The purpose of this narrative action research study was to tell Marcus's story as an ensemble director learning how to teach composition in his middle school orchestra program. Marcus collaborated with Sam, a university professor, and designed a study to examine his teaching in his 49-member advanced orchestra class. As time passed, the focus of…

This study examined secondary band directors' practices and attitudes about accommodating students with cognitive or behavioral exceptionalities in middle and high school band programs. The research questions were: 1. What are band directors' practices for including students with cognitive or behavioral exceptionalities in a middle or high school…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of tonic drone accompaniment on the intonation of violinists and violists. Twenty-eight middle and high school students performed an ascending diatonic line and a descending dominant 7th arpeggio on the violin or viola in three trials: pretest, posttest accompanied with drone, and posttest…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of music practice instruction on middle school band students' ability to articulate and incorporate practice strategies. Participants were middle school band students at a large suburban middle school (N = 105). Using a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, participants were divided…

Over the past several decades, music education scholars have put forth a variety of convincing rationales for world music education. Yet the gap between theory and practice in this area persists. In theoretical ways, practicing music educators acknowledge the value of world music learning experiences, but many remain reluctant to fully embrace and…

Many music educators feel unprepared or are unsure of how to use popular music in their classrooms. This article details the author's experience designing, implementing, and revising a student-centered guitar curriculum in an urban middle school. Reflecting on this experience, the author defends the place of popular music and informal pedagogy in…

This study was an investigation of middle and high school students' preferences for various music learning conditions and secondary music course offerings. The stratified random sample included students who were and were not enrolled in school music classes (N = 827). Participants represented secondary school music students (n = 369), students who…

In this study, I explored children's development of rhythmic music literacy using a language acquisition paradigm. An emergent, constructivist curriculum was implemented over one academic year with 39 children, 5-8 years old. Children were involved in audiation-based active listening, singing, moving, chanting, and playing instruments and engaged…

The excitement of playing an instrument is one of the greatest motivating forces in teaching general music to students. The autoharp, which may be long forgotten in the general music classrooms of the 21st century, is an ideal instrument to "re-introduce" to students. The teaching of a traditional folk instrument provides advantages for…

We investigated the effects of expressive and unexpressive conducting on secondary school band members' and experts' audio evaluations of band performance expressivity. A conductor, who demonstrated either expressive or unexpressive conducting techniques, led both an eighth-grade and a high school band in four separate "run-throughs" of…

The purpose of this study was to document behaviors of applied music teachers and students, as they occurred in online lessons with instructional delivery facilitated through desktop videoconferencing. The author examined the use of desktop videoconferencing in the delivery of applied music instruction to six middle school-aged band students…

In this article, the historical roots of tablature for stringed instruments are noted, and the use of tablature is explained. Modern guitar tablature is then shown and explained, and the author leads the reader through the basics of using Guitar Pro 6, a guitar tablature program that simultaneously displays standard Western staff notation. The…

This article offers a discussion about some of the accommodations and modifications used in music instruction. The focus here is on the musical tasks and challenges faced by band students with visual impairments. Research and literature reveal an interest in the topic but a lack of accessible materials for immediate use in the classroom and…

Historically, music educators have expressed concerns about inadequate preparation to work with students with special needs, specifically desiring skills related to instruction adaptation. Research has indicated that educational supports (written words, color coding, icons, echoing, buddy system, and other visual aids) can be particularly…

This article provides general music teachers with resources they can use in their class to: (1) introduce the instrument to their students; (2) energize and reshape their students' attitudes toward the instrument; (3) show older students who are very musical recorder and low flute players who share their love of the instruments through podcasts…