bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changing language policies and attitudes in autonomous Catalonia
Authors: Woolard Kathryn A. , Gahng Tae-Joong
Published: December 2008

The effects of language policies on the symbolic value of the linguistic repertoire merit consideration in needed studies of the consequences of language status planning. Since achieving political autonomy within Spain in 1979, Catalonia has instituted a number of policies, particularly in education, to enhance the status and use of Catalan. A matched guise test was conducted among students in Barcelona in 1980 and again in 1987 to gauge changes in attitudes toward Catalan and Castilian. Conflict between positive status and negative solidarity values of Catalan for nonnative speakers found in 1980 appears to be resolved in 1987. Three aspects of public language policy have attenuated ethnic constraints against nonnative use of Catalan, but further changes in social relations may be necessary to alter patterns of language choice. (Language attitudes, language policy, Catalonia)
Appalachian English stereotypes: Language attitudes in Kentucky
Authors: Luhman Reid
Published: December 2008

Nonstandard language varieties typically become social markers of the social groups that use them. Through this connection, the varieties reflect commonly held stereotypes of those groups from the perspective of outsiders, as well as symbolize group membership for their speakers. This study employs the matched guise technique to compare attitudes toward Appalachian English and Standard American English held by speakers of both language varieties. Most studies of nonstandard language varieties have shown an acceptance by nonstandard speakers of dominant negative stereotypes of their groups. By varying content of speech samples evaluated, this study suggests that speakers of Appalachian English partially accept low status evaluations of their dialect, but reject other negative stereotypes of their speech community in terms of integrity and social attractiveness of its members. In particular, results suggest significantly higher evaluations of male speakers of Appalachian English that are shared by Standard English speakers. (Appalachian English, speech community, language variety, language markers, language stereotypes, dialects, social status)
Describing trouble: Practical epistemology in citizen calls to the police
Authors: Whalen Marilyn R. , Zimmerman Don H.
Published: December 2008

In this article, we examine the way citizens' descriptions of troublesome occurrences in reports to emergency dispatch personnel are vulnerable to suspicion and doubt. The vulnerability of description in these cases involves callers' categorization of, visual or aural access to, and involvement in the reported “trouble.” It is through displays of what we term practical epistemology – displays of how one has come to know about a particular event – that these vulnerabilites emerge and are tested and negotiated in the request for and dispatch of emergency assistance. (Conversation analysis, language in institutional settings, pragmatics)
Ostensible invitations
Authors: Isaacs Ellen A. , Clark Herbert H.
Published: December 2008

People sometimes extend invitations they don't intend to be taken seriously. We call these ostensible invitations. From a collection of spontaneous examples, we argue that they require: a pretense of sincerity by the speaker; mutual recognition of the pretense by speaker and addressee; collusion on the pretense by the addressee; ambivalence by the speaker about its acceptance; and an off-record purpose by the speaker. We describe seven techniques speakers use in fulfilling these requirements. We also show that speakers try to achieve their off-record purpose by getting addressees to recognize the expectable effects of the invitation, the situation, and the fact that they chose to extend an ostensible invitation. Finally, we argue that ostensible invitations are part of a class of ostensible speech acts, and these in turn are related to other types of nonserious language use. (Speech acts, pragmatics, off record, pretense, nonserious language use)
Social network and social class: Toward an integrated sociolinguistic model
Authors: Milroy Lesley , Milroy James
Published: December 2008

In sociolinguistics, approaches that use the variables of socioeconomic class and social network have often been thought to be irreconcilable. In this article, we explore the connection between these variables and suggest the outlines of a model that can integrate them in a coherent way. This depends on linking a consensus-based microlevel of network with a conflict-based macrolevel of social class. We suggest interpretations of certain sociolinguistic findings, citing detailed evidence from research in Northern Ireland and Philadelphia, which emphasize the need for acknowledging the importance of looseknit network ties in facilitating linguistic innovations. We then propose that the link between network and class can be madeviathe notion ofweaknetwork ties using the process-based model of the macrolevel suggested by Thomas Højrup's theory of life-modes. (Sociolinguistics, sociology, quantitative social dialectology, anthropological linguistics)
“How are you?”: Negotiating phatic communion
Authors: Coupland Justine , Coupland Nikolas , Robinson Jeffrey D.
Published: December 2008

