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.

No description available.

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.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two methods of music instruction on two factors in the musical listening experience, identified as music description and music identification, and musical preference of fourth- and fifth-grade students. The listening experiences consisted of one which utilized descriptive writing in the music lesson and one which utilized participatory listening activities such as maps for guided listening, worksheets, and call charts. Also examined were the interactions of gender, grade level, and degree of writing presence in the regular classroom. Seven-hundred and eleven students from thirty-six intact classes in six elementary schools of three school districts were chosen for the study. The intact classes were randomly assigned to one of the two methods of instruction for a seven week experiment. The study utilized a pretest/posttest two group experimental design to answer 10 research questions. Repeated measures MANOVAS, t-test of independent samples, and two-variable correlation tests were conducted to measure mean differences, interactions, and possible relationships in the data. Results of the study indicated significant differences between method of instruction and the variables of music description and music identification. Method of instruction did not influence musical preference. Also significantly different were students' scores for music description, music identification, and musical preference between the participating 23 classroom teachers. Method of instruction, grade level, degree of writing presence, and gender did not significantly interact collectively with music description, identification, or musical preference although some areas interacted with these variables individually. Significant interactions were found between music teacher and method with regard to students' scores on tests of music description, music identification, and musical preference. Two correlational tests resulted in values that indicated no relationship between the variables of musical preference and description and musical preference and identification. However, the non-relationship of music description and musical preference was non-significant while music identification and musical preference were significantly non-related.

Thesis (M.Mus) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy. (entire content of poor quality) / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The foundation for this study is the belief that music is an essential part of human existence and thus of education. It not only addresses individual and communal human needs but the multicultural nature thereof gives it special significance for education in the ''New South-Africa". This significance lies in the value of music in its own right (intra disciplinary) as well as the use of music for its intrinsic qualities to facilitate the teaching of all other fields of knowledge (interdisciplinary). Recent research and new thinking in the fields of intelligence and learning support this belief. The old one-dimensional approach to intelligence is no longer tenable and has been supplanted by the acknowledgement that human intelligence is multi-faceted. Musical ability is now recognized as a separate intelligence while the use of music is regarded as being an important factor in the development and functioning of the human thought process. Research on the role played by emotions and morality as well as that on the characteristics of genius, optimal experiences and the implications of the functioning of the brain, are all explored with reference to what this means for music education (and using music in education) in this country today. The new Curriculum 2005 at present being introduced into South-Africa is an example of Outcomes-based Education. The way in which the Arts and Culture Learning Area of Curriculum 2005 approaches music education corresponds with the interdisciplinary and intra disciplinary distinction. These aspects are discussed and material is included for use in order to realise the expressed and desired outcomes for music education in the Foundation Phase. Elliott's alternative approach (music-as-practicum), instead of Reimer's traditional music curriculum making, is used as point of departure. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die oortuiging dat musiek 'n essensiële deel van die menslike bestaan en dus van opvoeding is, lê ten grondslag van hierdie studie. Nie alleen spreek dit individuele sowel as gemeenskaplike menslike behoeftes aan nie, maar die multikulturele aard daarvan maak dit van groot belang vir opvoeding in die "Nuwe Suid-Afrika". Die belang is daarin geleë dat opvoeding in musiek op sigself waarde het (intradissiplinêr), maar ook leer in alle ander vakgebiede kan fasiliteer (interdissiplinêr). Onlangse navorsing ten opsigte van intelligensie en opvoeding staaf hierdie siening. Die vroeëre een-dimensionele siening van menslike intelligensie is nie meer houdbaar nie en is vervang deur die erkenning dat intelligensie vele fasette het. Musikale vermoëns word tans as 'n outonome intelligensie beskou, terwyl die groot invloed van musiek op die ontwikkeling en funksionering van die menslike denkpatrone erken word. Navorsing oor die rol van die emosies, moraliteit, die kenmerke van die genie, optimale ondervindinge en die funksionering van die brein, word ondersoek met verwysing veral na die belang daarvan vir musiekopvoeding (en die gebruik van musiek in opvoeding) tans in Suid-Afrika. Die nuwe Kurrikulum 2005 wat tans in Suid-Afrika ingevoer word, is 'n voorbeeld van Uitkomsgebaseerde Onderwys. Die benadering van die Kuns en Kultuur Leerarea in die Kurrikulum 2005 tot musiekopvoeding stem ooreen met die inter- en intradissiplinêre verdeling. Hierdie aspekte word bespreek en materiaal word ingesluit vir gebruik by die nastreef van die uitdruklike en wenslike uitkomstes vir musiekopvoeding in die Grondslagfase. Elliott se alternatiewe benadering tot kurrikulering vir musiek (musiek-as-practicum), in teenstelling met Reimer se tradisionele MEAE model, word as uitgangspunt gebruik.

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 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.

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?