Physical education teachers who are looking for creative activities that engage students and that meet national and state standards for learning, may find "Balls and Beats" as a perfect solution. "Balls and Beats", in a fun and dynamic atmosphere, covers all the basic needs for effective student learning based upon the the…

This article presents an approach to music listening that creates spaces for critical literacy, inviting music educators to consider critical literacy practices when listening and responding to music. We begin with a discussion of critical literacy pedagogy in the context of music education followed by a sample flexible lesson plan that uses…

This article examines possibilities for addressing the need to relate learning in music to learning in other disciplines through developing a third space where students are invited to bring their own knowledge, imagination, and ideas to a music curriculum. The article explores the connections between third-space learning, composing, and arts…

Musical independence has always been an essential aim of musical instruction. But this objective can refer to everything from high levels of musical expertise to more student choice in the classroom. While most conceptualizations of musical independence emphasize the demonstration of knowledge and skills within particular music traditions, this…

Belly dance is a folk dance with a history that can be traced back to the beginnings of civilization. It is a form of expression and movement that has been used for hundreds of years in religious ceremonies, birthing rituals, and social and familial gatherings in the Middle East. Students of belly dance can increase their muscular strength and…

Music teachers often include in their lessons activities that promote music literacy, such as manipulation of icons to show high versus low or long versus short, learning note names both melodically and rhythmically, and improvising on pitched and nonpitched instruments. Additionally, the National Standards for music education address literacy…

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…

Most teachers agree that a demonstration can be more effective than a verbal description. Math teachers model multiplication exercises, and physical education teachers model how to throw a ball. Likewise, music teachers model correct embouchure. Modeling can help students understand music concepts that are difficult to explain verbally, and visual…

"Proceedings of International Conference on Humanities, Social and Education Sciences" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Humanities, Social and Education Sciences (iHSES), which took place on July 15-19, 2020, in Washington, D.C. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, to…

Teaching musical vocabulary in a middle school general music class can often be challenging to the performance-based teacher. This article provides several teaching strategies for approaching words from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint. Based on a dialectical "this-with-that" approach by Estelle Jorgensen, this article argues that…

The importance of music improvisation can be seen in its inclusion in the National Standards for Music Education and the accreditation standards for the National Association of Schools of Music. The purpose of this study was to examine the pedagogical techniques and materials of improvisation instructors who do not hold academic credentials. The…

Four-year-olds are still learning through discovery of materials. They are excited to share what they have been doing with their parents. And although they are capable of working together under the direction of the teacher, they are much more excited to share individually. This article illustrates how family day in the 4-year-old music class can…

In this time of national curriculum re-thinking, tertiary institutions are positioned to create opportunities amongst pre-service teachers for the cultivation of knowledge, skills and understandings concerning cultural diversity in music education. The demographic profile of the State of Victoria is the most culturally diverse in Australia and the…

The Connecting Parents with Learning Project (CPLP) is an attempt to involve parents in learning standards-based content along with their children. The CPLP can be especially effective in connecting with parents of different cultures because the children teach the parents. Furthermore, it removes the mystery of what the students are studying by…

Media consolidation and convergence have increasingly changed the way individuals as both consumers and citizens access, process, and communicate information at the local, national, and global levels. Media industries and institutions influence public perception and occupy our time at work and at home more and more. Media literacy has become…