Vanity of Vanities or Song of Songs? Music Education from a Biblical Perspective

The last chorus of a beloved gospel hymn reads, “Christ without, all is vain! Christ within, all is gain.” Without Him, life at best is the vanity of vanities with nothing new under the sun. With Him, though, as our regenerated new life within, our life is a continual song of songs, full of meaning, full of potential, full of the life that is the very Christ Himself. To know Him and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10) has been my principal aim since I met Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:10). From my pursuit of truth in both my domestic and my professional stewardship, I can delineate three areas that most importantly affect a child’s development: God, education, and character. Without an accurate knowledge of God as revealed in Scripture, a rigorous education as the foundation for apprehending all the dimensions of Christ (Eph. 3:18), and the development of a proper character, the extent of a person’s usefulness in service to the Master is limited. I believe that our role as educators is to cooperate with the skilled Potter and the wise Master Builder in developing the vessels of honor that will glorify God and be useful to Him. Eph. 2:10 states, “For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (RV). The Greek word for masterpiece here is poiema, a word specifically referring to a work of art. God is producing us, the believers who have been regenerated with His life, and in whom His life is growing unto maturity, as His Body to be the multiplied (Gen. 1:26) and magnified (Phil. 1:20) expression of His son, Jesus Christ. This truly is a masterpiece, a glory to God, and a shame to God’s enemy. I have divided my integration paper into the three sections that correspond to my personal integration of truth and stewardship with the discipline of music, followed by specific applications of truth in music education and of the value of musical training in shaping the character of the man of God

Singing Gesualdo: Rules of Engagement in the Music History Classroom

In our music history classrooms we all want to find ways to make musics of the past relevant and alive. One of these ways is to sing and play our way through the canon of music history. For music majors this can be both daunting and pleasurable at the same time. Depending on the strengths of aural training and the performance areas of the students, these experiences are rewarding in varying degrees. Placing a performance demand on students in a history-based course, however, is tricky, for to put a grade to their work is usually not appropriate or fair, since performance is not one of the learning objectives of the course. We all know, however, that students are driven by grades and need to see how their classroom activities will be rewarded. This paper explores three areas related to the teaching problem presented above. First of all, I seek to present the pedagogy of live engagement and encounters with the content under study. What is the degree of learning that occurs by performing music live? Can that be an improvement on reliable textbook learning, class discussion, and reliable professional recordings? What if the music is too hard to perform and the experiment fails? Second, I will discuss assessment methods for live performance components in traditionally non-performance courses. Third, I will present some of my experiments in the classroom; the good, the bad, and even an ugly one—singing Gesualdo

Ectoparasitic Arthropods Occurring on Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus Collected from Two Properties on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii (Acarina, Siphonaptera, and Anoplura)

Scientific note.A survey of ectoparasites occurring on rats was carried out from August 2006 through February 2007 on two properties on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. From the property in Liliha, a total of 167 Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, were examined. Two species of fleas and four species of mites were collected: oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis, cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, tropical rat mite, Ornithonyssus bacoti, domestic rat mite, Laelaps nuttalli, spiny rat mite, Laelaps echidninus, and house mouse mite, Allodermanyssus sanguineus. From the property in Aiea, a total of 80 black rats, Rattus rattus, were examined. One species of flea, one species of louse, and two species of mites were collected: cat flea, C. felis, sucking louse, Polyplax spinulosa, tropical rat mite, O. bacoti, and house mouse mite, A. sanguineus. This is the first record of the house mouse mite, A. sanguineus, from Hawaii. Ornithonyssus bacoti and A. sanguineus were the predominant species of mites that infested both rodent species. The occurrence of other ectoparasites on the rats caught from the two sites may be affected by different rodent host and other environmental factors

Examining Incoming Credit Differences Between First-Year and Transfer Students

In this study, the difference in the number of initial credits between incoming transfer and first-year students entering a land grant university in a professional education program was examined (N = 488). A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that transfer students transferred significantly more total credits and more credits that counted toward degree programs than did first-year students. Undergraduates who had graduated from small high schools transferred more credits and more credits that counted than did those from large high schools. However, first-year students transferred a significantly higher percentage of total credits that counted toward the degree programs than did transfer students. Implications for advisors, institutions, and policy makers are discussed