Before our current notation system was widely adopted by musicians, improvisation was a key component of music throughout the Western world. One of the fundamental elements of the baroque style, namely, using improvised embellishment, offered musicians great artist liberty. During the baroque period, improvisation spread across Europe and beyond.…

This article describes the process used to develop and assess an NSF-funded instructional innovation: an online collection (https://www.CAUSEweb.org/smiles/) of 28 interactive songs of high esthetic quality designed to span literature-based learning objectives of introductory statistics that develop statistical literacy and reasoning. The…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the engagement of creativity within choral classes. Participants rated their perceptions of the degree to which certain activities were creative. Middle/high school chorus students (N = 314) and teachers (N = 11) completed a survey…

To mark the centennial of "Music Educators Journal" ("MEJ"), this article explores the relationship of music education and the making of musical America across the century. Several interwoven themes are developed to show changing narratives of American music and music education, using voices from the pages of "MEJ."…

Songwriting is a form of composition that relates directly to adolescents' personal experience of music. This article provides a rationale for establishing courses in songwriting at the middle school and high school levels. Other topics in the article include curriculum development, instructional procedures, and assessment. The article ends with…

The aim of this research is to prepare undergraduate music education students for a course model to write songs accompanied with one voice and show the functionality of its application. A first lesson was given to selected working groups and were asked to write children's songs accompanied. It was accompanied by the model described in writing…

Conventional music learning in schools could benefit from the study of the music from films, television, and video games. This article offers practical applications for including film music as an outlet for analysis, an interdisciplinary compositional art form, a viable teaching tool, and an authentic performance/production experience. Music…

Today, some of the important dilemmas of music education are that performers are too dependent on the notes in a written musical score and they are not being so able to improvise. Stage phobia, lack of motivation and problematic of perception regarding today's modern music are additional problems facing musicians. This research aims at revealing…

This article examines the wider meanings of collective inquiries, creative collaboration and learning at work through analyzing a teacher's learning process when plunging into collaborative inquiry and creation with the students in primary classroom context. The incorporation of "songcrafting" into the existing practice of singing…

As we approach the year 2020, it is important to consider the impact of the Housewright Symposium, and to evaluate the development of music education since the publication of the "Housewright Declaration". The purpose of this article was to (1) examine music education in America through the lens of selected "we agree"…

In this study, I explored children's development of rhythmic music literacy using a language acquisition paradigm. An emergent, constructivist curriculum was implemented over one academic year with 39 children, 5-8 years old. Children were involved in audiation-based active listening, singing, moving, chanting, and playing instruments and engaged…

Herein, Tricia Tunstall presents a critique of the article by Melissa Lesniak published in the December 2012 "Music Educators Journal," and offers a new perspective on the Venezuelan youth orchestra program known as "El Sistema." The program, which began in Caracas thirty-eight years ago, is dedicated to changing the lives of…

Typical group activities for kindergarten children depend heavily on children's ability to follow directions, respond verbally to adults' prompts, take turns, initiate, and sustain peer interactions. Therefore, young children with autism may often be excluded from academic group activities because their social skills are under-developed or delayed…

Score study combines the task of what music educators do to prepare for class everyday with many of the components that are taught in collegiate theory classes. While non-research articles have cited the practical application of score study techniques, there is a need for research on score study to describe the ways choral educators pragmatically…

A conversation between the Director of the University of Manchester's Science & Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub and the Education Director of England's Halle Orchestra explores the relationship unfolding between science and music. The interview focuses on synergies between music and science and how the two subjects can…