Brent M. Gault

Perspectives on the Music Program: Opening Doors to the School Community:

Music educators understand the importance of the arts in schools. Other members of the school community-teachers, administrators, and parents-may share this view yet be unaware of all that transpires in the music classroom once the door is shut. Music educators should consider how they can open their doors to help the community understand how music education contributes to broad educational goals. Developing effective strategies to do so necessitates understanding the views and perspectives of others. Perceptions about music education shape and are shaped by peoples values. The values held by decision makers, at both the local and national levels, have a significant impact on music teaching and learning. For example, recent studies conducted by the Music for All Foundation1 and the Council for Basic Education2 noted declines in instructional time for music and other arts, as well as decreases in the number of music teachers as a result of budgetary and legislative factors. School principals throughout the United States reported that standardized tests, budgets, and the No Child Left Behind Act were all factors that hurt music programs.3 These are a few examples of the ways that the pervasive values in our society and in education can

Classroom Music Experiences of U.S. Elementary School Children: An Analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 1998–1999

The primary purpose of this study was to describe the music experiences elementary school children in the United States receive in the academic classroom setting. The data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K), a nationally representative study that followed kindergarteners through to their eighth-grade school year with the last data collection wave in 2006–2007. The variables pertaining to music experiences in the academic classroom that were available in the ECLS-K were (a) the frequency and duration with which children received music instruction, (b) the frequency that music was used to teach math, and (c) the percentage of children receiving formal music instruction outside of school. Each of these variables also was analyzed as a function of child urbanicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and race. Statistically significant (p < .001) disparities among children based on urbanicity, SES, and race were found on each of the music experience variables. Overall, White suburban students of high levels of SES tended to receive significantly more music experiences than students of color from urban and rural settings and of low SES. The findings support the need to advocate for high-quality music programs for all students and particularly for those from traditionally underserved populations.

Common Ground: Finding Commonalities in Diverse Musical Material

find one of the most interesting phenomena related to music in contemporary society is the tendency to compartmentalize it according to genre. The Web site for Billboard Magazine contains weekly sales charts for music categorized into more than ten genres (www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts /genre_index.jsp), and a genre label is usually the primary way that individuals describe the music they enjoy. Often, people listen to a few genres of music to the exclusion of all others, which can lead to the devaluing of music that falls outside of those specific categories. While it is true that different genres of music have unique characteristics, all genres of music share commonalities as well. With this in mind, one possible way to demonstrate how music of one style relates to music in other styles is through the use of similar musical characteristics. If students are able to see and experience common elements from varied musical examples, they may be more likely to develop an appreciation for styles of music that fall outside the realm of the familiar.