Since its introduction by Malinowski in the 1920s, “phatic communion” has often been appealed to as a concept in sociolinguistics, semantics, stylistics, and communication, typically taken to designate a conventionalized and desemanticized discourse mode or “type.” But anegotiationperspective, following the conversation analysis tradition of research on greetings and troubles telling, fits the discursive realities better. Phaticity is a multidimensional potential for talk in many social settings, where speakers' relational goals supercede their commitment to factuality and instrumentality. We then analyze phatic processes in elderly people's responses to a scriptedhow are you?opening in interviews about their medical experiences. Discourse analyses of phatic communion can raise important issues for gerontological and medical research. (Phatic communion, small talk, greetings, elderly talk, medical talk, preference structure)
On the linguistic shaping of thought: Another response to Alfred Bloom
Authors: Lardiere Donna
Published: December 2008

Bloom (1981, 1984) linked the existence of specific grammatical constructions – for example, the counterfactual conditional in English – to the development of a labeled cognitive schema specific to counterfactual thought. He claimed that because the Chinese language lacks an equivalent grammatical marker, Chinese speakers do not develop the corresponding cognitive schema and thus process counterfactuals “less naturally” (1981:22) than English speakers. Whereas attempts to replicate Bloom (Au 1983, 1984; Liu 1985) questioned the extent to which such differences exist, this article demonstrates that where differences in counterfactual response patterns clearly do exist, they cannot be attributed to the presence/absence of a linguistic “counterfactual” construction.
Some African-American perspectives on Black English vernacular
Authors: Speicher Barbara L. , McMahon Seane M.
Published: December 2008

Sixteen African Americans affiliated with a university participated in open-ended interviews exploring their experiential, attitudinal, and descriptive responses to Black English Vernacular (BEV). The fields of sociolinguistics and education report complex and contradictory attitudes and research findings regarding this code. In addition, media representations of BEV have been misleading. This article investigates how these sources have influenced the attitudes of these African Americans over the last 20 years. We found few trends and little unanimity among our respondents. This finding is neither problematic nor surprising. African Americans do not comprise a monolithic group, acting, speaking, and thinking as one. The results are summarized, and three issues that emerged from the interviews are discussed: problems with the label,BlackEnglish Vernacular; the possibility that BEV was socially constructed; and the perception that BEV is a limited linguistic system. (Sociolinguistics, education, attitudes toward language varieties, Black English Vernacular)
Topic transitions in physician-patient interviews: Power, gender, and discourse change
Authors: Ainsworth-Vaughn Nancy
Published: December 2008

This article examines the ways topic transitions are made in 12 physician-patient encounters between eight physicians (four men and four women) and eight patients, all women, in private practice settings. The data include visits by the same patient to more than one physician; these data are unique in the literature. I expand both the explicit theoretical frame in which topic transitions have been described and the types of these transitions that need consideration. The two major types of transitions arereciprocalandunilateralactivities. Reciprocal topic-transition activities are assumed to share power between physician and patient; unilateral topic transitions are assumed to allocate power to the speaker. Ratios of reciprocal to unilateral activities differ widely by gender of the physician. Change in discourse norms for this event may be in progress, due to increasing numbers of women physicians. (Medical discourse, topic, power, gender, sociolinguistic change, English)
A question of context: Directive use at a morris team meeting
Authors: Jones Kimberly
Published: December 2008

Studies of speech acts such as directives and of gender and language use have rarely considered the details of the speech context. Comparing men's and women's use of directives at a dance group meeting, I find little difference in the frequency with which they direct others, the targets of their directives, or the types of directives used. Status variations within the group, although more important than gender, still fail to show the primary factors influencing the use of directives. Directive usage cannot be adequately understood without considering the specific contexts in which directives occur. Potentially face-threatening, directives are used most and expressed most strongly when another threat to conversation outweighs the threat of the directive, when the bonds between participants are strong enough to mitigate the threat, or when a high degree of involvement in a conversation renders the threat less potent and encourages the expression of solidarity and interest. (Conversation analysis, directives, gender and language use, speech acts, English)
Pronominal disagreements: The stubborn problem of singular epicene antecedents
Authors: Newman Michael
Published: December 2008

This study examines how speakers on certain TV interview programs resolve problems of agreement with formally singular epicene antecedents. The form most frequently used isthey, althoughhedoes appear fairly often. Some forms found in written English hardly occur. It appears thattheyis not used simply to avoid a commitment to gender. Rather, three factors appear to contribute to speakers' choice of pronominal: presuppositions about gender roles associated with the referent, notional number of the referent, and the extent to which the referent can be posited as a specific individual. The idea that there is a gap in third person singular pronouns in spoken English is criticized. (Pronominal gender, agreement, semantics, usage, English)
Sociolinguistic implications of academic writing
Authors: Nida Eugene A.
Published: December 2008

