Music education has many "elephants" in its classrooms: obvious major problems that go unmentioned and suffered silently. Two of the larger, more problematic "elephants" are identified, analyzed, and critiqued: (1) the hegemony of university schools of music on school music and the resulting focus in school music on…

In this article Leon Mones expresses his deep interest in the functional role of music in Western culture and particularly in the system of public education that has been designed to assure the survival and advancement of Western culture and the people who will live within it. In other words, he is interested in music as a dynamic experience in…

In music education, current attention to student-centered approaches for learning affects our understanding of student assessment. This view to curriculum reform requires new perspectives for assessment. There is a need to move beyond the summative use of assessment to assign grades to examining the roles of assessment in supporting and enhancing…

Knowledge about music advocacy strategies has long been promoted as important for music educators, not only for the benefit of their individual programs but also for the specific benefit of music students and the general public. This article suggests an approach to advocacy grounded in the teacher's professional beliefs, phrased in terms…

Rehearsal engagement is an important concept sometimes neglected by conductors. For students, to be engaged means that they are actively involved with the music during the rehearsal. Even if the director leads a perfect rehearsal, he or she has not necessarily engaged students in a meaningful musical experience. This may be because conductors…

In his book "Teaching Music in the Secondary Schools," Charles Hoffer reported a lack of consensus among music educators when considering the essential components of a middle-level general music course. Today, this condition persists. The increasingly diverse nature of students and schools makes a singular, model curriculum for middle-level…

Teachers plan for instruction in band, choir, and orchestra; this typically includes selecting repertoire and planning outcomes and strategies for achieving those goals with a vision toward excellent musical performance. Teachers in school music ensembles plan instruction that will lead to student learning. In the ensemble setting, this learning…

In this article, the author explains that before beginning to create concert programs, it is important that ensemble conductors first develop a long-term curricular plan to which each individual program will contribute. He continues that if an ensemble curriculum is devised so that students make progress over the long term, dynamic growth can take…

Chamber music provides myriad opportunities to develop students' ability to think like professional musicians while engaged in the authentic task of working closely with and learning from peers. However, the potential for musical growth inherent in chamber music participation is often unrealized due to either a lack of teacher guidance and support…

Twelve women have led MENC: The National Association for Music Education, including current president Lynn Brinckmeyer--six of them in the first fifty years of MENC's history. Frances Elliott Clark, known as the "Mother of the Conference," oversaw the founding of the Music Supervisors' National Conference (MSNC) in 1907 at a gathering in Keokuk,…

Discusses the social changes (school reform, civil rights, and technology) that the Tanglewood Symposium responded to in the 1960s. Traces the vision of music education from the Tanglewood Symposium through the Vision 2020 Symposium. Focuses on intellectual leadership, advocacy, and professional standards. (CMK)

Provides information on the career and accomplishments of Wiley Housewright, an author, scholar, administrator, and leader in music education. Presents an interview with Housewright focusing on issues such as the reasons for, highlights of, and legacy of the Tanglewood Symposium and his thoughts on Vision 2020. (CMK)

Examines what the author considers the best of past developments and events in a half century of music education. Focuses on two of the events: (1) the publication of "Basic Concepts of Music Education I" ( and "II"); and (2) Hazel Nohavec Morgan's editorship of the Music Educators National Conference's "Music Education Source Book." (CMK)

Presents three principles of repertoire selection: (1) select music of good quality; (2) select music that is teachable; and (3) select music that is appropriate to the context. Discusses how repertoire selection relates to the National Standards for Music Education. Lists resources for repertoire selection and choral teaching. (CMK)

Explores the argument introduced by the "Mozart Effect" research: that music's positive influence on spatial-temporal reasoning should be the purpose for music education. Considers the implications by reshaping the National Standards for Music Education to fulfill the spatial-temporal rationale. Suggests how to reconcile musical and other purposes…