ABSTRACT In an effort to meet students' arts education needs, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) collaborated with various community organizations to develop the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts in 2004. In 2008, the NYCDOE updated the music portion with a publication known as the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Music PreK-12. After designing the new "Standards and curriculum guide" with the intention of changing arts education in New York City public schools, the NYCDOE organized various professional development workshops to prepare music teachers. Although the responsibility of music teachers was obvious, the role of assistant principals, who evaluate the performance of music teachers, was not apparent. In this study, I employed questionnaire, interview, observation, and document analysis as data gathering instruments to investigate the implementation and supervision of the music education portion of The Blueprint standards. I used a collective case study approach to conduct the study in the public high schools of New York City in light of the changing conditions of education in the NYCDOE. I found that in the New York City public high schools, not every music educators was familiar with The Blueprint, and the NYCDOE did not make its implementation mandatory to all music educators. Implementation of The Blueprint depended on individual teachers' choice. Because the NYCDOE did not train music supervisors how to supervise and evaluate the implementation of The Blueprint, they did not use the criteria from The Blueprint to evaluate music teachers. Data from classroom observation of music teachers indicated that they were implementing some of The Blueprint's strands. Music educators that were apprehensive about using The Blueprint believed that their established method of teaching music was sufficient, and that the NYCDOE does not always follow through with its policies. Administrative support and resources were not significant barriers except in one case, but time was an obstacle to the implementation of The Blueprint, especially the rehearsal time. Time for other subjects took precedence over music.

abstract: This philosophical inquiry explores the work of philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari and posits applications to music education. Through the concepts of multiplicities, becoming, bodies without organs, smooth spaces, maps, and nomads, Deleuze and Guattari challenge prior and current understandings of existence. In their writings on art, education, and how might one live, they assert a world consisting of variability and motion. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's emphasis on time and difference, I posit the following questions: Who and when are we? Where are we? When is music? When is education? Throughout this document, their philosophical figuration of a rhizome serves as a recurring theme, highlighting the possibilities of complexity, diverse connections, and continual processes. I explore the question "When and where are we?" by combining the work of Deleuze and Guattari with that of other authors. Drawing on these ideas, I posit an ontology of humans as inseparably cognitive, embodied, emotional, social, and striving multiplicities. Investigating the question "Where are we?" using Deleuze and Guattari's writings as well as that of contemporary place philosophers and other writers reveals that humans exist at the continually changing confluence of local and global places. In order to engage with the questions "When is music?" and "When is education?" I inquire into how humans as cognitive, embodied, emotional, social, and striving multiplicities emplaced in a glocalized world experience music and education. In the final chapters, a philosophy of music education consisting of the ongoing, interconnected processes of complicating, considering, and connecting is proposed. Complicating involves continually questioning how humans' multiple inseparable qualities and places integrate during musical and educative experiences. Considering includes imagining the multiple directions in which connections might occur as well as contemplating the quality of potential connections. Connecting involves assisting students in forming variegated connections between themselves, their multiple qualities, and their glocal environments. Considering a rhizomatic philosophy of music education includes continually engaging in the integrated processes of complicating, considering, and connecting. Through such ongoing practices, music educators can promote flourishing in the lives of students and the experiences of their multiple communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Music Education 2013

abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare perceptions of success and failure, attributions of success and failure, predictions of future success, and reports of out-of-class engagement in composition among middle school band students composing in open task conditions (n = 32) and closed task conditions (n = 31). Two intact band classes at the same middle school were randomly assigned to treatment groups. Both treatment groups composed music once a week for eight weeks during their regular band time. In Treatment A (n = 32), the open task group, students were told to compose music however they wished. In Treatment B (n = 31), the closed task group, students were given specific, structured composition assignments to complete each week. At the end of each session, students were asked to complete a Composing Diary in which they reported what they did each week. Their responses were coded for evidence of perceptions of success and failure as well as out-of-class engagement in composing. At the end of eight weeks, students were given three additional measures: the Music Attributions Survey to measure attributions of success and failure on 11 different subscales; the Future Success survey to measure students' predictions of future success; and the Out-of-Class Engagement Letter to measure students' engagement with composition outside of the classroom. Results indicated that students in the open task group and students in the closed task group behaved similarly. There were no significant differences between treatment groups in terms of perceptions of success or failure as composers, predictions of future success composing music, and reports of out-of-class engagement in composition. Students who felt they failed at composing made similar attributions for their failure in both treatment groups. Students who felt they succeeded also made similar attributions for their success in both treatment groups, with one exception. Successful students in the closed task group rated Peer Influence significantly higher than the successful students in the open task group. The findings of this study suggest that understanding individual student's attributions and offering a variety of composing tasks as part of music curricula may help educators meet students' needs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Music Education 2014

