Music

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    MUSIC TEACHER LABOR MARKETS: THREE STUDIES ON MARYLAND EARLY-CAREER MUSIC TEACHERS
    (2023) Miller, David; Elpus, Kenneth; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In these three studies, I analyze data from the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) to investigate how labor markets for early-career music teachers are related to the ongoing music teacher shortage in Maryland. In the first study, I explore the transition from postsecondary graduation into the public-school music teacher workforce. In the second study, I examine early-career music teachers' retention and attrition patterns. In the final study, I consider the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on these two critical stages of the music teacher pipeline. In the final chapter, I evaluate evidence from these three studies alongside the broader teacher labor market literature to provide policy recommendations that may ameliorate the worsening music teacher shortage in Maryland. Leveraging data from the MLDS, I used a variety of analytic strategies to describe the workforce transition of individuals who graduated from Maryland institutions of higher education with degrees in music education between 2008 and 2020 (N = 700). I used linear probability modeling to examine the individual factors associated with entry into the public-school music teacher workforce in Maryland. I used descriptive statistics to examine the teaching responsibilities of new teachers and the characteristics of schools in which new teachers worked. Finally, I explored the characteristics of high schools from which the new teachers had graduated and how these characteristics compared to the schools in which new teachers were employed. Results indicated that approximately 60% of new graduates entered Maryland's public-school music teacher workforce. The majority (60%) found employment in elementary schools, and 59% taught general music as part of the instructional responsibilities. Overall, new teachers tended to come from high schools with higher overall socioeconomic status, larger student enrollment counts, and student body demographics with higher proportions of White students compared to state averages. New music teachers in Maryland also taught in schools that were a farther distance from home compared to previous national estimates for all teachers. In the second study, I examined early-career music teachers' retention and attrition patterns between 2013 and 2020 (N = 6,430). On average, 74% of early-career music teachers retained their current position each year, 8% moved to a different school in Maryland, and 18% of left public school music teaching in Maryland. Teachers who moved schools tended to have different teaching responsibilities in their new position. About half of the teachers who moved schools changed the grade levels that they taught, and the vast majority of this change (77%) was to an older student population. On average, teachers tended to move to schools with higher average socioeconomic status and to schools whose demographic composition had a higher proportion of White students. I used discrete-time survival analysis to examine the teacher-, school-, and district-level characteristics associated with whether and when an individual would leave public-school music teaching in Maryland. Kaplan-Meier survivor functions showed that half of all music teachers left public-school music teaching in Maryland within their first five years of teaching. Attrition risk was greatest in years two and three. Other factors associated with attrition risk included sex, race, ethnicity, school grade level, aspects of school culture, the student body, school and district urbanicity, and the number of teachers employed by the school district. In the final study, I exploit the exogenous nature of the COVID-19 pandemic to explore its impact on the workforce transition and attrition of early-career music teachers in Maryland. Using an interrupted time series analysis, a quasi-experimental design that can yield causal insights, I demonstrate that attrition of early-career music teachers was likely not impacted by the pandemic. Analyses for the workforce transition were not as conclusive: There was a drop in the workforce entry rate in the first year of the pandemic, but the second year came with a sharp rebound to a much higher rate of workforce entry. Still, the number of provisionally-licensed music teachers, an indicator of shortage severity, has been increasing steadily for nearly a decade. Although media narratives have sounded the alarm on the COVID-19 pandemic’s potential impact on the teacher shortage, it would be disingenuous to suggest solving pandemic-related problems would reverse the trend. I conclude this dissertation with a discussion of policy implications for Maryland local education agencies and music teacher preparation programs. Additionally, I discuss the unique substantive and methodological contributions to the broader music education literature. Substantively, these studies provide a novel framework for examining music teacher labor markets. Methodologically, these studies illustrate a blueprint for music education researchers to leverage the rich data available within the underutilized State Longitudinal Data Systems to explore issues of access, uptake, equity, and pipelines throughout K-12 and postsecondary music education.
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    The Responses and Reflections of Two Students with Autism Based on their Experiences Creating, Performing, and Responding to Music: A Multiple Case Study
    (2014) Weishaar, Amy C.; Montgomery, Janet; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of this study was to describe the responses and reflections of two middle school students with autism as they created, performed, and responded to music during a series of six lessons. A multiple case study methodology was employed. The data collected included audio and video recordings of interviews and lessons, field notes, and work samples. Within-case analyses revealed that one participant communicated primarily through the use of musical and non-verbal modes, with varied levels of communication through words, while the second participant communicated largely through written and spoken language. Four cross-case themes emerged: voluntary cooperative learning style, awareness of popular music culture, sanguine affects, and unique, but functioning responsive and reflective capacities. The findings indicated that both students' were descriptive, reflective, associative, creative, emotive and empathetic in their own way, and this provided insight into their learning style. Implications for music education and suggestions for future research are provided.
