Music performance is an intensive sensorimotor task that involves the generation of mental representations of musical information that are actively accessed, maintained, and manipulated according to the demands of the performance. Internal representations and external information interact through feedback and feedforward processes that adjust the…

To assess allocation of attention by music teachers with different levels of experience and expertise, we recruited five participant flautists: an artist teacher, two graduate students, and two undergraduates, all of whom observed nine brief video recordings of flute, clarinet, and saxophone players; a juggler; a baseball batter; and a ballerina.…

The purpose of this study was to develop a measure to investigate studio teacher's observational skill as a function of the observer's ability to identify effective pedagogical practices. A secondary purpose was to see if observational skill varied as a function of scores on a measure of empathy. Participants (N = 60) were saxophonists who…

This paper reports on an exploratory research-and-development project concerning a device for conveying a conductor's gestures wirelessly to a visually impaired (blind or partially sighted) performer as a haptic signal. The research team developed this device from January to July 2017 under a University College London (UCL) Institute of Education…

Musical performances provide a rich context for studying complex spatial and embodied modes of group learning. This article proposes a framework for analyzing gesture in musical performances to highlight the ways musicians' movements reflect and promote their emerging and changing conceptions of a piece of music. The constructs of "expressive…

This ethnographic study examines the development of agency in students with special needs during an experiment of classroom music teaching in a special school. The experiment took place from August 2015 to March 2016 and was based on Emile Jaques-Dalcroze's ideas of music and movement as a means of developing competencies, skills and understanding…

We examined collective efficacy beliefs, including levels of within-group agreement and correlation with performance quality, of instrumental chamber ensembles (70 musicians, representing 18 ensembles). Participants were drawn from collegiate programs and intensive summer music festivals located in the northwestern and western regions of the…

The purpose of this study was to examine participants' (college band and choral musicians, N = 143) perceptions of conductor clarity and expressivity after viewing band and choral directors conducting with or without a baton. One band and one choral conductor each prepared and conducted two excerpts of Guy Forbes's "O Nata Lux", a piece…

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…

Perceptual Learning Style theory (PLS) claims that the presentation of information in either a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic format will improve the learning of selected individuals due to the dominance of one or more modality in their information gathering. The modality dominance of six Western classical pianists in higher music education was…

The purpose of this case study was to describe how one band director used pedagogical content knowledge while working with beginning-band students to help them develop the skill of playing brass lip slurs. Data were generated from (1) video recordings of each class over two different weeks during the school year, (2) "think aloud"…

The music industry is built on a system of expert evaluation focused on sound, but the foundations are challenged by recent research, which suggests that sight trumps sound. This presents a challenge to music educators, who train the next generation of expert performers and listeners. The aim of this study is to investigate students' perceptions…

This study aimed to gain an in-depth perspective through examining how the conducting pedagogy of three selected exemplary high school and college instrumental music conductors function within the context of an actual rehearsal. A typical rehearsal was video recorded, followed by a "think-aloud" session in which the conductor viewed the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate intermediate musicians' self-regulated practice behaviors. Thirty sixth- through eighth-grade students were observed practicing band repertoire individually for 20 min. Practice sessions were coded according to practice frame frequency and duration, length of musical passage selected, most prominent…

The purpose of this study is to describe the decision-making processes of novice band students while engaged in individual practice. Five seventh- through ninth-grade students were videotaped while practicing and subsequently interviewed using retrospective verbal protocol. Students were asked to discuss the goals they had while practicing, their…