Discusses research literature dealing with measurement of solo instrumental music performance. Compares the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale with facet-factorial and other rating scales. Covers acoustic analysis and evaluation of tone, loudness, and pitch. Includes discussion of computer-assisted acoustic analysis and instrumental evaluation.…

Presents an interview with Rebecca Bower, principal trombonist with the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Symphony Orchestra. Reviews her career as a music student and performer and her experiences in battling sex stereotypes. Explains Bower's belief that students' instrument choices should have nothing to do with gender. Stresses her advice to female…

Thanks to an entrepreneurial principal, nearly 75% of a rural New York State school's upper-division students participate in band. To ensure access, the principal bargains with second-hand dealers for instruments (using fees from photo profits) and charges kids a fee of $1 to $15 yearly. Consulting with the music teacher avoids duplication and…

Investigates the effects on home practice of three different types of cassette tapes (a videotape, a modeling audiotape, and a nonmodeling audiotape) on the performance of beginning clarinet students. Finds no significant impact on amount of weekly practice, of practice using tapes, or of parental help based on tape type. (DSK)

Determines the language children use to express their feelings of satisfaction with private music lessons. Offers a list of statements from children about private music lessons to be used to assess those feelings. Discusses the effects of age, gender, and musical instruments on satisfaction for music educators. Includes references. (DAJ)

The purposes of this study were: 1) To assess the effects of practice strategies, metronome, meter, hand, and musical function on piano performance accuracy of undergraduate music majors enrolled in piano class (N=39), and 2) To assess the effects of practice strategies on practice time relative to two unfamiliar pieces of keyboard music.…

In this article, the author argues that researchers and practioners aiming to improve practice in our institutions are called upon to "open up" the field of instrumental teaching. Music educators need to reflect on how particular lesson behaviours or types of teacher-pupil interactions are influenced by the specific institutional,…

In this article, the author discusses the benefits of starting string lessons in middle school. He states that if your district does not have the resources or personnel for an elementary string program, perhaps this article will help you see that other districts have succeeded in starting orchestra programs as late as sixth grade. The author…

Activities in music class allow students, especially students with hearing impairments, to explore new means of expression and to enhance existing ones. Additional benefits may include increases in auditory awareness, cognitive ability, attention span, memory recall, and vocabulary. Students with hearing impairments can learn and flourish in music…

Have you ever thought of using music as a subject for art? When the author discovered that her third graders studied jazz in music class every February, it seemed an opportune time for her to simultaneously focus on music in art, specifically through the work of African-American artist Romare Bearden. To familiarize her third-grade students with…

Community dynamics play a major role in determining the duties of music educators. What music educators do each day can vary greatly depending on their location. A middle school band director's job description in suburban New York is likely to look nothing like that of a music educator in rural Iowa. There is a substantial lack of literature to…

Violins, earthquakes, and the "singing rod" demonstration all have something in common--stick-slip frictional motion. The application of stick-slip friction can be extended to a ringing wineglass, exotic percussion instruments, car racing, and the latest research on the interplay between surfaces at the atomic level. These examples all involve two…

The Pan African Society of Musical Arts Education (PASMAE) initiated the concept of Music Action Research Teams (MAT cells) at the grass-roots level for the collaborative sharing and learning of educators throughout Africa. The current number of 27 cells in Africa is a modest realization of the society's aims. However, it is strongly felt that if…

Within analytical aesthetic circles, Peter Kivy is best known for re-igniting the debate inaugurated by Eduard Hanslick over the issue of whether or not music of the purely instrumental or absolute kind can be said to express a content, and, if so, whether or not listeners' emotional responses to it bear any relation to that content. Kivy's…

In this article the author shares the story of the Whittier Drum Project and how it succeeded. The Whittier Drum Project has brought the community together through the talents of youth and their dedication to drumming, and has used drumming to link professionals to their own communities. The author adapted the model to meet the therapeutic needs…