Although the effects of focus of attention (FOA) on the performance of gross motor skills are now well understood, less is known about the role of FOA in naturalistic classroom settings where learners are engaged in the ongoing acquisition and refinement of complex motor skills. The purpose of this study, the first of its kind, was to explore how…

The purpose of this case study was to describe how one band director used pedagogical content knowledge while working with beginning-band students to help them develop the skill of playing brass lip slurs. Data were generated from (1) video recordings of each class over two different weeks during the school year, (2) "think aloud"…

The purpose of this study was to investigate intermediate musicians' self-regulated practice behaviors. Thirty sixth- through eighth-grade students were observed practicing band repertoire individually for 20 min. Practice sessions were coded according to practice frame frequency and duration, length of musical passage selected, most prominent…

Pedagogical content knowledge, the particular ways that teachers understand their subjects in order to instruct others, has been described and explored in the math and science education fields in some depth, yet little research exists illustrating this concept in music instruction. I used a descriptive approach to explore expert beginning band…