Teaching the Core Arts Standards in Modern Band

The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards released standards for music education in 2014. These standards are guided by artistic processes and measured by performance standards specific to content areas and grade levels. As school districts in the United States adopt the Core Arts Standards for their music programs, it is imperative that modern band teachers demonstrate how their curriculum aligns with this new framework. Modern band is one approach to popular music education that is particularly well suited to address this new framework; the emphases of songwriting, improvising, critical listening, and group work in a learner-centered modern band class/ensemble are associated with a wide variety of standards. This article explores connections between popular music pedagogies and each of the processes in the Core Arts Standards and examines which standards may be most appropriate for modern band contexts.

Comparing Time Use and Teacher Behaviors in Beginning and Advanced Middle School Band Settings: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of this study was to compare teachers’ time use and teaching behaviors including teacher talk, modeling, physical location/proximity to students, conducting, and instructional choices in middle school (Grades 6–8) beginning and advanced band settings, with the goal of identifying practices that are specific or unique to each setting. Participants ( N = 5) were expert middle school teachers who were recorded while teaching a heterogeneous beginning band and an advanced band class. I compared episodes of teacher and student behaviors including instruction, modeling, group/individual performance, and student talk, documenting frequency and time use in both settings. Results indicated differences in frequency and time for all observed episodes, with differences supporting greater emphasis placed on individuals in the beginning setting. I also found that teachers in the advanced setting addressed rehearsal frame targets representing traditional rehearsal goals more frequently (e.g., phrasing, articulation), whereas teachers in the beginning setting addressed targets representing typical beginning band goals more frequently (e.g., vocabulary/terms, rhythm literacy.)