THE MUSIC OF ERNST BLOCH

The aim of this study is to present information about the life, works and composition of composer and music educator Ernest Bloch. In this context, in this research designed as a qualitative study, the information obtained from the literature review in Turkish and English about the composer's life, style and works were compiled by making descriptive analysis. As a result of the research; Although Ernest Bloch was born in Switzerland, he is known as an American composer because he spent the most productive years of his artistic life in America, he consciously used Jewish cultural elements in his music and thought that a composer should not be independent of his own roots, that he was a good music educator besides his composing. It has been seen that he has articles on education, in addition to the influence of his national identity in music style, he uses descriptiveness as a harmonic language, he uses various styles such as tonal sets, serial and modal harmony, the use of harmony with percussion, and he uses independent forms as a form style, being aware of the traditional. It is thought that this study will be a source for other studies about Ernest Bloch, since no other source can be found in Turkish about the composer. Keywords: Ernest Bloch, American composer, Jewish composer, composing style, contemporary period

Meaningful Collaborations: An Introduction to Music of Jamaica

The purpose of this column is to explore a meaningful collaboration between a classroom music teacher and an expert from a music culture. Dr. David Aarons from Jamaica worked with a music educator and a class of 5th grade students. They explored dance traditions, steel pan performance, singing games, and stories. They also discussed sociocultural and sociohistorical meanings of the lyrics, instruments, and hybrid nature of many of the current traditions.

Successful urban elementary music educators : a phenomenological investigation

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and experiences of teachers who have been successful in urban elementary music classrooms. I aimed to garner an authentic picture and capture the essence of what it means to be a successful urban elementary music educator. This hermeneutic phenomenology was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of urban music educators who have been successful in teaching music at the elementary level? (2) What are the pedagogical approaches used by elementary music educators in urban contexts? The related sub-questions were as follows: (1) What characterizes success in the urban elementary music classroom? (2) What are characteristics of these educators (e.g., personal, educational, interpersonal)? Data collection included approximately 60-minute semi-structured interviews from eight participants. A constant comparative method was utilized to examine the coded transcripts. Trustworthiness was established through data triangulation, participant checking, and peer checking. Through the three-part analysis, six themes emerged: (a) relationships are key; (b) understanding how music functions for students; (c) willingness to perform unofficial job duties; (d) concerns about urban teacher preparation; (e) curricular and pedagogical decisions; and (f) urban music teacher characteristics. The findings of this study, as well as that of other scholars in music education, suggest that being a successful urban elementary music educator is the result of a composite set of skills. The teachers who participated in this study use creativity when making curricular and pedagogical decisions, possess a complex knowledge and understanding of their students, their students' families, and their students' community, and have a deep affection for what they do and whom they serve. Successful urban elementary music educators can serve as valuable resources to provide understanding and offer suggestions for improving urban music education, including ways to nurture and develop the next wave of music educators.

Seeking the Roots of The Music Man

While Meredith Willson is best remembered for his first musical The Music Man, he was fifty-five years old when it opened on Broadway in 1957. It is not generally known that he had already enjoyed a highly successful career before then, nor is the impact of his previous career on The Music Man fully understood. This chapter explores his activities as a performer in the John Sousa band and New York Philharmonic, as a radio conductor and host, as a Hollywood arranger and composer, as a pop song writer, as a novelist, music educator, and writer of memoirs, to show how the eclecticism of his musical taste and expertise led to his greatest work.

Becoming an Anti-Racist Music Educator: Resisting Whiteness in Music Education

In this article, I propose some ways that music educators might become anti-racist. I explore the ways that Whiteness manifests in music education and subsequently examine actions we might take to resist this Whiteness. Ultimately, I suggest anti-racism as a way forward for music education. I delineate some of the ways that Whiteness operates in music education, not to discourage educators but rather to encourage us to notice the way Whiteness pervades our field.

Music Appreciation Through Animation: Percy Scholes’s ‘AudioGraphic’ Piano Rolls

From 1925-30, British music educator Percy A. Scholes spearheaded an initiative for music appreciation by means of the player piano. The series “AudioGraphic Music” featured select works from the musical canon on the Aeolian Company’s piano rolls. In addition to their function as sound recordings, Scholes prepared the rolls as visual artefacts with introductory texts, pictures, and analytical commentary. This video article explores the analytical and pedagogical potential of these rolls as tools for music listeners and highlights how they foreshadowed recent innovation in musical animation.

Editor’s Introduction

The field of music education has moved beyond the infancy stage with music technology and has taken many strides forward; however, with new growth comes a new challenge: how can a music educator stay current in the rushing river of technologically-churned change? The Music Technology Cookbook responds to this question with many answers from seasoned practitioners in the field. The primary contribution this edited book makes to the field of music education is its broad and diverse presentation of practice-based possibilities for making music with technology in the classroom. It was designed to provide teachers with new ideas and strategies for teaching music technology, and to extend conceptions of what constitutes “music technology.” Music educators are engaging with music technologies to make music with learners of all ages and abilities, and this compilation of lessons provides readers with a singular resource from which to update and expand their current teaching practices.

The Role of Orff Approach to Music Education

The German-born music educator and composer, Carl Orff began to develop his own music education system in the 1920s and 1930s. This paper gives a concise review of the Orff concept from historical, educational theoretical, and methodological aspects based on available literature. Topics include the Orff instrumentation as the defining methodological element of the Orff concept, the internationalization of the Orff concept in America, as well as the training of current Orff educators. Keywords: Orff Schulwerk, music education, alternative music pedagogy