The purpose of this ethnographic study was to investigate the Montclair State University's West African drum and dance ensemble. Analyses of the data revealed three themes related to individual participants and the "lived reality" of the group as a whole, and to the social-cultural teaching--learning processes involved: spirituality,…

This article presents a study investigating musical learning among 9th grade adolescents in a Swedish lower secondary school. The adolescents collaboratively composed songs for a self-written musical, which they taught to their peers. The purpose of the study was to explore the ways in which adolescents acquire musical knowledge in this specific…

This study profiles gender differences in instrumental performance self-efficacy perceptions of high school students (N = 87) over the course of a three-day orchestra festival in which students competed against one another for rank-based seating and then rehearsed and performed as a group. Reported self-beliefs rose significantly for the sample…

What does it mean to teach musical expression to child performers? Is it teaching how to interpret a piece of music "correctly," or is there more involved? In this case study, we explored the beliefs and practices of five teachers who specialized in teaching children to perform in a variety of musical performance areas, including violin,…

In this paper we give an overview of relevant findings of a three years long case study that was carried out in the Madeira Island, Portugal. It addresses a thirty years old project in music and drama education in primary schools, which involves all children within the school curriculum, but also in extra-curriculum activities. The study used…

Explores whether focusing the attention of evaluators on students versus the teacher would affect the assessment of teaching in choral rehearsal situations. Music education majors used 10 categories to rate the teacher or students. Reveals that subjects gave the highest ratings when viewing the teacher and the lowest ratings when viewing students.…

This study investigated modes of communication adopted by six student jazz musicians during rehearsal and performance. Six one-hour rehearsal sessions and a performance were observed and videotaped for analysis. Results revealed six modes of communication that formed two main categories, verbal and non-verbal, each containing three distinct modes…