took place, interspersed with interviews and the sharing of video excerpts and co-researcher memos and blogs in an online forum on Canvas. During in-person sessions of the cohort, pedagogical strategies were designed and revisited through reflection following participants’ teaching experiences in their piano studios. Participants explored musical improvisation within a creative community by investigating the processes and experiences of treating Western classical music as an impetus to creative thought and improvisatory realization by their students. Findings illuminate patterns of interaction that illustrate the function of strategies for musical creativity and the applicability to pedagogical practices. Several overarching themes, addressing the purpose of the study, emerged through my analysis of data, pertaining to the dynamic nature of music, call and response as formative, and knowledge and novelty as means and ends. Participants demonstrated distinct operational definitions of improvisation, each of which appeared to connect to a model of awareness and responsiveness through the expression of interrelated themes. Whether spontaneously generated or chosen intentionally, limitations promoted improvisation as the exploration of novelty, advancing and emanating from a knowledge base. By revealing pedagogical practices that demonstrate heuristic models for experimentation through variability practices, this study illuminates patterns of interaction that open works of musical art to the sociocultural activity of improvisation, through which a multiplicity of meanings can take form.

No description available.