First established in Scotland in the 1870s, civilian Scottish Pipe Bands are now a global intergenerational phenomenon. In Canada, they are a diasporic reminder of the 70,000 Scots who emigrated there in the 19th century. Currently, there are more SPBs per capita in Canada than any country outside of Scotland, with an estimated 240 civilian SPBs…

Real-world experiences, such as situated learning, fieldwork, and student teaching have been among the most prevalent examples employed in teacher preparation programs. Despite the increasing evidence in support of service learning in music teacher preparation, there are a limited number of models specific to instrumental music education. The…

Music is universally pleasurable and important, and no known society is without it. Flutes have been found around the campfire in Neanderthal cave sites in artifacts that date back 53,000 years (Leutwyler 2001). Young adults in particular listen to music almost nonstop, and their playlists form an important part of their identities. It only makes…

Preservice music teachers often use their voices differently during the semesters leading up to student teaching as compared to during the semester itself. Vocal demands often increase and change as students move from a student role to full-time teacher role. Consequently, music student teachers frequently experience vocal distress symptoms that…

Computational thinking is becoming common in K-12 curricula, and at the same time there is interest in how STEM subjects can be integrated with the Arts (referred to as STEAM). There are some obvious connections between music and computation, but the idea of engaging with genuine computational thinking while also having authentic music learning…

Segregated schooling in Florida was initially a concession to gain public acceptance of free public education. Its effects can be seen in the band programs of many high school bands. This study looks at the effects of segregation and integration on bands at black high schools in Jacksonville, Florida (Duval County Public Schools). Much of the…

The purpose of this study was to explore educational and social environments of multiple American community ukulele groups. The foundations, objectives, and leadership of four community ukulele groups offer expansions to our understandings of the ways in which people are teaching and learning with the ukulele as well as what are hopefully valuable…

The self-regulation of practice behaviour has repeatedly been shown to distinguish between novice and expert performers, however interventions designed to encourage self-regulation by novice musicians have shown limited effectiveness. Guided by successful research in sporting contexts, the present study investigated the behaviours of beginner…

As large and complex campus organizations, collegiate marching bands face a variety of practical issues that must be addressed by directors through clear policies and effective procedures. Extant research on these groups focuses on pedagogical matters, ensemble histories, organizational descriptive analyses, participation factors and effects, and…

Learning musical instruments requires a significant amount of independent, unsupervised effort by students in the current post-secondary pedagogical context. A vital role of the teacher is therefore to help a student improve at the art of independent practice. The theory of contextual interference in skills learning has demonstrated better…

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand how learning to play the ukulele influenced the music identity of elementary education majors. Eighteen participants (17 females, 1 male) from two universities created YouTube playlists and recorded solo ukulele performances for their YouTube channel. Music identity perceptions were…

We explored the role of self-efficacy in participatory music-making, and whether a single such music-making activity could make non-musician adults more open to seeing themselves as musical. Past research has suggested that even recipients of multiple years of school music education do not consider "being musical" as a part of their…

This article looks at some best practices for teaching the harmonica as demonstrated in schools in southern Germany. The author describes the role the harmonica has played in music education, offering a brief overview of the instrument's use in the United States. He shares what certain German educators are doing and how their techniques can be…

The effects of the mouthpiece and bell on the frequencies of the vibrating air column in a trombone can be demonstrated quite readily by first calculating the expected resonant frequencies of a piece of PVC pipe that is the same length as a trombone, then replacing portions of the PVC pipe of the same length with first a cup-shaped mouthpiece and…

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between high school jazz band directors' efficacious sources, self-efficacy for teaching strategies, and pedagogical behaviors. Participants (N = 264) completed the Jazz Band Director Self-Efficacy for Teaching Strategies Scale and responded to items about their formal and informal learning…