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Grounded in a hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (HMIEM), the primary aim of this study was to test a full motivational sequence at the contextual level in a high school ensemble setting (Social-Contextual Factors → Psychological Needs → Motivation → Consequences). I specifically examined the relationships between multifaceted variables within this sequence, including teacher-created social contexts, psychosocial needs, types of motivation, and consequences. A secondary purpose of this study was to determine whether gender would impact the results of the sequence of motivational processes. Structural equation modeling analysis with a sample of 425 high school ensemble students revealed that social-contextual factors provided by the teachers were related to satisfaction of fundamental autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs, which in turn influenced intrinsic motivation, positive motivational outcomes, and persistence in musical activities. The multistep invariance analysis also revealed the model to be invariant for males and females. The results of the study supported the HMIEM and validated the application of the motivational sequence in the context of music education.

A framework of cultural humility has three core tenets: (a) commitment to lifelong, critical self-reflection; (b) recognition and mitigation of power imbalances; and (c) accountability to individuals and institutions. In this article, the author provides a brief definition of cultural humility and apply the concept to frame my analysis of intercultural contexts of music education. By adopting the concept of cultural humility, music teachers can acknowledge their own biases, values, prejudices, and beliefs in relation to intercultural contexts of music education. A commitment to a lifelong process of introspection through self-reflection can help them redress power imbalances that exist in music education and can encourage the building of bidirectionality of relationships with students and communities.

Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which variables proposed by the extended TPB (i.e., attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and value of music) were associated with non-music majors’ intentions to continue participating in ensembles. The final sample included 200 non-music majors (62% return rate) from performing ensembles in the southeastern United States. Participants took an online survey that involved an open-ended question, the TPB Scale, and demographic information. The results of the quantitative data analysis indicated that all four predictor variables appeared to be significant indicators of non-music majors’ intentions to continue music participation. These results appeared to be the same when examining contributors of non-music majors’ intentions by their year in school. The responses to the open-ended question showed relationships between predictor variables across the data set: (a) attitude, value of music, and subjective norms; (b) perceived behavioral control (self-efficacy) and subjective norms, and (c) perceived behavioral control (controllability), attitude, and value of music. The findings have potential for music educators seeking to understand non-music majors’ psychological decision-making processes, as well as for predicting attitudes and behaviors related to continued participation in ensembles.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of notation-based software on music composition by comparing student compositions, preferences, and perceived advantages and disadvantages of composing music with and without the aid of notation-based software. The study included 37 upper-grade elementary students who composed eight measures of melody with notation-based software (MuseScore2) and handwritten notation assisted by classroom instruments (glockenspiel) during 12-week music composition lessons. Student preferences and their comments for each compositional mode were also collected. Afterward, the compositions were judged by five music teachers using Amabile’s consensual assessment technique with criteria of creativity, aesthetic appeal, and craftsmanship. Results indicated that notation-based software for music composition scored higher in creativity, while compositions on the hand-written notation assisted by glockenspiels scored higher in craftsmanship. Of the participants, 76% preferred composing music with the aid of notation-based software because of the playback function and perceived ease. Compositions using notation-based software demonstrated higher scores in creativity than handwritten compositions. However, handwritten compositions scored higher in craftsmanship. Comments by students after composition suggested that handwritten approaches allowed them to use composition strategies learned during prior teaching sessions, although they showed a lower preference for it.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether music teachers’ psychological needs and work engagement predicted their well-being. The term “well-being,” referring to human optimal condition, was adopted from self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Participants (n = 218) completed a survey that consisted of the Music Teacher Engagement Scale, the Music Teachers’ Psychological Need Measure (comprised of autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and the Subjective Well-Being Inventory (Sell & Nagpal, 1992). We conducted a stepwise multiple regression analysis using work engagement, autonomy, competence, and relatedness as the predictor variables and a composite well-being rating scale score as the criterion variable. For music teachers with 0 to 9 years and 30-plus years of experience, relatedness was the stronger predictor of well-being. However, among teachers who had 10 to 19 and 20 to 29 years of experience, competence was determined as a strong predictor.

