Music students often encouter problems in reading sheet music, because of the complexity of Traditional Music Notation (TMN). Klavar is an alternative music notation system that is simple, intuitive, and easy to learn. Thousands of compositions from many composers are available in Klavar. In its original form, Klavar can be considered as tablature…

In this paper, I critically examine platformized music education on YouTube. I suggest YouTube's platform mechanisms influence music teaching and learning on the platform. The influence is present throughout the production, distribution, and monetization structures that YouTube-based music educators experience. I discuss how creators make videos…

As public high school teachers, we have independently come to the realization that we are both searching for ways that our music rooms can be spaces where everyone has a chance to sound (speak, sing, play an instrument), and students and teachers have the opportunity to hear others in the room. At the center of this realization stands the…

This essay explores performance-driven aspects of U.S. bands in the contexts of Pierre Hadot's Philosophy as a Way of Life, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Jacques Derrida's Aporias, and the author's experience teaching both elementary general music and beginning band. The author wonders what band education might look like when…

Dr. Hal Abeles is a foundational leader in developing music performance assessments, conducting program evaluations of arts partnerships, and publishing basic research on the effects of arts instruction on learning in and across cognitive, social and personal domains. This article explores the theoretical and practical issues in music performance…

Musical expression is often not explicitly addressed in secondary instrumental rehearsals due to the perception of expression as an obscure concept and the instructional time constraints on music educators. Secondary music educators, however, are encouraged to discuss expressive performance goals with instrumental students from the beginning of…

In a report commissioned by the Society for Music Analysis to address a gap in music literacy, McQueen (2020) identified instrumental teachers as an important part of music education both within schools and in the community. This article takes as a starting point McQueen's (2020) proposal that 'it is through instrumental tuition that music…

Gender in music has been explored over recent decades with growing recognition of the challenges that are faced by women in the field. There has been substantial work exploring the Western music canon but little that addresses the music of Australian women, and more specifically, repertoire written for the wind band genre. With thousands of…

The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards released standards for music education in 2014. These standards are guided by artistic processes and measured by performance standards specific to content areas and grade levels. As school districts in the United States adopt the Core Arts Standards for their music programs, it is imperative that…

What forms of practices can we observe in music education settings? Is it always music just because there are instruments in the room and some sounds are produced or because we can identify some pieces of a musical work now and then? Or is it because the children are engaged in self-determined activities? Or does the verbalization of behavior in…

The Xindi Applied Piano Pedagogy (XAPP) was self-formulated by Professor Xindi, the Dean of the Music Education Institute of Xinghai Conservatory of Music (MEIXHCM), in 2001. After a series of scaffolding developments over a decade, the single instrumental teaching method is now developing into a holistic music educational system for the…

In schools, band is often seen as a class where students and teachers can be creative. But is this true? Many schools use a traditional band model, which may not allow space for creative activities. This article, inspired by the "Music Educators Journal" March 2017 special focus on teaching for musical creativity, examines and critiques…

Common approaches to teaching music listening emphasise 'attentive listening' and 'active listening' (Campbell, Patricia Shehan. 2005. "Deep Listening to the Musical World." Music Educators Journal 92 (1): 30-36. doi:10.2307/3400224) and minimise explorations of everyday music listening practices (Madsen, Clifford, and John Geringer.…

Jazz has been a familiar element of secondary music curricula in the United States since the late 1960s (Worthy 2013). Yet, as broader social dialogue addresses equity and justice concerning gender and sexuality, secondary instrumental jazz education remains underrepresented in those discussions. Pressures to conform to heteronormative notions and…

Music education takes place in socio-political systems that institutionalise cultural hegemony and social stratification through perpetuating symbolically violent practices and unconscious assumptions regarding the purpose of music and music education in society. Education systems serve to perpetuate class divisions and structures, excluding the…