This paper provides a system that helps diagnose and address the specific challenge to cellists of intonation in any passage. Learning to play consistently in tune is essential for every cellist. In the over three hundred years of cello history, teachers have tried approaching the topic from a variety of perspectives. While each technique is useful in its own right, there is scant attention to how they work together. Viewing intonation through its component sub-skills is the first step toward integrating existing exercises and paving the way for further advances in pedagogy. The following paper categorizes training techniques according to the sub-skills of playing consistently in tune. This approach makes the learning and teaching of intonation manageable and approachable to cellists at all levels. What we do before the note, How we play the note, What we do after the note, and Putting it all together are the four broad categories of sub-skills identified. Within each of these sections, relevant exercises are presented and their efficacy explained. Examples are drawn from a wide range of sources including music education, my own educational experiences, music psychology, the Alexander Technique, cello pedagogy, professional cello teachers’ responses to a questionnaire, physiology, and neuroscience. By integrating published research in these areas, this paper provides a more comprehensive understanding of intonation. Instead of a wealth of techniques each claiming to resolve the challenge of playing in tune, the introduction of sub-skills allows for a methodological approach to intonation pedagogy.

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This project will provide classroom teachers with examples of how music can be taught on a daily basis through the integration of disciplines. After completing an extensive review of literature, the writer evaluated teaching standards of both music and curriculum subject areas found similar learning goals and designed a series of twelve lesson plans that integrated these standards.

Arthur Bliss’s Sonata for Viola and Piano stands as a significant achievement in early twentieth-century chamber music for viola and is the result of a fruitful collaboration between composer and virtuoso performer. Multiple scholars recognize the sonata as one of Bliss’s finest works. Despite these accolades, the work has failed to attract sustained scholarly investigation. This document provides performers with the necessary tools for a thorough and contextualized presentation of the work. The main body of this study details the technical aspects of performing the sonata: viola technique, expressive challenges, and ensemble concerns. Preceding this, I cover the relevant biographical details from Bliss’s life, examine the roots of his chamber music writing for viola by analyzing two early works, and investigate the collaboration between Lionel Tertis and Bliss in creating this work.

This thesis is directed toward teachers who work primarily with music degree students on the collegiate level. Pedagogy is simply too often "hit or miss" in a student's degree curriculum, and yet the reality is that most musicians will have to teach at some point in their careers, whether they realize it as students or not. This thesis provides a model for how to holistically integrate pedagogy into all aspects of the performance curriculum, so that string performance students are provided with the necessary tools to be both excellent performers and teachers, regardless of whether they ever take a pedagogy class. This is accomplished through: the examination of survey results regarding how schools are incorporating the National Association for Schools of Music requirements and recommendations for the integration of pedagogy into course curricula; an overview of survey results reporting how string performers and educators feel about the quality of the education they received in regards to preparedness for artist string teaching; and a discussion of how to create a holistic curriculum for performance and pedagogy that encompasses the three main areas of most string performance curriculums (the private studio, chamber music, and orchestra). The overarching goal of this thesis is to build on the rich tradition of string playing and teaching that already exists, by introducing a curriculum that will holistically educate the student as both performer and pedagogue. At the heart of this approach is the need for fostering a "see one, do one, teach one" mentality in students.

This research examines the establishment of degree programs in traditional music in institutions of higher education. It defines traditional music and discusses the history of traditional and folk music programs at universities and conservatories in the United States, Finland, Scotland, and England. The institutionalization of American traditional music is compared to the institutionalization of jazz music in the United States. This thesis focuses on the Bluegrass, Old- Time, and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State University and features original ethnographic interviews with lecturers from the program. Two similar programs in Tennessee and Kentucky are also discussed. Some of the issues that are explored within these programs include standardization, improvisation and imitation, the use of sheet music, and job potential. The purpose of this research is to examine if and how institutionalization affects traditional music.

This dissertation presents a categorization of existing methodologies of upper register development for euphoniumists with evaluation of effectiveness and current use of these methodologies. The purpose of this study is to provide euphonium musicians as well as educators with essential references and guides to applicable methods for developing the upper register more effectively with greater efficacy. The assessments of current methodologies include three steps: categorization, summarization, and evaluation. To support the significance why it could be more beneficial than the methodology alone, the dissertation will include the examination of the aspect of biomechanics and ergonomics, suggestions, and discussion of particular issues of the upper register.

Improvisation as a musical-pedagogical discipline in the preparation of organists for the liturgical environment. MgA. Jan Steyer Abstract The dissertation solves the issue of organ improvisation in the liturgical environment in the Czech Republic and focusing mainly on the pedagogical aspect of the topic. The first part deals with theoretical problems. Improvisation is defined, classified and put into context of psychology and history. There is also a mapping of the position of organ improvisation in the liturgy on the basis of church regulations. The second part of the work is a research about the situation among church organists in the Czech Republic. Using the questionnaire, basic data on the researched group were obtained (age, gender, general and musical education, place of organ action and information about organ liturgical practice). In addition, the research analyzes the musical theoretical and practical playing skills of church organists. There is also a finding of educational requirements of research participants and description of their own experience with organ courses and various methodological procedures in teaching improvisation. This information are very useful for pedagogical purposes. The third part of the dissertation deals with qualitative research carried out on summer courses for...

Administrators at the focus school had not determined if participation in a music program has influenced students' academic achievement, thereby ushering doubt about the utility of this program. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to determine the impact of the music program on students' English language arts (ELA) and math Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) scores. The theoretical foundation for this study was Miendlarzweska and Trost's model of musical training, which indicates the impact of musical training on academic, social, and cognitive outcomes and identifies factors that mediate that impact. Archival data were retrieved on 74 Grade 5-8 students who participated in the program during the 2012-2013 school year and who also participated during the 2011-2012 school year as Grade 4-7 students. Analysis of covariance indicated no significant effect on ELA or math MAP scores for music program participation. Implications for positive social change include providing initial research findings to the local site on the potential academic impact of this music program. Further research with recent data and larger sample sizes were recommended. Additional research at the local level may yield results that can help administrators better support higher levels of student success.

It was the purpose of this study (1) to determine the contributions which the use of recorded music may make toward the fulfillment of the objectives of elementary school music education; (2) to determine the directions of musical growth to be fostered through, and some valid teaching principles relative to music listening activities in the elementary school classroom; (3) to make suggestions as to the teaching techniques and the organization of the selected recorded materials which may assist the classroom teacher in promoting a climate favorable to the development of maximum musical growth in each student.