Student and teacher perceptions regarding composition instruction were investigated using case study techniques in two high school music programs: a general music program providing accelerated instruction to gifted musicians in small classes and a typical performance-based band program. Students in both programs participated in a composition…

Most research on musical performance anxiety has focused on musicians coming from a classical background, and performance anxiety experiences of musicians outside the western classical genre remain under-researched. The aim of this study was to investigate perceived performance anxiety experiences in undergraduate and professional musicians and to…

This article investigates self-reported music learning experiences of 21 older amateur pianists and electronic keyboard players. Significant changes in their lives and the encouragement of friends were catalysts for returning to or taking up a keyboard instrument as an adult, although not all returners had positive memories of learning a keyboard…

This paper presents theoretical perspectives for choral conducting education. A wide range of related literature on choral practice and education in higher education contexts, as well as training in the workplace is reviewed. Whilst various attributes for effective choral conducting practice have been identified by research studies, there has been…

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of musical expertise in 9-year-old children on passive (as reflected by MMN) and active (as reflected by discrimination accuracy) processing of speech sounds. Musician and nonmusician children were presented with a sequence of syllables that included standards and deviants in vowel frequency,…

Between 2008 and 2010, the internationally acclaimed London Symphony Orchestra worked in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and 10 East London Music Services, delivering a range of music education projects that involved professional musicians, classroom teachers, primary school-aged pupils and college students. This article…

If you are interested in performance, music therapy, music production, arts administration, instrument making, music teaching or research, and whatever music tradition you come from, this book will prepare you for success. It tells you about today's music business and gives expert advice that will help you get to where you want to be. It shows you…

Usually band, orchestra, and choir directors work independently. However, the authors--one a choral director, the other a band director--have learned that making music together makes friends. Not only can ensemble directors get along, but joint concerts may be just the way to help students see how music can reach the heart. Combined instrumental…

"Flow" is a highly coveted yet elusive state of mind that is characterized by complete absorption in the task at hand as well as by enhanced skilled performance. Unfortunately, because most measures of this construct have been developed in physical activity and sport settings, little is known about the applicability of flow scales to the…

This article offers a brief overview of the causes and manifestations of performance anxiety and suggests methods for professors to combat it in the studio setting. The topics of mentoring, physical and mental relaxation, dietary health, and imaging are explored. Primary source material is referred to throughout the article, so readers can easily…

Based on the experience of teaching the history of American hip hop music to a classroom of Canadian university students, the author considers the disjuncture between the cultural orientations of herself and her students. The author considers teaching methods to solve the place-based disjuncture that often occurs when teaching genres such as hip…

Music can be a core element of the sense of self. Integration of the future, possible musical self within the self-concept helps to account for the enormous investment of time and energy necessary to become a musician. In this qualitative study, we explore the motivational dimensions of the possible musical self. Possible selves exist in multiple…

Media and technological advances over the past decade have significantly influenced teaching--its design, delivery, and interactivity. At the same time, social media now dominates the ways in which most of the students encounter and engage the world. The implications of these developments present a number of critical questions about teaching…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effect of ear playing instruction on adult amateur wind instrumentalists' musical self-efficacy. Ten volunteer members of a community band in a small town in Ohio completed the "Ear Playing Profile" both prior to and following an eight-week period of instruction in playing by ear…

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which a professional learning community (PLC) of music teachers sustained growth as they sought to incorporate Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance (CMP) in their teaching practices. Seven music teachers from a suburban school district in the upper Midwest participated in a PLC as they…