A comparative study of piano performance programs at university-level institutions in China and the United States: From current faculty members’ and students’ perspectives

This study investigated the perceptions of piano performance programs in higher education from current collegiate students and faculty members’ perspectives in China and the United States. Participants were from representative university-level institutions in the U.S. ( n = 41) and China ( n = 130). They were sent a questionnaire concerning (a) the factors that motivate students to pursue a piano performance degree, (b) the most important educational practices in their programs, (c) the most challenging tasks the students encounter, (d) students’ career goal, and (e) faculty members’ suggestions for prospective students and opinions on improving the piano performance programs. A summary of students and faculty members’ perceptions were outlined and the comparison between the two countries were explored. It is encouraging that not only students gave careful attention toward the applied lessons and performance opportunities in their studies, but also that a large percentage of the students believed they received excellent advice regarding practice strategies and artistry in their applied lessons in both countries. Most of the faculty participants in both countries expressed positive attitudes regarding the piano performance programs in their universities. By providing statistically significant data, this study provides a comprehensive vision for institutions to continue establishing piano programs.

Folk-Inspired Neoclassical vs Folk-Inspired Compositions

My research project focuses on folk inspired music of Poland, England, China, and Ireland. In my applied lessons on clarinet, I studied two neoclassical Polish folk pieces, so the question answered in the research is how the two neoclassical Polish pieces compare to folk inspired pieces from other countries. The pieces chosen for this study are mainly pieces that I have heard before. Therefore, I chose the pieces based upon my familiarity with them. Folk music expresses the sounds and rhythms that represent countries all over the world. Over time these sounds and rhythms evolve to reflect the country at that moment. This study will reflect how folk music was implemented into different pieces with a focus on Polish neoclassical folk pieces versus English, Chinese, and Irish folk pieces. There is a detailed analysis focused on two Polish compositions. While the focus of the other global pieces is to allow one to understand how folk music was being used in compositions specific to the country being studied. The purpose of this study is to understand how folk tunes and characteristics can be expressed through larger compositions, and how the different countries and genres approached that. Furthermore, the study compares Polish folk music to the folk music of other countries and where Polish folk composers stand in originality and experimentalism with the composers of England, China, and Ireland.

Conclusion

This chapter begins with a review of the book’s argument and principal findings. It then discusses theoretical and applied lessons for the study of sexual citizenship and the practice of LGBT activism in the new EU member-states of postcommunist Europe. The chapter’s remaining sections reflect on the argument’s implications for other social issues and regional contexts. These include the women’s movement in contemporary Poland, Roma activism in Hungary, and LGBT activism outside the sphere of potential EU applicant-states (especially the former Soviet Union and Latin America). Animating this discussion is the question of how to account for instances when social movements fail to thrive, or even wither, in the face of backlash. A second animating question is what counts as social movement “success,” policy gains or organizational development? The chapter concludes with some speculation about LGBT activism in the US and Western Europe in light of the contemporary turn to populist-nationalist politics in both places.

Lessons learned from linking to 2001 census in Scotland

ABSTRACT ObjectivesSHELS (Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study) linked Scotland's 2001 census to various hospital and death data sets with national coverage. Census ethnicity data were assigned to the study records to build a cohort of most of the Scottish population; included in the cohort were people with no health records. ApproachCreate a lookup table of a person's census index to the Scottish eHealth index, the CHI, equivalent of English new national health number. A modified versionof the eHealth administrative matching system was used to satisfy census confidentiality requirements. There were two linkages performed in 2004 and 2008. 2004 was a feasibility run; the 2008 applied lessons learned from the previous linkage and used much more completely indexed health records. ResultsThe first linkage produced match rate of 95% of 4.9 million 2001 census entries; the second 96%. Conclusions Lessons learned. Linking datasets using indexes is the most accurate and efficient way to produce study cohorts. Indices change over time; a methodology called 'reconciliation' was devised to retrospectively and continually adjust previously indexed (linked) records. How to Track members who migrate out of the cohort. A linkage resource called a residential events dataset (RESEVENT) was built for the 2008 linkage run; it holds merged history of linkage identifier fields by date from january 2000 to the present based on GP registrations. This introduces a time dimension to indexed linking.How to build RESEVENT like linkage resources; should they be census based? What should they contain? How to do daily national census and select controls for case/control cohorts from RESEVENT resource. How postcode changes over time can be handled (reconciled) - same address, different postcode, but no address present. Proposal for an index of national indices based on national administrative datasets starting with NHS number (new and old NHSCR) and NI number to make linking even more efficient - this is not a RESEVENT resource; this resource would mean data need be matched to index only once, all subsequent linkages would be deterministic links of reconciled indices.

The Influences of Teacher Delivery and Student Progress on Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness

The purpose of this study was to examine how teacher delivery and student progress influenced preservice teachers’ perceptions of overall teaching effectiveness. Experienced teachers ( n = 6) were videotaped teaching mini applied lessons under four conditions: (a) high teacher delivery and more student progress, (b) high teacher delivery and less student progress, (c) low teacher delivery and more student progress, and (d) low teacher delivery and less student progress. Preservice teachers ( n = 75) viewed these teaching excerpts and rated each for teacher delivery, student progress, student musicianship, teacher knowledge of subject matter, and overall teaching effectiveness. Participants rated teachers with high delivery as more effective than teachers with low delivery, irrespective of student progress. There was a moderate positive correlation ( r = .53) between perceptions of teacher delivery and student progress. Results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that teacher delivery was the best predictor of perceptions of overall teaching effectiveness, followed closely by student progress.