The author gives advice to instrumentalists and singers about contests and auditions, including preparation for the event, tasteful appearance and presentation, potential difficulties with playing conditions, and dealings with judges. (SJL)

In this article, the authors present an egg bungee jumping activity. This activity introduces students to ways that engineers might apply calculations of failure to meet a challenge. Students are required to use common, everyday materials such as rubber bands, string, plastic bags, and eggs. They will apply technological problem solving, material…

This article presents an interview with Leon Botstein, longtime president of Bard College, as well as music director and conductor of the American and Jerusalem symphony orchestras. Botstein talks about his book entitled "Jefferson's Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture" and his views about teens and high schools in America.…

This article features a father and son team from Louisville, Kentucky--an exceptional son, Patrick Henry Hughes, and an exceptional parent, Patrick John Hughes. Patrick Henry, age 19, is a proud member of the University of Louisville's (UL) marching band. It is also worth noting that Patrick Henry, a virtuoso musician, is a young man challenged…

This article describes how California's Southwestern College's prized mariachi band captures the soul and the rhythm of Mexico. Four years old, the mariachi program has proved so successful that Mr. Jeff Nevin, who now directs three bands there, persuaded the two-year college in 2005 to set up what was until recently the only American college…

This article considers four learning biographies from professional musicians. Each musician holds a different portfolio career and is from a different age category. The key questions I ask are: "How does one learn as a musician?", "What knowledge, attitudes, values and artistic skills are necessary to function effectively and creatively as a…

Several sensory-motor integration regions have been identified in parietal cortex, which appear to be organized around motor-effectors (e.g., eyes, hands). We investigated whether a sensory-motor integration area might exist for the human vocal tract. Speech requires extensive sensory-motor integration, as does other abilities such as vocal…

The purpose of this study was to examine aesthetic response to music experienced with and without video--in this case a video produced with a variety of images and not a video of a live performance. The participants (N = 64) were undergraduate and graduate students at a comprehensive university. The aural-only and aural with visual conditions were…

In this article, jazz music is used as a lens through which early childhood music pedagogy is viewed, specifically thinking about swing and improvisation--the listening and responding to what is heard and seen, and the openness to possibility. These two concepts are defined by prominent jazz musicians and are traced in the child development…

Of the more than 5000 books reviewed in "School Library Journal's" ("SLJ's") pages in 2008, the 67 books listed in this article stood out as having distinctive voices, singular vision, and/or innovative approaches. They include books for toddlers and preschoolers, terrific picture books and easy readers, and some highly original novels. Fantasy,…

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of embedding character education into the daily functions of instrumental music ensembles at Franklin High School in Portland Oregon. The participants in the study were the students of the researcher which may have been a delimitation. Their ages were from 14 to 19 years. Students from…

Current theories of learning hold dominant assumptions about the type and scope of knowledge and skills taught in formal courses that prepare novices for professional practice at work. In performing arts educational contexts, a common emphasis continues to hone individual performance skills in order to gain technical mastery and to differentiate…

This study examined the effects of playing by ear in selected keys on the abilities of musicians (N = 28) to play by ear and sight-read in those keys. Middle school band students in the experimental group learned melodies by ear in one familiar and two unfamiliar keys, and did no music reading in the new keys, while students in the contact-control…

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…