<p> This is a study of the development and validation of a rubric to enhance performer feedback for undergraduate vocal solo performance. In the literature, assessment of vocal performance is under-represented, and the value of feedback from the assessment of musical performances, from the point of view of the performer, is nonexistent. The research questions guiding this study were 1) What are the appropriate performance criteria, learning outcomes, and meaningful descriptors for various levels of proficiency for undergraduate solo vocal performance? and 2) How do students perceive their use of the feedback from the solo vocal performance rubric to improve future performances? The three groups of stakeholders of the project were voice professors from the research institution who assisted in the development of the rubric; students from the research institution who provided performance excerpts and shared their perceptions about the quality of the feedback; and voice professors from outside the research institution who used the rubric to assess the student performances. Mixed-methods participatory action research was the method used to conduct the study. </p><p> Interviews with five experts aided the development of a criteria-specific rubric, which defined performance criteria, learning outcomes, and meaningful descriptors for various levels of proficiency for undergraduate students of singing. The rubric was distributed, along with 20 recordings comprised of 14 students, two professionals, and four repeated student performances, to voice professors who used the rubric to score the performances and provided feedback about the instrument as well as the process. Results of scoring were shared with student performers and interviews conducted about usefulness of the feedback. Seven themes emerged from the research analysis: a) levels of proficiency, b) performance criteria, c) descriptors, d) numerical scoring, e) comments, f) recording method, and g) song selection relative to the skill level of the singers. Results of the study determined that the rubric was statistically reliable, and the students received valuable feedback that validated their own self-perceptions and assisted them in long- and short-term goal setting. Practitioners may benefit from further research that explores the validity of the rubric when assigning a grade, assessing live performances, and including additional repertoire.</p>

<p> While there is growing research about the positive impact of teaching artists (TAs), these professional arts educators are an underused resource. As a TA, I have more than a decade of experience implementing spoken word and hip-hop as a pedagogical approach in urban public school classrooms. By conducting this autoethnographic study, I sought to explore insights from these 10 years of lived experience for understanding and documenting the critical principles of my practice as a TA. This autoethnography of my life as a TA tells stories from urban public school classrooms during my formative years as an educator. The research explored the impact my artistic practices have had on developing my pedagogical approach, including the emotional and financial challenges inherent to working on the margins. By interpreting and analyzing ethnographic material from five residencies, this research resulted in complex narrative accounts, which provide insights for the field of arts education, with a specific focus on TAs. Moreover, this study offers a visionary context for a liberatory educational praxis of spoken word and hip-hop in classrooms and communities.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explores the ways in which Caucasian theatre makers can become more effective educators and directors in diverse student populations. By drawing attention to their &ldquo;whiteness&rdquo; and overcoming the fear of being implicated in the subjugation of these student populations, Caucasian theatre makers can instead embrace this implication and thereby transform classrooms and theatrical spaces from static appreciations of sovereignty and beauty, into platforms for resistance and revolt. In this thesis, I interrogate my own process in the direction of my multi-actor, undergraduate student production that was borne of the journey of the creation of my solo play entitled <i> ANTIMAN</i>. In this play, I implicate my family and our own racism and naivet&eacute; and the many challenges I faced in telling a story that explores such controversial subject matters as racism, antiblackness, colonialism, colonization, and settler-indigenous relations from my own white, male, heterosexual orientation. It is my hope that through this examination of both my failures and successes in this process of creating and directing <i> ANTIMAN</i>, in concert with the history of St. Croix, that I will articulate the present-day predicament of St. Croix in a manner that creates a space for discourse, resistance, and change.</p><p>

