This study examines the similarities and differences between four guitar teachers in Sweden and the U.S. The aim of the study is to examine how teachers motivate their pedagogical standpoints and to analyze how they experience the frame factors that limit their teaching. Data were collected through interviews with two Swedish teachers and two American teachers. The result shows that the teachers, despite their seemingly different contexts, actually have a lot of common strategies and approaches. Most significant is the tendency to let the students decide some of the content of the lessons. The study also shows that the diverse historical backgrounds that have influenced the teachers differently still have a great significance of how the teachers act in their own teaching.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om pedagogerna medvetet stödjer förskolebarns språkutveckling genom att aktivera barnens koncentrationsförmåga med hjälp av instrumentalmusik. För att ta reda på detta genomfördes en enkätundersökning via internet bland pedagoger inom förskolan.  Resultatet från undersökningen visar att instrumentalmusik enligt pedagogerna kan användas för att stärka barns koncentrationsförmåga, samt att de anser att koncentrationsförmågan i sin tur har positiv inverkan på barns språkutveckling. Dock tyder resultatet på att inte alla respondenter gör den kopplingen hela vägen. De flesta ser sambandet mellan instrumentalmusik och koncentration respektive mellan koncentration och språkutveckling, men de kopplar inte ihop alla tre komponenterna. Resultatet tyder därför på att pedagogerna inte medvetet utnyttjar detta samband för att stödja barnens språkutveckling. / The aim of this study is to inquire whether preschool teachers consciously support children´s language development by activating their ability to concentrate using instrumental music. In order to analyze this, a questionnaire survey among preschool teachers was accomplished. The result of the research reveals that instrumental music according to the preschool teachers can be used in order to foster children´s ability to focus and that they also mean that the ability to focus in turn has positive influence on children´s language development. However, the result indicates that not all the respondents make this connection. The majority of the preschool teachers get the connection between instrumental music and ability to focus, respectively the connection between ability to focus and language development. Yet they don´t connect all these three components. This indicates that preschool teachers don´t consciously make use of this connection to support children´s language development.

published_or_final_version / Music / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

The purpose of this study was to examine the work band directors do in the course of their jobs. Specifically, I sought to understand more about the disjuncture between the balanced music education band directors want to deliver to their students and the need to prepare and present performances that bring positive notoriety to a band program. Using Institutional Ethnography (IE), I interviewed, observed, and explored the texts that directors create and/or refer to as they lead their band programs. Institutional Ethnography is a method of inquiry that allows a researcher to probe those immersed in situations that he or she finds problematic. The term problematic refers to something about which a researcher is interested in learning more. It was found that the three band directors included in this study are granted much freedom when it comes to creating or referring to a music curriculum. The directors appreciate this freedom and have each chosen various forms of curricula, which range from an official curriculum document that is used specifically for music theory instruction across Canada to a poster designed by university music instructors. With regard to performances and the pressure to prepare them, each director had a different way in which they organized their instruction to teach both performance skills and music literacy. One director relies heavily on a theory curriculum to supplement his work on performances while another works through various method books that include non-performance-based music instruction. Through this study I was able to show the gap that occurs between a well-rounded music education and a primary focus on performance in a band program. The band directors I interviewed revealed a deep desire and belief that they were delivering a comprehensive music education to their band students. In the course of my research, the pressure to create outstanding performances could be seen in the band directors’ talk and instructional organization. It is hoped that the results of this study will aid university instructors and curriculum writers in developing successful ways to deliver music instruction in a band program while remaining cognizant of performance.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 1, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Wendy Sims. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-85).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of New York, 2005. / Includes abstract and glossary. Includes bibliographical references (p. 482-526).