Throughout much of the 20th century, the Western classical vocal aesthetic dominated tertiary singing training in the Republic of Ireland. At the turn of the 21st century, and reflecting similar movements internationally, Irish institutions, examining boards and private teaching studios diversified to include musical theatre and popular styles of…

Limited consideration has been given to the challenges young composers and performers face when learning to communicate through notation in contemporary classical music, and the specific opportunities presented for peer learning. This article describes a project at a Swiss music conservatory in which two student composers wrote pieces for solo…

Music notation is intrinsic in the composition and performance of Western art music and also in its analysis and research. The process of writing about music remains underexplored, in particular how excerpts of music notation are selected and arranged in a written text, and how that text describes and contextualises the excerpts. This article…

Anthony Johnson Showalter (c. 1853-1924) was a music educator, gospel composer, publisher, and considered a pioneer in gospel music and education in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Showalter is notably mentioned in numerous texts and studies related to gospel music; however, little data has been collected regarding the…

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 study examines group robotics' impacts on elementary students' attitudes toward music, attitudes toward group work, and music composition when they are composing music via a robotics platform in collaborative and cooperative groups. One hundred ninety-one students in fourth and fifth grades completed the music composing project over the…

We examined decisions to include or exclude adolescent students in music performance ensembles as influenced by disability, task complexity, and biased information statements. Undergraduate music majors (N = 104) viewed video recordings presenting varied student profiles that included two disability types, two task complexity levels, and…

This study documents the music teaching and learning that took place in the U.S. Navy band program at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station (GLNTS) near Chicago during World War I, led by Lieutenant John Philip Sousa. The following six research questions helped guide this investigation: How did Sousa organize the Navy band program? What were the…

In the pedagogy of Western classical string music, creativity is often viewed according to the works of luminary composers, suggesting the question: how might string teachers, students, and musicians conceive of creativity? After problematizing standard definitions and ontological ideas of musical creativity, I outline an open model using the…

This article describes a project in which contemporary music is studied and created in primary-school classrooms in the presence of a composer. Listening to and analyzing a composer's works fosters musical creation processes in students, who subsequently present and discuss their works in a meeting with the composer. Finally, the students' works…

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…

The "Listening to Music" course is an important link in the music education of a child. The "Listening to Music" course fosters love and interest in music, teaches to understand its language, and develops emotional responsiveness in children. The article considers new opportunities in teaching the "Listening to Music"…

Making Music: Composing "with" Young Musicians was a multi-year, multi-site research project partnered with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Canadian Music Centre to commission composers to collaborate with teachers and students to write educational music. On-site observations undertaken by the co-author and examined…

Recent advances in music technology include practical tools for sound recording and production in school music classrooms. Secondary school music production classes allow students to make meaningful connections between school music and the music in their own lives. We offer several projects for teaching music production and sound recording;…

We conducted two field studies to examine whether songwriting retreats held in a natural setting would increase nature connectedness, as well as improve emotional well-being and performance on a creative reasoning task. In the first study, high school students took part in songwriting instruction either in their school or at a national wildlife…