This article explores the possibilities for effecting Transformative Learning in students of German language and culture through the use of popular music videos, in both the target and the students' own languages. Transformative Learning, a term that has differing valences in numerous academic disciplines, is employed here in its social-scientific…

Students pursuing college degrees in fields other than music must often take a music or arts course. Teaching these non-majors has been a traditional responsibility of college and university music departments. While experts agree that a single, widely accepted approach to teaching the non-major is unavailable, many experts concur that developing…

Music educators can nurture students' lifelong musical involvement, both as consumers and as participants. Orienting musical instructional practices around classroom elements suggested by achievement goal theory can foster lifelong musical connections. Practices related to using meaningful and challenging tasks, evaluations that decrease emphasis…

Only a few of the author's music students are dedicated to music as a possible career. Most squeeze their lessons in between soccer tournaments and play practices, homework and a social life. As their only musical outlet, the author feels a double responsibility. Her goal is to open children's minds and hearts to the world of music--for them to…

Spirituality and religion are not synonymous and, in fact, require not only different definitions but also appropriate vocabulary. A deeper discussion of the issues concerning spirituality ensues in several sections: 1) fundamental differences between spirituality and religion; 2) brain operations relative to transcendent states; 3) a definition…

Unlike the other arts, music has no direct connection with the rest of the human world. True, there are bird songs and natural "melodies" in the gurgling of brooks, but these are hardly the materials of music in the way that landscape can be the subject of painting. And no natural sounds can stand alone as quasi-artworks the way that the deeply…

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between institutional and instructor characteristics and the assignment of the concert report within American college music in general studies courses. Four research questions were addressed: (1) Do significant differences exist in instructor practices regarding the assignment of, and…

This article offers one approach to exploring the question of in what sense music educators can speak of music and its moving power as spiritual by inquiring into what might count as a "musical spiritual experience" in emotional terms. The essay's analytic framework employs the distinction between two related concepts which I call the "shiver" and…

Given the increasing interest in musico-literary studies, I wish to examine some ways in which music can be used for pedagogical purposes in teaching literature. It has been widely recognized that music and poetry sprang from the common origin of chant or incantation. Throughout the ages, the sister arts sometimes went hand in hand and sometimes…

This study aims to explore the effectiveness of computer-assisted musical instruction (CAMI) in the Learning Chinese Musical Instruments (LCMI) course. The CAMI software for Chinese musical instruments was developed and administered to 228 students in a vocational high school. A pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design with three…

This article discusses the numerous benefits of employing contrast-and-compare lessons in music education settings. Such activities focus on the elements of music through the higher-order thinking processes of analyzing, comparing, organizing, and evaluating. They also integrate with the teaching goals and practices of many general educators in…

This article provides general music teachers with resources they can use in their class to: (1) introduce the instrument to their students; (2) energize and reshape their students' attitudes toward the instrument; (3) show older students who are very musical recorder and low flute players who share their love of the instruments through podcasts…

Leadership and music are two topics that are rarely mentioned together. However, their universal, intriguing, and complex nature allows a unique framework for helping individuals learn leadership concepts. In this paper several songs have been selected from various music genres. Each demonstrates elements of leadership. Aspects of popular culture…

Tradition has it that the best way to familiarize oneself with a musical work is to attend a live performance. Teachers urge promising students to frequent concert halls, clubs, or stadia. Musicologists typically adopt the perspective of an ideal concert-goer when arbitrating matters of interpretation or evaluation. In this article, the author…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether differences exist with regard to music achievement, music self-concept, or student course satisfaction among students enrolled in four different sections of an undergraduate music appreciation course taught from chronological or sociocultural approaches in online or face-to-face formats.…