abstract: This study examined the forty-five year history of a rural band program in Coolidge, Arizona from 1935–1980. Research questions included investigation into the band’s place in the diverse populations with whom they interacted, the stakeholders, and support from the community. Circumstances of the creation of the town, the high school and band, the stakeholders involved in those processes, the ensembles (including learning and teaching), and outside influences such as national level music policies, ecological, and socio-political events were a necessary part of the study. High school yearbooks, student-written newspapers, and local newspapers were consulted for the bulk of the primary-source data. Other sources were also used to corroborate biographical information about band directors, administrators, and influencers outside of Coolidge High School. The most significant finding was that over the forty-five years investigated, the unwavering community support sustained a strong music program in the rural town, even though teacher turnover was high. Publicly demonstrating learning and teaching, the Coolidge High School Band program engaged the local community with numerous performances, drew positive attention from state-level community, and was recognized outside of Arizona at least once regionally. The local community demonstrated tremendous support for the band program over the years, including constant communication in the newspapers, attendance at performances, providing of scholarships, and approval of various bond elections to improve facilities that would be used by the band. More research is recommended on rural music programs and community engagement. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2019

Teachers of rural K–12 music education are subject to attrition rates that are higher than many other professions or teaching specialties (Goldring, Taie & Riddles, 2014; Harmon, 2001; Ingersoll, 2001). Because of this, a large number of music teachers who are hired to teach in rural schools are inexperienced educators who are often unaware of the specific demands that are unique to these jobs. Upon earning a teaching certification, many new graduates get hired in rural locations with unfamiliar teaching conditions that could potentially lead to dissatisfaction in the workplace which could be a contributing factor to the higher than average attrition rates (Bates, 2013; Hancock, 2008; Monk, 2007; Isbell, 2005). This dissertation is a case study of in-service music educators in the rural Western United States designed to help understand the trend of higher than average attrition rates. With a theoretical framework of utility maximization to find a satisfactory person-job fit, I observed, interviewed, and collected journals from 5 participants with current or previous rural K–12 music teaching experience to determine: 1) what reasons do educators consider influential in a decision to stay in or move from a teaching position?, 2) what changes do teachers report in their perception of job utility maximization over their careers?, and 3) what are some benefits and challenges of teaching in a rural music teaching setting? Reasons for attrition specific to rural music education and generic to teaching were discussed in terms of a participant’s perception of job satisfaction and their decisions to stay in or leave rural K–12 music teaching jobs. Participants listed five themes as influential to their decisions for attrition: 1) disproportionate emphasis on athletics and pep band, 2) teacher and student absenteeism, 3) spillover work time 4) family, and 5) administrative rapport. No individual theme was a singular indicator of attrition, nor was any theme more prominent than others in influencing a participant to keep or leave a job. Rather, the perception of each reason for attrition had a cumulative effect and jobs were maintained or sought anew based on a combination of views of each theme. Also, participants reported steady inclinations of preferred musical specialty, but the perception of each theme as a reason for attrition changed with time and teaching experience. Ultimately, participants revealed that rural K–12 music teaching jobs can be highly rewarding if a person is professionally flexible, willing to regularly travel long distances (with students and alone), and can appreciate the idiosyncrasies of living in remote communities.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate recruitment strategies currently in place by band teachers for their band programs and their effects on minority student participation in 4-12th grade public school band programs of Middlesex County. Participants include grades 4-12 band teachers in Middlesex County, NJ. Via online survey, participants responded to questions about current demographics in their band programs, current recruitment strategies, and perceived effects of those strategies on minority student participation. After receiving survey responses, the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics for emergent themes. The results found that of the 3,818 students accounted for, 26% were White, 7% were Black, 49% were Asian, 8% were Hispanic, and 10% were an unspecified minority. On average, elementary school teachers used 6.93 of the given strategies, middle school teachers used 6.65 of the given strategies, and high school teachers used 5.4 of the given strategies. Many participants found their band programs reflected the demographics of the community. Other participants felt financial burdens put on the family and lack of cultural representation in music and teaching staff leads students not to join their school’s band program. / Music Education