The effects of rote and note teaching on the performance of high school chorus

The purpose of this research is to compare the effects two different teaching techniques-rote and note--have upon high school chorus. Rote instruction involves teaching students who do not have music in front of them. Note instruction involves teaching students who do have music in front of them. The methodology counterbalanced two different high school choirs. Rote and note taught groups were taught four of the same 3-part SAB chorale settings type music. Two recordings were made of each song for each group - once after 30 minutes of instruction and second 24 hours later to test retention. Recordings were randomized and mastered onto CD and given to experts for evaluation. Across the board results were that rote taught groups scored higher than note taught groups on intonation, note accuracy and rhythm. This research does not recommend doing away entirely with note instruction. Rather, this research gives credence to rote as a valid music learning technique, often misunderstood because of the conflicting reports found in the professional literature

Flash Study Analysis and The Music Learning Profiles Project

This paper introduces the Music Learning Profiles Project, and its methodological approach, flash study analysis. Flash study analysis is a method that draws heavily on extant qualitative approaches to education research, to develop broad understandings of music learning in diverse contexts. The Music Learning Profiles Project (MLPP) is an international collaboration to collect and curate a large number of flash studies exploring musicking and music learning in a variety of contexts that fall outside traditional school music education. In this paper the authors present context, rationale, and methods for the project, along with indicative preliminary findings. The project aims to provide an expanding online database of music experiences upon which colleagues in music education and ethnomusicology research can draw, and to which they are invited to contribute. The MLPP aims to benefit the music education community and wider society by helping to democratize research to include more diverse experiences of music learning

The traditional secondary vocal ensemble

© 2020 Taylor and Francis. This chapter provides a model for how learner-centered concepts can work in a secondary choral setting. I share examples for how I (a) established a democratic learner-centered model, (b) facilitated learning in it, (c) fostered musical independence through it, and (d) enabled musical good times to flourish because of it. Some of these processes include embracing notions of hospitality, and blending formal/informal practices/processes. The examples shared within the chapter include how I facilitated learning fostered student choice, and maintained a healthy and viable group democracy

A model for online music education

This chapter proposes a sustainable model for online music education in post-secondary contexts. This model is framed around the intersections and along the continua of formal and informal music teaching/learning, conscious and unconscious knowing/telling, synchronous and asynchronous musical e-spaces/places, currencies, and e-collaboration. The model maintains deterritorialization (i.e., an e-space or e-place without boundary) as a foundational underpinning. The purpose of this chapter is to interrogate notions of online music learning, challenge preconceptions, and leverage innovation and technological advancement to redefine and re-understand how music can be taught and learned in e-spaces and e-places. The chapter can serve to disrupt traditional conceptions of musical teaching/learning. By disrupting the cycle that perpetuates music education at the post-secondary level, this chapter seeks to leverage online innovation, draw out technological inevitabilities, and push the music education profession forward towards new frontiers

Bringing the Outside In: Blending Formal and Informal Through Acts of Hospitality

Through the lens of hospitality, we explored the meanings that members constructed about their experiences within a blended formal/informal college music ensemble. The focus in this ensemble was not on competition and musical excellence but on independent musicianship and praxis. The bandleader had his roots in tradition but his heart in socially relevant pedagogy and favored a less autocratic teaching and learning style. The makeup of the ensemble also included students from both formal and informal backgrounds. Conducting gesture was casual, bandstand formation was loose and free, outfits were expressive of the individual, and tone and balance were more a reflection and celebration of individuals and less of a whole or single sound. Much of the music was performed from standard notation but was chosen collectively, often related to popular contexts, and the overall emphasis was not on uniformity but on individuality and student creativity. Musical decisions often were made democratically, and opinions from within the ensemble were affirmed in the process. The ensemble consisted of a group of approximately 13 members whose experience ranged from beginner to over 30 years and who played everything from violin to iPad. Themes that emerged were inclusivity, autonomy, and affirmation

Online music collaboration project: Digitally mediated, deterritorialized music education

This article investigates and interrogates notions of student-centered music learning through collaboration in digital spaces. By harnessing the power and potential of Internet networks, one music educator in Miami, FL challenged his students to an online music collaboration project (OMCP) where students were asked to engage in deterritorialized collaborations with persons outside their classroom spaces. While in class collaboration was a hallmark of the class in other projects and areas of study, this particular 7-week project specifically targeted deterritorialized student collaborations through networked mediated digital music tools. The data discusses participant perspectives and contextualizes it within implications for music education in an evolving social sphere. The purpose of this research is to shed light on new pedagogies and push boundaries on what constitutes musical sharing places. While the students in this study needed guidance from the teacher/facilitator, the student agency, freedom and flow that resulted from the OMCP revealed an enthusiastic student perspective that was ripe for creativity. Implications for music education include widened notions of what constitutes a musical instruments, musical ensembles and musical venues. Further implications relate to broadened perspectives concerning student-centered learning, constructivist learning in music context and teacher/facilitator roles

Digitally mediated keyboard learning: Speed of mastery, level of retention and student perspectives

In this study, four different media were investigated regarding learning to play keyboard instruments on beginning level musical selections. Among these were Synthesia, eMedia, YouTube piano tutorials and standard Paper Notation. A sample of 564 beginning keyboard instrument students in grades 6–12 was measured on timed learning tasks to determine speed to mastery, level of retention and perspectives. Results indicated that Synthesia was more effective than the other three learning approaches at enabling students to quickly master beginning level songs and retain that information on a post-test seven days later. These data are potentially transformative in providing open access, efficient, relevant, personalized and effective music education experiences to greater numbers of students who might be marginalized

Bringing the Outside In: Blending Formal and Informal Through Acts of Hospitality

Through the lens of hospitality, we explored the meanings that members constructed about their experiences within a blended formal/informal college music ensemble. The focus in this ensemble was not on competition and musical excellence but on independent musicianship and praxis. The bandleader had his roots in tradition but his heart in socially relevant pedagogy and favored a less autocratic teaching and learning style. The makeup of the ensemble also included students from both formal and informal backgrounds. Conducting gesture was casual, bandstand formation was loose and free, outfits were expressive of the individual, and tone and balance were more a reflection and celebration of individuals and less of a whole or single sound. Much of the music was performed from standard notation but was chosen collectively, often related to popular contexts, and the overall emphasis was not on uniformity but on individuality and student creativity. Musical decisions often were made democratically, and opinions from within the ensemble were affirmed in the process. The ensemble consisted of a group of approximately 13 members whose experience ranged from beginner to over 30 years and who played everything from violin to iPad. Themes that emerged were inclusivity, autonomy, and affirmation