In this paper I look at what happens when a university music classroom is exchanged for a remote Indigenous community. I explore what happens when pedagogical practices are decolonised and placed into the hands of Indigenous Elders and musicians, and reveal the sorts of musical interactions that transpire when students and Indigenous musicians are…

Before rehearsals begin, conductors need to thoroughly study the score. What elements go into a comprehensive score preparation? To learn music scores efficiently, having a detailed and systematic study method helps. The author has developed a score preparation guide that works for directors of bands, choruses, and orchestras, even when there's…

At Arts Advocacy Day 2009 in Washington, over 500 citizens educated, advocated, and lobbied for federal support for the arts and its positive impact on the U.S. economy. This year the Nancy Hanks Lecture was given by Wynton Marsalis, whose extraordinary address voiced the potential of the arts in this new era of hope. For dance educators, Marsalis…

Although arts partnerships in schools have existed since the 1960s (National Endowment for the Arts), they are becoming more prevalent and may encourage the emergence of a different kind of music teacher. These new music teachers are often musicians termed teaching artists (Association of Teaching Artists). Although teaching artists are more…

Sight-reading while playing a mallet instrument can present serious obstacles for the developing percussionist. Many young players who have solid snare drum technique usually cite fear of playing the wrong note as the number-one hurdle to overcome in order to begin making real progress. Greg Byrne, associate director of bands at the University of…

In the midst of overall decline in the United States economy, information and communication industries continued to grow in 2008, accounting for 30% of the increase in the nation's GDP. Creative and copyright-based industries constitute a significant portion of this industry. The anomaly of growth in digital culture industries amidst overall…

This article addresses the distinctive role that artists play in education. Although there has been a growing body of research internationally into artists involved in teaching and learning processes, the practice of artists in education in Ireland has developed in an uneven and sometimes disjointed manner. The field of "arts in…

Proactive instruction and alternative education have progressively become the schooling of choice for many non-traditional learners in Ireland. Community training, probation and Traveller support centers endeavour to take an existing curriculum and tailor it to such learners' needs. One community based education and training centre funded by the…

It may not be the best of times for the school's string and orchestra programs, but things certainly are looking up. This article focuses on a recent report which cites the numerous positives, including an increase in the number of districts offering strings classes, a greater variety in the racial mix of strings students, and a less drastic…

Instrumental music education, as it evolved in the segregated African American communities and their educational institutions, remains an under-investigated area of historical research. As a partial remedy to that circumstance, this study sought to document one of the more noteworthy of such accounts, the history of instrumental music ensembles at…

There is a long history of debate over what opera is. Since it's more or less formal beginning in the sixteenth century as a reconstruction of ancient drama, opera as an art form has been controversial. The received understanding--emphasized by the genre's founders and in periodic efforts at reforming the standards of composition and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the performance experiences of choral singers with respect to music performance anxiety. Members of seven semiprofessional choirs (N = 201) completed questionnaires pertaining to their experience of performance anxiety in the context of their performance history, their experience with conductors, and their…

Empirical studies of creativity have focused on the importance of divergent thinking, which supports generating novel solutions to loosely defined problems. The present study examined creativity and frontal cortical activity in an externally-validated group of creative individuals (trained musicians) and demographically matched control…

This article profiles Beth Gilbert, a veteran Arizona string teacher who finds inspiration in teamwork--and her students. Growing up in Ohio, Gilbert enjoyed participating in her high school orchestra. Nevertheless she entered the University of Arizona as a marine biology major, choosing a field of study that she had planned to parlay into a…

School librarians and educators have specific copyright questions that are often glossed over in larger books on the subject. Now, thanks to best-selling copyright authority Carrie Russell, there's a resource just for them, offering clear guidance for providing materials to students while carefully observing copyright law. Using whimsical…