The aim of this project was to explore whether voice care and development, prior to qualification, could mitigate potential vocal attrition in newly qualified teachers/lecturers within their first year of teaching. A specific focus of the research was to see if any causative relationship could be seen to exist between vocal change, specifically change in vocal quality, and the exigencies of the teaching role. Vocal quality in this instance is defined as the way in which individual voices demonstrate discrete features of pitch, resonance, degree of breathiness and clarity of the note. The sum of these features is perceived as voice/vocal quality. The study sought to gain a deeper knowledge of the vocal demands of the teaching role with a particular focus on the experiences of newly qualified teachers and lecturers. It was hoped, that information gained as a result of the study, would add to the current canon of knowledge regarding the vocal demands on teachers as a feature of their professional role. As a result of the study a number of important elements were identified, some of which go beyond the original focus of the research but arise from data gathered doing it. A number of recommendations are made which, it is hoped, will inform future working practice and increase vocal health within the teaching profession.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of facial muscle activity in forming and maintaining the soprano clarinet embouchure. The purposes of the study are to collect and analyze data in the following areas: 1. Activity of the following muscles during performance on the clarinet: (1) upper orbicularis oris, (2) lower orbicularis oris, (3) upper half of the buccinator, and (4) lower half of the buccinator. Muscular activity is read as electronic potential and is presented on recordings through the use of electromyography. 2. Possible effects which the electromyographic apparatus might impose upon performance. Tape recordings weremade of the subjects' performing prescribed tasks both before and during electromyographic analysis. The possible effects of the electromyographic analysis upon performance were then tested by comparing these two recordings.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a detailed evaluation of the musical value in ten leading class band methods suitable for use in the junior high school. Presentation of tone production, mechanics of the instruments, and placement of beginning tones are discussed only when the value of the music is directly involved.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the kinetic structures or reinforcement schedules of metric temporal patterns (metric combination of note values within a measure) in five best-selling beginning piano method series. Based upon a survey mailed to 98 music dealers, the five best-selling beginning piano method series in 1992 and 1993 were identified as: the Alfred Basic Piano Library, Bastien Piano Basics, David Carr Glover Piano Library, John. W. Schaum Piano Course, and John Thompson Modern Course for Piano. A coding system was developed for identifying the numerical appearances and occurrences of various metric temporal patterns per learning piece within each method series. Several computer programs were written to compute the kinetic structures, scope, and pacing of metric temporal patterns for each method series. The derived data were then compared to delineate relationships between the three analytical variables.

The object of this study was to compile a list of solo literature for beginning college voice students and analyze these solos for pedagogical and performance purposes. There is no lack of printed material on the subjects of singing and voice culture. But it is not readily accessible to teachers since it is extremely diversified and rather diffusely distributed throughout a variety of sources, such as books, periodicals, and scientific papers. Several lists and books containing songs for beginners have been compiled.

The use of television as an aid to music education is a relatively new and unexplored field. It is so new, in fact, that to undertake a study of what has been accomplished until the present may seem at first rather premature and unfruitful. It is my belief, however, that if television is to become the prominent factor in education that has been predicted, there is a definite need for a study of what has been done to date toward the development of this new medium. This will provide the background and foundation for further experiment and use. The study shall include, therefore, a brief history of television itself, general educational experiments in television, experiments in televised music education, problems involved in presenting musical television programs, and suggestions for the development of this newest of teaching aids.

It has been the purpose of this study to examine representative beginning piano methods, as found available in published form, and to compare and evaluate them according to musical, psychological, physical, and educational standards.

Material relating to the viola, its history, technique, use as a solo and orchestral instrument, and its use in chamber music, is practically non-existent. For this reason, this document is being written in an attempt first, to collect and discuss, for the benefit of the author as well as for any who might have some interest in the viola, facts which might eliminate some of the common misunderstandings about the instrument, and second, to show, through examination of viola music, the use to which the viola has been put in solo, orchestral, and chamber music from the Baroque period to the present.

Advanced courses, more or less related, resulting in a research problem and a thesis are the procedures for graduate work as prescribed and accepted in most fields of study. Is it worth while to try other and possibly less accepted procedures, and then attempt to evaluate the results? For example, would it be profitable for a prospective teacher to spend the major part of his graduate work in actual teaching, to have an opportunity to do intensive work over a long period of time in collaboration with an experienced teacher or supervisor, and to choose his graduate courses so as to relate them to the teaching being done? Is there justification in giving a graduate student the opportunity to try out in a laboratory the ideas gained from academic and professional training, to have further experiences in working with boys and girls, and to develop skills in working with students and other teachers? Would the personal and professional growth of the graduate student, from his related courses, his preparation and planning for the teaching job ahead, his experiences with his students, his adaptation of previous plans to meet the needs of the actual teaching situation, the assembling of materials as to suitability and interest and the arranging of these materials to meet the needs of individuals as well as the groups he taught, be effective ways to prepare and develop a skilled teacher?

This study explores the experiences of young string players in a music collective called Face the Music. The organization consists of musicians aged 10 to 18, and is dedicated to the preparation and performance of music by living classical composers. I begin with the assertion that contemporary classical music, hereinafter referred to as contemporary music, is often misinterpreted and underappreciated by the general public, and even musicians themselves. There is minimal research exploring what contemporary classical music education is or could be, especially regarding non-professional musicians and/or adolescents. From this starting point, I explore the experiences of 18 members, six coaches, and one parent. Data includes focus group interviews with young string players in quartet settings, individual interviews with coaches, field notes, and a variety of musical artifacts. Face the Music musicians were highly flexible and versatile musicians; they identified as performers, composers, and improvisers—and possibly rebels of some kind. In addition to these subjectivities, their most prominent characteristic was revealed in their “polytonal roles,” a concept I explicate. Findings suggest complex relationships between their emotions and contemporary music. Several disparate benefits, especially social benefits, were manifested through the idea of community. Coaches at Face the Music perceived their roles as pushing the boundaries of traditional classical music training and promoting living composers. The unsureness and uncertainty from the young string players also reflect the ambiguous nature of contemporary music. Findings suggest that there is a space for music educators to re-conceptualize contemporary classical music education for young musicians.