Update: Applications of Research in Music Education

Sustaining or increasing participation in school choral programs is a priority among choral music educators. Motivation frameworks are helpful tools for understanding why students start, stop, or sustain involvement in activities. In this article, I explore some of the sociopsychological factors associated with choral music participation through the lens of two motivation frameworks: Self-determination theory (SDT) and Expectancy-value theory (EVT). First, I use SDT to highlight classroom characteristics that encourage intrinsic motivation and sustain long-term engagement in choir. Second, I explore how concepts from EVT are important to consider when designing a choral program and the associated recruiting strategies. Finally, I frame choral music participation as an inherently complex phenomenon—differences between enrollment rates and program characteristics are to be expected and welcomed, given the numerous ways motivational factors and school environments influence involvement. I briefly address each motivation theory followed by multiple classroom applications.

Music educators are exploring ways to implement peer-assisted learning in their classrooms in an effort to foster a more inclusive and collaborative learning environment. By observing students in peer teaching roles, teachers can gain information related to individual levels of social appropriateness as well as skill comprehension, and additional individual repetitions of skill sequences can occur during a class period. In this research to resource article, I discuss research literature related to academic, social, and emotional benefits of peer-assisted learning. Two prominent approaches, cross-age peer tutoring and reciprocal peer tutoring, are outlined and the merits of each approach discussed. Strategies for successfully implementing peer-assisted learning in the music classroom are presented. Intelligently preparing peer-assisted learning and objectively assessing the outcome could allow this teaching and learning strategy to become a valuable part of a music teacher’s classroom routine and instructional toolkit.

The purpose of this review of literature was to investigate the unique issues facing female band directors at the high school and college levels. A search of 5 different databases was conducted, and 39 studies met the inclusion criteria for this study. Results of this review of literature are presented according to the following themes: (a) historical background, (b) underrepresentation and lack of female mentors, (c) motherhood, and (d) discrimination. Although the number of female high school and college band directors continues to increase, there are many different issues that women may face professionally. Despite these issues, women continue to persevere as they fight for their place on the podium. Recommendations for female music educators are provided, as well as suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the experiences of four elementary general music teachers (first year, early-career, mid-career, late-career) during the time of COVID-19. We considered impacts on the participants’ instruction and professional lives from data that were collected throughout the 2020–2021 academic year. Participants reported changes to their teaching environments, schedules, and job responsibilities. They shared the technology resources they implemented and highlighted inequities that emerged for virtual versus in-person students. Participants provided insight into the impacts of the year on their personal lives as well. Our implications include considerations for music teachers, music teacher educators, and school administrators as a result of participants’ experiences.

Elementary general music teachers encounter challenging behaviors in the music classroom when teaching students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD), which require prevention and response. In this article, I reviewed literature on pedagogical strategies and interventions for students with EBD in the elementary general music classroom. The review is organized as follows: (a) introduction and process, (b) overview of trauma, (c) overview of EBD, (d) principles of trauma-informed care, and (e) summary and recommendations. Through this review, I present current knowledge on best practices for understanding and framing the unique behavioral needs of special learners with EBD through a trauma-informed lens.

As teaching and learning experiences broaden to include more technological innovations, methods of instruction and resource flexibility are becoming increasingly important for educators and students. Open educational resources (OER) have gained international appeal for such flexibility, and post-secondary institutions are at the forefront of creating access to them. Although research related to OER has increased, few researchers have focused on OER in music instruction. In my cross-sectional survey of music faculty in the United States (N = 409), I found that music faculty were generally unaware of OER although most participants would consider adopting an open textbook for a course. Motivating factors for adoption included ease of use and decreased costs for students, whereas time and financial support would be necessary for adoption to be feasible.

Recent curriculum policy changes in British Columbia (BC) require that educators in all subject areas—including music—embed local Indigenous knowledge, pedagogies, and worldviews in their classes. Yet facilitating such decolonizing cross-cultural music education activities requires knowledge that music educators may not currently possess. We use four models created by an Indigenous Arts scholar to examine the interface of Indigenous and Western art musics in performing arts settings: (a) integration, (b) nation-to-nation music trading and reciprocal presentation, (c) a combination of the first two models, and (d) non-integrative encounters that are in relationship but have irreconcilable elements. We consider the applicability of these models in music education settings, using them to analyze our findings from a study in which we explored the ways teachers have embedded local First Nations songs and drumming in classes in a single metropolitan school district in BC.