The language of academic journals tends to become so technical that only specialists are able to understand the unnecessarily complex features of vocabulary, syntax, discourse, and format. This seems particularly unfortunate at a time when the results of present-day scholarship in linguistic and cultural anthropology need to be as widely accessible as possible. An examination of problems in two articles in Language and one in the American Anthropologist points out the nature of the difficulties and some of the solutions. (Sociolinguistics, academic dialects, writing, jargons, English)
When “difference” is “dominance”: A critique of the “anti-power-based” cultural approach to sex differences
Authors: Uchida Aki
Published: December 2008

This article analyzes the dichotomization of two opposing approaches to studying sex differences in language use: the “difference/cultural” approach, which treats women and men as having “different but equally valid” rules of conversation, and the “dominance/power-based” approach, which focuses on male dominance and sexual division of labor in talk. I critique the stance taken by the difference approach. First, its notion of women and men as belonging to different “cultures” is too simplistic to account for everything that occurs in mixed-sex conversation. Second, the dichotomization of “power” and “culture” as two separate, independent concepts is inappropriate, because social interaction always occurs in the context of a patriarchal society. As a direction for further research, I propose that the relationship between gender and language should be approached from the viewpoint that we are doing gender in interaction. (Sociolinguistics, communication, conversational style, gender, sex differences)
Dividing the rice: A microanalysis of the mediator's role in a Northern Thai negotiation
Authors: Bilmes Jack
Published: December 2008

Although there exists an extensive literature on mediation, little attention has been given to the close analysis of talk in actual mediations. This article applies various analytic techniques, particularly those of conversation analysis and sociolinguistics, to provide a culturally contexted account of a mediation. At issue is the division of a rice harvest between a sharecropper and the owner of a ricefield in a Northern Thai village. Practices with regard to accusation and criticism, defense and denial, expression of anger, formulation of parties, and perspectival shifting are central to the analysis.

In order to understand what is taking place, it is necessary to have some knowledge of a variety of cultural and “contextual” matters, for example, genres and styles of local speech, traditional and current share-cropping practices, the national law regarding sharecropping, and local administrative practices, as well as the history of relations between the parties to the negotiation. On the other hand, a close analysis of the talk reveals a good deal about general cultural contexts, as well as about Northern Thai mediation. (Mediation, conversation analysis, Thailand)
Diglossia: A bibliographic review
Authors: Hudson Alan
Published: December 2008

The bibliography following the body of this paper contains a total of 1,092 entries on the subject of diglossia. Entries dealing with diglossia in the classical sense of Ferguson (1959) and in the sense of functional compartmentalization of distinct languages are represented approximately equally. Scholarly publication in the area of diglossia continues unabated as indicated by the fact that approximately one-half of the entries in the bibliography were published between 1983 and 1992. However, there remains a need for a comprehensive integration, comparative analysis, and socioevolutionary interpretation of diglossia research. (Bilingualism, diglossia, functional variation, literary languages, registers, standard languages, standardization)
Some experimental findings about the question of politeness and women's speech (Research note)
Authors: Baroni Maria Rosa , D'urso Valentina
Published: December 2008

A particular factor in linguistic variation which has often been connected to female speech is politeness, as first described by Lakoff (1973a, 1973b), manifested not only by means of intonation, but also through the use of particular formulae of courtesy, through the use of tag questions at the end of interrogatives, and the use of longer, less direct and peremptory sentences.
Thinking about Children's Compositions
Authors: Loane Brian
Published: December 2008

The writer offers an analysis of examples of music (which can be heard on the accompanying cassette tape) composed by pupils as part of their ordinary class music lesson. He suggests that, like any other music, children's compositions can be approached as a quasi-symbolic image of consciousness. The process of skill learning and the act of musical creation are closely connected, even in some sense identical. This way of understanding children's music has implications for the initiation of composition work in class, and for the assessment of that work.
Assessment in Music in the Third and Fourth Years of Secondary Schooling in Scotland: Some Interim Thinking from the Dundee Project
Authors: Macdougall Ian
Published: December 2008

In January 1982 a research project on the assessment of music was set up in Dundee College of Education. The remit of the Project is to investigate new ways of assessing the teaching of music as a practical subject within the 14–16 age range.