abstract: Students afflicted with music performance anxiety (MPA) can greatly benefit from guidance and mentorship from a music teacher with whom they have established trust, however there exists a knowledge gap between the development and manifestations of MPA, and how it can be overcome in order to prepare the student for success as a performer. It is my purpose with this guide to inform musicians, including students and teachers, about MPA, common coping methods, and outside resources where pedagogues, students, and even professionals can find further guidance. This document is designed to aid music students and teachers in their individual research on the topic. The first section provides necessary background information on MPA and concepts of gender, identity, and personality. A discussion of the results of an experimental protocol that surveyed double reed musicians about their experiences with performance anxiety comprises the second section. An annotated bibliography, listing other resources including self-help books, personal accounts, and scientific studies, is contained in the final section of this guide. Because of the relative absence of research done on the correlation between MPA and specific identity traits including personality, self-image, and gender, it was necessary to incorporate more generalized sources relating to the topic. The annotations offer a more comprehensive approach to understanding and overcoming MPA. This work is not meant to be all-inclusive; rather, its purpose is to act as a basic guide. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2014

<p> A detailed account and analysis of a six week theatrical devising workshop and culminating performance event which occurred in March and April of 2017 in the Theatre Arts Department at California State University, Long Beach. <i> In The Telling</i> was an independent project that utilized movement-based ensemble practice and improvisation techniques to develop text and movement into an immersive theatrical storytelling event. Through the synthesis of contemporary theatre making practice and traditional rehearsal techniques, a diverse group of student participants collaborated to create an original work based on personal narrative and the theme of &ldquo;change&rdquo;. </p><p> Rooted in a broader discussion regarding the ideal foundational elements for contemporary performance training, this project report poses the question: how can performance educators train the next generation of theater makers to excel at creating vibrant, inclusive and innovative work? The <i> In The Telling</i> project posits that theatrical devising practice as performance pedagogy is one approach.</p><p>

<p> This was a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional research study that surveyed California homeschooling parents with children in grades K-6 during the 2016&ndash;17 academic year. The purpose was to discover the methodologies and activities California homeschooled K-6th grade students received and experienced in the four arts disciplines: music, dance, theater and fine art. The data was collected through an online survey and a random representation of the research participants. The data collected included collecting specific information regarding arts activities and lessons, the approximated time and hours of instruction, and the locations or places where the lessons and activities were conducted. There were a total of 178 responses collected from the research participants. The overall participation rates within the four arts disciplines for this sample population of California homeschooling students in grades K-6 during the 2016&ndash;17 year in music was 80.34%, dance was 48.32%, theater was 52.81% and visual arts was 94.39%. The specific activities, lessons, time and locations were analyzed and discussed. This research concluded that the sample population participates in visual arts activities and lessons mainly in the home, and music, dance, and theater activities and lessons are experienced at private studios or theaters. It was additionally noted that just over 11% of the California homeschooling parents participating referenced the VAPA standards.</p><p>

<p>Psychological trauma can literally disrupt life&rsquo;s flow by damaging brain and bodily systems. When a flashback to a traumatic event is triggered in a person suffering from traumatic stress, or PTSD, key functions in the brain malfunction and are deactivated, potentially causing massive disassociation. In addition, trauma can cause chronic hyperarousal, resulting from the body&rsquo;s malfunctioning autonomic nervous system&rsquo;s defensive response of fight, flight, or freeze. To cope with these damaged bodily and brain systems and processes detrimental acts of hyperfocus and numbing are often employed by sufferers of trauma. However these obstructions can be cleared though movement practices: top-down and bottom-up regulation methods, innately embedded in certain movement and dance disciplines such as yoga and creative dance, have shown to aide in trauma recovery. This opens the possibility that a dance/movement instructor, using trauma-conscious curriculum and facilitation techniques, can use their highly structured movement practices to engage with top-down and bottom up regulation practices to not only instruct students suffering from trauma, but offer opportunities to engage in treatment. </p>

