Discusses the program called "Sounds of the Desert" that celebrates the Southwest indigenous culture and focuses on understanding music in relation to history and culture. Emphasizes the study of Mariachi music that is being taught alongside band, orchestra, and chorus from the third grade to senior high in many Tucson (Arizona) schools.…

This study is an investigation of what musicians consider to be their aesthetic experience with jazz music selections that vary in level of conceptual advancement (melodic complexity during improvised solos). Music major participants (N = 128) were assigned to either the jazz musician (n = 64) or nonjazz musician (n = 64) group. Data were gathered…

Activities in music class allow students, especially students with hearing impairments, to explore new means of expression and to enhance existing ones. Additional benefits may include increases in auditory awareness, cognitive ability, attention span, memory recall, and vocabulary. Students with hearing impairments can learn and flourish in music…

The "music appreciation as contemplation" paradigm of traditional aesthetics and music education assumes that music exists to be contemplated for itself. The resulting distantiation of music and music education from life creates a legitimation crisis for music education. Failing to make a noteworthy musical difference for society, a politics of…

I used to enjoy art. Not all the arts equally. Overall literature spoke to me most clearly. I am not sure exactly why. I guess some combination of inborn and learned dispositions. Whatever is the case, my enjoyment of literature always seemed natural to me, since literature was of a medium I already knew, the vocabulary and grammar of my own…

Rap, a popular music that emerged in the United States during the 1980s and 90s, is described as a creation of young African American culture. It belongs to a centuries old legacy of using language creatively in everyday life. The roots of the music are seen as part of the African-American oral and musical traditions that encompass the hidden…

Describes an innovative community-based, performance-oriented music appreciation course at Northern Virginia Community College. (NHM)

Concludes that relatives were the most important factor for high culture music listeners while radio was the most important factor for mass culture music listeners. (RB)

Five music appreciation textbooks were compared for selection purposes at Liberty Baptist College. The five textbooks were evaluated by the current instructor of music appreciation classes using the "Textbook Evaluation Form" and the "Textbook Evaluation Worksheet," developed by Crumbly and Copeland. The grade-level of the…

Discussed a curriculum guide through which school children can develop their sensitivity and independence. (Editor/RK)

This guide outlines a music program for kindergarten through grade 6. The developers believe that a knowledge of music will lead to increased enjoyment and participation now and later in life. The bulk of the guide contains a program outline for each grade level. The program is comprised of three categories: objectives (the skill or concept that…

Children are naturally musical and should be musically educated. Music provides a unique way for children to grow intellectually, emotionally and socially. Music fulfills an inner drive to express feelings and experiences in a symbolic, abstract, creative, and acceptable manner which is positive and valued. Musical nurture should begin within the…

Bela Bartok's study of Turkish folk music classification was analyzed using permuted indices by means of GRIPHOS computer programs. A data base was constructed which would allow retrieval of information in terms of theme locater and first text-line indices. Data bases of tabulations much like the kind Bartok manually assembled were created to test…