There appear to be considerable differences in the outcomes of group string teaching programs in Queensland. Some teachers appear to be able to generate, manage, and administrate highly efficacious programs; others seem to experience difficulty transferring the knowledge and skills required for students to become successful string players. As a…

Applied violin instructors at the postsecondary level often implement remedial pedagogy with incoming first-year students in order to address technical/musical habits or deficiencies. As students strive to alter their technique, resistance to change and low self-efficacy often result. Using a descriptive qualitative multiple case study research…

In recent decades, the teaching and learning of composition has become an important topic for research in music education. Composition is established as one of the three main areas in the Norwegian curriculum "Laereplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet" (LK06, 2006), and the importance of creative competencies is being increasingly recognized…

The importance of music teachers reflecting on their teaching practise has been discussed for a long time [(Gaunt 2008. "One-to-one Tuition in a Conservatoire: The Perceptions of Instrumental and Vocal Teachers." "Psychology of Music" 36 (2): 215-245; Schön 1987. "Educating the Reflective Practitioner." San…

Although the mixing of quantitative and qualitative data is an essential component of mixed methods research, the process of integrating both types of data in meaningful ways can be challenging. The purpose of this article is to describe the use of data labels in mixed methods research as a technique for the integration of qualitative and…

This purpose of this study was to uncover the nature and value associated with involvement in "Modern Band" (rock band), the primary, not supplemental, means to music education in one US school. The values that emerged--music, community, identity, teacher, and classroom management--overlap considerably with the benefits and values…

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…

Few entering music education students plan to teach in an elementary general music (EGM) setting, and the majority of those who teach EGM are female and have vocalist backgrounds. The purpose of this collective case study was to examine six male instrumentalists' decisions to pursue a career in EGM teaching rather than secondary instrumental…

The purpose of this study was to explore the career development process of three experienced string instrument teachers and how they understood their career development. The following questions guided this interpretative phenomenological case study: (a) How do the string teachers in this study learn to teach? (b) What sort of phases are involved…

While there is an established body of literature on teacher stress and on the factors that may make music teaching uniquely stressful, there has been little or no research on how the recent era of accountability influences music teacher stress. In this article, I review the literature on music teacher stress and on how accountability reforms may…

In South Africa, possibilities to utilise music to contribute to the holistic development of preschool learners are under continuous investigation. However, music education in the Grade R classroom is limited due to insufficient time in the daily programme and a lack of sufficient musical training amongst generalist educators. The urgent need to…

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a composition competition influenced four K-12 students' self-concepts as musicians. Research questions explored motivations for these four students to enter into a composition competition, influences of the competition on students' self-concepts as musicians (if at all), and effects…

Many students learn to play the piano but some lack the motivation to continue learning. Many students learn for extrinsic reasons. This research will explore understandings about student motivation held by expert piano teachers who have developed strategies to improve their students' intrinsic motivation to begin and continue learning. This small…

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…

The guitar has a high value in cultural capital and we are immersed in a culture in which the guitar is the predominant vehicle of music-making. Given the guitar's mass popularity, it follows that the guitar-learning community is vast and diverse. Subscribing to the social model of disability, I problematise the guitar as being disabled and…