The purpose of this research was to determine whether an autonomous chamber music project would have a positive effect on band students’ creativity. Two primary research questions guided the study: (1) does engagement in autonomous chamber music increase the creativity of students’ performances of pre-composed music (creative products), and (2) does engagement in autonomous chamber music enhance the manner in which students navigate the creative processes of problem finding, ideation, and evaluation when preparing pre-composed music for performance? It was hypothesized that autonomous chamber music would cause an increase in both creative production and processes. Participants (N = 60) were all enrolled in a band class at one of three participating high schools. Using an experimental randomized block design, participants were evenly divided between an experimental and a control condition. Participants in the experimental condition engaged in an autonomous chamber music project, in which they self-selected into duos, selected a piece of repertoire, analyzed their chosen repertoire, conducted four rehearsals of the repertoire, and recorded a performance of the repertoire. The control group participants did not engage in autonomous music making. All participants continued to engage in all regularly scheduled band class activities during the treatment phase of the study. Creativity was measured twice—in a pretest and posttest—using the Measure of Creativity in Ensemble Collaboration (MCEC), which was designed for the study. The MCEC examines 10 indicators of creative thinking: problem finding fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and collaboration; ideational fluency, flexibility, and collaboration; and evaluation fluency, elaboration, and collaboration. The MCEC also makes use of the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) to evaluate the creativity of musical performances. Experimental and control group scores on all 10 indicators of creative thinking and on the CAT were compared to determine the extent to which the autonomous chamber music project increased creativity. No significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups for any of the 10 indicators of creative thinking, indicating that the autonomous chamber music project had no noticeable effect on participants’ creative process. This finding prompted the investigation of potential boundary conditions which may have inhibited participants’ creative abilities. No substantive relationships were found between creativity and either technical proficiency or enjoyment that suggested either limited participants’ ability to be creative. Additionally, the CAT dimensions (creativity, technical correctness, and aesthetic appeal) failed to achieve discriminant validity, making it impossible to draw meaningful conclusions on the effect of the autonomous chamber music project on participants’ creative production. The failure of the autonomous chamber music project to enhance participants’ creativity is likely a function of a number of potentially confounding variables. Task enjoyment, absolute learning, procedural knowledge, and technical proficiency each have the potential to have inhibited participants’ creativity. Though no concrete evidence explicitly implicates any of those variables in the observed lack of creative growth, the results suggest that each might have acted, in some fashion, to inhibit creativity. Each should be thoroughly investigated to provide further information regarding the relationship between autonomous music making and creativity. / Music Education

The problem with which this study was concerned was that of measuring and examining the level of job satisfaction among Texas high school band directors. The specific methodology included a quantitative comparison through confirmatory factor analysis of the factor structures of the sample of 109 Texas high school band directors and the norming population of 1460 industrial workers. There were two purposes for conducting the study. First, the relationships between an assortment of demographic variables and measured job satisfaction were examined. The second purpose was to measure the degree of fit of the Frederick Herzberg Dual-Factor Theory to the factor structure of the sample. Correlation, t ratio, and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare the demographic variables with measured job satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis through LISREL was used to examine and compare factor structures. Job satisfaction was measured with the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire which was developed and tested through the Work Adjustment Project, Industrial Relations Center at the University of Minnesota. The twenty-item short-form retained the general reliability and validity measures of the 100-item long form. The Demographic Data Sheet is a researcher-constructed document used to gather data for use in classifying respondents by educational background, school classification, and out-of-Texas teaching experience. Respondents were also asked to indicate chronological age and number of years creditable teaching experience. Only when classified by educational background and school classification were respondents found to have significant differences in satisfaction scores. Those band directors who hold degrees in fields other than music have significantly lower satisfaction scores than those who have only music degrees. Directors from larger UIL classification schools have higher measured levels of job satisfaction than do those in smaller Texas schools. While there are strong similarities between the factor structures of the sample group and the norming population, the sample contained three distinct factors. The third factor, not identified in the norming population structure, was defined by the constructs of Social Status, Social Service, Authority, Ability Utilization, and Achievement. It was concluded that the Herzberg Dual-Factor Theory does not completely explain vocational adjustment among Texas high school band directors.

The purpose of this thesis is to acquaint future band and orchestra directors with a successful, thoroughly "tried and tested" plan of building an instrumental program within the music department. This thesis presents the technique of instrumentating the senior high school band by planning an instrumental program from the first grade to the time the band student reaches the senior high school level.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to investigate conflicts in the perceptions of band directors, band parents, band students, and selected school personnel regarding the role and scope of their respective band programs. The problems were to examine the relationships among these four groups in terms of selective perception, perceptual constancy, and polarization. Questionnaires were developed in order to survey the senior public high schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition to demographic data, the questionnaires included perceptions about public performances, marching, concert, and jazz bands; contests and festivals; and other band related activities which might be desirable in a band program. The questionnaires concluded with opportunities for open-ended comments and suggestions about the survey instrument and the band program. Statistical computations included one-way analysis of variance, chi-square test, frequency counts, and cross-tabulations. Qualitative analyses and reports of interviews helped to clarify and interpret all statistical findings.

No description available.

No description available.

The reasons given by thirty-three junior high school band directors for success and failure at the University Interscholastic League Concert/Sightreading Contest were studied using the methodology of Attribution Theory. All of the subjects attended the same contest and were members of a region which included urban and suburban schools. The subjects responded to a questionnaire which evaluated their attitudes towards the contest, allowed them to make judgments about other directors in hypothetical contest situations, and finally asked them to list the five most important reasons for their success or failure at the contest in an open-response format.

Syftet med denna studie är att genom kvalitativa intervjuer ta reda på hur fem musiklärare i grundskolan beskriver sin roll och erfarenhet av att leda och genomföra elevers sceniska framställningar. Resultatet visar att förutsättningarna mellan skolor varierar i hög utsträckning. För tre av fem lärare utgjorde det nyligen borttagna ämnet elevens val stommen för arbete med showverksamheten. Skolledarens inställning och sätt att prioritera pekas ut som avgörande för att skapa nödvändiga förutsättningar. Lärarna ser skillnader från den ordinarie undervisningen i ökat elevinflytande över processen och innehållet och således den handledande roll de själva tar. Samtliga lärare hittar stöd i styrdokumenten för att berättiga verksamheten och lyfter flera aspekter av nytta den har för eleverna sett till det akademiska, sociala, personliga och yrkeslivsförberedande. / The purpose of this study is to find out through interviews how five Swedish compulsory school music teachers describe their role and experience of managing and working with stage performances. Results show that conditions vary greatly between schools. Three out of five teachers were heavily dependent on pupil’s choice – a recently removed selective subject that enabled pupils to deepen and broaden their knowledge in one or more subjects – for organizing and managing such activities. School administrators’ attitude and ways of prioritizing are pointed out as crucial for creating the necessary conditions. Teachers observe higher levels of student democracy regarding the process and the content and thus also notice a change in their own role toward tutors rather than teachers. All teachers find support in the curriculum in order to justify these activities and mention several aspects of value they have for their pupils, such as academical, social, personal, as well as preparatory for their future careers.