An important resource in many areas of music is the availability of standardized graded databases of literature for solo instruments. These databases provide a progression of technical abilities that help musicians follow a proper path in developing new skills. Currently in the area of percussion, there are no graded databases for solo vibraphone literature. While there are several sources that contain subjective graded music lists, none of these sources have a standardized approach in defining each of their difficulty levels, and this creates contradicting information for particular pieces. The goal of this research is to present the first standardized and systematic approach to grading the difficulty levels of vibraphone literature. Influenced by pianist Jane Magrath's reference guide of piano teaching literature and percussionist Julia Gaines' research project on marimba repertoire, this research is modeled on Gaines' objective analysis document used to grade marimba literature with ten different levels of difficulty. With the exception of dampening and pedaling, all of the technical aspects required for playing the vibraphone remain the same as the marimba. Because musical considerations are subjective in nature, only the quantifiable technical considerations are used for grading each work in an objective manner. The technical difficulty of original unaccompanied four-mallet solo vibraphone literature is assessed through the analysis of stroke speed, interval size, wrist turns, manual changes, independence, dampening, and pedaling. Each piece's grade will be classified based on the highest level of technical difficulty found in the music. The selection of vibraphone literature for this research comes from pieces found on prescribed state music lists and university handbook recommendation lists. Annotations are included to describe the pieces that are particularly mislabeled, and a discussion regarding the performance challenges that each piece presents are offered. Three annotations from each of the ten difficulty levels contain a justification based on the results recorded in the analysis document. With an extensive graded database containing over one hundred seventy vibraphone pieces listed in the appendix, this resource will assist percussion students and educators in selecting appropriate vibraphone literature to study and perform within a proper progression from one work to another.

Over the last five years, there has been an increased number of computers in schools and teachers' colleges in Jamaica. In addition, recently revised national policy documents have indicated the need to infuse technology into the curricula of all schools. Despite these investments in computers, however, there has been little corresponding development in training teachers to use computers and emerging technologies as teaching learning tools. The purposes of the study were three-fold: (a) to describe the current state of technology integration in Jamaica's teacher training programs (b) assess the extent to which teachers' college faculty and pre-service teachers perceived themselves as prepared to teach with computers, as well as their perceived computer proficiency; and (c) to use data gathered in the study to inform an action plan for integrating technology into Jamaica's teacher training programs. To gather required data, a survey design was employed because the study required collection of data from a large number of persons located in diverse sections of the island. Data were collected from three distinct groups of participants in three teachers' colleges in Jamaica. These included six teachers' college administrators--two principals and four vice-principals, 121 teachers' college faculty, and 268 final-year pre-service teachers. Data were gathered through interviews with college administrators and IT faculty, questionnaires administered to college faculty and pre-service teachers, and focus group discussions with pre-service teachers. The results indicate that, in general, teacher training programs in Jamaica have not systematically incorporated technology in the college curricula. In addition, to a large extent, teachers' college faculty and pre-service teachers did not perceive themselves as prepared to teach with computers. These respondents also reported low levels of proficiency with various computer tools. In response to the urgent need to integrate technology into Jamaica's teachers' college curricula, the author proposes a new VIBES conceptual framework as an action plan specifically designed to facilitate technology integration into this setting. VIBES is comprised of five components: Vision, Infrastructure, Behaviour, Experience, and Support, hence the acronym. Each component of VIBES is required in teacher training programs if technology is to be systematically incorporated into the college curricula.

We have seen a connection between the ritual dances us humans have been engaging in for a huge part of our evolution and the rave-culture of today. How they both use music and the moving body as a vehicle to access states of being beyond the everyday life. By diving head first in the world of dance and trance we have discovered even more similarities that we today share with the humans 10.000 years ago than we ever could have imagined. We have with the help of interviews and our personal experience tried to capture what the trance means for the human today, and with our research we want to illustrate the similarities and differences between in digital world we live in today compared to the world we have lived in for thousands of years before the digital technology’s advance. This text has been our vehicle to analyse and discuss the things we still hold on to as humans even though the world around us has changed. / Vi har sett ett samband mellan de rituella danserna som människan har ägnat sig åt under en stor del av vår utveckling och dagens rådande rave-kultur. Hur de båda forumen använder musik och kroppen i rörelse som ett fordon för att ta sig till andra sinnesstadier bortom det vardagliga varandet. Genom att djupdyka ner i dansens och transens värld har vi stött på ännu större likheter vi idag delar med människan för 10.000 år sedan än vad vi någonsin hade kunnat ana. Vi har med hjälp utav intervjuer och egna upplevelser försökt att skapa oss en bild om vad transen har för roll hos människan än idag, och vill med denna undersökning belysa de likheter och skillnader i den digitala världen vi lever i idag gentemot den värld människan levt i under tusentals år innan den digitala teknologins frammarsch. Denna text har varit vårt fordon för att undersöka samt diskutera de som vi har hållit oss kvar vid som människor även fast omvärlden har förändrats.