Frederick Burrack

Growing a New Generation of Music Teachers.

music teachers, Martin Bergees 2001 survey | of MENC collegiate members revealed that a ! majority of music education majors decided i to become music teachers while still in high school and 14 percent during their elemen| tary or middle school years.3 j Bergees findings showed what influenced i these college students to become music | educators: • The most influential person was their high school music teacher. • The most influential experiences were high school instrumental and choral ensembles. • The most influential events were participating in solo/ensemble festivals and honor groups, such as all-states.4

Using Videoconferencing for Teacher Professional Development and Ensemble Clinics

Videoconferencing technology can create opportunities to offer music teachers specific feedback that is crucial to satisfying their developmental needs by providing direct impact on instruction through online ensemble clinics.

Engaging Elementary-Age Children with Opera

Can elementary-age children become engaged with opera? An examination of the research about opera written for an audience of children reveals that the use of opera as an art form for the education of children is a recent phenomenon. Prior to the 1950s, children were not expected to participate as observers of opera, and children were not used as actors in opera (Reel, 1981). Recent studies about opera attendance and choice of opera as a genre reveal that those who attend the opera are more likely to attend if they have been exposed to opera experiences at an early age (Cherbo & Peters, 1995; Peterson & Sherkat, 1995). Familiarity is one issue related to attendance preference of arts events, indicating a need to attend live opera in order to understand the genre of opera (Bergonzi & Smith, 1996). Other research highlights the need for children to participate in performing, hearing, and observing genres of music in order to improve their skills in analysis, evaluation, and perception (Hewitt, 1993; Persky, Sandene, & Askew, 1997; Sims, 1992). Research about participation in the arts as a child and preference for opera have indicated that children should be provided experiences viewing live performances in order to become adult patrons and audience members. A study by Clary (1979) reinforces the idea of using early performance experiences to expose students to a variety of genres and encourage later participation. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of predesigned instructional material upon students’ affective attitude toward music as a genre. The opera program at a midsized university started a touring program highlighting operas written for children, to enhance performance opportunities for undergraduate and graduate vocal students. The opera director, who had prior experience directing children’s operas, believed that “performance of operas arranged specifically for children is an excellent way to prepare college students for a career as opera professionals while reaching out to the community.” The music education department saw an additional opportunity to provide valuable curriculum development experiences for their music teacher education students and to explore the teachers’ perceptions of elementaryand middle-school-age children’s attitudes toward opera. This collaborative project involved university opera students, a community children’s chorus, the university music education department, and local public school districts. Local elementary and middle school classroom teachers received preperformance instructional materials, including possible implementation ideas for instruction in a variety of curriculum areas.

Enhancing interaction between university & public school music teachers: the designand impact of a local needs assessment project.

University faculty have the awesome responsibility of overseeing the placement and supervision of music education student teachers. Familiarity with public school music programs and their instructors is an essential component of this responsibility. As new faculty members at a large midwestern university music education program, it was necessary for us to become familiar with the nature of music instruction in local school systems. In doing so, we confirmed a need for enhanced communication between the schools and the university. Initiating dialogues with school music teachers was important in better guiding the placement of music student teachers in the field and also for becoming familiar with the particular needs of these local school music programs. What developed from this need for enhanced communication was an assessment study to initiate conversations with practicing music teachers and to observe them in their teaching environments.

The Impact of Budget Cutbacks on Music Teaching Positions and District Funding in Three Midwestern States

The purpose of this study was to investigate the existence and impact of budgetary cutbacks to music teaching positions and district funding in three Midwestern states, namely Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. The results revealed cuts to staffing and district funding of music programs without a reduction in student enrollments in 2011–2012 following a downward trend the previous 3 to 4 years. Increases in teaching responsibilities and student fees were also trends. Based on collected data, staffing and budgetary reductions will continue to increase teacher workloads. Recommendations are provided for music education advocates, music teacher education programs, and state music education organizations to adapt to changing fiscal realities and needs of schools.

Encouraging Students to Consider Music Education as a Future Profession.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes, communication, and opportunities provided by music teachers to encourage consideration of the music teaching profession. Survey participants (N = 436) were music educators from the Southeast (235), Midwest (51), and Southwest (149) National Association for Music Education regions of the United States. Fifty-two percent of respondents reported encouraging students to explore the music teaching profession, one third reported uncertainty about their encouragement of a music education career, and 21% indicated active discouragement. Personal job satisfaction, student music abilities, and constraints/forces outside the profession were factors for respondents who discourage students from the profession. A majority reported providing opportunities to explore the profession as a viable career option and those experiences reflected the authentic practices of the teaching profession. Professional development opportunities for in-service teachers in the encouragement of students toward music teaching should be strongly considered.

Collaboration within the arts: a project involving a band literature course and studio arts

In a course studying band literature, students learn to analyze scores, determine qualities for selection, and translate their understanding into instructional strategies. They develop an understanding of various genres, find relevant relationships to enhance performance, and learn to identify expressive possibilities inherent in the compositions. As students study scores, they learn to transfer their newly established understandings into instructional plans (Garofalo, 1976). These plans, or teaching units, expose the elements within the composition to enhance understanding of and responsiveness to a musical piece. Preparing students to select, study, and teach band literature is a challenge that can be enhanced through collaboration with other arts: “The study of the music is informed by the other disciplines and, in turn, the study of the other discipline is enhanced through association with music” (Barrett, 2001, p. 27). Through collaboration, creative strategies to teach music concepts can be developed. In an attempt to encourage future teachers to consider musical elements that contribute to understanding of a musical composition, a project was designed to collaborate between studio artists and the band literature class to discover connections and commonalties between instrumental music literature and visual arts. The intended outcome was a teaching unit to be used with a high school or middle school band. Each unit focused on the conceptual connections between these two art forms using studio artists as a resource.