International Journal of Music Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate how instruction in the use of rhythmic nuances influences subsequent timings of a musical performance. Volunteer participants were asked to listen to and alter a performance of an excerpt from Mozart’s Concerto for Horn and Orchestra No. 2 and Bach’s Suite Number 3 for Violoncello solo, Bourrèe Number 1. They used recently-developed software that allowed them to control the rhythmic timing of each of the performances without changing any other musical attribute. Forty music majors served as participants for both excerpts in a counter-balanced design. When, after practice, participants generated a performance with which they were pleased, it was saved as a pretest. Students in the treatment group for each piece were taught the rhythmic tendencies that have been identified in the finest performances of these excerpts and practiced them until they felt they were prepared to make a second recording, which was saved as the posttest. Control participants were instructed simply to practice more and to make another, better recording. All note onset data were calculated and analyzed to determine if the experimental groups had successfully integrated the given rhythmic tendencies into their performances. Results indicated that students in the experimental groups did indeed more closely reflect the model professional performances in their posttest performances of both experiments.

In an exploratory study lasting more than 16 weeks, 15 undergraduate and graduate piano students prepared a short piece by the Brazilian composer Guarnieri, Ponteio no. 22, without guidance from their piano teachers. The data that were collected included their performances, interviews pertaining to their practice and stimulated recall interviews. These data were analyzed in terms of the ways of knowing and types of knowledge that are articulated in Davidson and Scripp’s (1992) matrix of cognition skills in music. The data were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The production of representation (outside the actual performance) showed a structural relationship with the local and global information about the piece. In terms of perception, cognitive skills were essentially dependent on expertise levels. Concerning the ways of knowing as reflection, a number of students were able to identify problems outside of their own performance. However, the solutions to these problems were less often planned. In summary, graduate students tended to rely on procedural knowledge, while the undergraduates generally used declarative knowledge. The results suggest that graduate students are more likely to make tacit decisions rather than verbal decisions.

This study investigates pre-service music teacher’s (PSMT) perceptions of their professional identities. University-level education students in the United States America (USA), Spain and Australia were all asked interview questions based on general themes relevant to teacher identity development, and their responses were subjected to content analysis. Similarities were found in their perceptions of the role of ‘music teacher’ and their pre-university experiences/influences. Across the sites it seems that there was a dynamic and shifting relationship between PSMTs’ understandings of themselves as ‘musicians’ or as ‘teachers’ during their university years. This study confirms previous research in the area and contributes to the field in its discovery that these themes are found across three international sites. Implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research and practice.

In this study I set out to investigate why many students drop out from elective instrument programmes, particularly in lower secondary school. I examined the values and beliefs a sample of students in their first year in secondary school attach to learning an instrument, and the impact of the instrument lesson upon these values and beliefs. Forty-eight year 8 students (aged 12–13) from the Perth metropolitan area participated in eight focus groups. The study found that, while participants had strong cognitive and affective reasons for learning, their competence beliefs were fragile, due in part to the dislocation associated with the transition into secondary school. Students revealed a need for a high level of positive reinforcement from their instrument teachers. The findings indicate that competence beliefs can be just as important as values in determining the future enrolment decisions of students of this age. The study concludes that it is important for instrument teachers to understand the unique needs of students transitioning into secondary school, and develop targeted instructional practices accordingly. Addressing the specific needs of lower secondary students represents one effective step in the process of improving retention rates in elective instrumental programmes.

The last decades have witnessed significant growth in music programmes targeted at various populations in detention, including those in male and female prisons and juvenile detention centres. The aspirations of such programmes have included a concern to improve detainees’ mental and physical health and well-being, develop pro-social behaviours that assist in rehabilitation into the community and diminish the incidence of recidivism. In Australia there is an upward trend in the number of young people in detention. The population is overwhelmingly male, disproportionately indigenous, and largely aged between 15 and 17 years. The Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF) has implemented a number of music programmes in juvenile detention centres as a means to assist young people to develop their sense of self-worth, build skills in self-discipline and communication, foster resilience, and re-engage with life and the community. This qualitative case study identifies and documents participants’ perceptions of the learning outcomes (musical and extra-musical) that emerge from participation in an ACMF music programme in one Australian juvenile detention centre and the learning and teaching practices and contextual factors that support these outcomes. Findings indicate that the programme generated significant musical and extra-musical learning outcomes for youth participants. Significantly, engagement in the programme provided a context through which participants developed a ‘learning identity’.

Publicly funded schools are supposed to serve everyone equally in egalitarian, liberal democracies. In this paper we claim that school music ensembles fail, on the whole, to adequately reflect current socio-demographic patterns in both Canada and the United States. From a postcolonial perspective we attempt to problematize, with reference to political philosophy and educational theory, some of the fundamental issues of representation, autonomy, essentialism, and freedom as they relate to school music ensembles.

This article builds on enquiry aimed to discover Kenyan music teachers’ perceptions and expectations of their role; their view of the training they received; head teachers’ perceptions and expectations of the role of the music teacher; and the expectations of both music teachers and head teachers of a music teacher education programme in Kenya. The findings have steered a discussion towards suggestions for an improved framework to guide teacher education for music at all levels of education in Kenya.

Through questionnaires, a sample of 16 music teachers and 11 head teachers recorded their opinion that teachers were not adequately prepared to implement the music programmes; that the role of the music teacher covered in and out of class activities; and that this expectation could only be accomplished with proper academic and professional training. Guided by principles of indigenous African education and learning conceptual orientations, the discussions led to recommendations that call for better grounding of music teachers in the processes of music and ability to facilitate music learning.