While music education researchers have examined cooperating teacher and student teacher interactions via classroom observations and interviews, there is little research on extended dialogues between the cooperating teacher and student teacher or various mentoring roles (coach, guide, model, and evaluator) assumed by cooperating teachers. During…

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 study was to investigate the impact of music practice instruction on middle school band students' ability to articulate and incorporate practice strategies. Participants were middle school band students at a large suburban middle school (N = 105). Using a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, participants were divided…

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"…

Mentoring dialogues are the discourse between the mentor, often referred to as the cooperating teacher, and the student teacher that may include feedback and reflection on practice (Hennissen, Crasborn, Brouwer, Korthagen, & Bergen, 2008; Tsui, Lopez-Real, Law, Tang, & Shum, 2001; Zeichner & Liston, 1985). While some researchers have…

In this study, I explored children's development of rhythmic music literacy using a language acquisition paradigm. An emergent, constructivist curriculum was implemented over one academic year with 39 children, 5-8 years old. Children were involved in audiation-based active listening, singing, moving, chanting, and playing instruments and engaged…

The purpose of this study was to document behaviors of applied music teachers and students, as they occurred in online lessons with instructional delivery facilitated through desktop videoconferencing. The author examined the use of desktop videoconferencing in the delivery of applied music instruction to six middle school-aged band students…

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…

The purpose of this study is to describe the decision-making processes of novice band students while engaged in individual practice. Five seventh- through ninth-grade students were videotaped while practicing and subsequently interviewed using retrospective verbal protocol. Students were asked to discuss the goals they had while practicing, their…

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…

The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of anxiety that students experienced according to whether their public performance consisted of a free improvisation or a repertory piece. The researcher had two objectives: (1) examine the relationship of students' levels of anxiety to free improvisation and repertory pieces during a…

This qualitative collective case study examined the practice strategies of two eighth-grade instrumentalists. Participants included two student-parent pairs from the author's school district. Data were obtained through interviews and videotaped practice sessions. Results are presented according to two main themes: practice description versus…

This exploration of online applied music lessons focused on nine trumpet lessons between Jeremy, a college trumpet professor on the East Coast, and Kate, an eighth-grade trumpet player in the Midwest. These lessons followed an entry-level videoconferencing approach using personal computers, Web cams, and Skype videoconferencing software. These…