Action research was placed under the direction of Mrs Marion Cameron de Quincey, Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology. Dr Ian Macdougall a member of staff in the Music Department of Wester Hailes Education Centre, a six-year comprehensive school in Edinburgh, was invited and appointed to carry out the necessary fieldwork.

The Project, originally scheduled to end in late 1984, is – as a result of interest already created – likely to be extended for a further two years.
Music Education in France
Authors: Terry Roy
Published: December 2008

The article summarises French Ministry of Education guidelines for music education and describes examples of actual practice. Mention is also made of Ministry of Culture provision for music education. An attempt is made to reflect current concerns among French music educators. Among issues raised are the nature of musical ability; what counts as music; questions of access and democratisation; and the relationship between classroom music and specialist instrumental tuition. The article is based on material gathered during a study visit to schools and colleges in Paris, and correspondence with teachers, advisers, and inspectors throughout France.
Music teaching in the first years of schooling in West Germany with particular reference to the state of Nordrhein Westfalen
Authors: Martin Anne
Published: December 2008

This article traces the development and influences on music teaching within the state primary school system in West Germany since 1900 and looks at recent significant curriculum changes in the Nordrhein Westfalen Grundschule music curriculum.
Music in Scottish Secondary Schools: Towards a New Vision
Authors: Sloggie James , Ross James
Published: December 2008

This is the story of a remarkable change in approach to musical education which has taken place in Scottish secondary schools during recent years.

Readers will bear in mind that the system of education in Scotland is independent of, and different from, that established in England. It is administered locally by education authorities which, together with head-teachers, are responsible for the curriculum taught within the schools. The Secretary of State for Scotland, nevertheless, retains an overall responsibility for the structure and balance of the school curriculum, which he fulfils by providing education authorities and head-teachers with general advice and guidance on curriculum matters. He is advised on these matters by HM Inspectorate of Schools (Scotland) and by the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum. The Consultative Committee on the Curriculum, in turn, is advised on musical matters by its subcommittee, the Scottish Central Committee on Music. Two external examinations, Ordinary and Higher Grades – taken at ages 16 and 17 respectively – are the responsibility of the Scottish Examination Board.

Scotland has a population of some five and a half million people. It has four professional orchestras – two with international reputations – professional opera and ballet companies, national youth brass and wind bands, and orchestra. There are over four hundred secondary schools. Instruction in music has been a feature of Scottish schools for centuries.
Sounds Useful: a Primary Music Project with the BBC Micro
Authors: Miller Michael
Published: December 2008

Sounds Useful is the title of a suite of music programs for the BBC microcomputer, designed for primary school use. The programs aim to allow the computer to be used as an instrumental resource in conjunction with other musical instruments. This article describes the programs, their purpose and how they came to be developed. It also looks at aspects of the development of music software in general and challenges in particular the view that the quality of sound produced by standard microcomputers is insufficient for creative use in primary schools.
Teaching Indian Music in the West: Problems, Approaches and Possibilities
Authors: Farrell Gerry
Published: December 2008

This article explores ways in which the elements of north Indian classical music may be taught in a western context. It examines traditional methods of teaching in India and points out the difficulties of transferring such methods into Western music education. The basic materials of Indian music are examined, with a view to using them to heighten awareness of music in general, but not necessarily to produce solo performers. The article suggests ways in which Indian music can be explored without compromising its inherent complexity, sense of form and aesthetic beauty; while, at the same time, making it more accessible to a wide range of people.
The Contemporary Composer in the Classroom
Authors: Owens Peter
Published: December 2008

This article is a revised version of a talk given by the author before an international symposium on music education in Hortos, Greece, in 1985. It considers the current state of modern music, suggesting that there have been some important changes in direction since the avant-garde styles of the 1950s and 1960s; and it reflects on some of the implications of these changes for secondary-school music teaching.

Some proposals are made for factors likely to facilitate the success of contemporary music which children hear or perform. In the original talk these points were illustrated with recorded examples, indicated here by numbers in the text. The role of children as contemporary composers themselves is also discussed in terms of the method and motivation by which creative work may be encouraged.

