"Accompanist" is the old term. "Collaborative pianist" is the new one. "Accompanist" implies a mostly subservient role, whereas "collaborative pianist" gestures toward a more equitable relationship between the soloist and pianist, no longer a mere follower. Degree programs that prepare collaborative piano…

Non-major music students are an integral part of university music departments, as they both bolster the department's enrollment numbers and bring diverse perspectives to the ensembles, lessons, and classes in which they participate. Although most non-majors focus their time on ensembles, a few choose to include lessons as part of their experience.…

This qualitative multiple case study was designed to investigate the experiences and the perceptions of three different collegiate brass instrumentalists with physical disabilities. I sought to discern the meaning of inclusion to students with disabilities and the state of current inclusive practices. I also sought to understand their challenges…

This qualitative study explores the changing pedagogies of 11 urban ensemble music educators as they experienced virtual and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following questions guided the study: (1) What challenges did ensemble music teachers face in meeting the current music education standards for students in urban districts…

The goal of this dissertation project is to use embodied learning--an emerging approach to supporting student engagement--as a focal point to demonstrate how a multidimensional engagement framework can help us understand, evaluate, and design for new ways of learning. The project is situated in the context of third-grade students learning about…

The purpose of this document is to investigate how trumpet students at the University of North Texas experience music performance anxiety and to find out how professors prepare students for controlling music performance anxiety experiences. The interviewees were ten undergraduates and ten graduate students, as well as three trumpet professors who…

Despite music education being endorsed by researchers as an effective tool to improve the social-emotional competence of students who live in poverty, African American students, who are overrepresented among the population of students who live in poverty, often fail to take advantage of music education programs (Elpus & Abril, 2011; Hoffman…

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the impact that small ensemble free improvisation experiences had on dispositional empathy development when compared with other forms of collective music making; and (2) to examine the relationship between co-performing musicians' empathy levels and their performance achievement in small ensembles using…

This dissertation consists of three projects that were designed to investigate collegiate instrumentalists' practice habits and motivation orientations. The first investigation was a review of the literature about instrumental practice strategies, motivation orientations, and social factors influencing music practice. The second investigation was…

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes and perceptions of undergraduate non-keyboard music majors toward functional keyboard harmony in the group piano curriculum at the University of South Carolina School of Music. Sixty-five (65) undergraduate music majors who were enrolled in music degrees in the spring 2018 semester at the…

Video conferencing applications, such as Skype, have long been used in classroom settings. Although musicians have been conducting online lessons for years, and institutions such as the Berklee School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music offer online music classes, scholarly research concerning online video conferencing music lessons is…

Mobile devices are transcending educational and professional environments at an ever-increasing rate by redefining our understanding of how, when and where we learn. The purpose of the study was to inform researchers of the attitudes and opinions related to the participant experience in a Mobile Device-Based Learning Environment (MDBLE) and to…

As the music education profession continues to adapt to the needs of an increasingly pluralistic society, scholars and practitioners have begun to concern themselves with issues of social justice (e.g., equity, diversity, inclusion, or access). For band directors, one way to address such topics is through the purposeful programming of music by…

The threats of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 resulted in schools moving to online learning and impacted programs with cocurricular activities, especially band programs. Student retention, low enrollment, loss of interest, and lower motivation became liabilities for band programs during the pandemic. Therefore, having an engaging online…

As we work and study in our increasingly globalized society, there is a growing trend of Chinese piano students choosing to pursue their higher education in the United States. Elite music institutions in America are also seeking and recruiting a large number of Chinese pianists. This trend raises questions regarding the similarities and…