Abstract
Welcome back! We have some wonderful things happening with Update. As of this issue, we are initiating podcasts, and our first session will be with Eugenia Costa-Giomi, addressing her research area of music and intelligence. You can find Update podcasts at http://upd.sagepub.com/. Starting next year Update will be publishing three issues per year, in February, June, and October. This will allow us to publish more outstanding research studies and reviews of literature and get the articles out in a timely fashion.
These changes (and more that are in the works) have come about because of carefully considered suggestions from intelligent people. In my mind, great ideas and progress are what research is all about: systematically investigating theories so that we can move instruction forward. With this spirit in mind, the Update review board members met at the last NAfME conference and pondered how to keep moving our journal’s studies forward so that the articles could be very useful, understandable, and of the highest research quality. From the discussions we decided to add instructions to the submission policy that would align with documented quality standards for research studies in our field; so, when submitting a research study, an author is asked to document (a) validity and reliability procedures for any measurement instruments used in the study, (b) adherence to IRB policies required for studies using human subjects, and (c) avoidance of any overuse of statistics or jargon in a way that would make the article unclear to practitioners. Also, to help new authors have the greatest opportunity for a successful review, the following formatting strategies page was added to the Sage website: Most Common Reviewer Comments Concerning APA Style. All of these items are steps to move our research forward so that the outstanding studies that are published can be pragmatically beneficial to music teachers.
Also in the spirit of continuous improvement for Update, I asked the first editor of Update, Charles Elliott, to comment on Update’s future and past. This is what he said:
In the fall of 1981 I approached William J. Moody, Director of The School of Music at The University of South Carolina, about an idea I had for a new journal for music educators. He was quite receptive, offered support from The School of Music, and Update: The Applications of Research in Music Education became a reality. I quickly called a number of colleagues at universities throughout the country and assembled an advisory board. I then solicited articles from colleagues for the very first issue. In the spring of 1982, Volume I, No. 1, of Update was published and was designated as a “special subscription issue” that was mailed to university music educators throughout the country to solicit subscriptions. The response was overwhelmingly positive. This spring, Update will have been in publication for 32 years, and it has become an important and respected journal in the music education profession. My hope at the very beginning was that Update would be used as a resource in undergraduate music education methods courses, and that has apparently become a reality. In the past 32 years Update has published numerous research based articles in specific areas of music education pedagogy. I would suggest that consideration be given to the publication of special editions of Update devoted to specific areas of music education pedagogy; that is, special education, music reading, etc. These special editions would draw upon the 32 years of articles published in Update, would have a guest editor whose expertise is in the area of the publication, and would be made available to music educators through NAME. Finally, I would like to thank all of the past editors of Update for their hard work and leadership in making Update the success that it has become. I would especially like to thank Debbie Rohwer for allowing me the space to express my thoughts and to think about that time 32 years ago, sitting at my kitchen table wondering if I should approach my department chairman about an idea I had for a new journal.
Dr. Elliott is very wise, and his ideas are important in order to keep us all grounded in the history of our profession, and also to keep moving us all in a positive direction. I would now like to encourage you, wise reader, to give us feedback on what you think would be valuable for Update to add or revise in order to meet your needs. All ideas are welcome. Feel free to e-mail me directly at
For, as Leroy Hood stated,
Don’t underestimate the power of your vision to change the world. Whether that world is your office, your community, an industry or a global movement, you need to have a core belief that what you contribute can fundamentally change the paradigm or way of thinking about problems. (http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2013/06/08/weekend-read-dr-leroy-hood-nonprofits-can-learn-from-startups/)
I truly believe it takes a whole community of scholars to raise a journal, and I look forward to your contribution. I know there are many positive changes coming for Update, and I look forward to working together with you toward this improvement goal. Onward and upward!