Two dissertation recitals and a piano pedagogy workshop were given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctoral of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Michigan. The first dissertation lecture recital, "Afro-Cuban and Brazilian Dances," was presented in McIntosh Theatre on…

Few university students in Italy today possess the necessary skills to read a musical score. Consequently, alternative strategies are needed in order to visualize -- and hence to memorise -- music. This is the main reason underpinning the pilot laboratory of musical architecture, which was launched in 2019 as university workshop thanks to the…

A model for incorporating diverse musical content into the core conservatory aural skills curriculum is presented. We position the contemporary conservatory as a solid institution providing Western musicians with a sense of stability and heritage in an age of anxiety (Bauman's 'liquid modernity'). Despite these benefits, we argue that the…

This article explores how music and lyrics serve as modes of storytelling in the language classroom, integrating a multimodal approach and the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. In the 'Sing My Story' project, language students creatively write their own lyrics, which are subsequently performed by either student musicians or target…

Feedback plays an essential role in music education, helping individuals learn to consider creative works from multiple perspectives. In this article, we explore the Critical Response Process, a four-step process for engaging with artistic works in progress. Founded on the principle that both artists and responders play active roles in feedback,…

The authors examined how middle and high school students participating in a literacy-and-songwriting initiative in Detroit, Michigan, experienced moments of possibility that supported the youth in envisioning themselves as college bound. The authors explain how they drew from culturally relevant and sustaining educational approaches to design…

A composer and project leader tracks the connections between the needs of incarcerated students and a successful music-making studio program design. Central to the work, and applicable to any art form or educational setting, is the informed predicting of students' potentials and the communities transformation of the meeting place--in this case, a…

We examined pedagogical strategies for facilitating and developing songwriting skills with 17 males incarcerated at a U.S. medium security prison. We also investigated the participants' sense of self-worth, purpose, and social adjustment related to their participation in the songwriters' workshops. The songwriting sessions spanned over two…

In recent decades, the teaching and learning of composition has become an important topic for research in music education. Composition is established as one of the three main areas in the Norwegian curriculum "Laereplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet" (LK06, 2006), and the importance of creative competencies is being increasingly recognized…