This article explores the work of conductors to develop an understanding of verbal feedback in the context of professional-level big band orchestras. A big band conductor must have strong musical and social skills to guide a big band to the performance level. This qualitative study is based on Vygotsky's theory of learning as a social process. The…

Wind band has a deep and long-lasting connection to folk-song sources. Societal expectations around music choices and sources are changing, including calls to diversify repertoire and eliminate traditional songs that include offensive language and stereotypes. Concerns about music usage in relation to cultural appropriation are also being…

Starting a career in music education is difficult; there are many challenges that first-year band directors face. These challenges can include praxis shock, isolation, stress, and high workloads. First-year band directors may need mentoring support as they transition into the profession. There are different types of mentor programs that a school…

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between high school concert band directors' self-efficacy for classroom management, efficacious sources, and classroom management behaviors. Participants (N = 271) completed the Band Director Self-Efficacy for Classroom Management scale and responded to items about their demographic and school…

The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate engagement in the collegiate concert band setting. Research questions were: (1) How do collegiate band students describe their engagement in large ensemble rehearsals? (2) How do collegiate band directors describe engagement in large ensemble rehearsals? and (3) What does rehearsal…

The purpose of this study was to examine democratic practice in a large ensemble setting. A large (N = 63) auditioned concert band served as the case study for the present investigation. A series of self-guided rehearsals provided the opportunity for the ensemble members to engage in democratic musical governance without a conductor. Mixed-method…

The purpose of this study was to investigate participant involvement in community wind bands through the lens of organizational theory to inform the music education profession about community wind bands as an "expressive" voluntary association with potential for lifelong participation. Twenty-eight informants were drawn from three…

This descriptive study examined professional conductors' use of rehearsal time in sequential pattern components, discussing task presentation targets, and using verbal imagery and modeling techniques. Commercially available videos of 15 professional conductors rehearsing prominent orchestras were scripted, coded, and timed for selected teaching…

Latest studies point out the importance of emotional competencies in young people's education. Music is closely linked to people's personal development and the evidence suggests that there are differences in young people who participate in group music-making activities and young people who do not. In the present study we analysed the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate undergraduate instrumental music education majors' score study practices as they related to the effectiveness of their simulated conducting. Participants (N = 30) were video recorded in two sessions in which they completed a 20-min score study session and a simulated conducting performance. In the first…

When music education is formalized within schools and non-governmental organizations, it often becomes aligned with justice-oriented aims of providing universal access to music education. This qualitative case study examines the formation of a marching band within a Haitian school in northeastern Haiti. Data sources collected and analyzed included…

This paper examines what goes on in an improvising jazz combo in a secondary school in Scotland, where teaching follows Rogoff's three-stage sociocultural process, moving from an initial apprenticeship model through one of guided participation to one of participatory appropriation. Using a case study research design and interpretative…

Research on pre-service music teacher occupational identity often highlights two competing identities: performer and teacher (L'Roy, 1983; Roberts, 1991; Pellegrino, 2009). Of the many factors that contribute to the occupational identity of the pre-service music teacher (Woodford, 2002), conducting has the potential to integrate performer and…

This study was designed to examine whether the presence of excellent or poor ensemble performances would influence the ratings assigned by ensemble members to conductors who demonstrated highly expressive conducting. Two conductors were videotaped conducting one of two excerpts from an arrangement of Frank Ticheli's "Loch Lomond." These videos…

This study examined the effects of the conductor's goal orientation (mastery vs. performance) and use of shared performance cues (basic vs. interpretive vs. expressive) on instrumentalists' self-efficacy, collective efficacy, attributions, and performance. Eighty-one college instrumentalists from two musical ensembles participated in the study. It…