Discusses the importance of the creative musical experience for students as a means to maintaining their music appreciation. Argues that music teachers must be leaders for music education to thrive. Focuses on the promotion of music education and lists qualities of successful music teachers. (CMK)

Examines Western adaptations of music from other cultures. Argues against performing multicultural music according to the Western musical system. Provides suggestions for authentically performing multicultural music, including interacting with the music and learning about its cultural origins. (CMK)

The 1967 MENC symposium at Tanglewood advocated the inclusion of popular music, along with the classics, in the general music curriculum. The author looks briefly at how well this recommendation is being implemented and discusses the benefits of using popular works in music instruction. (SJL)

Describes how a 1913 Music Supervisors National Conference (MENC) committee identified 18 songs to be included in the curriculum and taught to all U.S. students. Reviews the expansion of the song list and its contribution to a common repertoire for U.S. community sings. (GG)

Discusses how listening, in conjunction with questioning and classroom dialogues, promotes critical thinking about music. Suggests that classroom interaction encourages analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of content. Lists ways music teachers can stimulate critical thinking, including an activity called structural dictation, and the development of…

Presents an interview with Bell Yung, a scholar of Chinese music and ethnomusicology. Maintains that world music (music from many nations and cultures) should be taught as early as possible in the schools and at home. Includes two lesson plans for teaching about Chinese music. (CFR)

Describes Leonard Bernstein's contributions to music education as a teacher of conducting and of musical awareness and appreciation, and as a university professor. Emphasizes Bernstein's love of teaching, people, and music. Encourages music educators and the music profession to contemplate his teaching skills to help students feel the joy of music…

The author notes a growing trend toward the inclusion of world musics at both the elementary/secondary and higher education levels. He presents a rationale for studying world musics and cites the importance of giving students an understanding of cultural context in such study. (SJL)

The author considers the appropriate content of a "music appreciation" course and how both the diversities and commonalities of the world's musics can be presented in terms of the basic concepts of rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre, intensity, and form. (SJL)

Suggests that music listening and musical concepts such as tempo, melody, and form can be taught to students of any age by programed tapes with accompanying study guides. Provides instructions for recording such a tape and discusses appropriate content for the study guide. (SJL)

Raises concerns about the music educator's approach to teaching pre-kindergarten children. Proposes a pre-kindergarten music curriculum model based on a synthesis of theories about the learning environment with the contributions of learning/play theorists and music educators. Provides a global to specific approach to interactive play periods. (LS)

Critiques musical learning in school bands, and points out the need to teach more than performance skills. Encourages band directors to use comprehensive musicianship teaching techniques, suggesting methods to help band students think musically. Provides workable, specific strategies for rehearsals. (LS)

Employs Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Nightingale," and the many lessons within it to help music educators design learning experiences that foster the development of musical expression. Conveys that without musical expression students' music will be mechanical, not unique and meaningful. (CMK)

Japanese children get 10 years of mandatory music studies, resulting in a population which can read music and appreciate it. History, theory, conducting, instrumental and choral performance, and reading and writing of music are taught. Japanese educators often criticize the approach as emphasizing the intellectual rather than the creative. (CS)

Recommends incorporating singing activities as an instructional component of orchestra and band rehearsals. Notes that singing helps students develop aural skills, learn sight-reading, and make connections between the basic elements of music theory and the practical application of these elements. Also includes suggested activities. (MJP)