Offers ideas on how to develop a course on popular music. Notes the importance of obtaining prior administrative support. Identifies materials, techniques, books, films, and community resources. Suggests several classroom projects, incorporating popular music history and music activities. Lists books, periodicals, and videotaped materials for…

Encourages music teachers to discover ways to apply research findings in their classrooms. Considers how teachers' attitudes, approaches, and applications affect research utilization. Provides a sample music listening lesson on themes and variations by applying research findings extracted from "What Works: Instructional Strategies for Music…

Reviews research results describing students' learning experiences and effective teaching methods. Addresses topics of music selection, influencing student preferences, and developing student perception and descriptive skills. Includes a 26-item bibliography of these studies. (NL)

Encourages incorporating music activities into early childhood education. The many benefits of early exposure to music include increased physical coordination and motor skills, advances in listening, vocabulary building, and aesthetic enjoyment. Includes a list of selected resources. (MJP)

Analyzes factors that affect listening as it relates to school band and orchestra rehearsal. Suggest that music selection, rehearsal atmosphere, and techniques that isolate specific sounds and musical elements best help students develop music listening skills. Urges conductors to promote students' active involvement in rehearsals by balancing…

Addresses choral music directors' concerns about ways in which trained and untrained audiences hear and evaluate choral music performances. Considers differing responses to two musical selections. Confirms listening skills are teachable. Offers suggestions for improving listening skills, emphasizing structure in formal auditory training. (CH)

Profiles music scholar Charles L. Seeger and his contribution to U.S. musical life. Seeger played a significant role in introducing vernacular music to schools, extending the definition of U.S. music in the curriculum, presenting music as a cultural subject, and promoting musical diversity in the classroom. (MJP)

Reiterates the common wisdom of teaching the musical sounds before the corresponding signs in early music education. Stresses the phenomenological importance of teaching the relationships among the sounds as part of a tonal unit. Advocates beginning music education with the students' specific musical culture. (MJP)

Describes the development and first-year implementation of a high school madrigal program. The effort has been a resounding success enjoying popular support from the community and providing a creative showcase for the students. Relates those works most popular with audiences and students and includes a list of madrigal resources. (MJP)

Argues music educators must holistically address the subjective side of music listening as well as objective properties. States individual perceptions are neglected and students must experience the balance between subjective and objective realities to fully educate the senses. Advocates critical thinking and moving beyond a technical vocabulary to…

Recommends incorporating a thorough analysis of popular music into the teaching of music appreciation. Considers moving beyond the traditional approach (chronological progression beginning with the medieval period) to include innovative comparisons of different styles, instruments, and historical periods. Includes suggested strategies, activities,…

Profiles four middle school teachers maintaining early chamber music programs. The teachers advise varying degrees of musical competency before students begin the program, but all of them caution against starting too soon. They also stress the importance of purchasing early music scores and establishing rehearsal times. (MJP)

Presents 44 entries from a modern composer and music professors' journal, culled from 1993 to the present. Includes comments and criticisms of composers and musicians, as well as philosophical and practical observations. (MJP)

Examines techniques made possible through computer technology that researchers are using to increase understanding of musical response. Describes the Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI), created at Florida State University's Center for Music Research, that stores responses during music presentation. Outlines several applications of CRDI…

The present chapter offers a general survey of music education in the United States during the past decade and aims to give a bird's-eye view of the whole range of music education in this country during the past decade by discussing briefly a number of the more important fields of this work and some of the more prominent agencies engaged in them.…