This article presents a three-pronged strategy for teaching collective improvisation in the general music classroom through structured surround soundscapes. This strategy consists of developing socio-interactive skills, shared understanding, and personal music vocabulary in collective improvisation. In the music classroom, these concepts should be…

School-university partnerships continue to be of growing interest across the United States, especially in music education. This article examines a specific case of how engagement theory was used as a framework for establishing a musical collaboration in a current school-university partnership. As a result of this collaboration, the school, the…

Music programs can provide children with positive experiences with senior citizens. Described is a program in which fifth graders sang in a chorus with senior citizens at the latters' monthly luncheon meeting. (RM)

Discusses a variety of ways in which the small ensemble may be developed into a highly successful organization within the school. Highlights the importance of student input into performances and advocates the planning of concerts in conjunction with professional performers. Describes several of the author's experiences with small ensembles. (GEA)

What a sampling of different schools are doing to celebrate Music in Our Schools Week 1984 is described. (RM)

Classroom scrip emblazoned with a picture of Johann Sebastian Bach is used to motivate junior high school students. Students are paid for cooperation and performance. Two auctions are held during the school year, at which students can spend the scrip on musical items. (CS)

In Anchorage, Alaska, resource teachers in the Classroom Music Program trained 450 elementary teachers to handle music in their own classrooms by means of packet-type lesson formats, a Music Jamboree cycle, and an assembly that reinforces previous teaching. (AM)

The Music Performance Trust Funds (MPTF) is a national agency that sponsors live musical performances in schools, hospitals, clinics, senior citizen centers, penal institutions, and the like. In this interview a trustee for MPTF talks about the group's history and its commitment to quality performances in the schools. (RM)

Describes college programs in music business studies which prepare students for music-related jobs. These include careers in the recording industry, music merchandising, talent booking and artist management, broadcasting, audience research, and concert promotion. (AM)

Students referred to special education programs for reasons of mental retardation, physical impairment, or emotional maladjustment can learn to play musical instruments with sufficient facility to form musical ensembles that can significantly enhance personal satisfaction. The Great Expectations Bank from Great Falls, Montana, illustrates and…

A very successful artist-in-education program in which jazz musicians introduced elementary students in Augusta (Georgia) to jazz music is described. Students were involved in many activities, including instrumental improvisation, singing, reading staff notation, choreography, and composing jazz. (RM)

The San Francisco Opera Guild sponsors the Operatunities Program which introduces elementary and secondary students in California to opera. For example, each year the Scholar Opera visits 130 schools from San Francisco to San Jose, exposing approximately 50,000 youngsters to the music and drama of opera. (RM)

The Piedmont Opera Company embarked on opera productions in two junior high schools, involving professional performers with students and faculty. School members sang in the chorus, danced, and acted in walk-on roles. Many departments besides music took part in the varied aspects of the production. (CS)

This general overview on the gifted discusses student identification, teaching methods, and model programs for the musically gifted. (SJL)

In 1959 the Ford Foundation made its first grant to support young composers teaching in high schools. Despite setbacks, this resulted in advances in thinking and attitudes in the music education world. Since then, the Music Educators National Conference has taken an active role in the expansion of this project. (CS)