In this study, we examined demographic patterns of participation and persistence in high school elective music ensembles. We extend prior research that has only compared music and non-music students by explicitly modeling persistence across multiple years of ensemble enrollment. The research draws on data from the High School Longitudinal Study of…

To better understand existing ensemble requirements for music education majors at U.S. institutions, we conducted a content analysis of ensemble requirements for 1,021 degree programs at 465 colleges and universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). The mean number of ensemble credits required for each degree…

This study had two primary purposes: (1) to investigate the effect of register, direction, and magnitude on musicians' evaluation of chamber ensemble intonation, and (2) determine whether a novel nonparametric technique, ordinal pattern analysis (OPA), was a viable alternative to repeated-measures analysis of variance (rANOVA). I digitally…

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which impostor feelings and selected demographic variables predict burnout among undergraduate music education majors. Participants (N = 143) completed the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Students. Overall, participants reported relatively high…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two pre-tuning vocalization behaviors (humming and singing) on the tuning accuracy of woodwind and brass instrumentalists. Undergraduate collegiate musicians (N = 72) performed a sustained stimulus pitch (concert B-flat) while engaging in one of the two conditions or the control condition…

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between curricular high school music participation, academic achievement, and social-emotional learning. The analysis involved a "doubly robust" approach combining propensity score weighting and nested multiple regression using data from the nationally representative High School…

According to music educators, persistence beyond a student's initial enrollment in middle and high school music is a problem; however, there has been little research to substantiate this claim. Although several recent large-scale, longitudinal studies of initial selection into music classes have been conducted, longitudinal studies on who…

The purpose of this study was to examine participants' (college band and choral musicians, N = 143) perceptions of conductor clarity and expressivity after viewing band and choral directors conducting with or without a baton. One band and one choral conductor each prepared and conducted two excerpts of Guy Forbes's "O Nata Lux", a piece…

This study was an investigation of middle and high school students' preferences for various music learning conditions and secondary music course offerings. The stratified random sample included students who were and were not enrolled in school music classes (N = 827). Participants represented secondary school music students (n = 369), students who…

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine student outcomes of a curriculum designed to address the overlapping aims and practices of music education and multicultural education ideals in a fifth-grade music class. The following questions guided the research: What are the student outcomes as a result of a traditional music curriculum…

We studied music majors' perception of intonation in accompanied solo performances of trumpet, violin, and voice. We were interested in whether listeners would judge pitch deviations of equal magnitude in the three solo performances as equivalent in intonation. Participants were 150 graduate and undergraduate music majors drawn from two large…

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,…

Listener perception of musical expression in collaborative performance was explored in this study. Performances of two duos (a violinist and pianist, and a vocalist and pianist) were recorded. The level of expressivity of the violinist and vocalist remained stylistically appropriate during pieces; however, the pianist alternated between very…

We investigated the effects of expressive and unexpressive conducting on secondary school band members' and experts' audio evaluations of band performance expressivity. A conductor, who demonstrated either expressive or unexpressive conducting techniques, led both an eighth-grade and a high school band in four separate "run-throughs" of…

The purpose of this study was to observe, analyze, and document the range of young children's interactions with sound-producing objects in order to better understand the nature of such interactions. Of particular interest was whether theories of cognitive play, social play, object play, and existing research on musical play could guide…