This study used a semistructured interview schedule to identify the music career opportunities available to students who graduate with an undergraduate music degree, and the skills, interests, work values, and personal characteristics that may determine a person's suitability for these music careers. Six university faculty members from each of the 11 NASM-accredited undergraduate music degree fields participated in the study (n = 66). Fourteen professional musicians who were recommended by these faculty members also participated in the study. Concerning the musical and non-musical skills that may determine a person's suitability for a music career, participants consistently noted the importance of performance skills in their respective fields. Participants also consistently cited people skills, and noted that most musicians interact with people on a daily basis, and use people skills to build social networks that may lead to employment. When asked about the interests that may lead someone to a music career, participants commonly cited the importance of good high school ensemble experiences in students' music career decisions. Concerning the rewarding aspects of music careers, many participants noted that they were more rewarded by the ability to support themselves doing what they loved, than by fame or wealth. Concerning the personal characteristics …

Positive adaptations experienced in spite of challenges faced is known as resilience. Comparatively little research has focused on in-depth descriptions regarding how resilience is manifested in children. The purpose of this study was to add to previous research in the identification of characteristics of resilience in students, and to determine the extent to which band membership has aided their resilience in other domains. Data was collected from a random sample of band seniors from the class of 2011 (n = 3) who attended a large high school in the South. Specific research questions were: (1) What characteristics of resilience are present in the talk of participants in a high school instrumental music program? (2) To what extent has this population perceived that membership in band aided their resilience in other domains? A descriptive study design was chosen that used qualitative data. Following data analysis that included category matrices, prominent themes emerged from the participants’ responses. These included self-improvement, forward thinking, optimism, inner drive, increased achievement, determination, development of relationships to peers and adult mentors, and development of connectedness to the school. The findings of this study complemented previous research on characteristics of resilient students, and suggested that the participants derived …

Secondary choral directors often demonstrate a wide variety of organizational, instructional, and musical skills to promote and nurture thriving programs. Among the many tasks executed, choosing repertoire might be viewed as one of the most important duties performed. Material chosen for study is often the vehicle through which curricular concepts are taught. Multiple factors might influence middle school choral directors’ beliefs about repertoire choices. Ironically, repertoire choices might or might not reflect educators’ actual teaching philosophies; nevertheless, these decisions could influence student learning. This study surveyed a stratified random sampling of Texas middle school choral directors who participated in the 2010 University Interscholastic League Concert and Sight-reading competition (n = 209). Seventy middle school choral directors participated in the study. Each director took an online survey and indicated the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with 14 statements concerning repertoire choice. Many of the belief statements showed teachers were overwhelmingly in concordance with their beliefs (92.9%). Results indicated that beliefs were similar, regardless of who chose the curriculum or the amount of discussion perceived in undergraduate training. The only belief statement that continually showed differences between teachers concerned students’ ability to vote on repertoire.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to compare the effects of three different composition tasks with varying degrees of structure on pre-service music teachers’ creative self-efficacy as composers and their instructional self-efficacy as pedagogues of composition; and 2) to describe through pre-service music teachers’ talk perceptions of composition and their experiences completing the three composition tasks. Participants (N = 29) were music education majors from three different sized universities in the northern-central region of the United States. At the beginning of the study, the participants answered a researcher-design self-efficacy questionnaire that measured (a) their self-efficacy as composers and (b) their self-efficacy as teachers of composition. Next, they composed three compositions of various task structures (unstructured, poem, and rhythm). Immediately after completing each task they again completed the self-efficacy questionnaire. Statistically significant mean differences between the pre-task administration of the measuring instrument and all three composition tasks were found for the pre-service teachers’ compositional self-efficacy. Statistically significant mean differences were also found between the unstructured task and the rhythm task, but not between the rhythm and poem tasks or the unstructured and poem tasks. For the pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy as pedagogues of composition question, the results were also statistically …

The increasing cultural diversity in the United States has brought not only richness, but also complex challenges, to various segments of American society, particularly with regard to public schools. As the student population continues to diversify while teacher population remains predominately White, female, and middle class, teacher awareness in the classroom might be an integral piece to assist students marginalized by stereotypes in feeling more empowered in the school community. Through qualitative data collection and analysis, and framed by Basil Bernstein’s language code theory, this study explored teachers’ perceptions of how classroom interactions, in light of differences in communication, might impact students of different socio-economic backgrounds from the teacher. The findings of this study indicated that the participants expressed a desire to connect with all of their students, regardless of their background. They also discussed challenges that made relationships difficult, such as feelings of disconnect from their Title I students and their families based on differences in home life and background. This dissonance was often difficult for the participants to reconcile due to pressures and difficulties in their teaching situations, such as the large number of students and the scheduling of classes, curricular pressures, and other district expectations such as …

The purpose of this study was to investigate constructions of choir identity among high school choir students in the United States public school classroom setting. The research questions were (a) what are the processes involved in construction of choir identity and (b) how are the processes related to the group identity of the choir. The data were collected through participant observations in one selected choir classroom and semi-structured interviews with students from the choir class. The results included six processes of identity construction as well as identification of the ways in which each process was related to the choir group’s identity. The processes and their links to the overall choir group identity provided further insight into the ways in which high school choir students construct their identities, and they also supported methods of teaching commonly used in high school choir settings.

A large segment of society is either preparing to enter the work force, or is already engaged in some chosen line of work. Preparing to enter the work force takes a considerable amount of time and effort. The decision to follow one career path over countless others may, on the surface, appear to be discretely individual. But when viewed from a sociological perspective, occupational choices are implicitly and explicitly reached through a consensus of contributing factors. Consequently, an occupational identity is not how an individual describes a personal work-related self, but is rather dialectic. It is the merging, albeit, negotiation of viewpoints which causes persons to view themselves in relationship with how others think of them. It is expected that students newly enrolled in music education degree programs will, with time, replace erroneous lay conceptions of music teaching with those presented in curricula and espoused by significant role models. However, the professional socialization process, characteristic of music education degree programs, has not always been successful in transforming students’ personal perspectives of music teaching. This transformation process is critical toward the development of occupational identities that are congruent with school music teaching positions. There has been an established line of research …