David Teachout

Preservice and Experienced Teachers' Opinions of Skills and Behaviors Important to Successful Music Teaching.

The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of preservice teachers and experienced teachers when asked, “What skills and behaviors are important to successful music teaching in the first three years of experience?” The sample consisted of randomly selected groups of preservice teachers (n = 35) and experienced teachers (n = 35). Subjects were given a list of teacher skills/behaviors and asked to rate the level of importance of each item using a 4-point Likert-type scale. For each item, the mean score for both groups was calculated and used to determine rank order. Of the 10 top-ranked items for each group, 7 were common to both groups. On 6 of the 40 items, there existed a difference of 10 or more rankings between the groups. Nine of the 40 items were ranked equally or within one ranking of each other. As an ex post facto measure, each of the items was placed into one of three broad skill categories (personal, musical, or teaching). A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to determine that both groups rated personal skills and teaching skills as significantly more important than musical skills.

Authentic-Context Learning Activities in Instrumental Music Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the frequency of particular authentic-context learning (ACL) activities during undergraduate instrumental music teacher training and the initial teaching performance (ITP) of undergraduate instrumental music student teachers. Subjects (N = 30) were instrumental music student teachers at four major universities. Four ACL activities, identified from the literature and limited to instrumental music settings, included (a) early field experience teaching episodes, (b) peer-teaching episodes, (c) episodes of subjects watching videotapes of their teaching, and (d) episodes of subjects watching videotapes of their teaching with a coaching instructor. ITP was determined by evaluating teaching episodes, which occurred within the first 3 weeks of student teaching, using the Survey of Teaching Effectiveness (Hamann & Baker, 1996). Significant correlations were found between ITP and three of the four ACL activities. In addition, an overall ACL experience value was calculated and categorized into high, medium, and low levels. Those with a high level of ACL experiences were significantly better teachers than those with medium or low levels of ACL experiences.

Incentives and Barriers for Potential Music Teacher Education Doctoral Students

The purpose of this study was to examine positive influences and barriers associated with entering a music teacher education doctoral program. Practicing music educators (N = 63), were asked to rate 48 positive-influence items and 54 barrier items. The highest-ranked positive influence was “Trainingyoung teachers to provide worthwhile educational experiences for their students, ” while the highest-ranked barrier item was “Reduction of income while working on the degree.” Using the top 21 positive-influence items and the top 21 barrier items, two factor-analysis procedures were calculated to determine whether positive-influence and barrier items could be reduced to a smaller number of discrete factors. Four positive-influence factors (“Prestige of and Connection with Faculty/University, ” “Desire to Affect Future Music Teachers, ” “Desire to Learn, ” and “Personal/Professional Future”) and two barrier factors (“Financial Challenges” and “Family/Time Considerations”) were identified.

The Effect of Teacher Role Development Training on Undergraduate Music Education Majors: A Preliminary Study

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of teacher role development training on undergraduate music education majors’ teaching effectiveness, attributions for success and failure in music teaching, and confidence to continue pursuing a music teaching career. Participants (N = 18) included students who had received teacher role development training (n = 9) and students who had not received such training (n = 9). Participants completed the Concerns, Attributions, and Confidence Measure. Participants’ teaching effectiveness was determined using the Survey of Teaching Effectiveness. No significant differences were found between the two groups for any dependent variables; however, main effect differences were found among levels of concerns and among areas of attribution for success or failure in teaching.

Understanding the Ties that Bind and the Possibilities for Change.

The author describes how contemporary music education at the secondary level has fallen short of Dr. Charles Leonhards vision for developing musical understanding and musical responsiveness in all students and cites several historical events as pivotal in promoting the professions current path. The author then challenges this generalization by describing the professional practices of a forward-thinking high school band director who epitomizes Leonhards ideal of a music teacher and serves as a model for professional dispositions. The author also offers social interaction theory as a promising foundation on which to assemble a music teacher education program capable of producing teachers with dispositions that serve the highest goals of the music education profession.

Genre identification of very brief musical excerpts

The purpose of this study was to examine how well individuals were able to identify different music genres from very brief excerpts and whether musical training, gender and preference played a role in genre identification. Listeners were asked to identify genre from classical, jazz, country, metal, and rap/hip hop excerpts that were 125, 250, 500, or 1000 ms in length. Participants (N = 347), students recruited from three college campuses in the southeast region of the USA, were found to be quite successful in identifying the genre of brief excerpts, even at 125 ms. Length of excerpt significantly affected participants’ ability to identify genre with longer time lengths leading to greater accuracy. Classical, metal, and rap/hip hop excerpts were correctly identified more often than were country or jazz excerpts. Further, there were many distinct interactions across lengths among genres. Musical training did not affect participants’ ability to identify excerpts overall or by length, but training was found to affect genre identification: those with training were better able to identify classical and jazz excerpts while those without training were better able to identify rap/hip hop excerpts. Gender did not affect participants’ ability to identify excerpts overall or by length, but gender was found to affect genre identification: males were better able to identify metal excerpts. Preference did affect participants’ ability to identify excerpts; most favorite genres were identified more accurately than all other genres and least favorite genres were identified less accurately than all other genres. In general, these findings support a primary conclusion that people are adept at identifying particular genres when presented with excerpts that are one second or less.