The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether any of the six motivational constructs in the expectancy-value model of motivation (i.e., expectancy, ability perceptions, intrinsic interest value, attainment value, social utility value, and cost) would predict whether students intended to have a career teaching classroom music or…

This study was designed to investigate the occupational aspirations and occupational expectations of college students majoring in jazz studies in the United States. Participants included the population of jazz studies majors (N = 211) at a large mid-southern university known for its prestigious and internationally recognized jazz program. A…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of differentiated performance attire and stage deportment on adjudicators' ratings of high school solo vocal performances. High school choral students (n = 153) and undergraduate (n = 97) and graduate music majors (n = 32) served as adjudicators (N = 282). Adjudicators rated recorded solo vocal…

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree withdrawal patterns of undergraduate music education majors, with a specific focus on the individual experiences of students withdrawing from the major. Data from recently withdrawn students (N = 14) were assembled using a qualitative methodology that included semistructured interviews,…

This study was designed with three main purposes: (a) to investigate the effects of two listening conditions on error detection accuracy, (b) to compare error detection responses for rhythm errors and pitch errors, and (c) to examine the influences of texture on error detection accuracy. Undergraduate music education students (N = 18) listened to…

This study explored the differences in ear-playing ability between formal "classical" musicians and those with vernacular music experience (N = 24). Participants heard melodies and performed them back, either by singing or playing on their instruments. The authors tracked the number of times through the listen-then-perform cycle that each…

The purpose of this pilot study was to survey prospective undergraduate music education majors to learn what motivated them to aspire to a career in music education. Respondents were candidates auditioning, but not yet accepted, for music teacher preparation programs at four institutions (N = 228). Findings corroborate prior research that suggests…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived pitch of string vibrato tones. The authors used recordings of acoustic instruments (cello and violin) to provide both vibrato stimulus tones and the nonvibrato tones that listeners adjusted to match the perceived pitch of the vibrato stimuli. We were interested especially in whether there…

In response to recent concern regarding music education major retention and as an effort to contribute to the "lives of teachers" scholarship in music education, the primary research question for this study was: How do undergraduate students describe their lived experiences within the instrumental music education community? Data included a…

This study was designed to ascertain musicians' tempo and pitch level preferences when listening to orchestral music. Ninety graduate and undergraduate music major students were assigned randomly to one of three groups. Participants listened individually to recorded symphonic excerpts, 5 with relatively fast and 5 with relatively slow tempos.…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of aural versus notated pedagogical materials on achievement and self-efficacy in instrumental jazz improvisation performance. A secondary purpose of this study was to investigate how achievement and self-efficacy may be related to selected experience variables. The sample for the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music experience and excerpt familiarity on the internal consistency of performance evaluations. Participants included nonmusic majors who had not participated in high school music ensembles, nonmusic majors who had participated in high school music ensembles, music majors, and experts…

We observed 17 graduate and advanced-undergraduate piano majors practicing a difficult, three-measure keyboard passage from a Shostakovich concerto. Participants' instructions were to practice until they were confident they could play the passage accurately at a prescribed tempo in a retention test session the following day. We analyzed the…

A continuing line of research indicates that focus of attention is perhaps the most important attribute of actively participating in meaningful music listening and a model accounting for these findings has been developed. Music teachers are especially concerned with meaningful listening when having students discern important elements or attributes…

The author investigates relationships between instructor, peer, and self-evaluations. Undergraduate music education students each taught three micro-teaching segments. Immediately after teaching, they filled out an evaluation for themselves indicating four things they did well, one suggestion for improvement, and an effectiveness score from 1 to…