The educational writers on whom the author bases much of his argument are clearly acknowledged throughout the text. Otherwise, opinions derive from experience of teaching and writing music for children in England and in France.
Music and Movement: the Effect of Movement on Musical Comprehension
Authors: Shiobara Mari
Published: December 2008

In this article, I discuss the importance of movement in music education and suggest an effective way to approach this particular area of music teaching for younger children. The most important characteristics of movement to music activity in musical experience would seem to be in the role of developing in the mind of the participants ‘music schemata’, an active, developing organization of past responses to music which play a vital role when we listen to music and comprehend its expressive character. This hypothesis was tested in the teaching-experiment which was carried out in an English primary school and a Japanese primary school with the children of 7 to 8 years of age.
Creative Music Education in Japan during the 1920's: The Case of the Elementary School Attached to Nara Women's Higher Teachers College
Authors: Koizumi Kyoko
Published: December 2008

‘Creative music-making’, as developed in recent years in Great Britain and other countries, has also become popular in Japanese music education; for many music teachers have come to think seriously about the significance of child-centred music education instead of teacher-centred music education. Such a trend seems to be new. However, as in the United States and Great Britain, child-centred music education has been implemented previously – during the 1920's, in Japan's case. This development began in the Elementary School Attached to Nara Women's Higher Teachers College. The author describes the ideas and practices of creative music education in this school, and its historical background, comparing them with creative music-making today.
School and Music-school Collaboration in Sweden
Authors: Stålhammar Börje
Published: December 2008

How do we channel teenagers' interest in music? What guides our music teaching today, and what possibilities are there for development and change? These questions have given me occasion to take a closer look at the situation of music teaching today.

Many teachers have asked themselves how we in the comprehensive school and the music school can look after the zest and creative power which are often exhibited by teenagers when they perform music freely, not under the direct control of a teacher. I have also, on quite a number of occasions during lessons, registered resignation and tedium on the part of pupils.

The consequence has been drop-out from music school – sometimes experienced as a relief both by teacher and pupil. Despite the fact that the educational orientation has been based on a ‘musical encounter’ between teacher and pupil, this encounter has not occurred (or has sometimes occurred with a difference which certainly might have been corrected). But the pupil's great interest in music has not diminished – great interest, that is, in music as the pupil understands the term!
Performance as Experience: the problem of assessment criteria
Authors: Johnson Peter
Published: December 2008

Examination criteria, as distinct from guidelines regulating content and presentation, are problematic as applied to musical performance. Given the epistemological gap between musical and conceptual thought, forms of words are not readily available to distinguish objectively between the good and the mediocre performance. Criteria need therefore to be designed to complement the examiner's subjective response rather than substitute for it, and analytical concepts prove to be less reliable than ‘aesthetic terms’ (Sibley). In the context of Western art-music, the ‘good’ musical performance will be one that proposes its own ‘possible world’ (Bruner), situated within the larger ‘world’ of culturally contingent aesthetic values. Aesthetic terms provide the best means we have of access to the experiential world of performed music.
Cultural context in musical instrument learning
Authors: Cope Peter , Smith Hugh
Published: December 2008

The importance of a cultural context for musical instrument teaching and learning is analysed in terms of situated cognition and cultural validity. It is suggested that the current cultural location of instrument teaching is often associated with a view that confines success to a minority of children, partly by retaining the notion of the concert player as the goal. The nature of this goal and its implications are discussed and compared with traditional instrument learning and playing. Given that recent research suggests that virtuoso players are the product of practice rather than innate talent, the authors argue that a more relevant cultural framework for instrument teaching would result in competent players whose facility with an instrument would be appropriate to their social context.
The Preparation of Secondary Music Teachers in New South Wales: Is it out of step?
Authors: Jeanneret Neryl
Published: December 2008

This article grew out of a study of four preservice teacher education courses available in New South Wales for the secondary music specialist. Although the secondary syllabuses prescribe an integration of the activities of performing, composing and listening, tertiary teacher education courses are for the most part are based on the conservatoire model that compartmentalises aural, performing and musicology studies and almost entirely neglects composition. There also appears to be a lack of knowledge of and interest in general teacher education trends and their application to the above courses. It seems that the general structure of these curricula is out of step with current research in music and teacher education and desperately needs reviewing as we continue to produce teachers that perpetuate the model, both in high schools and at a tertiary level.
GCSE Music: a Survey of Undergraduate Opinion
Authors: Spencer Piers
Published: December 2008

The GCSE was greeted by many teachers and educationists as a major reform in music education. A survey of students who proceeded to advanced musical study since taking the examination has revealed less enthusiasm. Whilst appreciating its practical and creative character, the majority perceived the GCSE as an inadequate preparation for the demands of subsequent courses, particularly A-level. The survey also reveals a mismatch between the broad and balanced view of music which the GCSE seeks to promote and the somewhat narrower view of the subject held by many students.
Electro-acoustic Music in Higher Education
Authors: Smith Geoff , Clarke Michael
Published: December 2008