<p>The subject of dance and injury has become an increasingly important area of study for sports medicine, education, and dance studies. However, the majority of current research focuses on professional dancers or pre-professional dancers in a conservatory training context. The research typically overlooks dancers in a university setting who pursue baccalaureate-level dance programs. This small-scale research study therefore focuses on collegiate dancers in their first year of study in a liberal arts dance program. As this population often sustains injuries, the thesis project seeks to examine the management of injury strategies and to create injury prevention guidelines for the liberal arts dance department, its dance classes, and a hypothetical syllabus for a first-year injury prevention course. The research methodology adopts three approaches: a survey of the incoming freshman dance class at Temple University; a detailed study of six previously or currently injured dance students through interview; and a critical assessment of the research on dance injury. The injury prevention guidelines developed from the student injury surveys, interviews, and assessments will focus on basic, yet essential, information regarding injury management and misconceptions, and the guidelines will prepare collegiate-level dancers for future injury challenges they may face. </p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to explore the union of technical and imagery-based instruction (hereinafter, T-I instruction) in two phases. Phase one: The researcher (1) explored T-I instruction&rsquo;s influences on aspiring performing artists&rsquo; acquisition of learning and performing newly composed pieces and improvisation, and; (2) observed aspiring performing artists&rsquo; feelings of learning with T-I instruction versus technical instruction. Phase two: The researcher investigated (1) listeners&rsquo; perceived expressivity of aspiring performing artists&rsquo; performances that were either influenced by T-I instruction or technical instruction; (2) listeners&rsquo; perceived expressivity of aspiring performing artists&rsquo; performances of newly composed pieces versus improvisations; (3) whether there was a statistical significant difference of T-I instructions&rsquo; influence on the progressive differences in the means of listeners&rsquo; perceived expressivity between the aspiring performing artists across the time frame of the study; (4) the explanations for their ratings, and; (5) information that helps listeners perceive music as expressive using the <i> Perceived Expressivity Questionnaire</i> (PEQ). </p><p> Results for Phase one: 60 sub-themes and 13 themes emerged from the data relating to two meta-themes: <i>Learning</i> and <i>Quality of Life</i>. Results for Phase two: Cronbach&rsquo;s alpha statistical procedure revealed an unacceptably low internal consistency for listeners&rsquo; perceived expressivity of aspiring performing artists&rsquo; performances (&alpha; = .02). Hence, no further statistical analysis was implemented to answer research questions one through three. Explanations for their ratings dealt primarily with aspiring performing artists&rsquo; use of 11 musical components. The Brief Essay Responses from the <i>Perceived Expressivity Questionnaire</i> (PEQ) provided possible explanations for the low internal consistency and insight on what kind of information help listeners&rsquo; perceive music as expressive. Further discussion on the finding and implications for performing artists and educators&rsquo; use of T-I instruction are offered in this document. </p>

<p>This researcher had two purposes. The investigator's purpose in this action research was to develop a working prototype of a music teacher digital portfolio within the Moodle environment, which included artifacts, as they relate to New York State's Annual Performance Review (APPR) legislation. The regulation on teacher evaluation is New York State Code &sect;3012-c. In order to develop the prototype, a first step involved working collaboratively with a panel of instructional leaders in music education to determine what a music teacher digital portfolio template should contain as per this new APPR Legislation. To achieve this goal in an open source course management system, Moodle was used to collaborate digitally with music education leaders from New York State. This researcher did not seek to establish rubrics for assessment. At the same time, however, by presenting artifacts as they relate to the APPR legislation, &sect;3012-c, the investigator presented prototypical evidence of quality teacher performance in student growth and student achievement, and these data entries may be used as a point of reference by supervisors who evaluate professional music educators. The report of this study took two forms: there is a report of the collaborative efforts that constitute action research and there is the presentation of the portfolio prototype. </p><p> The subjects were 12 instructional leaders in music education from Long Island, New York. Upon completion of the action research, the subjects completed a questionnaire designed to measure their perceptions of the action research study method of instruction and the use of a course management system (Moodle) as a tool for the construction of digital portfolios. </p><p> The results of the questionnaire showed that both purposes were achieved. Furthermore, a consensus was developed that the use of action research study is a valuable method of learning and a course management system, Moodle, is an effective and useful administrative tool for school administrators. </p>