Journal of Research in Music Education

The purpose of this study was to research the repertoire selection practices of high school choral directors. The 104 directors who participated in the study were selected from two groups: (a) directors identified as outstanding and (b) directors selected from the remaining population. Interviews, a written survey, and solicited programs were used to collect the data. Results suggest that the repertoire selection practices used by directors are not structured. Although directors consider a wide variety of criteria to be influential in the selection process, criteria do not seem to be consistently or systematically applied. The relative influence of individual criteria varies depending on the style of repertoire under consideration. Furthermore, demographic characteristics such as teaching experience, program size, and the socioeconomic composition of the school may also influence repertoire selection practices. Although similarities among directors regarding the selection process were identified, there were differences between the selection practices of “outstanding” directors and directors not so identified with respect to the balance of repertoire that directors believe students should sing and the relative importance and use of selection criteria.

Undertaken to investigate and describe the literature performed with a population of “beginning” high school choirs, this study is a survey of 263 MENC high school choral directors. From the 80% responses, 5 categories were analyzed: demographic information, repertoire selection criteria, literature sources, types of literature performed, and recommended repertoire for beginning high school mixed choirs. Chi-square and Kendall's tau-b analyses produced only one significant relationship. Additional findings in the study revealed that directors selected repertoire for advanced and beginning choirs similarly and that directors valued concerts, choral reading sessions, personal choral libraries, and recordings. Directors indicated that they programmed 20th-century literature most frequently and most successfully. Few similarities were found when selections recommended by directors were compared with a large published list.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the frequency of particular authentic-context learning (ACL) activities during undergraduate instrumental music teacher training and the initial teaching performance (ITP) of undergraduate instrumental music student teachers. Subjects (N = 30) were instrumental music student teachers at four major universities. Four ACL activities, identified from the literature and limited to instrumental music settings, included (a) early field experience teaching episodes, (b) peer-teaching episodes, (c) episodes of subjects watching videotapes of their teaching, and (d) episodes of subjects watching videotapes of their teaching with a coaching instructor. ITP was determined by evaluating teaching episodes, which occurred within the first 3 weeks of student teaching, using the Survey of Teaching Effectiveness (Hamann & Baker, 1996). Significant correlations were found between ITP and three of the four ACL activities. In addition, an overall ACL experience value was calculated and categorized into high, medium, and low levels. Those with a high level of ACL experiences were significantly better teachers than those with medium or low levels of ACL experiences.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of school enrollment, distance to audition site, sex of auditionees, and instrument type on the results of the 1992–97 South Dakota all-state band auditions. Results include the following: (1) total audition scores were better for students from larger schools and for those who traveled a shorter distance to the audition; (2) female students' scores were significantly better than those of male students, but there was no significant difference in the percentages of successful auditions between males and females; (3) scores differed significantly between instrument groups, with flutes and double reeds receiving the best scores, followed by saxophones, trumpets and French horns, low brass and string basses, and clarinets; and (4) the variables of distance to audition site, instrument group, and sex accounted for 11% of the variance in total audition scores.

The purposes of this investigation were to describe adults' perceptions of piano study, to identify their music and nonmusic interests, and to describe perceptions of home influences related to music. Of the 564 respondents who returned completed questionnaires, 58% studied piano only as children, 15% studied both as children and as adults, and 3% studied only as adults. Those who studied as children cited parents' decision for beginning lessons. Adults were motivated to begin or resume lessons for reasons of skill development and personal pleasure. Three-fourths of respondents reported receiving personal benefits from piano playing, and over half continue to play. Perceptions of piano skills and ratings of lessons were positively related to perceptions of other aspects of lessons, practicing, and playing. This study has implications for instructors of piano in creating a positive environment to promote lifelong enjoyment of piano playing.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of modeling conditions and tempo patterns on the performance of high school instrumentalists. The independent variables of this study were (a) model versus no model and (b) steady increase of tempo versus performance speed tempo versus alternating (slower and faster) tempos. Subjects (N = 60) were high school wind instrumentalists from the American Midwest and South. Subjects sight-read an étude and then practiced the same étude six times using one of six practice conditions that combined the two independent variables. Subjects then performed a posttest on the same étude. Dependent measures were pretest-posttest gain score comparisons (as percentages) of correct pitches and rhythms as well as overall percentages of tempo gains. Results demonstrated the with-model condition to be superior to the no-model condition in rhythm percentage gain and tempo percentage gain. Tempo patterns had no significant effect on results.