Music Educators Journal

High school bands should be musically, intellectually, and emotionally stimulating ensembles. Frank L Battisti, conductor of the wind ensemble at New England Conservatory in Boston, lists the ways our bands fall short of this goal and presents some ideas for their improvement.

The teaching of elementary chorus, college music appreciation, and education methods courses can always be directed toward the student. Retired educator Mary Hoffman of Portland, Oregon, draws on her years of experience to tell us how.

Almost all schools own percussion instruments that fascinate most students. J. David Morris and Keith P. Thompson suggest that this equipment be used in upper elementary and secondary general music classrooms.

How can teachers encourage students to use critical thinking to develop listening skills? Lenore Pogonowski, department chairperson for the arts in education at Teachers College Columbia University in New York, believes that dialogues that involve students in analysis can help them become better listeners and musicians.

Zoltán Kodály would be amazed to see how Rochelle Mann has applied his elementary teaching methods to her music theory class at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado.

Around 500 B.C., Confucius said that music should be used for education. Karen C. Rogers, an associate professor of music at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, gives an overview of music learning in the People's Republic of China.