Interactive learning environments have become important components for teaching pianists, which determines the relevance of the research topic. The study was conducted in Faculty of Piano of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, and 87 first-year undergraduates participated in it. A positive effect of interactive teaching aids on professional skills…

This paper investigates the impact of Dalcroze Eurhythmics on fostering creativity and autonomy in classical instrumental pedagogy. The research took the form of an arts practice investigation which included devising, rehearsing, performing and documenting two performance events, drawing on Dalcroze Eurhythmics techniques rather than conventional…

The Alexander Technique is a method that emerged as a result of Actor Frederick Matthias Alexander's work on himself to solve the problems he had with his voice during his performance. This technique, which was effective for himself, rapidly became widespread because it was tried by different people over time and positive results were obtained.…

This article was inspired by a speaker at a music education conference who complained that performances get in the way of real learning. This complaint prompted me to ask what musicians understand performance to be and why performance is not considered part of the curriculum or 'real' work of a musician. I suggest a model of performance education…

Music performance requires high levels of motor control. Professional musicians use body movements not only to accomplish and help technical efficiency, but to shape expressive interpretation. Here, we recorded motion and audio data of twenty participants performing four musical fragments varying in the degree of technical difficulty to analyze…

This study investigates the careers of 28 classical pianists in Australia to develop greater understanding of skills needed to build professional music careers and to highlight implications for higher music education training. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed for emerging themes using Subotnik and Jarvin's scholarly productivity or…

Expressiveness is an important aspect of an excellent music performance as it adds quality and interest to the playing and listening experience. Although several studies have investigated tertiary students' learning of expressiveness, little is known about effective approaches for teaching children to perform expressively. In the present project,…

The American Brass Band Movement (1835-1892) is an important period within music history that is disproportionally and inadequately taught in collegiate music history classrooms. By learning about America's band history and by performing in these ensembles, future music educators will be able to have a more well-rounded understanding of the…

Adjudicated events, including music festivals, contests, and competitions, are performance opportunities for American instrumental music programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits and challenges of participating in large-group instrumental adjudicated events in three Kansas high school programs. Data analysis followed…

Much like an effective speaker, a flexible musician is competent across multiple settings. The sociolinguistic theory of code-switching can be a useful tool to better understand how musicians acquire a set of skills and knowledge to support music-making in a range of activities in and outside of school and throughout society. In this article,…

The purpose of this collective case study was to examine how four elementary music teachers (from different U.S. regions) integrated modern band into their curricula. Data included semi-structured interviews, videos, emails, and a researcher journal. Teachers integrated modern band to improve student "buy-in" and to gain instruments. All…

The purpose of this study was to examine participating orchestras and performed repertoire at the American String Teachers Association's (ASTA) National Orchestra Festival from 2004 through 2020. Participating orchestras (N = 309) primarily consisted of string orchestras and high school-level orchestras with a majority originating from the…

This paper moves beyond a therapeutic perspective in the study of musical performance anxiety (MPA) coping and adopts a social support analytical approach. It explores the collaborative nature of university music students' MPA coping throughout instrumental/vocal learning and performance preparation. Semi-structured interviews and thematic…

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of ensemble size and repertoire difficulty on listeners' perceptions of concert band performances. Undergraduate music majors (N = 210) viewed an audiovisual stimulus consisting of various images of large and small concert bands paired with identical audio performances of either an easy or difficult…

Applied music faculty are expected to have the skills necessary to oversee the development of young musicians upon employment. New professors, however, likely spent the majority of their musical life on the receiving end of the teaching dynamic and may find it difficult to adjust to their new position as purveyors of information. This document…