Music Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2796
Browse
6 results
Search Results
Item Telling the Whole Story: A Mixed Methods Process Evaluation of Middle School General Music Curriculum Reform(2023) Wright, Bri'Ann F; Prichard, Stephanie F; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study is a mixed methods process evaluation of a middle school music curriculum reform in a large, Mid-Atlantic school district. The purpose of this study was to explore East Highland Public School District’s (a pseudonym), reform and implementation process of their seventh and eighth grade general music curricula. I constructed an understanding of the nature of the curricular reform, including structural circumstances that led to the change, the writing process and pilot phase, and enactment across the district. Further, I sought to investigate teacher perceptions of agency and conceptions of their teaching alignment with the new curriculum documents. Research questions guiding the study addressed the nature of the EHPSD curriculum reform, enactment process, and teacher perceptions. I framed this study through the theory of ecological teacher agency, which views agency as action with intention and emergent within the unique structures surrounding the individual. Data sources included old and new curricular documents, interviews with the EHPSD music supervisor and several teachers who were central to the writing process, and a questionnaire—Music Teacher Professional Agency Survey (MTPAS)—administered to all middle school general music teachers in the district. I approached data analysis using a multifaceted approach informed by scholarly recommendations for mixed methods process evaluation. First, I completed a thorough document analysis of the new general music curriculum—General Music I and General Music II (GMI and GMII). Next, I conducted interviews with the EHPSD music supervisor and three of the main curriculum writers. Finally, the quantitative strand of the study, included administering and analyzing data from the MTPAS where I sought to understand teachers’ perceptions of agency and conceptions of their teaching alignment with the written curriculum. I then formulated a theory of action, based mostly from the interview data with the music supervisor, to “test” the efficacy of the implementation process and uncover the underlying assumptions inherent in the enactment process. I mixed my qualitative and quantitative data strands by creating a data convergence matrix. Results indicated that based on the theory of action, the reform of EHPSD’s new middle school general music curriculum was carried out with relative fidelity. Instigated by a board-approved visual arts schedule change and overseen by EHPSD’s music supervisor, the reform process included curriculum design and writing time, a pilot program, and full implementation for both GMI and GMII. Through document analysis and exploration of interview data, I identified that the contents and processes included in GMI and GMII reflected progressive middle school general music values and curricula design. Survey results indicated positive perceptions of teacher agency and positive conceptions of pedagogical alignment with the document. In mixed methods analysis, several themes overlapped between interviews and survey responses.Findings from this study point toward the need for localized reform efforts that leverage teachers as instigators of reform design and enactment, in both program design and also in program and policy evaluation. Additionally, process and full impact evaluation work is important to music education to uncover curricular instruction, content, and teaching strategies that work in the pk-12 and higher education music classrooms.Item A STUDY OF SELECTED COLLABORATIONS: PREPARING AND COACHING PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC FOR PERFORMANCE(2021) Su, Ying-Shan; Sloan, Rita; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Every devoted musician strives for excellence in performance. In chamber music rehearsals, it is crucially important that this same devoted musician should do more than simply get the music ready for successful performance. The work of rehearsal involves striving to fulfill the intentions of the composer, an effort which will hopefully satisfy both the musicians and the audience. It is equally important for musicians to learn more about shared leadership and collaborative teamwork, which lie at the heart of the chamber music genre as well as at the heart of the rehearsal itself. This entire process requires proper guidance towards the relevant information and knowledge and I feel that the type of learning and development acquired through a successful chamber music experience will benefit music students and encourage them to take ownership of their musical growth and long-term learning. However, a major roadblock to acquiring this knowledge is the lack of written pedagogical material. Therefore, in this dissertation, topics pertaining to music preparation and the rehearsal process involved in the three programs of selected piano chamber music as well as related coaching ideas will be discussed. Hopefully, the performances along with this document will contribute to the information available on how one learns to organize and prepare for piano chamber music performances in a more systematic and group-oriented way. The recital programs were presented on September 30th and December 8th, 2020, and March 30th, 2021. Recordings of these three recitals can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).Item Augmenting the Orchestral Rehearsal: A Principles-Based Approach to the Orchestral Training of Undergraduate Strings(2019) Lu, Tiffany; Maclary, Edward; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Orchestral rehearsals in college focus exclusively on preparing concert programs. Drawing from the experiences of undergraduate string players and orchestral directors, I argue that this approach is educationally suboptimal because it fails to maximize the college orchestral rehearsal time as an educational space, forgoing the development of long-term skills in favor of learning repertoire. I design, write, and test some examples of a new curricular model which utilizes excerpts from across the orchestral repertoire to teach towards specific themes in orchestral string playing. I identify themes which are more