Published in Music Education Research (Ahead of Print, 2022)

I write this Forum for the July 2022 issue of the Journal of Research in Music Education at the onset of a new period of geo-political instability and war while, at the same time, we continue to experience the lingering effects of a the global COVID-19 pandemic and strive to maintain our collective health and well-being.1 I remain inspired by the work our colleagues in music education continue to do

Current models of aesthetic experience of music (AEM) have emerged in the recent years capitalizing on evidence from psychology and neuroscience research, thus modeling mainly cognitive and information processes in the brain. However, a large part of the empirical research on which these models are based is related to Western tonal music, while another style of Western music, namely, contemporary classical

Drum corps is a marching arts (MA) activity that combines movement, music, and visual performance. Education in the MA emphasizes performance, endurance, and group cohesion. However, research on the psychosocial effects of participation in MA education is rare. In the current study, we measured resilience, self-efficacy, goal orientation, and flow, over the course of a season of drum corps, hypothesizing

This study tests the effect to which narratives influence the enjoyment and appreciation of popular music. Two experiments tested how narratives about artists influenced listener perception of their songs. Experiment 1 found that narratives about artists influence how their music is appreciated and enjoyed. Experiment 2 found that this influence was due to narratives increasing how much listeners like

This study’s procedure, carried out by university musicians in a naturalistic practice environment, explored the effect of attention to musical cognitive skills on self-reported characteristics of practicing. One hundred university music majors carried out a practice session that targeted an expressive performance skill, and while doing so, responded to written prompts to report their thought processes

In this study, we performed a first assessment of the construct validity of a theory and measure of love for music students’ musical instruments. In all, 288 undergraduates at a large and selective Northeastern university in the United States completed measures of their love of their musical instrument with respect to intimacy, passion, and commitment, the three components of a triangular theory of

Despite many decades’ worth of investigations into associations between music and personality, the empirical findings are quite scant and scattered. Perhaps, this is because musicians are a diverse group of people, with far-reaching musical interests and wide-ranging personalities. Little research, however, has investigated whether musicians’ choice of musical genre bears a relationship to their personalities

The emotional valence of a given stimulus is more quickly identified when such stimulus is preceded by another stimulus with a congruent valence (e.g., a positive word preceded by another positive word), a phenomenon termed affective priming. The present study investigated whether affective priming occurs when chords (consonant/dissonant, high/low pitch) are used as primes, and faces (happy or sad)

There are a multitude of influences on adolescents’ decisions to enroll in elective instrumental music ensembles. While some music teachers might rely on external rewards such as end-of-year trips to encourage retention from year to year, middle school students’ sociocultural and psychological characteristics may best account for their intentions to continue in band or orchestra. I examined needs satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to examine music teachers’ experiences with flow while performing and teaching music. A model with four flow antecedents (Challenge, Skills, Goal Clarity, and Feedback) and three dimensions of flow state (Absorption, Enjoyment, and Intrinsic Motivation) was adopted to investigate music teachers’ flow experiences in performing and teaching. Two hundred twenty-five music

The history of music is shaped through narratives that sometimes contain a number of issues regarding cultural stereotypes, historiographic approaches, Eurocentrism or colonialism. For this reason, its transmission and the way it is taught must be the object of study and careful consideration. The present research analyses – on the basis of narratological and organological premises – the contents that

A growing literature shows that music increases prosocial behavior. Why does this occur? We propose a novel hypothesis, informed by moral psychology: evidence of others’ musicality may promote prosociality by leading us to judge musical individuals as having enhanced moral standing. This effect may be largely indirect, by increasing perceptions of how intelligent and emotionally sensitive musical individuals

Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS), the coordination of body movements with external stimuli (e.g., dancing, clapping along with music, sport activities), increases throughout childhood when assessed by finger-tapping (FT) tasks following rhythmic auditory cues using metronomes. However, metronomes may support less rhythmic entrainment than naturalistic auditory cues like music, so they may be less

Basic psychological needs (BPN) are a central construct of the self-determination theory (SDT). However, there is a lack of instruments specifically adapted to measuring these in the field of music. The aim of this study was to validate a Spanish-language scale of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of BPN in musical activity. The participants were 339 musicians aged 18–65 years old. Internal consistency