Multicultural choral music has distinct characteristics in that indigenous folk elements are frequently incorporated into a Western European tonal system. Because of this, multicultural choral music is often taught using Western styles (e.g., bel canto) rather than through traditional singing techniques from their cultures of origin. One of the most important purposes of teaching multicultural music is to increase understanding of and acceptance toward different cultures and enrich musical experiences. This article details eight instructional strategies to help students learn multicultural choral music from alternative perspectives that enrich their musical skills, cultural understandings, and performances of multicultural music.

The purpose of this study was to reveal the effects of Westernized arrangements of traditional Korean folk music on music familiarity and preference. Two separate labs in one intact class were assigned to one of two treatment groups of either listening to traditional Korean folk songs (n = 18) or listening to Western arrangements of the same Korean folk songs (n = 22); a second intact class served as a control group with no listening (n = 20). Before and after the listening treatment session, pre-and posttests were administered that included 12 music excerpts of current popular, Western classical, and traditional Korean music. Results showed that participants who listened to traditional folk songs demonstrated significant increases in both familiarity and preference ratings; however, those who listened to Westernized folk songs showed increases only in familiarity ratings but not preference ratings for the same Korean songs in traditional versions. An analysis of participants' open-ended responses showed that affective-positive responses were used most frequently when explaining preference for traditional versions of Korean folk songs (28.1%) among the traditional Korean listening group; structural-negative reasons (47.8%) were the most frequent among the Westernized listening group.

Before our current notation system was widely adopted by musicians, improvisation was a key component of music throughout the Western world. One of the fundamental elements of the baroque style, namely, using improvised embellishment, offered musicians great artist liberty. During the baroque period, improvisation spread across Europe and beyond. To achieve a thorough understanding of the art of improvisation, it is important to be familiar with several improvisation techniques commonly used in the baroque period. This article focuses on some of these characteristic techniques, such as harmonic improvisation from figured-bass symbols, expressive ornamentation on an existing melodic line, and variation forms. The article also offers educators ways to apply these improvisation techniques to teaching improvisation in elementary music classrooms.

This case study explores ten undergraduate music education students' experiences with reflective self-assessment using web-hosted materials in a choral conducting course. To provide participants with opportunities to engage in reflective self-assessment in a web-based environment, these participants were given web-hosted materials in order for them to: (a) view and edit videos of their conducting to describe their performance, (b) complete self-assessments after reviewing the videos to evaluate their conducting performance, and (c) write and share peer feedback to experience different perspectives. Each of the three steps was documented in a web environment. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with each participant and the instructor, open-ended questionnaires, and notes from the author's research journal. Through several processes, the study found potential benefits in using web-hosted materials to promote students' self-reflection and assessment in a choral conducting course. These processes included having participants describe their experiences (criteria comprehension, determining conducting strengths and weaknesses), evaluate their experiences (determining the benefits of a single-location platform/website, reviewing conducting in the future), and learn from multiple perspectives (sharing ideas in a safe environment, improving vocabulary and critical skills).

As the United States becomes more culturally diverse, the inclusion of musics from various cultural traditions in music education programs has become increasingly significant in recent decades. As music teachers have come to rely on Internet resources to teach world musics, a need has arisen to monitor the quality of world music websites. To address such needs, we designed a World Music Educational Website Checklist and checked its validity and reliability. The checklist was structured based on the 4Cs design model (Barnes & Yu, 2002), which consists of (a) Content (information), (b) Control (navigation), (c) Consistency (readability), and (d) Corroboration (accountability). Thirty-one Korean music educators and twenty-seven Chinese music educators evaluated either Korean or Chinese websites using the checklist based on their cultural origin as culture-bearer music educators are the most qualified to evaluate their respective country’s music education websites. Internal consistency reliability of the checklist subscales for the Korean and Chinese websites ranged from acceptable to excellent (α = .82 to α = .96; α = .70 to α = .99). The results also showed good inter-rater reliability (α = .99 and α = .98, respectively).