advanced than the basic string techniques featured in other curricular precedents, and which are fundamental to orchestral playing in particular: orchestral dynamics, bow distribution, bouncing bow strokes, special “orchestral” techniques, and the constitution of a string section. I organize information about these topics in a structured way and use excerpts as examples that fit within a broader framework.Item AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN MUSIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP(2015) Devlin, John Gennaro; Ross, James; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This document presents a syllabus, curriculum outline, lesson plans and a suggested bibliography for a 50-minute-per-week course in Music Entrepreneurship. The course is designed for undergraduate and graduate students. The materials presented are intended to be useful to any teacher developing an introductory curriculum in Music Entrepreneurship. The content could also be valuable to students at schools where there are no offerings in Music Entrepreneurship. The dissertation also includes a report on Music Entrepreneurship programs at five top music schools: the Manhattan School of Music, the New England Conservatory, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of South Carolina. The author interviewed the directors of each of these programs and, where possible, observed classes and interviewed faculty, staff and students. This research proved valuable in two ways: 1) it informed the design and the content of the course presented in this document, and 2) it revealed best practices for the development of larger programs in Music Entrepreneurship, beyond a single class. This information can be of value to administrators considering the implementation of Music Entrepreneurship offerings, or serve as a guide for the expansion of current programs.Item TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THE BEST CHORAL REPERTOIRE FROM THE GREAT COMPOSERS: MASTERWORKS AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE, FREE ACCESS FROM THE CHORAL PUBLIC DOMAIN LIBRARY(2015) Bauchspies, Cynthia; Maclary, Edward; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Studying the choral works of the great composers of the past is always a worthy endeavor. For those aspiring to create an excellent high school choral program, it is critical to a student's musical foundation and heritage. Choral educators who teach high school are often bombarded with the most recently published new choral works, when they have a trove of excellent pieces right at their fingertips through websites like the Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL), all available at no cost. This project will explore the pedagogical reasons why this canon of public domain choral music should be taught at the high school level. A thorough guide to CPDL and an anthology of 200 works available on CPDL will provide the conductor with resources for programming this music. Though choral music in the public domain is free to all, publishers still publish this music and adhere copyright claims. This can create mistrust of legitimate editions on CPDL; why are they available at no cost when publishers are claiming copyright on similar editions? These issues will be thoroughly discussed in this project. For any given work on CPDL, there may be multiple editions available on the site. Choosing the right edition requires knowledge about basic editorial principles, especially for works written during the Renaissance period. A detailed discussion of these principles will provide the conductor with the tools needed to choose the best edition for his or her ensemble.Item A Qualitative Study of Undergraduate Instrumentalists Teaching Elementary General Music Education(2012) Corfield-Adams, Maggie; Carter, Bruce; Hughes, Sherick; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The central purpose of this multiple-case study was to describe the professional identities of six general music teachers who identified as instrumentalists as undergraduates. The study builds upon research addressing why students choose music education (Bergee, et al., 2001; Bright, 2006; Gillespie & Hamann, 1999; Lee, 2003; Madsen & Kelly, 2002) and the reasons some instrumentally "tracked" students may choose general music (Anderson-Nickel, 1997; Robinson, 2010). This study investigated tensions between the participants' instrumental backgrounds and the professional demands of general music teaching, and the role of those tensions in shaping professional identities. The conceptual framework is grounded in the work of Gee (2000) who suggests that the existence of identities requires interpretive systems through which individuals and institutions interact. The study describes tensions between institutional identities and core identities as important to the process of participants' professional identity development. Participants were general music teachers, 24 - 51 years of age, from different undergraduate institutions and who teach in different regions of the country. Semi-structured interviews, participant essays, transcripts, notebooks, and institutional websites were used for data collection. Participants' stories represent both narrative inquiry and case study approaches to qualitative research. Data analysis included a process of recontextualization (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996) to facilitate the production of narratives and coding techniques in individual and cross-case analysis. Cross-case analysis revealed seven emergent themes: (1) concerns about "perceived limitations" (Robinson, 2010, p. 41) of ensemble teaching as an important factor in the choice to teach general music, (2) the structure and requirements of directing a band as a factor in a turn toward working with younger students, (3) the unique structure of general music classes as a source of initial challenge, (4) a given curriculum or scope and sequence as something of value, (5) vocal teaching as a unique challenge for some instrumentally-trained general music teachers, (6) changes in self-identification as linked to agreements between institutional identities and core identities, and (7) professional positionality in relation to students, not colleagues. The concluding section offers suggestions for future research and implications for undergraduate music programs and school systems.