In education, the term "living contradictions" refers to "holding educational values whilst at the same time negating them" in practice (Whitehead, 1993, p. 17), and self-study research often begins with a question surrounding such living contradictions. In this self-study, I implemented an instrumental case study design to…

I surveyed inservice instrumental music educators (N = 96) to determine their comfort level for teaching and performing on secondary band instruments. Research questions included the following: (1) How comfortable do inservice music educators feel teaching and performing on secondary instruments?; (2) Does grade level affect educators' comfort…

This is the sixth and culminating study in a series whose purpose has been to acquire a conceptual understanding of school band performance and to develop an assessment based on this understanding. With the present study, we cross-validated and applied a rating scale for school band performance. In the cross-validation phase, college students…

Visiting classical concerts as part of school activities has a long tradition in Germany but has always been controversial. The multi-case study Schools@Concerts aims in mapping different approaches of connecting school music education with classical concert visits in seven European countries. As part of this project, this article gives early…

While music education researchers have examined cooperating teacher and student teacher interactions via classroom observations and interviews, there is little research on extended dialogues between the cooperating teacher and student teacher or various mentoring roles (coach, guide, model, and evaluator) assumed by cooperating teachers. During…

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…

Over the past three decades, piano learning has witnessed an upsurge in popularity in China. To examine why, between 2016 and 2018 ethnographic fieldwork was conducted among piano teachers, students, and parents of students. Employing the concept of piano pathway, this article tracks the relationship between piano learning and formal schooling and…

Mentoring dialogues are the discourse between the mentor, often referred to as the cooperating teacher, and the student teacher that may include feedback and reflection on practice (Hennissen, Crasborn, Brouwer, Korthagen, & Bergen, 2008; Tsui, Lopez-Real, Law, Tang, & Shum, 2001; Zeichner & Liston, 1985). While some researchers have…

The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits, challenges, program characteristics and instructional approaches of an El Sistema inspired (ESI) after-school string program developed as a university-school partnership. Case study methodology was used to examine the program. Fifth-grade students received 75 minutes of after-school…

Music education researchers and conducting pedagogues have identified numerous behaviors that contribute to increased verbal and nonverbal teaching effectiveness of conductors on the podium. This article is a review of literature concerning several conductor behaviors that may (a) increase the effectiveness of rehearsals, (b) enhance the…

The purpose of this study was to document behaviors of applied music teachers and students, as they occurred in online lessons with instructional delivery facilitated through desktop videoconferencing. The author examined the use of desktop videoconferencing in the delivery of applied music instruction to six middle school-aged band students…

In this descriptive study, we examined the influences and experiences motivating students to enter college-level music schools as reported by a population of precollegiate students auditioning (but not yet accepted) to music education degree programs. As a follow-up to a published pilot study, this research was designed to quantify the various…

Historically, music educators have expressed concerns about inadequate preparation to work with students with special needs, specifically desiring skills related to instruction adaptation. Research has indicated that educational supports (written words, color coding, icons, echoing, buddy system, and other visual aids) can be particularly…

The purpose of this study was to obtain the perceptions of cooperating teachers in beginning and middle school instrumental music regarding their student teachers' skills and knowledge both at the beginning and at the end of the student teaching experience. The related research has focused primarily on two areas of music teacher education. Program…

The researcher sought to examine gender associations across three decades to determine if changes in the sex stereotyping of musical instruments has occurred. First, the study examined the paired comparison gender-instrument rankings of 180 college students. The results confirmed a reduction of instrument gender associations reported in the 1990s.…