In this study, the American pianist and composer Jeff Manookian's "Etudes for the Intermediate Pianist" method was examined. In this qualitative study, the descriptive research model was employed and the literature was scanned through document review. As a result of the examination, no study was found on Manookian's piano etudes. To that…

This study investigated the effects of a practice checklist on performance achievement, practice time, focal practice areas--the key musical elements students focused on during practice--and practice strategies among non-music major South Korean college students learning the "Danso," a traditional Korean wind instrument. Ninety-six…

Historically, the piano gained significance over the years with the performance techniques that composers put forward in their works. In parallel with this developmental journey, the improvement of the art of interpretation led to the emergence of new playing techniques throughout periodical changes. The romantic era can be presented as an example…

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among high school band festival ratings and director gender as well as school locale, school size, student socioeconomic status (SES), student race, repertoire difficulty, and ensemble name. Data included overall ratings of bands (N = 257) that performed at District Concert Assessments held…

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of ensemble size and repertoire difficulty on listeners' perceptions of concert band performances. Undergraduate music majors (N = 210) viewed an audiovisual stimulus consisting of various images of large and small concert bands paired with identical audio performances of either an easy or difficult…

The purpose of the current study was to describe adult band musicians' perceptions of task difficulty, use of practice techniques, and confidence to learn using the one-minute paper in an adult concert band setting.

This study, generated from considerations of embodied cognition, observational learning, and cognitive load theory, investigated the effect of mimicking gestures on learning to play piano tasks. Fifty university students from an Australian University, with two different levels of piano-playing experience, were randomly assigned to one of the two…

The questions of which strategies are determined and/or used for cello performance in Turkish Music, in which circumstances and how the determined strategies are used can only be answered through a qualitative research. Therefore, this study is structured as a qualitative study. The study has primarily revealed the strategies used by students; the…

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of octave and timbre on advanced college musicians' (N = 63) ability to tune their instruments. We asked: "Are there differences in tuning accuracy due to octave (B-flat 2, B-flat 4) and stimulus timbre (oboe, clarinet, electronic tuner, tuba)?" and "To what extent do participants'…

The purpose of this study was to describe the development of a valid and reliable rubric to assess secondary-level solo instrumental music performance based on principles of invariant measurement. The research questions that guided this study included (1) What is the psychometric quality (i.e., validity, reliability, and precision) of a scale…

Little is currently known about the possible benefits of using networked technology to enhance ensemble performance. This study explored whether the introduction of specially devised technology -- networked tablets using traditional music notation -- to a primary school orchestra would enhance the experience of ensemble music. Particular emphasis…

Rates of music participation are low in developed nations. This may be attributed in part to the failure of school music to engage children sufficiently to motivate them to continue learning and participating in music. We tested the "Harmonix" program of classroom music education, which is currently being designed to maximize engagement…

This paper contains research on the relationship between factors that explain the pupils' perception of music and musical education and their motivation rates to study the subject of music based on motivational explanatory models of cognitive orientation. One hundred and sixteen, sixth-year primary education students belonging to four schools in…

This study extends an eight-country mapping exercise (McPherson & O'Neill, 2010; see "Research Studies in Music Education" issues 2010-2011) to include students' motivation to study music within the Australian context. It sought to determine whether music learners (students learning an instrument or voice), might be more motivated to…

This study was designed to determine a pitch skill hierarchy for string sight-reading, to determine the effects of key on string sight-reading achievement, and to determine the validity of a tonal pattern system as a measurement of melodic sight-reading skill for string players. High school string students (n = 94) obtained a mean score of 27.28…