The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of occupational identity in undergraduate music education majors using a Symbolic Interactionist theoretical framework. Three research problems were formulated: (1) The identification of occupational norms and values of undergraduate music education majors; (2) The determination of the commitment of under graduate music education majors to specific skills and knowledge of music education; (3) The determination of career commitment to music education by undergraduate majors. The sample consisted of undergraduate music education majors enrolled in North Texas State University; Denton, Texas, during 1981 and 1982. A questionnaire and interview schedule, which had been developed in a pilot study, were used to gather data. Questionnaire responses from 165 students were analyzed by comparing selected variables by area and by class year. These data were further clarified by information from thirty-eight interviews conducted by this researcher.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between personality traits and job satisfaction among music teachers. The research problems were 1. to investigate the areas of job satisfaction of music teachers; 2. to investigate the patterns of personality traits that were common among music teachers; 3. to determine whether relationships existed between the areas in which the music teachers showed job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and their personality profiles.

This study investigated how and to what extent music listening was initiated by elementary general music teachers. The specific problems of the study were (1) identification of activities and materials related to music listening and (2) the determination of how and to what extent assigned and assumed music listening was initiated in the selected classrooms. Systematic observation was chosen to investigate these problems. An observation instrument, the Elementary Music Listening Schedule (EMLS), was developed by which eighteen elementary general music teachers were observed during ten lessons.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain what competencies professional accompanists and accompanying teachers deem sufficiently important to be included at some point in the development of a professional accompanist. Research problems were formulated to determine what differences exist between opinions of teachers and professionals regarding necessary skills in preparation of accompanists in (1) pianistic skills, (2) accompanying skills, (3) vocal skills, (4) linguistic skills, (5) knowledge of repertoire, (6) understandings in human relationships, and (7) other competencies. Data were collected by means of a validated questionnaire containing items grouped into the seven categories listed above. It was sent to twenty professional accompanists and thirty-one schools offering accompanying degrees. Seventy per cent of the professionals and 84 per cent of the schools responded. Each competency was rated first for its relative importance to a professional accompanist and then for its appropriate place in the sequence of an accompanist's preparation. A chi square comparison of responses of the two groups regarding the importance of each competency showed virtually no significant differences. Responses on appropriate stages of training were not treated statistically.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-perceptions certified public high school teachers in the fine arts have toward their roles as artist and instructional staff member.

The purpose of this study is to provide a guide for the instruction of a trumpet mariachi performance ensemble in a music curriculum. The fulfillment of this purpose is dependent upon the data supplied in answer to the sub problems: (1) What socio-cultural information provides authentic trumpet mariachi music; (2) What trumpet mariachi literature illustrates the repertoire and style; (3) What instructional source materials may be developed such that Mexican American and non-Mexican American instructors build a competency in repertoire and style; (4) How could this guide be evaluated in its functional design for a music curriculum? The data collected for use in this study has been presented in three major categories: (1) the history and milieu in which the trumpet, mariachi crystalized; (2) the repertoire--its history and function in Mexican society and the transcriptions of types demonstrating the musical structure; and (3) the technical information relative to the instruction of the particular mariachi instruments. An evaluative instrument has been supplied in an attempt to establish the validity of the information and examples provided in this practicum. The validity of the research seems to rest on its authenticity and its serviceability. The findings of this study are stated as assertions …

Relations between music education structures and teacher agency are under-researched and under-theorized, and scholars have indicated that the traditions and competitions of school bands in the U. S. may constrain educator agency. The need for research on teacher agency in competitive environments is compounded by policy trends toward administrators' use of festival scores in music educator evaluations. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate band teacher agency in a highly competitive music education environment. I used the chordal triad of agency as the primary theoretical framework. Participants were four mid-career band educators in Texas, and I collected data through interviews, observations, journal entries, website review, and email correspondence. Throughout the data, participants' agency largely reproduced existing structures. Findings coalesced around (a) participants' core values of music, students' development, hard work, and competition, (b) an inductive, cohesive collection of band teaching norms despite participants' employment in schools of varying urbanicity and student demographics, (c) power sources that transmitted values and directed teachers' agency, and (d) a compelling story of one participant's generative agency that contrasted with the rest of the data. I provide directions for further research on music teacher agency and suggest implications for band educators, professional …

The purpose was to analyze Turkey's current music teacher training curriculum as situated in the centralized educational system, focusing on the extent to which the written document (1) reflects the core elements of the overall centralized educational system; (2) prescribes the nature of teaching materials and methods, assessment tools and other forms of evaluating and monitoring performance as teachers and musicians; and (3) acknowledges cultural diversity by addressing repertoire, musical activities and concepts according to geographic and cultural regions. Qualitative-descriptive and quantitative content analysis, including the methods of (a) Inverse document frequency and (b) relevance feedback model, were the analytic tools. Of the required 147 credit hours, 138 are the core. The music core consists of 87 (63%) and the non-music core of 51 credit hours (37%). On paper, there is a conceptual overlap in wording between the music core, the general core, and the teacher training core, suggesting curricular cohesion and consistency. Noticeably less cohesion exists between the document and three major policy papers on teacher competencies. By word count, preparing teachers for instruction in Turkish folk music and multicultural issues appears to hold a low priority in the curriculum. However, course descriptions, where they exist, speak to skills …

The purpose was to investigate the career realities and occupational concerns of successful full-time performing instrumentalists. Four research problems were formulated; (1) the establishment of a demographic profile of musicians who perceived themselves successful; (2) the determination of the musicians' career realities; (3) the determination of the musicians' occupational concerns; and (4) a comparison of the relationship of the demographic profile to the career realities and occupational concerns. A pilot study was used to develop a questionnaire and an interview schedule. The sample for the main study was chosen by the questionnaire and consisted of twenty musicians, five each in the musical categories of jazz, classical, commercial and pop. To resolve research problem one, the questionnaire also collected general demographic data. Research problems two and three were fulfilled by an interview schedule based upon career realities and occupational concerns cited in previous sociological studies. The realities and concerns were either confirmed or refuted by each interviewee. The career realities were role conflict, career contingencies, musical labels, life style, hierarchies, audience relationships and environment. The occupational concerns were mobility, status, entrapment, personal contacts, dependency, security, competition, economic issues, working conditions, travel requirements, appearance, management control, auditions, maintenance of skills and training …