“I’m Doing the Best I Can”: Teaching General Music in the Time of Covid-19

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the experiences of four elementary general music teachers (first year, early-career, mid-career, late-career) during the time of COVID-19. We considered impacts on the participants’ instruction and professional lives from data that were collected throughout the 2020–2021 academic year. Participants reported changes to their teaching environments, schedules, and job responsibilities. They shared the technology resources they implemented and highlighted inequities that emerged for virtual versus in-person students. Participants provided insight into the impacts of the year on their personal lives as well. Our implications include considerations for music teachers, music teacher educators, and school administrators as a result of participants’ experiences.

Issues Facing Female Band Directors at the High School and College Levels: A Review of Literature

The purpose of this review of literature was to investigate the unique issues facing female band directors at the high school and college levels. A search of 5 different databases was conducted, and 39 studies met the inclusion criteria for this study. Results of this review of literature are presented according to the following themes: (a) historical background, (b) underrepresentation and lack of female mentors, (c) motherhood, and (d) discrimination. Although the number of female high school and college band directors continues to increase, there are many different issues that women may face professionally. Despite these issues, women continue to persevere as they fight for their place on the podium. Recommendations for female music educators are provided, as well as suggestions for future research.

The Positive Influence of the Popular Music Movement

The documentation of popular music curricula in K12 schools is used to suggest the secondary ensemble directors in schools can learn more about the role of popular music in the lives of students. Further, ensemble directors are encouraged to consider bridging music-making in school to young adulthood by way of providing encouragement and experience playing solo instruments and developing skills on secondary instruments that may lend themselves to inclusion of popular music styles. A list of suggestions is offered for developing confidence and proficiency in individual performance.

Vocal Health Implications for Music Teachers: A Literature Review

The purpose of this literature review was to identify scholarship pertaining to teachers’ vocal health and to discuss implications for music teachers. The review includes studies where researchers have addressed vocal health issues for K–12 teachers of all subjects as well as issues unique to music teachers. Risk factors, measurement, and treatments for teachers’ voice disorders were also explored. Much is written about the prevalence and treatment of voice disorders in the teaching profession, but there is less information about the prevention of the disorders. More research is needed that specifically concentrates on prevention, and vocal hygiene education in teacher training programs should be increased. Education about vocal health is needed, coupled with strategies for ensuring that teachers make the connection between what they learn in vocal hygiene education and how they manage their vocal health on a daily basis.

Intercultural Development Among Music Students and Teachers: A Literature Review

In a diverse society, it is crucial to transform one’s attitudes from ethnocentric to ethnorelative to deeply engage in, negotiate, and reconcile various cultural manifestations. Using the umbrella term of intercultural development, I reviewed empirical studies of cross-cultural endeavors, contexts, and outcomes among music students and teachers in K–12 and higher education settings. Intercultural development takes place in various contexts, including classroom projects, university partnerships, service learning, and professional development. According to the literature, music students and teachers working in intercultural settings have elicited learning outcomes related to their intercultural development. The outcomes included intercultural competence and sensitivity, musical and pedagogical understanding, and critical awareness of power dynamics. Based on the literature review, I provide implications for intercultural development in music teaching and learning, and suggest future research directions for scholars.

Thinking Time in Music Practice

We asked school- and college-aged instrumentalists ( N = 32) to imagine an ideal performance of a brief passage of music, record a performance of the passage, and describe discrepancies they noticed between their imagined and actual performances. The more experienced participants took at least as much time to imagine their idealized performances as it took to perform them; less experienced participants took less time to imagine what they were about to play. There were no differences among experience levels in the numbers or types of discrepancies identified. The differences between more and less experienced participants were also evident in a subsequent practice period. More experienced musicians’ practice included more frequent moments of pause, whereas school-aged participants seldom paused and tended to address performance issues other than those identified in their commentaries.

Grounded Framework for Culturally Relevant and Responsive Music Teaching

Building upon the work of Ladson–Billings, Lind and McKoy, and Shaw, our proposed framework takes into consideration the depth and breadth of musical experiences and contexts, musical content, and the diversity of musical cultures. The proposed framework includes four quadrants: (a) teacher competencies, (b) informed choices, (c) authenticity, and (d) holistic and comparative lessons. The framework provides K–16 teachers with tangible, accessible, and actionable methods for implementing a teaching pedagogy that has often been misunderstood or implemented without fidelity, and therefore ineffective. Each quadrant’s description and detail provide educators with guidance, supporting their individual musical growth, facilitating authentic relationships with students, authentic performances, and careful idea development for lesson planning that is inclusive of multiple musical perspectives and origins. Muñiz and Richards et al. acknowledged that community support and teacher capacity are essential for culturally relevant pedagogy to be implemented effectively, thus increasing students’ academic growth.

Research-to-Resource: Applying a Self-Care Framework to Music Education

Self-care is a topic that has gained traction among helping professionals. It is considered a preventive health care measure used to promote physical and mental health as well as personal well-being. In this article, I use a self-care framework created for social workers and adapt it to music educators with the intention of aiding music teachers in practicing and maintaining their own self-care. The self-care framework is categorized into two dimensions—personal and professional self-care—which each contains various domains. Pragmatic strategies grounded in relevant literature in music education are described in each category within the self-care framework. By providing a self-care framework and relevant strategies, I aim to improve knowledge of self-care practices of music teachers.

Research-to-Resource: Rethinking Method Course Instruction

Music education method courses include pedagogical content essential for successful classroom instruction. Preservice music educators, however, have expressed concerns with their method course experiences. Researchers have found that modeling, peer teaching experiences, various forms of feedback, and video recordings can help improve undergraduates’ teaching skills development. This research-to-resource article provides example applications and recommendations for enhancing preservice music educators’ method course experiences.

Preservice Elementary Teachers and Music in the Elementary Classroom

The purpose of this pretest-posttest study was to investigate elementary preservice teachers’ perceptions of and level of comfort with music in the elementary classroom after enrolling in an online music integration course. Participants were preservice elementary teachers ( N = 93) enrolled in three sections of an online music integration course at a large university in Southern California. Results showed significant differences in participants’ agreement with aspects of music teaching, comfort with music, and music integration. Findings also indicated significant differences in participants’ rankings of musical outcomes in an elementary setting. There were no significant differences found among participants’ ranking of music and other subjects in the elementary classroom.