This essay explores performance-driven aspects of U.S. bands in the contexts of Pierre Hadot's Philosophy as a Way of Life, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Jacques Derrida's Aporias, and the author's experience teaching both elementary general music and beginning band. The author wonders what band education might look like when…

Elementary general music focuses on the comprehensive development of skills over a wide range of musical possibilities. Even as elementary general music expands to embrace a myriad of ways of making music that do not involve traditional Western staff notation, teaching students to read staff notation still seems to be common in elementary general…

Students with disabilities (SWDs) in the United States have a right to the least restrictive learning environment as enshrined in federal law. Until recently, conceptions about educating SWDs have drawn from medical models of disability (i.e., that the student must be accommodated to interact with the environment) rather than a social model of…

The aim of the study is to analyse the teaching methods and materials that are currently used in the basic piano education of children at the age of 4-6 years, using the existing literature, and to develop suggestions and recommendations regarding the process. The study covered various teaching methods and techniques that are used in introduction…

In elementary general music, the need for culturally responsive pedagogies and trauma-informed practices may coexist. Creating an environment and developing instruction in ways that are both culturally responsive and trauma-informed may be possible, because both approaches share common theoretical underpinnings and practices. In this article, we…

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand how learning to play the ukulele influenced the music identity of elementary education majors. Eighteen participants (17 females, 1 male) from two universities created YouTube playlists and recorded solo ukulele performances for their YouTube channel. Music identity perceptions were…

For various reasons, instrumentalist music education majors may find themselves teaching in an elementary general music classroom. Based on research and experience, this article will discuss why the transition from instrumental to elementary general music education may occur as well as offer suggestions to support instrumentalists new to the…

This article deconstructs some of the underlying assumptions that inform projects in Paynter and Aston's 1970 book, "Sound and Silence." Foucauldian and Deleuzian technologies of power and technologies of desire are used to frame an argument that Paynter and Aston's projects play into the fabrication of sonorous bodies and sonic selves…

The challenge schools face when creating a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program is how to incorporate the "E" into the curriculum. The author's school was meeting the National (U. K.) Curriculum Science, Technology and Maths learning objectives, so how could they justify adding another subject into the mix…

Drawn from Britta Techentrup's children's book "Little Wolf's Song", the author shares music activities appropriate for preschool and children in primary grades. Children will enjoy Technentrup's tender family story, while exploring vocal and instrumental timbres, as well as reading, writing, and creating with melodic contour.

German-born composer Ernst Mahle (b. 1929) holds a respected position in the music field in Brazil, his adopted country since 1951. Mahle is the artistic director and co-founder of the "Escola de Musica de Piracicaba," one of the most important musical institutions in Brazil. His work has focused on conducting, composition, and…

Young teachers often struggle with pacing and the ability to cover more than one or two songs and activities in a single 30-minute general music class. Included in this article are lesson activities that show it is not only possible to include many of the National Standards in a single lesson, but also possible to sing, play, and create in every…

The main adaptations that will be made for music students with physical disabilities are those that make the classroom accessible and those that make classroom instruments accessible. There are a number of principles to guide one when selecting instruments for students with physical disabilities. These principles can assist one in determining the…

This report captures the variety of music education research between 2012-2014 and covers a range of topics and events such as the International Society for Music Education (ISME) 2012, Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) 2013 and Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education (ANZARME) 2014.

The current paper retrospectively evaluates the efficacy of implementing a large-scale music education program into a regional cluster of Victorian primary schools. The program's primary aim was to increase access and quality of music education for students in these rural schools. The methods utilized to evaluate the program and the discrepancies…