The purpose of this study is to determine if participation in percussion ensemble has a distinct value as compared to participation in larger ensembles, and whether it promotes a specific form of percussion education not available to members participating in larger ensembles. People who participated in or who are currently instructional leaders, coaches, or conductors of collegiate percussion ensembles were contacted to better understand how experiences in the percussion ensemble influenced their approach to teaching percussion once they entered the teaching field. Research conducted for this study included interviews with preservice, inservice, and university percussion professors. Findings suggest that participation in a collegiate percussion ensemble is beneficial for percussion education and for teachers in the field. Students who participate in collegiate percussion ensembles have the opportunity to get a more specialized percussion education, from which they gain better quality skills in basic musicianship, score study, repertoire selection, and percussion performance than they would have simply preforming in a larger ensemble. In addition, students who participate in a collegiate percussion ensemble reported that it provided a greater sense of self-worth and a camaraderie with fellow percussionists that was not available in large ensemble performance.

Thesis (DMA)--Boston University.

Thesis (M.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.M.)--Boston University

In this study, I seek to explore the phenomenological question: What is the lived experience of rehearsing for and performing in a high school musical? Employing a research methodology inspired by Max van Manen, I outline a theoretical framework highlighting the intersection of Martin Heidegger’s phenomenology and Constantin Stanislavski’s acting theory. Because this intersection rests on a mutually compatible view of being-in-the-world as an experience of both temporality and sociality, I also identify two sub-questions: What is the lived experience of time, as set apart, for the high school musical? and What is the lived experience of encountering and being-with others in a high school musical? Further, because high school musical theater is an activity that occurs in schools, which are spaces of learning, a third sub-question becomes: What is the lived experience of learning in a high school musical? I explore this phenomenological question by collecting lived experience descriptions from five high school students participating in a production of South Pacific. Using data gathered from three interviews taken at periodic intervals over the course of the rehearsal and production period, as well as weekly personal journals created by the students, I present a narrative that seeks meaning and understanding through an encounter with the students’ unique experiences. An important rationale for conducting phenomenological research is that encounters with experiences outside our own can foster empathetic reactions and, when undertaken in the context of educational research, this empathy can lead to more thoughtful pedagogy. In discussion of my findings, I propose that a view of the musical theater process that focuses on training students to stage a final production and concentrates primarily on instilling an understanding of performance skills in order to do so may limit opportunities for students to find deeper levels of meaning, and that structuring a rehearsal process that specifically seeks to encourage the discovery of meaning by students could enhance both the journey and the destination of high school musical theater.

Thesis (M.M.)--Boston University

<p> This study examined the use of teaching aids to support or remediate left and right hand setup in beginning string students. 148 teachers of beginning strings students were surveyed to examine what commercial and homemade aids, props or devices they use to help their students establish or correct setup of the left wrist position, left hand fingering, right hand bow hold, and the ability to bow straight. Teachers were also asked to rate the perceived effectiveness of the teaching aids used. A catalog of all teaching aids described in the study is included in the appendix. </p><p> 82.2% of teachers surveyed did not use teaching aids to establish or correct the left wrist position, although the teachers who did use teaching aids for this purpose considered the aids effective. For developing the left hand position and intonation, the surveyed teachers were almost unanimous in their use of teaching aids: 99.4% used teaching aids for this purpose, and 93% of those teachers indicated that the aids were effective. 79.3% of survey respondents used teaching aids to develop or remediate the bow hold, and 98.3% of those teachers indicated that the bow hold teaching aids they used were effective. Only 59.3% of respondents reported that they used teaching aids to help students develop the ability to bow straight, although 97.7% of those teachers considered that the teaching aids were effective for this purpose. More than half of the teachers surveyed were considered &ldquo;experienced&rdquo; (eleven or more years of teaching) and were the largest group of users of teaching aids for all four set-up areas. The use of teaching aids did not seem to be contingent upon the number of students taught at a time. </p><p> Experienced and less-experienced teachers used both commercial and homemade teaching aids when teaching any size of group, from individual students to large ensembles. Many creative ideas for homemade aids were shared by the respondents and are included in the comprehensive catalog of teaching aids described in the study.</p><p>

<p> In California, music teachers are credentialed to teach all subjects in music with a single, broad credential. This practice as well as district hiring practices may result in many teachers working outside of their specialty. The purpose of this study is to determine techniques for building knowledge specifically for string-trained teachers to find fulfilment teaching students who are learning wind instruments. This study addresses the motivation for these teachers to teach students who learn wind instruments, experiences that contribute to teach students learning wind instruments, and how non-specialized teaching impacts student outcomes. </p><p> Six string-trained music educators who taught students learning to play wind instruments in California were interviewed from December 1&ndash;December 10, 2017. Despite these teachers having limited knowledge at the outset, they found teaching students learning wind instruments satisfying as they increased their own knowledge in this area. Some activities for increasing competence in teaching winds included: collaborating with colleagues, attending conferences, and referring to instrument-specific collegiate course content. Additionally, these teachers indicated that non-specialized teaching did not negatively influence student outcomes.</p><p>

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between musical aptitude and the ability to speak more than one language. The sample size of 50 participants consisted of six-year-old students without prior formal music training. Participants' bilingual ability was determined by their English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Levels, as documented by their school district. Musical aptitude was assessed using the Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. Bilinguals' mean scores in the PMMA were significantly higher at the p< .oi level than their monolingual counterparts. The study found no interaction between bilingual and monolingual groups. Results point to the existence of a relationship between musical aptitude and the number of languages spoken by individuals. The researcher suggests that music teachers screen students for bilingual abilities to identify those who may have increased musical aptitude correlated with their linguistic diversity.

This research considered the teaching and learning of music in the light of relevant psychological models with a view to informing both research and practice. Carroll's (1963) model of learning was tested using 109 violin/viola pupils aged 6-16 years. Measures relating to tim required for learning and time spent learning were regressed on independent measures of learning outcome. A multiple R of .902 (p=.0000) was obtained. The variables included in the final equation were: time learning (beta weight .796), teachers rating of ability to understand instructions (.199), Mill Hill Vocabulary grade (.172) and Bentley Test Music Grade (.167). This clear demonstration of the importance of time in learning music led to further investigation exploring the nature of the development of individual expertise. Three groups were compared: twenty two professional musicians, 6 advanced students and 49 novices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate approaches to interpretation, practice, memorisation and performance. The students and novices, aged 6 to 18 were also recorded both practising and performing a short piece. Current models were analysed and evaluated for their goodness of fit to the data. These included the formulations of Pask (1976b), Biggs and Collis (1982), Perry (1970), Marton and Saljo (1976a,b), Entwistle et al (1979b), Sloboda (1985), and Luria (1970). The results reinforced the greater explanatory value of these multivariate orientation models over older single construct models. However, while each illuminated aspects of the learning and performance of expert and novice musicians, none alone were able to provide an adequate explanation. The data showed that a better explanation was obtained when orientation to learning was seen to include measures of planning and arousal. The study also monitored changes in approach to learning occurring as part of the actual development of expertise.