People working in the music industry report significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population, but to date, studies have not explored the differences between professional musicians and those who perform music primarily for recreation. In this study, 254 musicians from 13 countries completed measures of anxiety, depression, and wellbeing as well as answering questions

This study aimed at analysing the correlation between the anxiety level of music teacher candidates during piano exams and possible causes of anxiety and their exam performance. The teacher candidates in the study group were given a questionnaire for piano exam anxiety. Anxiety levels of students and their opinions on causes of anxiety were determined with the data collected through the questionnaire

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from ethnographic case study research that investigated teacher practices and student engagement in classroom music. The data collection was undertaken in a primary (elementary) and a secondary school in Australia and focussed on the classroom practice of two teachers and four classes of students aged 10 to 16 years. The two teachers invited to participate in the

(2022). Editorial. Music Education Research. Ahead of Print.

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of alexithymia on the ability to identify emotions through visual and auditory stimuli. We assessed Alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). As visual stimuli, we employed the images of faces from the Ekman 60 Faces Test, while the auditory stimuli consisted of fragments of instrumental music. A total of 303 students participated

The purpose of this study was to examine what effect performer’s bodily movement may have on listeners’ (N = 103) perceptions of a choral ensemble performance. A 34-voice choir was audio/video recorded performing two different musical excerpts. Each excerpt was recorded twice, once with movement and once without movement, for a total of four audio/video recordings. Additionally, the audio from each

ABSTRACT This study presents an analysis of hidden elitism in music education through the free choice argument – that individuals are fundamentally free to choose to study music – as a meritocratic power structure. Qualitative Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is applied to understand music education as a social system with a special structure in which its purpose regulates its functions and makes them

ABSTRACT The benefits of musical play in cognitive development have recently received an upsurge of interest in the field of early childhood music education research. This study examines the positive learning transfer from a musical play early-learning system® to cognitive development. Specifically, we investigated the effects of early musically enriched multicultural play activities on linguistic

ABSTRACT Global and societal changes present profound challenges and complexities for the future of music education practice and research. In these times of rapid change, four members of the MER editorial board reflect on the need to challenge normalising discourses of music education and encourage new understandings and/or territories within the field. In this viewpoint paper, we proffer four provocations

ABSTRACT As in many other countries, Finnish primary school teacher education has reduced substantially the amount of music studies during recent decades. From the perspective of the National Core Curriculum, there is a reason to reflect on teacher education and primary school student teachers’ skills to teach music. The present study investigates 392 student teachers’ musical skills in five different

This research reflects the considerations of music teachers when assessing their students, the tools used and their consistency with guidelines issued by the Chilean Ministry of Education, along with theoretical approaches to assessment. In this way, we have analysed the theoretical contribution of renowned scholars such as Pujol, Santos Guerra, Chacón, and Fautley, as well as the music curricula of

Although composing has been a significant part of formal classroom music education in England for over 30 years, there still remains uncertainty about how to teach and assess composing in secondary schools. This research investigates the under-researched area of teaching and learning of composing in upper secondary schools in England whereby students (aged 14–18) may opt to study music for a national

ABSTRACT Twenty years have passed since Green’s [2002. How Popular Musicians Learn: A way Ahead for Music Education. Aldershot: Ashgate] publication which proposed a model of informal learning based upon five key principles. The discussion it ignited within the discipline was vast, the debate is still on-going, and the approach is still being implemented internationally. It is timely to explore literature

We examined pitch-error detection in well-known songs sung with or without meaningful lyrics. In Experiment 1, adults heard the initial phrase of familiar songs sung with lyrics or repeating syllables (la) and judged whether they heard an out-of-tune note. Half of the renditions had a single pitch error (50 or 100 cents); half were in tune. Listeners were poorer at pitch-error detection in songs with

To assess allocation of attention by music teachers with different levels of experience and expertise, we recruited five participant flautists: an artist teacher, two graduate students, and two undergraduates, all of whom observed nine brief video recordings of flute, clarinet, and saxophone players; a juggler; a baseball batter; and a ballerina. We tracked participants’ gaze using wearable eye-tracking