The article contains the results of a survey (1991) into electro-acoustic music studios and courses in higher education in the UK. Not only is there an ever-increasing profile of information technology in music, but also unprecedented speed and scale of advances in music technology which question not only what is taught, but how. By surveying the state of the nation's studios and courses, the authors seek to suggest strategies for future studio- and course-design that take into account these rapid developments as well as the fast growing demand for studio access and tuition.
A Dilemma for Music Education in Ghana
Authors: Flolu E. James
Published: December 2008

Ghana, a former British colony, has, since 1987, embarked on a massive programme of educational reform. With regard to music education, there seems to be a conflict of opinions and objectives; between those of the curriculum planners on one hand, and the music teachers on the other. This paper examines recent literature on this topic, together with current debates about how music is to function at the basic level in the new system.
Sex-stereotyping in Children's Preferences for Musical Instruments
Authors: Bruce Rosemary , Kemp Anthony
Published: December 2008

This paper considers the effects of children's gender associations on their preferences for musical instruments, and questions whether the limited range of instrumental selection made by boys can be regarded as a result of such associations.

The research project was devised to investigate the responses of infant school children to male and female musicians. The findings indicated that instrumental preferences were influenced by gender associations which could be lessened by providing positive role models. Whereas girls were more able to cross over gender divisions than boys, boys had a narrower range of interests in instruments. It was shown that the provision of an opposite gendered role model helped to overcome the associations made with particular instruments.
Education Through Music: Towards A South African Approach
Authors: Oehrle Elizabeth
Published: December 2008

Music making in Africa has been, and is, an essential aspect of living. The philosophy and process of music making in South African schools bares no relevance to this idea. The present situation is that South African music educators are propagating western music education methods, while so-called ‘western’ music educators are turning to Africa to find answers to their perplexing problems. This paradoxical situation highlights the importance of evolving a philosophy and process of intercultural education through music for South Africa which draws upon research into music making in Africa.
Music and the National Curriculum in Primary Schools
Authors: Lawson Dorothy , Plummeridge Charles , Swanwick Keith
Published: December 2008

This inquiry focused on the initial implementation of the National Curriculum for music in primary schools. The findings – from 39 schools in different parts of England – indicate that although some teachers are confident about introducing the new curriculum, many perceive problems implementing the programme as presently formulated. In particular there is a reluctance to teach music history and notation to the extent specified and concern is expressed by class teachers over their ability to cope with all the requirements. Successful implementation wold seem to depend on the presence of supportive head teachers, proactive subject coordinators and appropriate INSET programmes.
Music in the National Curriculum: The First Year
Authors: Mills Janet
Published: December 2008

During the academic year 1992–93 HM Inspectors of Schools (HMI) inspected 1208 class music lessons in maintained schools in England. These included almost 400 lessons attended by pupils in their first, third or seventh year of statutory schooling, that is pupils to whom the National Curriculum applies. HMI found a wide range in the quality of the practice in both primary and secondary schools. However, the proportion of lessons which HMI judged to be satisfactory or better in at least one of three important dimensions was substantially higher in primary schools. Primary class teachers often under-rated the quality of their music teaching. Some principles for developing good practice were identified.
Music Education and the Primary/Early Childhood Teacher: A Solution
Authors: Barrett Margaret
Published: December 2008

Music curriculum courses for generalist primary and early childhood teacher education students have tended traditionally to be heavily skill-intensive and instruction-based and reflective of the pedagogical methods of prominent music educators. In such learning experiences emphasis is generally placed upon the acquisition of skills dealing with notational and historical precedents and the development of some expertise in the areas of singing, playing and listening. Whilst these experiences provide students with valuable insights into traditional music education pedagogy, students who have a limited formal knowledge of music and who do not consider themselves to be musically articulate or literate frequently find such experiences alienating. Furthermore the teaching practices modelled through such programs tend to conflict with those advocated in other curriculum areas.

In an attempt to redress this situation an action research study was undertaken in which compulsory music curriculum units for generalist primary and early childhood teacher education students were re-developed to place compositional experience at the heart of the music education enterprise. In developing a theoretical and philosophical base for the pre-service music education units a number of educational strategies common in other curriculum areas were examined and adapted for use in the music education classroom.

