Music teachers can make learning about music more rewarding and effective by improving the setting for conceptual development. The choral laboratory is one important step in music education and a positive method for learning music concepts. (RK)

The author states an argument for a "balanced school-music program which includes a place for stringed instruments. (JG)

Describes the jobs of composers, conductors, classical and popular music instrumentalists, vocalists, and religious musicians. Skill requirements, job availability, and the advantages and disadvantages of each job are discussed. (AM)

Surveys important music styles that preceded the emergence of rock and roll in the 1950s. Included are swing, bebop, rhythm and blues, country-western, gospel, and urban folk music. Lists of selected readings and recordings are appended. Part of a theme issue on popular music. (Editor/SJL)

Describes job competition between professional musicians and students which led to the formation of "The Music Code of Ethics." The code, a pact between the Music Educators National Conference, the American Federation of Musicians, and the American Association of School Administrators, defines the jurisdictions of professional musicians…

The limited extent to which the new copyright act altered performers' rights is examined with emphasis on the broadened provisions that preempt the state law remedies available to performers. The arguments concerning revision of the present law to expand performers' rights are considered and it is argued that the case for greater protection is a…

Presents an interview with Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College and music director and conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra. His history as an exceptional child, the development of his drive to succeed in a musical career and in academia, and his love for music are discussed. (CR)

Reports on a study that examined noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among school band directors. Finds that 41 percent of band directors in the sample had characteristic NIHL curves indicating that their experience as band directors played a role in the hearing loss. Recommends further study into the causes of NIHL among school band directors. (LS)

Examines relationships between musical information processed by a computer-based sound analysis system and the audiovisual record of a performer's response to musical assignments. Concludes that computer analysis permits identification of performance behavior. Suggests that a database could be designed to provide both diagnostic response to…

A short history of black pop music includes artists who have changed pop music or culture and highlights from the 1920s into the 1980s, from Fats Waller to Michael Jackson. In black pop music, there is a direct line of influence from the sharecropper to the current Top 40. (SLD)

Compares musicians' responses while listening to the first movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 104 using a two-dimensional continuous response digital interface that measured arousal (relaxing-exciting) and affect (ugly-beautiful). Indicates that there is an inverse relationship between the two dimensions. Makes comparisons to research that has…

Transcribes an interview with Milt Hinton, a noted bassist, jazz musician, jazz historian, and music teacher. Hinton reflects on his approaches to teaching, his feelings about the state of music education in the United States, and his dual roles as a soloist and support player. (DSK)

Twenty-four musically precocious boys (ages 10 to 14) were asked questions regarding the crystallizing experience, which is defined as a dramatic event in a person's life that makes inherent giftedness manifest. Results indicated all participants had had a crystallizing experience and that it had improved their self-concept. (CR)

Discusses what it means to be situated in music as a feminist teacher and scholar; what is feminist about curriculum, content, teaching, and learning; what social, political, and musical meanings are made; and what the meanings say about problems in the everyday world of music students and teachers. (SM)

Explores adult musicians' first remembrances of music. Reports that the first remembered responses appeared around ages 3-5; were associated with high affect, positive feelings, and "other persons present"; and indicated both the place where early music experience happened and the specific "music or genre." (CMK)