Discusses the reasons why schools choose year-round multi-track (YRMT) scheduling. Asserts that YRMT scheduling seriously affects music teachers since they spend less time with the students and must plan in smaller increments. Provides the results from a survey where music teachers in Florida (Orange County) commented on their experiences with…

Stresses that symphony orchestras and other professional arts organizations need to improve young people's concerts by accounting for student learning and becoming partners with music educators. Provides an experience hierarchy that helps artists and arts organizations benefit from music teachers' knowledge and a list of five elements to consider…

Describes an authentic assessment framework for music educators by summarizing a collaborative project between a music-education professor and a general music teacher at DeWitt Middle School in Ithaca, New York. States that the project shows how an interactive, process-oriented approach to assessing musical understanding is both possible and…

Describes a music project that promoted interaction between culturally diverse students by involving students from an eighth-grade class in both an inner-city school and a suburban school. Expounds that the students explored rhythm, texture, improvisation, ostinatos, dynamics, and form in a hands-on musical environment. Reveals that cooperative…

Supports the shift from educating the masses as music consumers to educating a population of competent music makers through the integration of the standards into the music curriculum. Believes that, by transforming the teacher-education programs and creating advocacy agendas, the barriers to educational reform will be overcome. (CMK)

Describes an educational strategy that uses current multimedia resources to combine sounds and images important to students. States that the arts can provide students with the opportunity to create and share new perspectives about their worlds with their peers and others. Provides a scoring rubric and steps for a middle school project. (CMK)

Maintains that solo singing is an important tool for developing children's voices for two reasons: (1) the music educator can assess a student's vocal development and then give feedback as needed; and (2) children have a chance to hear their own voices and learn how to produce a good vocal sound. (CMK)

Emphasizes the importance of teaching elementary students performance and audience etiquette through example and repetition. Contends that elementary music teachers can educate their students about certain "ground rules" for social conduct through basic standards for students when in the role of performer and audience member. (CMK)

Investigates whether there have been any changes since 1974 in general music-education classes' repertoire of songs through the examination of major series textbooks. Discloses that the chosen music still originates from Western musical roots, but today the music teacher has a wider variety of non-Western music from which to choose. (CMK)