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national conference and convention offerings.


Perhaps such change is already afoot in some places, evidenced by blog posts and forums where participants are availing themselves to research-informed articles and conversations about music teaching and learning.iv


Perhaps


it’s also seen in our undergraduate music teacher education classes, when an ambitious future teacher, having been encouraged to reconsider commonplace teaching techniques, raises her hand and asks, “is there any evidence to support that practice?”


And perhaps further change will be seen among teachers themselves — among teachers like you, teachers who read, think, and grapple with research — in innumerable future encounters, individually brief yet collectively profound.


Encounter No. 5.A veteran choir teacher in Dothan visits a first-year teacher in her district whom she’s mentoring, ahead of his building principal’s classroom visit later that week. Mr. Bentley’s groups are impressive and well-disciplined — reflecting his own personality — and have made remarkable progress over the year. Still, knowing that teacher delivery skills are particularly important for the perception of teacher quality among novice teachers and expert observers,v


she


counsels him to increase his “teacher intensity” and “conductor magnitude” in specific, measurable ways.


Encounter No. 6. A middle school band director in Montgomery spends a Saturday morning clicking through an online music catalog. His eighth graders this year seem to be a particularly finicky group; Mr. Sessions wants to find music they’ll like but which still meets his expectations for quality and suitability. Inasmuch as he can, he also wants to find selections which incorporates music from outside Western classical practice, particularly from Asia/Pacific regions. He is concerned about authenticity, but he also carefully considers the tempo, texture, and tonality of each potential selection, knowing that those factors may be crucial in helping students to enjoy music from cultures other than their own.vi


48


A popular quote among religious leaders, often misattributed to St. Francis of Assisi, states “Preach the gospel at all times; use words when necessary.” Many would agree that how we live our lives bears greater witness to our true principles and aspirations than do our words. I submit the same is true for our professional lives, individually and collectively: That music teaching is most elevated when its practitioners allow it to be informed and shaped by the highest levels of scrutiny.


i


For example, Clifford K. Madsen, “ A Personal Perspective for Research,” Music Educators Journal 98, no. 2 (2000): 41–54; James L. Byo, “Research and the Band Director: Marriage not Divorce,” Update: Applications of Research in Music Education 10, no. 1 (1990): 4–9; Richard Colwell, “Research Findings: Shake Well Before Using,” Music Educators Journal 77, no. 3 (1990): 29–34; Rudolf E. Radocy, “The


Encounter No. 7.A general music teacher in Florence visits with a school curriculum committee regarding the staffing plans for a new elementary school in the district. The proposed schedule would offer near-daily music instruction for all students, except for students identified as those with special needs (who would report to the resource room during music time). Ms. Ivey respectfully offers a counter-proposal, whereby those students would be included in the regular music classroom. “integrating these students is much more commonplace nowadays,” she explains. “And I’m confident that this won’t jeopardize the musical achievement of the other students our music programs.”vii


Encounter No. 8.A high school orchestra director in Birmingham coaches his freshman strings class as they begin warm-ups for the day. “Full bows!” he exclaims. “And no vibrato just yet.” His students object. “But we sound so out-of- tune when we don’t use vibrato!” Mr. Folsom smiles. “I know! The vibrato masks our intonation problems… especially for violin.viii


Let’s first focus on


getting the pitches as precise as we can. Then, we’ll build our vibrato upon a foundation of great intonation.”


Research Effort: Why We Care,” Music Educators Journal 69, no. 6 (1983): 29–31.


ii iii “Suspicions,” sixth season, 1993.


See for example Kenneth Elpus, “Is It the Music or Is It Selection Bias? A Nationwide Analysis of Music and Non-Music Students’ SAT Scores,” Journal of Research in Music Education 61, no. 2 (2013): 175–194, which challenges the notion that music participation improves scholastic achievement as measured by the SAT.


Two such examples are The Bulletproof Musician (www.bulletproofmusician.com) and Being Musical, Being Human (http://beingmusicalbeinghuman.com).


iv


Rebecca B. MacLeod and Jessica Nápoles, “The Influences of Teacher Delivery and Student Progress on Experienced Teachers’ Perceptions of


v Teaching Effectiveness,”


Journal of Music Teacher Education, in press [online article published April 16, 2014].


C. Victor Fung, “Undergraduate and Nonmusic Majors’ World Music Preference and Multicultural


vi Attitudes,” Journal of


Research in Music Education 42, no. 1 (1994): 45–57; see also Steven M. Demorest and Sara J. M. Schultz, Children’s Preference for Authentic versus Arranged Versions of World Music Recordings, Journal of Research in Music Education 42, no. 4 (1994): 300–313.


Kimberly VanWeelden and Jennifer Whipple, “Music Educators’


vii Perceived


Effectiveness of Inclusion,” Journal of Research in Music Education 62, no. 2 (2014): 148–160.


viii John M. Geringer, Rebecca B. MacLeod,


Clifford K. Madsen, and Jessica Napoles, “Perception of Melodic Intonation in Performances With and Without Vibrato,” Psychology of Music, in press [online article published May 8, 2014].


Mark Montemayor, Associate Professor of Music, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education at the University of Northern Colorado. He also supervises student teachers and serves as a research consultant for the Center for Integrated Arts Education.


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