Recently, a growing interest from music educators and researchers has focused on the ways informal music learning practices could be integrated in schools’ classrooms, in a response to bridge the gap between the music studied at school and the hidden or private musical world of our students. This qualitative case study investigated the use of Green’s informal learning approach in three stages as derived

In this study, we explored the ways in which listening tools within technology-mediated environments can facilitate children’s self-regulation of instrumental music learning between lessons. This interpretive multiple case study utilized a software application assigned for 22 weeks to a piano teacher and four students (ages 8–10). Data sources include student and teacher semistructured interviews and

ABSTRACT This article investigates policy and provision of music in initial teacher education (ITE) in Ireland and Northern Ireland through a novel approach to comparative music education in ITE. Employing literature reviews and a survey of music ITE policy and provision in the two jurisdictions, it draws on a range of primary and secondary sources and presents a summary of comparative findings from

This article reports findings from a study that sought to identify barriers to music and music education in the UK. Emerging from empirical research involving n = 723 participants and clarified by an evidence base of over 10,000 research participants, the key findings presented in this paper relate to pupil and participant voice and involvement, location as a sub-theme of diversity and inclusion, collaboration

Music preferences have been shown to be determined by a diversity of factors such as cognitive, emotional, cultural, or experiential. Having studied music is also a factor that has been considered from a musicology standpoint and is linked to the accumulation of cultural capital, as analyzed in cultural economics, arts management, and the sociology of culture. Research on how music studies influence

ABSTRACT Achieving fluency in sightreading—particularly rhythm reading—is cited by researchers as a universally problematic component of formal music education. This study employed an experimental design to examine the efficacy of focused practice on rhythm reading with targeted feedback. College music majors (n = 28) were sent a novel, challenging piece of sheet music every day for five days, and

Ensemble music performance requires musicians to achieve precise interpersonal coordination while maintaining autonomous control over their own actions. To do so, musicians dynamically shift between integrating other performers’ actions into their own action plans and maintaining a distinction between their own and others’ actions. Research in laboratory settings has shown that this dynamic process

This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) about pedagogical innovation and disruption in music education. A rigorous SLR process was applied to the selection of papers related to innovative practices in music education at different educational levels and in a range of contexts. Although there are similar studies on innovation in education, there is no SLR on pedagogical innovation and

Auditions form the gold standard for hiring practices in symphonic orchestras around the world. Nevertheless, research examining how auditions are evaluated by panel members remains sparse. The purpose of this brief research note is to present findings from a pilot project examining the feedback content of audition panelists during a realistic mock audition. Feedback received by 16 academy members

Sight-singing is an inescapable component of music training in higher education and is often challenging for students. However, some strategies could help students perform. Yet, the extent to which students can use strategies to improve their sight-singing performance remains unclear. This article asks two questions to fill this gap: (1) Which strategies do students use when sight-singing? (2) Does

While it is reasonable to assume that the passion and drive toward musicianship has its roots within the personality, there are few studies focusing on the relationship between musical practice and personality and their findings are often contradictory. The aim of this study is to explore the differences in personality traits between musicians and nonmusicians. Altogether 355 responders participated

Although listening to background music is common, there is no consensus about its effects on cognitive-task performance. One potential mediating factor that could resolve the inconsistency in findings is arousal. To explore the role of arousal in mediating the effect of background music, this survey study directly explored people’s background music listening habits during a variety of everyday tasks

Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to effortlessly identify or produce pitches without reference. However, behavioral research has shown that pitch perception and identification in certain timbres are more difficult for AP possessors. In this study, we investigate whether pitch identification and labeling in different timbres (piano and voice) would require different amounts of cognitive resource allocation

With an aim to inform pedagogical processes for the development of more diverse and equitable music teaching practice, we sought to uncover the nature of norm-disruptive learning for music teachers. We defined “norm-disruptive learning” as any facet of music teacher development that problematizes and expands beyond previously known philosophies, pedagogies, and repertoires. A thematic synthesis methodology

The purpose of this article is to analyze the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian musicians’ perception of job insecurity. We collected the answers of more than 200 Italian musicians, and the data showed that musicians’ perception of job insecurity increased in the post-pandemic period. Furthermore, we analyzed the different impact of two objective indicators of job insecurity, the pandemic

