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The purpose of this study was to develop a commercial singing guide that could be used as an aid in teaching selected elements of commercial singing. It addressed itself specifically to the following problems: determining how the selected elements of the commercial vocal style are produced, developing a guide for teaching the production of this vocal style to trained and untrained singers and evaluating the effectiveness of the guide.

It is the purpose of this study to set forth facts, substantiated by investigation of authoritative sources, proving that all selections used on the concert program of a high school chorus should serve a permanently constructive purpose toward the musical growth of the students. The first part of the thesis concerns those elements which have to be taken into consideration in teaeching any high school music group These are: 1. The psychological make-up of the group in regard to age and physical development. 2. The psychological make-up of its audience. 3. The existing level of musical skill of the group as a whole. 4. The existing degree of aesthetic appreciation of the chorus and its audience. The latter part of the work specifies the aims in vocal instruction of the high school choral course. These include sight reading, breathing, tone, pitch, diction, phrasing, and interpretation. It also attempts to demonstrate how the preparation of a concert program serves to accomplish these aims. This involves a critical evaluation of each number on a proposed program in reference to the following points: 1. Psychological reception by the group and its audience. 2. Its contribution toward improved aesthetic discrimination on the part of singers and listeners. 3. The opportunity afforded for specific vocal and musical training.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of visual performance presentations on student perceptions of the elements of music. Eighth and 12th grade student groups (n = 155) were randomly assigned from intact music classes into two presentation groups (audio and video). A Posttest Control Group Design was utilized to determine the treatment effects of four videotaped performances on student responses to Olson's <i>Part One: Musical Detail from the Measurement of Musical Awareness</i> (©1987). Two excerpts in Jazz style (big band) and two in Classical style (symphony orchestra) were presented in random order to each of the treatment groups. The experimental group was presented a videotaped music performance of each excerpt while the control group was presented only the audiotaped performances of the same excerpts. The students responded to twenty-eight test statement items regarding melody, form, texture, meter, rhythm, harmony, tone color, tempo, and dynamics in the four different music performances. / Ed. D.

Imbued with the potential to foster transformative spaces, improvisation in music can be a powerful practice but, even more largely, a unique way of being human. However, many teachers from Western classical music traditions struggle with improvisation and including it in their classroom experiences. This dissertation questioned how conceptualizations of music improvisation influence and inform this struggle through a praxis of storying experience and reflexive action. Five music educators, including the author, met over eight months for collective group improvisation and storytelling followed by conversations that involved cyclical stages of video-stimulated recall and re-storying. Using a narrative inquiry framework shaped by ethnographic and autoethnographic influences, this research conveyed what happened while challenging conceptions of improvised music through re-storying the past, the action of improvising, and reflexive action through storying the experience. The study revealed barriers to feeling comfortable with improvising, including a systemic siloing of improvisers and non-improvisers within Western music traditions, feelings of shame shaped by harmful expectations of musical ability, and experiences with closed systems of end-in-means pedagogical approaches and assessment practices. This research showed that the process of reflecting on conceptualizations of improvisation to feel more comfortable with the practice takes time and that experiencing breaks, or shimmers of understanding, rather than breakthroughs, still afforded space for transformation. The broader implications for music education include striving for approaches that teach rather than train improvisation and embracing commonalities between narrative ways of knowing and expression of self and connection through improvisation.

The work of a Broadway music director is complex and requires a wide range of musical and extra-musical skills. Using three research questions, this dissertation investigates (1) what it is that a music director does, (2) how they learn to do various components of the job while at the same time navigating the pathway that leads to Broadway and (3) what is needed to maintain a career on Broadway. A review of literature reveals that peer-reviewed publications are practically silent on the topic of Broadway music directors. Answers to the first question are found in published literature, but a consensus definition does not emerge. Meanwhile, answers to the second and third questions are only indirectly addressed by the literature. This lack of information is a primary argument in favor of this study. The answers to these questions are explored using qualitative research methods to examine what individuals with real-world experience have to say about working as a music director on Broadway. The findings include a description of the necessity for piano skills, the importance of networking, the invaluable learning experience that comes from “being in the room,” and a need for resilience to overcome the challenges of working as a freelancer. Using the framework of the Theory of Expertise, important milestones and stages that Broadway music directors have navigated in their careers are discussed. Finally, barriers to entry into the field are identified along with a description of pipelines that are being built to help the next generation of aspiring music directors achieve success.

Students' perspectives in jazz education have gone largely ignored. A modified analytic inductive design allowed me to look broadly at the students' jazz band experience while specifically investigating their views about playing individualized parts, improvising, and interpreting and articulating swing rhythms. A focus group procedure was altered (Krueger, 1995) and incorporated into my teaching of 19 students. Two 30 minute sessions per week over a 12 week period were video- and audiotaped. Audiotaped exit interviews provided data in a non-social environment. All data were transcribed and coded in order to identify major themes and trends. Conclusions were verified through member checks, several types of triangulation and other qualitative analysis techniques. Trustworthiness was determined through an audit. Cognitively and physically, students had to accommodate musical techniques as these differed from those used in concert band. Some students were confused by the new seating arrangement and the playing of individualized parts. While some students could perform distinctly different swing and straight interpretations of the same song without external cues, others could only perform this task with external cues. Some changes in articulation were well within the students' capabilities while other techniques were more difficult to accommodate. Several students felt 'uptight' while they improvised alone in front of their peers, noting group improvisation and rhythmic embellishment of familiar tunes as being helpful in assuaging these feelings. Students recognized the environmental differences between concert band and jazz band, and reported more freedom of expression in jazz band. Particularly enjoying this freedom, the more willing improvisors banded together as a clique. The students' learning was viewed as being situated in the context of jazz band. 'Musical perturbation' and cognitive apprenticeship described students' physical and cognitive accommodation of the new context. The instructional strategies students found to be most helpful were student-centered and derived from cognitive behavior modification and scaffolding theory.