Systematic differences among regional U.S. English speech are recognizable to native speakers to varying degrees. This has been demonstrated by researchers in perceptual dialectology who ask listeners to match a speaker to his or her dialect region. Machines have also been able to identify the regional origin of a speaker to some degree, although…

In order to learn to be an orchestra conductor in the United States of America, students often begins their formal education by seeking to earn a master's degree in orchestral conducting. This project compiled a listing of American universities which offer a master's degree in orchestral conducting and categorized the component parts of their…

Finding new repertoire poses endless obstacles for musicians. Often the search for an unknown piece or composer presents such an unforeseen challenge that the actual aesthetic and technical success of the work becomes secondary. A major contributing factor is the lack of an accessible and centralized database. Many notable bibliographic reference…

The Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music (CQCM) has maintained a partnership with Hamilton Island Enterprises (HIE) since 2002. As a part of this partnership, the Bachelor of Music (jazz & popular) students visit Hamilton Island (HI), an island resort located off the Australian east coast, four to six times annually to engage in 3 to 10…

The purpose of this study was to gather and compare information on measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among instrumentalists enrolled in collegiate ensembles. A survey instrument was developed to gather information concerning demographic data and responses to questions on motivational preference. Participants were undergraduate and…

According to this author, alternative rock did not deserve what it became in the post-Nirvana 1990s. Reduced to a marketing catch-phrase--effectively rendering it meaningless--major label co-optation helped blur the line between artistic expression and cloned sounds. Before Nirvana broke through to the mainstream with the blistering sarcasm of its…

What professional musicians say and do affects the attitudes and actions of music educators in the classroom. One example comes from influential conductor/composer, Gunther Schuller, who, in his controversial 1997 book, "The Compleat Conductor", defines, espouses, and recommends his own "philosophy of conducting." An examination of his ideas and,…

This article profiles Neil Slater, the longtime leader of the jazz program at the University of North Texas who encouraged both musical perfection and artistic freedom among his star pupils. Standards are high at North Texas, which has become a Camelot where aspiring jazz musicians have come to hone their skills since 1947, when it offered one of…

The purpose of this study was to compare teacher beliefs about music technology, types of teacher training in music technology, music technology resource availability, and levels of teacher use of music technology based on school socioeconomic status, teacher age, number of years teaching, and teacher gender. High-school band directors from the…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of peer-based instruction on rhythm reading achievement of instrumental and choral music students attending a large urbanfringe high school in a major metropolitan area. Participants (N = 131) included band (n = 71) and choir (n = 60) students whose backgrounds reflected extensive economic (78%…

The already limited vocational prospects of low-income African Americans in New Orleans were further devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill added to the devastation, highlighting the continued vulnerability of New Orleanians seeking employment. As a result, opportunities persist for vocational practitioners…

This paper describes an investigation into the nature of musical intelligence and its links with creativity across two continents, Europe and Africa. In seeking to identify the intellectual processes associated with musical intelligence, improvised music was examined as an example of problem solving in this domain. Twenty-four musicians (twelve…

Performance assessment is an integral part of young musicians' development. Students enrolled in music programs frequently participate in adjudication festivals and many audition for select ensembles. Outcomes of such events are deemed consequential among all concerned: students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Furthermore, the number of…

In many parts of the United States, there is a growing shortage of music teachers to take the place of the retiring teachers. This is most evident in rural areas. If music teachers are not available to fill openings, music positions are sometimes combined, spreading music teachers too thin and requiring them to possess multiple music…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether viewing a musical score while listening (as opposed to not viewing the score) would affect musicians' ratings of choral performance excerpts. University musicians (N = 240) listened to four excerpts of choral music (from Vivaldi's "Gloria") and rated them on a 10-point Likert-type scale for…