Within a theoretical framework drawn from sociologists of education Bourdieu and Bernstein, this paper will examine some of the findings of an ethnographic case study conducted with a secondary school music teacher and one class of her pupils in Wales. This teacher attracted 25% of Year 10 (14-year-old) pupils to study music as an optional subject…

Breathing and breath control are central to playing the oboe, yet few detailed educational resources are available to support their teaching and learning. This paper presents a review of existing knowledge and expertise in the field. It highlights common ground and points of controversy, and indicates some key areas for consideration. It points to…

The Suzuki Method was created by 79-year-old Shinichi Suzuki. Here it is described and its originator evaluated. (RK)

It's a far cry from Segovia and Julian Bream to a fully-fledged guitar orchestra. Author reports on a new phenomenon in guitar teaching and a new vocation for guitarists. (Editor/RK)

Background: After trying to define the reason why the piano ended up with 88 keys, I found patterns to explain ways of playing the piano with an 8:8 ratio which gives purpose to why the piano has 88 keys on it. Purpose: The first purpose is to enable piano teachers and music students to benefit from understanding how to play piano and be…

The basic skills and techniques of playing the horn, trumpet, tuba, and other brass instruments are quite similar, but the methods and concepts used to teach these skills vary considerably. Differences in both philosophy and methodology are described. (Editor/KC)

An experiment intended to familiarize a student with the musical scale and the technique of tuning an instrument by listening for beats is described. From the dial reading of the oscillator frequency and the counted beats frequency, the student then computes the frequency of each musical note over one full octave. (Author)

In this article, the author states that, when he teaches instrumental technique to beginners, especially in a general music class, he discovers that most students often do not coordinate their muscles effectively when they start playing a musical instrument. He specifically discusses teaching the students how to play the xylophone and techniques…

Because young wind players need to develop and strengthen their embouchures, they need to play many tong tones at slow tempos. Drummers are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They are using some of the larger, more developed muscles in their bodies and must learn to control them to play many notes rapidly. They need much more than the whole,…

This paper explores one-to-one teaching in an academy of music as culturally constituted. Taking Foucault's concept of discursive practice as a point of departure, the practice of two instrumental teachers is analysed and compared with regards to how the teachers adopt professional discourses to construct their teaching in quite distinct ways, and…

This article provides teaching tips and materials related to recorder lesson. Teaching Recorder in the Music Classroom, by Fred Kersten, compiles more current recorder information than any other resource. In planning instruction, the major determining factor seems to be Rote or Note. This allows instructors to take familiar repertoire that…

Reports briefly on the methods and materials used in Indian music education at the primary and secondary levels and in instrumental instruction. Scores of eight typical songs and exercises are included. (SJL)

The author states that in a melody/harmony/rhythm sense, improvising on a synthesizer is no different from improvising on any other instrument. The capabilities of synthesizers are described, and exercises and methods to be used with synthesizers are outlined. (KC)

Describes study of effects of learning procedures and performance tempo on ability of 64 middle school students to perform previously learned rhythmic passages. Reviews the four learning procedures used for each rhythmic passage. Finds no evidence attributed to learning procedure but significant adverse differences if the tempo was changed from…

In this article, the author argues that in many ways, developing instrumental practice techniques is an experiment with a sample of one. Musicians must learn which methods work best for them as individuals. This starts in the earliest stages of learning a musical instrument. Teachers offer suggestions: students discover how others are practicing,…