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…

Thought processes of seven artist-level jazz musicians, each of whom recorded an improvised solo, were investigated. Immediately after completing their improvisations, participants listened to recordings of their playing and looked at the notation of their solos as they described in a directed interview the thinking processes that led to the…

Educating adults to tap into the wisdom of their inner life can happen in many contexts: (1) higher education classrooms; (2) workshop and retreat settings; and (3) psychotherapy settings. Adults can also facilitate the development of their inner life through various self-directed learning efforts, by learning from life experience, and through…

This paper surveys and evaluates extant empirical research in jazz pedagogy. Investigations in the following areas are addressed: (a) variables that predict achievement in jazz improvisation; (b) content analyses of published instructional materials; (c) effectiveness of pedagogical methods; (d) construction and evaluation of jazz improvisation…

With an increasing emphasis on creativity and innovation in the twenty-first century, teachers need to be creative professionals just as students must learn to be creative. And yet, schools are institutions with many important structures and guidelines that teachers must follow. Effective creative teaching strikes a delicate balance between…

In this investigative study, the authors sought to reveal the learning strategies adopted by participants as they learned to play a 12-bar improvised blues with both hands together on a musical keyboard in an e-learning environment. There were 3 participants, 2 female and 1 male. Participants' average age was 21 years. They worked individually in…