Qualitative evaluation of the units has indicated that participating students whilst developing skills and knowledge in music and understanding of a range of teaching and learning strategies also perceive themselves to be more capable and confident as musicians.
Control before shape - on mastering the clarinet: A case study on commonsense teaching
Authors: Persson Roland S.
Published: December 2008

This article reports an exploratory study into applied music teaching at a tertiary level. The study was staged as a case study where the case comprises one performance lecturer of clarinet and eight of her students. The focus of the study is how a performance teacher with no formal teacher training fares in the training of musical performers, how students respond, and what are the particular successful or unsuccessful issues in ‘commonsense teaching’. The data were gathered through participant observation and questionnaires. The findings suggest that the distinction between the role of the pedagogue (skilled in the dynamics and principles of teaching and learning) and the role of the expert performer (skilled mainly in the domain of performance) is an essential distinction to make. However, it is also a distinction that traditional performance teaching at a tertiary level seldom makes. The article concludes by tentatively proposing some pedagogical considerations for applied music teaching, as drawn from the case study.
Metamorphosis: Creative and Integrated Teaching Methods in European Music Education
Authors: Stephens Jonathan
Published: December 2008

The image of change, as witnessed in the process of metamorphosis, emphasises the importance of an approach to music education which is not confined to the development of skills without placing these in the context of a holistic creative framework. The theme of structuring a music education curriculum within such a creative framework is not new; however, while national and more local directives on education (in Britain and abroad) continue to emphasise a ‘knowledge-skills’ basis to learning, it remains necessary to draw attention to the long-term purpose of education and the position of knowledge and skills within an individual's understanding and creative development. The issue explored in this article is not one of ‘either/or’, but rather that of perception and emphasis.

Structurally the article reflects the development of a butterfly, with an increasing emphasis on creativity towards the final section of the paper. In addition the rondo structure of Smetana's Vltava contributes to the structural framework of the article – broadly in terms of the progress of a river from source to end, as well as at the particular level: for example, in the area of duality and balance of such elements as the cold and warm streams, and the two main scenes (day and night) through which the river passes. In this article, the two concepts of creativity and integration are combined within a creative structure, just as the elements of Smetana's composition are imaginatively and creatively integrated. The sub-title of the article places the themes of creativity and integration within a European framework, where ongoing attempts at political, economic and social bonding are reflected in the need to establish a currency of educational approaches to enable professional interaction and mobility to develop.
Professional Musicians' Orientations to Practice: Implications for Teaching
Authors: Hallam Susan
Published: December 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which professional musicians practise. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 freelance musicians spanning a wide range of age and experience and encompassing most of the instruments of the traditional orchestra. The interviews revealed considerable individual diversity in the ways in which the musicians approached and undertook their practice. The findings are discussed in terms of their educational implications.
Free collective improvisation in higher education
Authors: Ford Charles C.
Published: December 2008

Free improvisation has two sources in the avant garde jazz, and experimental classical practices of the 1960s. Appeals to freedom, musical or otherwise, often result in more limitations. Sessions at Thames Valley University are managed by the students, and involve intense debate concerning how best to maximise collective musical freedom. Performances are triggered by individually prepared plans, which take the form of intervallic and rhythmic cells, registrally distinct roles, formal markers, dynamic processes, and even evocative poetics. Free collective improvisation in the classroom rewards sensitivity and sustained, intense concentration with a confrontational and convivial, ethical and musical, experience.
Primary School Music Curriculum Courses – One Solution
Authors: Green Robert
Published: December 2008

The requirements of the National Curriculum in England make it compulsory for all students training for primary teaching to take curriculum courses in all the core and foundation subjects and RE. [Music is a foundation subject established in 1992 and revised in 1995.] The need to make this type of course stimulating and encouraging has been a major concern for many years. This article describes one course that is designed to meet these needs. Students' evaluations of the course have been very favourable. This has encouraged the writer to share the experience with others in the field and seek constructive criticism. The course, in this form, ran first in 1992–3.
Developing an understanding of appraising music with practising primary teachers
Authors: Flynn Patricia , Pratt George
Published: December 2008

paper deals with a central concept in music education, that of ‘appraising’ music. Through a series of incidents surrounding the development of the Music National Curriculum this concept, new to many, was left undefined. Using research which shows how people cope with change and successfully take on innovations, a need for deeper information on what appraising entails, and the underlying principles involved, was identified – that is, the ‘how-to’ and ‘principles’ knowledge of appraising. The paper reports research carried out with a group of teachers to define the activity of appraising music in a way which takes account of real classroom situations and can be used by the 90% of primary teachers who are not music specialists. Because the definition is developed by teachers it is more likely to be understood by other teachers. The paper ends with an example of a programme of work which uses the developed understanding. This includes nine areas of appraising, an explanatory definition and four stages in the process of appraising as well as an understanding of progression in this activity using seven words to indicate progression and identifying a ‘putting in’ and ‘drawing out’ stage within this.The children's appraising and progression is discussed and the paper argues that, in choosing this term, the Music Working Group has identified the way in which we come to know and understand the processes involved in music and musical thinking within the three activities of Composing, Performing and Listening.
The Teaching of Harmony and Counterpoint
Authors: Toplis Gloria
Published: December 2008