Successful emotional processing is pivotal for the therapeutic change, and music can support emotional processing. However, we know little on how music-based emotional processing actually predicts clinical outcomes. This study investigated music therapeutic emotional processing (MEP) as a predictor of therapeutic outcome in treatment for depression. Data consisted of self-reports of 64 clients (age

The purpose of this study was to further explore how song (a) familiarity, (b) enjoyment, (c) autobiographical salience, and (d) emotional arousal as well as a person’s (e) current mood state and (f) nostalgia proneness predicted music-evoked nostalgia. This study also measured the strength of the relationship between self-reports of arousal and electrodermal activity (EDA). Thirty people were recruited

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of score study and conducting gesture on collegiate musicians’ ability to detect errors in a choral score. Is there a combined effect of gesture and score study that impacts undergraduate conductors’ identification of errors in a score? Participants (N = 53) viewed a sequence of four choral score excerpts presented via Zoom video conferencing. We

In 2005, the Barenboim-Said Foundation launched the Early Childhood Music Education project in Andalusia (Spain) to promote music education for young children. Ten years later, an initial study was performed to evaluate the influence of the project on the development of the participating children. The results of this study form part of a broader ongoing research project, in collaboration with the University

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the religious development, life experiences, and perspectives of six atheist high school choral music teachers on their current attitudes about performing sacred choral music within the public school education system. Six atheist choir directors participated in eighteen semi-structured interviews, resulting in 608 minutes of data. Main analysis

The purpose of this co-autoethnographic qualitative case study was to chronicle the experiences of the first author as he taught general music in a blended, face-to-face, and online synchronous, environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The co-autoethnography conveys a voice of a practicing teacher with advice and wisdom gained from living and working through the technological aspects of teaching and

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of conductor-teachers and older adult musicians in a New Horizons ensemble engaged in distance online music-making and music learning. This study employed intrinsic and particularistic qualitative case study designs in which older adult musicians and conductor-teachers of a New Horizons orchestra were interviewed and observed for one year during

The purpose of this study was to explore music performance anxiety (MPA) from music teachers’ perspectives by identifying and describing common coping strategies teachers use to support students with MPA. A quantitative content analysis of scientific and non-scientific MPA literature identified preparation, open communication, realistic expectations, exposure therapy and deep breathing as the five

Teacher collaboration has been recognised as one of the most influential factors positively affecting school teaching practice. To add to the literature in this area, I investigated a collaborative community of Korean preservice music teachers. The results showed that the collaborative community was a place where these preservice music teachers were able to share their thoughts about their passion

Since the early 2000s, education policy in France has strongly encouraged publicly funded conservatoires and music schools to forge partnerships with various stakeholders in sectors outside of specialised music education. This change in the objectives traditionally assigned to music schools and conservatoires has given rise to new ‘pedagogical projects’, among which extracurricular music workshops

This study investigates the motivational conditions, self-efficacy beliefs, and practice of classical (symphonic, wind) orchestra/popular (rock, pop) band musicians. It thus complements previous research which has shed light on individual aspects of music learning. In both individual and collective work, high quality practice performed in a sufficient amount of time was shown to be very effortful.

Music therapy is efficacious for the treatment of depression. Compared to other psychotherapeutic forms, it allows for the emergence of various modes of mutual interaction, thus enabling multiple channels for emotional expression and fostering therapeutic alliance. Although musical interaction patterns between client and therapist have been regarded as predictors of therapeutic outcome in depression

This experimental research aimed to verify whether the variables of listener age and musical timbre play significant roles in the process of the impact of music on human mood state in the context of the positive mood induction procedure using music. The stimulus material was in the form of two timbrally different versions of the same musical piece. Two participant groups in their early and late adulthood

The objectives of the current study were to obtain four physiological measures sensitive to stress and compare the nature of their decline after a stress task while listening to different sounds. Particular focus was placed on examining the ability of the song “Weightless”, which has been heralded as “the most relaxing song in the world,” to reduce acute stress as measured physiologically. A single-subjects

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate band teacher agency in a high-stakes performance environment. Research questions were: (1) What experiences and professional relationships were most salient in the past (iterative), present (practical-evaluative), and future (projective) dimensions of band teacher agency in a high-stakes performance environment? and (2) How did high-stakes