In this article, I visualize the relationship between tonewood exploitation and the import of musical instruments for Venezuela's El Sistema, with the participation of the Venezuelan State, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and manufacturing companies from China and the Global North. My basis…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of wind ensemble seating configurations on college instrumentalists' ratings of ensemble sound. Members of a university wind ensemble (N = 40) were recorded while performing a 1-minute excerpt of "Only Light" by Aaron Perrine in one of four ensemble configurations. At the conclusion of…

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.…

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…

Our study explored how adolescents' experiences and musical preferences might relate to musical identity, and the likelihood of engaging in musical activities as adults. Participants were 170 first-year university students, both music majors and non-music majors. A questionnaire collected participants' responses regarding beliefs about music, as…

Purpose: An analysis of the images in music education textbooks for primary education has shown how the images do not fully reflect the human diversity present in the classroom and, therefore, continue to perpetuate positions that can lead to racism. The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the images to carried out has demonstrated how little…

Once referred to as "the most maligned musical instrument on earth," the harmonica holds an important historical place in music education as an instrument around which bands were formed, solo and ensemble competitions were held, and in some cases, careers were born. Much of this activity centered itself on city recreation programs as…

This dissertation consists of three projects that I designed to examine high school band directors' and collegiate musicians' experiences and perceptions of democratic educational processes within concert band rehearsals. The first investigation is a review of literature about democratic educational principles and their application in non-music…

During music reading, performers create expectations of the upcoming music. When these expectations are violated due to changes in the notation, performers have to adjust their reading and adapt their motor responses to match this new information. In this study, we examine how selected background, outcome, and process measures reflect the…

This study explored how and what a group of six fifth-grade instrumental music students learned during group improvisation activities over eight sessions together with the researcher as participant observer. Students' learning was investigated through the lenses of musical fluency and collaborative emergence. Findings related to multiple…

Music plays a very important role in student development, it can help them acquire the skills for expressing their opinion and critical assessment of the world as well as foster their self-confidence and learning motivation. It is extremely important to promote the formation of collective musical experience through a creative process that…

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…

Work-life balance has become a buzzword in many corporate settings. This study situates itself at a higher education institute in Melbourne (Australia) where African music (singing and drumming) was used as a lever for faculty staff to "break from work" and "learn about a new music and culture". Drawing on email communication,…

Growing numbers of universities are developing service-learning community music-making interventions. However, there has been little research into their efficacy and effect on overall mental health for students. This study explored whether 4-weeks of dyadic group drumming could improve depression, anxiety, stress, social resilience, and enjoyment…

Although flow theory is one way of measuring the quality of a student's experience in a music ensemble, the majority of flow research utilizes samples of high school or collegiate level musicians thus causing us to generalize findings to young adolescent (middle school) populations. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods design, the purpose of…