The author, John Whitener, traveled to Mongolia, "the land of blue sky," in the summer of 2013 and again in summer of 2016. Mongolia is a land of awe-inspiring geography, similar in many respects to the wilds of Alaska. Approximately half the country's population has migrated to Ulaan-Baatar and other urban areas because of harsh winters…

In a dramatic physics demonstration, a professional flutist produces four resonances with a 12 ounce Boylan soda bottle solely through her breath control. The 22cm bottle acts like a Helmholtz resonator for the lowest pitch. The three higher pitches fall near the 3rd, 5th, and 7th harmonics for a 22cm closed pipe. A video of this remarkable feat…

Recent advances in music technology include practical tools for sound recording and production in school music classrooms. Secondary school music production classes allow students to make meaningful connections between school music and the music in their own lives. We offer several projects for teaching music production and sound recording;…

This article highlights one music educator's belief that it has become incumbent upon music teachers to expand their knowledge and understanding of global musical practices, traditional instruments, and cultural traditions, and they need to pass this knowledge on to their students. Experiences traveling and attempting to experience the music from…

This article describes a sequential approach to improvisation teaching that can be used with students at various age and ability levels by any educator, regardless of improvisation experience. The 2014 National Core Music Standards include improvisation as a central component in musical learning and promote instructional approaches that are…

The Whole Class Ensemble Tuition (WCET) is a model of teaching and learning music which takes place in many English primary schools. It is a relative newcomer to music pedagogy in the primary school. In the groundbreaking study reported in this paper, two new models of teaching and learning music are proposed. These are (a) "Music education…

In this article, Carl Czerny's "Letters to a Young Lady on the Art of Playing the Pianoforte" (1837) is studied as a machine manual within the cybernetic economy of James Watt's governor. It is argued that while the young pupil is encouraged to subject herself to a strict discipline of physical deportment at the piano, this activity is…

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…

The participation of young adults in performance-oriented music ensembles can be seen to enhance democratic capacities and virtues. Much, however, turns on the particular conception of democracy at work. Although contemporary currents in music education tend towards models of liberal and participatory democracy to govern music ensembles, this…

Music diversity is valued in theory, but the extent to which it is efficiently presented in music class remains limited. Within this article, I aim to bridge this gap by introducing four genres of Chinese classical ensembles--Qin and Xiao duets, Jiang Nan bamboo and silk ensembles, Cantonese ensembles, and contemporary Chinese orchestras--into the…

The acoustics of a vibrating string is frequently used as a simple example of how physics can be applied in the field of art. In this paper we describe a simple experiment and analysis using a clipped string. This experiment can generate scientific curiosity among students because the sound generated by the string seem surprising to our senses.…

Due to years of precarious sociopolitical circumstances before and after the 1979 revolution, Iranian youth developed an acute sense of music making and learning unique to their locales, representing their deep-rooted desire to make their own music, and to move away from the state's heavy-handed intrusion into their act of music making, and years…

This paper describes the creation of an evaluative tool that aims to measure the degree to which constructivism is facilitated within the teaching materials created for older beginning piano students (twelve to seventeen years of age). Literature exploring the published teaching materials available for teaching piano includes content analysis,…

Sarah McGee's major contribution to the profession of art therapy was her use of traditional African healing practices in her work with clients. Her immersive training as a ndeppkat (spiritual healer) and Lébou Ndepp rituals in Senegal offered a foundation for her approach to therapy. These rituals informed her work, even in secular settings,…

In recent years, there has been much criticism of multiculturalism for its failure to address the power and privilege that keep the status quo in music education. Continued support and education is needed to grow preservice, practicing, and even veteran teachers' skills in teaching and learning music genres from a broader range of music cultures.…