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    A Systematic Review of Music Teacher Education Research within the United States:1982-2010
    (2012) Rumpf, Randy J. J.; Hewitt, Michael; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Music education researchers have explored several issues within music teacher education (MTE) including: coursework, teacher and musicianship skills, design and implementation of undergraduate programs, and music teacher identity development. An examination and discussion of this research will assist those responsible for educating future music teacher educators with developing meaningful and effective teacher training programs. In this systematic review, I examined the research published in peer-review journals between 1982 and 2010 and defended music education dissertations between 2005 and 2010. The purpose of the current synthesis was to synthesize peer-review research relating to MTE and to recount the findings and connections of existing research for current music teacher educators. Before studies were included in the synthesis, I reviewed each one to ensure they met the following inclusion criteria: (a) relevant to the proposed research questions under consideration; (b) published in a peer-review journal or a defended dissertation between 2005-2010; (c) printed in English; (d) published between 1982 and July 2010; (e) involved subjects who were members of an undergraduate teacher preparation program in the United States; (f) detailed in the presentation of the methodology; and (g) presented the content so that relevant information could be attained. To further explore the implications of the current synthesis' findings, three practicing music teacher educators completed a two-part questionnaire designed to elicit information about their perspectives of MTE research and opinions of the current findings. I reviewed, categorized, and reported responses from each questionnaire as part of the research synthesis intending to identify the role of research in MTE, commonalities, possible concerns, and possible future research needs for meaningful research agendas specific to music teacher education.
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    Our Musical School: Ethnographic Methods and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Elementary General Music
    (2011) Strab, Emily Theresa; Witzleben, John Lawrence; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The current study has uncovered the complexities of childhood musical culture in a rural public school in Maryland with a diverse student population. Through daily interaction with her students, the researcher learned about their particular culture, including musical preferences, practices of music consumption and expression, and how students conceptualize music. The breadth and depth of knowledge the investigator was able to discover through participant observation during teaching duties demonstrates the usefulness of ethnographic methods in learning about students' musical culture for classroom music teachers. The use of this information proved to be productive in developing culturally relevant lessons that students responded to positively. In conclusion, the researcher found that pursuing an ethnographic project in order to create a culturally relevant pedagogy for her students was a worthwhile undertaking as an elementary general music educator.
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    Cantemos a coro: An anthology of choral music from Latin America
    (2011) Saez, Diana V.; Maclary, Edward; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This project presents an anthology of choral music, with examples from periods from the colonial time to the present. It includes notes about each composer's life and the historical context in which the works were created, and explains some of the most striking features of the music. The anthology is organized in three main sections. The first one covers music --- mostly sacred music---composed during the colonial era, from the 17th to 19th centuries. The second group includes choral music composed after most countries gained their independence from Spain; most of this music is secular. The third group features contemporary compositions written after the 1980s, as well as works inspired by Latin American folklore. The anthology includes scores for music that is in the public domain and songs for which permission to reproduce has been granted, as well as a list of contacts and publishing houses that carry the music. Concert program samples are provided.
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    Teaching Registration in the Mixed Choral Rehearsal: Physiological and Acoustical Considerations
    (2011) Aldrich, Nicole Paige; Maclary, Edward; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    One of the most challenging concepts of vocal technique is registration. In classical Western singing, noticeable changes of timbre over the course of a singer's vocal range are considered undesirable, and much effort is spent in learning how to eliminate these "breaks." Faults in vocal registration can cause unevenness of tone quality, lack of resonance, and instability of intonation. The choral conductor must learn how to address these problems in rehearsal in order to establish good choral sound. Much literature exists which defines the physiological and acoustical adjustments required to create a well-blended, "one-register" voice; however, this literature is aimed at the individual singer or teacher of solo voice. Voice-training resources for choral conductors may mention registration and vowel modification but typically do not explain in any detail the science underlying the concepts. The choral conductor thus must adapt the body of solo voice research for application to a group voice teaching setting. The primary goal of this paper is to propose and describe techniques for teaching registration and vowel modification concepts to choral singers. The paper details the physiological factors at work in vocal registration, including the functions of the intrinsic laryngeal musculature. It also surveys the science of acoustics as it applies to the singing voice, including a discussion of vowel formants and the purposes and methods of formant tuning for male and female voices. This section will draw heavily on existing research in solo singing. The next portion of the paper tailors this knowledge to the needs of the choral vocal teacher. The author describes signs of registration difficulties within an ensemble and their possible causes. Next the author provides a series of vocalises and other tools designed to help the conductor achieve two goals in rehearsal: first, to help both men and women develop the physiological adjustments necessary to reduce obvious registration shifts; and second, to assist singers of all voice types in discovering the vowel modifications which will produce a uniform tone quality throughout the range. Finally, the author explains how the conductor can identify potential registration problems during score study and preparation.
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    Children's Music in the Southern Baptist Convention: An Ethnographic Study of Four Churches in Maryland Examining the Effects of Doctrine and Local Church Autonomy on Children's Music
    (2011) Diab, Melak Victoria; Provine, Robert C; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest Protestant denomination and the largest group of Baptists in the United States. Furthermore, LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist publishing house, is the largest Christian publisher in the United States, producing various literature and media resources, including music material for children. However, the autonomous nature of the local Baptist church gives it absolute freedom to choose programs and materials apart from the Southern Baptist National Convention and LifeWay. This study examines the dynamics of the relationship between the National Convention and the local church as it pertains to children's music. The study looks at the theological and organizational framework on the national level and the local church level and how they affect children and children's music in an autonomous local church setting. The study reveals that all resources and programs related to children on the local church and national convention level, such as children's choir and Vacation Bible School, and Sunday school, are directed towards teaching the children about the two most fundamental concepts of the faith, these are conversion (how to become a Christian) and worship (how to commune with God). The SBC curriculum for children is undergirded by Howard Gardener's theory of multiple intelligences, and makes extensive use of creative movement and American Sign Language to capture children's attention. However, the nature of local church autonomy gives each church the freedom to tailor SBC curriculum to its specific needs or to choose a curriculum from another denomination altogether.