Now that the system of functional tonality is regarded as obsolete by many composers and some British universities have abandoned the teaching of tonal harmony and counterpoint, it is time to re-examine the role of this area of the curriculum. This article argues that there is still a place for it but that up-to-date, scholarly materials are needed for the preliminary and intermediate stages of study.
A Framework for Teaching West African Musics in Schools and Colleges
Authors: Kwami Robert
Published: December 2008

Existing classifications of West African musics seem to have a limited applicability as models for music education in schools and colleges. Hence, a more comprehensive classification, highlighting a range of syncretic forms, is merged with a structure in Ghanaian drum ensembles to yield a sequential, two dimensional, model. It is then argued that the model can be used as a framework for teaching West African musics in primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions. A more general discussion is followed by an integrated arts application; finally, a musical perspective, including compositions by the present writer, is presented.
Techniques of Composition in the British and Irish University Curriculum
Authors: Johnstone Andrew
Published: December 2008

Most university students of music, including many who are accomplished both academically and as instrumentalists, consistently under-achieve in the subject areas commonly known as ‘techniques of composition’. Why this is so, and how this aspect of the university curriculum has come about in Britain and Ireland, are the subjects of this paper. At a time when formal methods are being replaced by free composition in the secondary school music curriculum, the future direction of third-level studies is very much in doubt. Because school-leavers are less well equipped than formerly in musical rudiments and basic harmony, some university music departments have abandoned techniques teaching altogether – those where it is retained being seen as bastions of conservatism. In view of the obvious shortcomings of existing methods their demise is understandable. Future developments, however, must not be determined by reaction, but guided by research.
Field Theory and the Play of Musical Performance
Authors: Stubley Eleanor
Published: December 2008

This paper utilizes the vocabulary and methodological concepts of field theory to explore how play can arise in and through performance. Field is defined as a space or potential for action. The action of play is grounded in an open and expanding space which through a dialectic interplay of feelings motivates self-exploration. The action of musical performance is grounded in a reaching out movement through which the performer forges and sustains a musical voice. The field can create a space for play when the music-making re-directs or challenges the focus of the musical voice. The methodological approach recognizes and respects differences in the way music is made in different cultural traditions. It also articulates a need to develop instructional strategies which treat musical style as a ritualistic process and which define the role of the teacher as a musician.1
The world of music in education
Authors: Wiggins Trevor
Published: December 2008

This article is concerned with music pedagogy, especially in relation to world music. The process of learning music varies with musical culture and is an integral part of musical style. Learning musicians bring training and concepts from their own musical background, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. The author examines aspects of the pedagogic process for indigenous and foreign musicians, considering the nature of the experience and understanding from their different viewpoints. The article results from a period of field research in Ghana during 1994–5 which was supported by grants from Dartington College of Arts and the Elmgrant Trust.
Instrumental teaching and the National Curriculum: a possible partnership?
Authors: Gane Patricia
Published: December 2008

The rationale for this article lies in a perceived need for instrumental teaching to take on positively some of the opportunities that the National Curriculum represents; in particular, the need for music-centred approaches encompassing improvising, composing and appraising as central activities in instrumental lessons in addition to performing. Its background is the belief that traditional approaches to instrumental teaching have tended to favour development of technical skills in preference to imaginative responses to musical encounters. Pragmatic realities as well as potential curriculum benefits now demand a shared outlook from class and instrumental teachers who have tended to travel on different, if parallel, tracks. This article provides a tentative model for instrumental learning in the National Curriculum which will enable the unique character of what instrumental music has to offer to be maintained whilst enriching it with wider curriculum perspectives. Note: Throughout this article instrumental teaching refers to that provision offered by specialist teachers whether of instruments of the Western classical tradition, those of non- Western cultures, or of the pop, rock, jazz or folk traditions. Exemplars are indicative only and are not drawn from specific cases. It is intended that readers will interpret exemplars according to their own particular instrumental specialism.