The future of American music education may be found in its past--a time when music teachers instilled lifelong amateur music-making in their students. There are differences between amateur and professional musicianship, and the focus of American music education shifted from amateurism to semiprofessionalism in the mid-twentieth century. An…

Societies have different ways of transferring the products they created within their own cultural structures by using the basic elements of music. We see that some societies use verbal transfer, some societies use written transfer, while the other societies use both means of transfer. The signs, which are the basis of music theory and the tools of…

The golden section has become a well-known concept in the study and practice of music. However, no study has examined why the golden section may have become so popular in both music practice and analysis. The meta-analysis reported here reveals that the golden section has been related to one or more pieces of music in 113 items of published…

This article explores how music and lyrics serve as modes of storytelling in the language classroom, integrating a multimodal approach and the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. In the 'Sing My Story' project, language students creatively write their own lyrics, which are subsequently performed by either student musicians or target…

February 12, 1924, is a landmark date in the annals of American music. The story of that snowy afternoon in New York has become almost legendary -- and the tale has undoubtedly become embellished in its telling and retelling over the past 100 years. The occasion was a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music," presented by Paul…

The canon forming the backbone of most conceptions of Western music has been a feature of musical culture for decades, exerting an influence upon musical study in educational settings. In English school contexts, the once perceived superiority of classical music in educational terms has been substantially revised and reconsidered, opening up…

In 1848 New Orleans, Louisiana pianist and composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk composed "La Bamboula (Danse des Nègres), Op. 2". My discussion centers on the relationship Gottschalk had with the African diasporic musical tradition denoted as the bamboula. I present an analysis of two narratives chronicling Gottschalk's relationship with the…

In this article, we argue that it is possible to approach teaching from a fully affirmative perspective: as an educational practice that has its own internal logic and intrinsic value. By analysing a fragment from one of the Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts presented in this article as a teaching event, we show that when starting from…

The performing arts, specifically the Mexican balladry called corridos, can offer new vistas for what constitutes civic inclusion, poetics, and worldmaking for racially and linguistically minoritized youth. This paper provides a textual analysis of "El Llanto de El Paso," a corrido (ballad) written by youth balladeer, Josué Rodríguez,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the life and work of Frank William Westhoff (1863-1938), a leader in music education during the progressive era (circa 1890s-1950s). Research questions focused on his work as a music supervisor, teacher educator, pedagogue, and textbook author. I also explored Westhoff's contributions to the profession and…

This article analyzes how embodied learning was enhanced in a project in which students made a music video with a tablet, combining music and movement compositions, in a Finnish seventh-grade music classroom. Student interviews and reflections, as well as researcher's field notes were used as material for the analysis. In the project, embodied…

This paper explores the implications of a digital music studio that was created as a gathering place to craft music (beats) and write personal reflections (rhymes). I document how the studio emerged as a safe space for expression and self-exploration and in turn, became a hub for conversation around complex political issues for the College and…

In Verona, Northern Italy, a music group is revalorizing a local "dialetto" ('dialect') by putting it to music. By both reviving hundred-year old songs and writing their own music and lyrics, they are widening the cultural reach that this language has and they are finding contemporary ways for people to engage with it. Unlike political…

The development of new music technologies necessitates changes in the content of music education. Musical pedagogy is faced with the task of educating creative musicians who are capable of innovative activities and inventive musical thinking. Therefore, primary music education should introduce creative learning technologies aimed at developing…

This article discusses how the scarcity of female representation in music history curriculums, music textbooks, and traditional classical music repertoire affects student aspirations for professional careers in music and the way in which students relate to the music. The role of political issues and social movements in the classroom, such as those…