The article is based on a phenomenological way of thinking about knowledge and learning and will treat the concepts of response and critical friends as ways of sharing experience in higher music education. The problem area I want to illuminate is how teachers, who educate musicians, can use and facilitate development of their students' skills…

Any seasoned band teacher can attest to the challenge of teaching percussion. Many young percussionists face a sense of alienation from the rest of the ensemble because of a perception that percussionists have a lesser understanding of music than other instrumentalists. This perception has improved because many schools now include bell kits in…

The best moments happen when students begin to realize how much power they have and use that power to create. Composing as they master different instrumental stages helps students make composition and performance a natural step in learning. A step-by-step process (rhythm notation, add pitches, copy to a five-line staff, check work, and play) keeps…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the tonal perception and restoration of thirds within power chords with the instruments and sounds idiosyncratic to the Western rock/pop genre. Four separate chord sequences were performed on electric guitar in four versions; as full chord and power chord versions as well as under both clean-tone and…

This article explores the relationship between ideas about the role and purpose of music introduced in the major publications of Charles Darwin, and the fields of child development, music education and pedagogy. It also considers the significant influence on Darwin's work of his own biography and family life. In the global village of…

This article looks at the iPad's role as a musical instrument through the lens of a live performance ensemble that performs primarily on iPads. It also offers an overview of a pedagogical model used by this ensemble, which emphasizes musician autonomy in small groups, where music is learned primarily through aural means and concerts are…

This article describes a collaborative clinical field experience initiative conceived to provide meaningful fieldwork for preservice music educators, musically engage underserved students in a high-poverty school, and include instruction on composition and improvisation. The author chronicles the planning, implementation, and subsequent revisions…

This column presents an account of the Homebrew Ukulele Union: an ensemble where students build their own instruments, write their own compositions and arrangements, and organize performances in the local community. One author, a member of the group, presents the student perspective on building, learning, leading, and performing, whereas the…

In this article, the historical roots of tablature for stringed instruments are noted, and the use of tablature is explained. Modern guitar tablature is then shown and explained, and the author leads the reader through the basics of using Guitar Pro 6, a guitar tablature program that simultaneously displays standard Western staff notation. The…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effect of ear playing instruction on adult amateur wind instrumentalists' musical self-efficacy. Ten volunteer members of a community band in a small town in Ohio completed the "Ear Playing Profile" both prior to and following an eight-week period of instruction in playing by ear…

Sheet music, song lyrics, and audio recordings may not be the first primary sources that come to mind when considering ways to teach about changes brought about by technology during westward expansion, but these sources engage students in thought provoking ways. In this article the author presents a 1917 photograph of Mountain Chief, of the Piegan…

Musical scores constitute a key element in the development of expertise in musicians from western tonal traditions, since they act as a mediator between the performer and the music itself. Our aim was to study the role of musical scores in instrumental performance practice by analysing the process of learning a new piece of music, as well as the…

In this case study, the author investigated intersections of secondary students' musical engagement in a Songwriting and Technology Class (STC) and outside of school. The study traces the experiences of three individual participants and three participant groups (six embedded cases in total) in the creation, performance, recording, and production…

The purpose of this study was to examine collaborative composing in high school string chamber music ensembles. Research questions included the following: (a) How do high school string instrumentalists in chamber music ensembles use verbal and musical forms of communication to collaboratively compose a piece of music? (b) How do selected variables…

Improvisation--the act of spontaneously creating music, as opposed to playing music that is strictly pre-composed--is a practice that has most often been taught only in the context of jazz in the classroom. But it has actually been part of many more musical traditions, cultures, and periods. Classical icons like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven,…